Black Hills and Rocky Mountains

Do we work?  Sometimes.  Work hard, play hard, right?

Throughout our travels the past few weeks, we've realized why we don't have pets or kids.  We can pick up and go wherever we want, whenever we want...no worries about who will watch the dog or what to do with the kids or packing for 27 people.  Just me and Wilberforce.  That's all.

The cabins we stayed at in Rapid City had kitchens and kitchenettes.   I am a fish-cooking rockstar if I only have a two burner "stove", tucked in the corner of a 200 square foot cabin.  I made fish two nights in a row and it was amazing. Not that I want to brag or anything, but it was cooked perfectly.  We got home to my beautiful kitchen with the big ol' stove and nice pots and pans and I couldn't cook fish to save my life.  Take me back to the kitchenette and garage sale skillet pan! 

We cooked our dinner in our little cabin, then took everything to a picnic table down by the lake to enjoy our little feast.  And wine.  Always wine. 

We stopped at a coffee shop up in Keystone to use the restroom facilities, grab a coffee, and eat our snacks.  Imagine our delight when we found out they had wine tastings!  In a coffee shop!  So of course we tasted...and bought this Sweetheart wine for our pretend anniversary dinner on the picnic table.  We drank wine out of tiny little coffee mugs we found in the rubbermaid tote of dishes next to our kitchenette :)

Add caption

Wilberforce enjoyed our picnic table feast.  And the wine. 

I went running every morning around Rapid.  I even talked Wilberforce into coming with me one morning.  This is after we finished up a 3.2 mile run in the dark...the sun is just coming up!  Wilberforce looks tired, but he's super-refreshed and ready for the day.  I promise. 

This is our action shot.  We're running real fast.  In our heads. 

Drove through the Hills to Custer and took the Wildlife Loop to see some, uh, wildlife.  We stopped at a random trail and made a short hike to have a snack on a hill top. 

Last weekend Ronnie and Reg came to visit for the weekend.  I had booked a condo in Estes for Saturday night a few months ago.  We didn't have any plans, just wanted to go enjoy Estes for the weekend.  I found out about the Running of the Bulls 3.75 mile run/walk a couple days before we went.  We decided to participate.

Candid moment while I was setting up my tripod and camera settings.  Funny family!

All ready to go with our bibs!  Reg even has her tshirt on already :)  The race was postponed a couple ten minutes to wait for the elk to get off the running path.  It was ridiculous.  Ronnie was in heaven. 

Sunday morning we all got up early, went out for breakfast, then headed up Trailridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park.  Leaving town at 7:30am was an awesome idea - we didn't have any issues with traffic, didn't see a lot of people, and the whole place was beautiful.  We drove all the way to Grand Lake...another absolutely gorgeous place...and when we went back to Estes the roads were crawling with tourists and cars and crazy people.  Blech. 

Of course I made everyone stop for family pictures.  While I was setting up the camera for this one, a giant bull elk bugled a couple hundred yards camera right in the trees.  Reg's face was priceless.  Bull elk are supposedly the most dangerous animals in the mountains right now since they're in rutt.  I would not like to mess with them. 

Finally got a shot I was happy with!  We're all matchy matchy and stuff.  Aww cute. 

The colors in the mountains are amazing right now.  Seriously, amazing. 

The ridiculous level of matching sweaters and button ups was not planned.  I promise.  No one believes me, but even I don't plan this kind of saminess. 

We've had a fabulous couple of weekends!