Uff Da! Yeah, sure, you betcha!

Woke up nice and rested this morning. Awesome. I really needed that....for my first trip to IKEA! Holy cow........just........wow. It was like a giant toy store designed with me in mind. Cute, functional, and cheap cheap cheap furniture! We had breakfast in the cafe, super yummy and 99 cents for eggs, taters, and bacon. After that we got lost in the maze of the showrooms for about three hours (during which time I was pleased to hear an "Oh, for fun!" which is a variation on a common Minnesotan phrase. Gratifying, as I didn't hear any other accents while there.) emerging victorious with a message board/organizer, candle, oven mitt, curtains for the bedroom, curtain rod for the curtains, two wall sconces for the living room, a cheese grater, and a twin sized bed for Leigha, all for under $150. This is Jason and the girls walking toward me in the warehouse where you pick up your furniture. Notice how flat all the furniture is for easy loading. Isn't that incredible? Go Swedes! We loaded up the car and I sat back in the front seat, all my shopping glands thoroughly sated. Oh yeah. That's nice. After a long, yet uneventful drive we arrived in Kansas City. Yay! It's very, very good to be home.

That's no mall, that's a space station!

Woke up not at all well rested, drove the remaining three hours or so to Minneapolis! We got here about one o clock or so and immediately got sucked into the Mall of America. Now, if you've never been there, I carefully selected this picture for you. Anyone who wanted to see a cute family picture or one of the more urban shots I took of downtown, sorry, blame it on those guys. See the theme park? That's what used to be known as Camp Snoopy (before Nickelodian came in and viciously jacked up the prices) it is in the middle of the mall. The mall itself wraps completely around the theme park on all four sides, making a square. It is four stories tall. The directory takes up three panels of a square column, just to list all the stores. It has at least seven coffee shops. Long story short, this sucker is huge. We have flown in before to go to the mall, but never quite got around to walking the entire thing. Today, after riding the Log Chute (from which this picture was taken) we did just that. It took us a little more than four hours and we only went into about eight shops. (Yeah, it's that big.) After our poor aching feet gave out on us we got back in the car and checked into our motel (yup, after last night, I'm so done camping.) then found some dinner at a great mediterranian place called Shiraz on Nicolette Ave. Best pitas ever, mmm! We drove around downtown after that, taking pictures and exploring neighborhoods. Minneapolis seems to be a very eco-friendly town. There's a lot of wind power machines here and a ton of people were riding bikes. Either that or they're just so relieved to not be in the crushing snows of a Northern winter. Whatever the reason, it was great to see so many people out and about, enjoying the beautiful city they live in.

This is the point where it's not fun anymore.

This morning we packed up, hugged our friends goodbye, and headed off into the desolation that is I-90 in South Dakota. We drove all the way to a little town called Worthington, Minnesota. It's a very cute little town with a small lake. Unfortunately, after we set up the camper we realized how cold and windy it was, and decided that tonight we're going to sleep in a big huddle in the middle of the camper. Cue the banjo music.

Rock and reel

Our last day here in Custer State Park, so we made it an easy one. We saddled up the kids and drove into Rapid City to see "Bear Country USA." It's a drive through zoo basically, except there are no cages. You go along a road and the animals are just right there. They separate them into fenced off sections with cattle guards on the roads to keep them from entering another area. The stars of the show were the bears, hands down. They were everywhere, sunning, walking alongside the road, mating (and right when we entered the bear section, too.), and in the case of one bear, pacing the cattle guard to the next section. It was so cool to see them so close. They had a walk through baby section as well and we saw a lot of smaller animals like skunks and porcupines, but again, the baby bear cubs held everyone's attention. They were so playful and cute! This afternoon we spent at the campground. There is a small lake at the entrance and the girls wanted to go swimming, so we got them all into their swimsuits while Jeff, Selena, Jason and I did some catch and release fishing. I caught a small bass. It was thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis big. (the sad part is, if you took the actual length of that word and held it up to the fish, that's probably about how big it was.) Jason and I took the kids into Rapid City for dinner this evening and I grabbed some Starbucks for Selena and I so we could enjoy some fancy coffee at the campsite. She thought it was hillarious to be sitting next to a campfire sipping an upside down carmel macchiato. We stayed up late tonight to let the kids play, then we put them to bed and sat by the campfire watching the stars. It was perfect.

Happy Birthday, Brianna!

Brianna is four today! I can't believe it! We had pancakes for breakfast and I presented her with her first gift, a gorgeous pink princess dress that I've been saving since just after Christmas when it went on sale. She was absolutely thrilled and put it on immediately. We drove to Deadwood today and toured a gold mine, had a picnic, then went to a cool Victorian house museum and a local history museum. On our way back to our campsite we went through Custer so we could celebrate Brianna's birthday in style at the "Purple Pie Place." It's a little old house turned ice cream and pie parlour. If you ever come up this way, so totally go there. Best pie I've had in my life, and I make amazing pie. On the way back to the car I gave Bri a big hug and said, "Happy birthday, Brianna." She sighed back, "Mmmm...happy birthday, Mommy."

Why it's worth the drive.

Today was our Mount Rushmore day. We drove up, parked, and walked to the viewing platform. Jason and I have been here before, but Jeff and Selena have not. They stood there in the quiet awe one gets when experiencing a monument on such a grand scale for the first time. We hiked up to the base and got some great pictures. It was absolutely the perfect weather for it. We went to all the little displays, and the kids participated in the "Junior Ranger" program, and were rewarded with gold colored plastic badges for their troubles. After that we went to the "Cosmo's Mystery Area." I've never been to one of those, it was pretty cool. I've seen them on the Travel Channel before, the house you can't seem to stand up straight in, the concrete platforms that are level but it looks like you got taller when you walk to the other one, and the water that runs uphill. You know, that kind of thing. It was really cool. We had just sat down to roast marshmallows when the clouds rolled in and we got a torrential downpour. We grabbed everything that needed to be try and headed to Jeff and Selena's camper to enjoy some Jiffy Pop. After the kids when to bed we played some cards and drank some beer. Jeff decided to drink his beer from a licorice stick straw. Nice.

S'more Campin'

Another day of driving. We headed out this morning and went all the way (after a slig ht delay to change the spark plugs and wires) to Custer State Park, aka Mount Rushmore area. We started setting up camp and hadn't gotten very far when Jeff and Selena (friends from Denver) arrived with their daughters, Lydia and Zoe. The girls played like maniacs,very aware that they don't get to see each other often and their time would be all too short. We made dinner, did the s'mores thing (with Reese's, it's sooo yummy that way) and planned our day for tomorrow. Right now I'm holed up in the tent trailer listening to the very loud rain. Hopefully it goes away soon. It's so good to see our friends and to be here. This trip is going to be wicked sweet.

While we were driving, we saw what looked like an old ambulance turned camper limping up an exit into a gas station. We exited at the same place, and when they got there, the camper positively BOILED over with coolant. About seven dirty hippy types piled out and were staring at the damage, saying, "Duuuuude!" The liscence plate informed us they were from New Jersey, and the side of the camper informed us that they were the "Dead Muskrats." Band, perhaps? Either way, they certainly smelled like their namesake.