I see Facebook posts about trips to foreign and exotic places and find myself just a little bit envious. And while I tend to be a bit of a homebody, there is the desire to do some traveling. I will probably not be visiting any foreign lands for several reasons. 1. They are only accessible by boat or plane and neither is my preferred method of travel. 2. There is a great deal of the United States that I have yet to see and feel I need to spend my time taking in the sights of my own country before I travel abroad. 3. And since I am now 64 years old, I will probably never even see all I want in this country, let alone foreign lands.
So far we haven't ventured a long ways away, but there are many beautiful sights close by that are worthy of a trip. In the fall of 2009 we decided that we would sneak up to the Black Hills for a scenic autumn tour of the Hills. As luck would have it, the Hills got an early fall snowstorm the week before we left. We had no problem getting there as the roads were cleared but the fall scenery pictures I planned to take didn't turn out to be quite as fallish as I had hoped.
At first I was disappointed that the weather tricked us as it did, but it turned out to be a marvelous trip with beautiful scenery.
We stayed at an awesome little place called Back Roads Inn. My family had stayed there on a couple of occasions and the cabins, while appearing to be very rustic, are actually very comfortable and modern. Our cabin was awesome, and it alone could have been our destination. I would highly recommend this place to stay if you want something other than the traditional hotel setting.
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| Our accommodations |
However, there are many things to see in the Hills, and since we had only been there in the warmer months, we saw a new aspect of the normal scenery. We traveled to many places that we had seen before and were in awe of the beauty of the Black Hills with the addition of a little snow.
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| The fall colors against the snow was a stunning view! |
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| One of the many tunnels along the Needles Highway |
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| Sylvan Lake with a layer of slush on top |
Sylvan Lake was beautiful. We have visited it in warmer weather and swam in the lake as a family. Somehow it didn't hold the same invite with that layer of slush forming on top of the water.
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| Once the sun came out the snow began to melt on the highways |
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| Stockade Lake |
We have picnicked at Stockade Lake during one of our summer visits. It's beautiful no matter what time of year you visit it.
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| Sheridan Lake with the fog rising off the water |
We had never seen Sheridan Lake before this visit. Definitely a beautiful drive to get to a beautiful lake, even when it is overcast and foggy.
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| Pactola Reservoir |
This was the first time we had also seen Pactola Reservoir. It was beautiful with the steam rising off the water. The second time we saw it was in the heat of the summer, and there were boats and water-skiers enjoying the beautiful lake.
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| A rock rising up out of Pactola |
This is kind of a curiosity to me I presume it is the top of a huge rock formation that sticks out of the water. How that flag got on there leaves a lot to my imagination. Looks like it could have been a helicopter drop!
We had snuck up to the Hills and didn't really tell people where we were headed, but once there we decided we couldn't not visit our favorite Black Hills residents. So we called Michael and Sarah and we met at Rockerville in a sports bar for a Sunday afternoon lunch. When we pulled up there were a number of cars in the parking lot, so we figured it would be crowded but decided to take our chances anyway. Turns out there was a football game on the big-screen TV in the bar area...and not a soul in the dining room. So we were able to choose our spot which was next to a fireplace, and we ate a delicious lunch and watched it snow outside. I still remember the great feeling it was to be tucked in so cozy with people we loved and enjoying a great time of food and fun.
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| Lexi, Rachael and Natalie...enjoying an after dinner drink |
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| A picture of the family with Mike trying to distance himself from the picture. |
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| The adults, Mike, Michael and Sarah |
Sadly this restaurant has since burned, and I just read a couple weeks ago that the entire town of Rockerville has been purposely burnt to the ground. So these pictures are all we have to remember this place by.
I hope you enjoyed taking this trip with us vicariously. Life is short, and getting shorter every day. Don't let the days go by without doing some of the fun stuff. Money, or the lack thereof, gets in the way as does the busyness of our lives and discourages us from doing these things. We can always come up with a bazillion reasons why we should stay home and work. But there isn't a one of those reasons that could stand up against a long weekend like this one. Seven years later we are still enjoying this trip through pictures and memories.
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