We started our travels this year by going on a 14 day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to SanDiego.  Doug's brother Walt and wife Fran, his sister Betty and her daughter Karen and his cousin John and wife Sandi all joined us.  We went through the Panama Canal. It was not only fun, but so educational.  It is amazing to see how they lower and raise the water and it is hard to tell when you are on the ship that you are even moving.

The highlight of the trip was swimming with the dolphins in Cobo San Lucus.  It is something I have always wanted to do.  What fun!!!

We are now on our way to Custer State Park for another wonderful summer of watching the wildlife.  I don't think there is anyplace on earth I feel closer to God.  We stopped at cousin Jane's for a few days and ended up staying almost a week.  Partly because Doug just loves working at her place on the lake and partly because the tornadoes were so bad.  We did not want to experience the same thing we did a couple of years ago.

Today we are in St. Louis, MO.  Every time we drive through here way say we are going to do the Arch, and today we did it. WOW what an engineering marvel it is.  It is hard to appreciate the size until you get close to it.

From the top of the Arch

Will post again when we have something wonderful to share, or when we get to Custer, there is always something to share from there.

End of Another Great Summer

Well, I have not been very good about keeping up with the blog this year and we are already on our way home.  The summer was beastly hot and DRY.  We have had a fire ban since the beginning of July.  It was very disappointing to the campers. It was too hot to do much hiking and I fell a couple of times which added to the loss of time to hike. 
We finally did a couple of hikes just before RoundUp.  I had the same job at RoundUp as I did last year, driving with the media.  Below you will see some really great pictures I took.  Though it was exhausting, as usual it was the highlight of the summer.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

This is on the same hike as the one above "My Mountain"

We had to take one last ride, this and the one following are on the  same day

RoundUp is the best!!

The crowds really add to the excitement.

It was so exciting to be so close!!!

Mom and baby are all tired out!!!

Our granddaughter went to a music summer camp and the last night they did a show.  This is the link to her performance.  We are very proud of her talent.  http://www.youtube.com/user/anamdalessio?feature=results_main

Friends in our yard

As usual, the thing we look for most when we are here are the four legged friends that visit us in your yard.  We could spend hours watching them.

This little guy visited last year.  He is a beautiful Western Tanenger and there is a smaller one that visits that Doug is sure is the off-spring of this one!

This guy spent a bit of time in our yard. Doug just had to go out and get another angle! Notice the bison is larger than the car!!

Diamond got a bit nervous watching the dear and birds in the yard. 

It got a bit cold and the girls tried to share one bed!!!

Here are a couple of pictures Doug got on his
rounds one morning.  I am always looking for elk
and rarely find any.  He got to see this group real
early one morning.

More scenes from Custer State Park

The weather has not been the greatest the last few days, but the area is in need of much more rain.  Dick and Karen were here for about three days and I think it rained everyday!!  They got a fair few of the park though and we had a good visit with them. 

Went to the Game Lodge for Mother's Day buffet as usual and had a great time with our old frinds Archie and Karen, and new volunteers Sue and Doug.  Had our first fire and got to know some of the new volunteers and renewing friendship with the returning ones.

It is terribly dry here and it looks like it might be a very hot dry summer.  The risk of fire is always a concern here with all the forests around here.  The little creek near us isn't even flowing, it is usually gushing this time of year.

Hope you enjoy the first pictures of the year, I will try to be better this year than last, but have not had a very good start.  Hope everyone is well, please keep in touch as we do miss our 'other set' of friends and family!!!

Finally getting around to writing on the blog. I have been working extra hours so have been really tired when I have time off. Had, thankfully, an uneventful (mechanically) trip out. Stopped to visit with Jane for a couple of days. Had a nice visit and really enjoyed her new puppy Snowy. What a great dog she is. I asked Jane if she got poison ivy as Snowy runs through it. At the same time I petted and hugged Snowy! The day we left I got up with a swollen eye and developed quite a mess all over the left side of my face!!! Talk about doing something foolish!!!!

It is GREAT to be back at Custer State Park. There is just something about it that seems to get to me. The animals and the scenery are magnificent, but so are the people. We have wonderful friends here and a wonderful church family. Not that we don't at home, we miss our friends and church family there. I think we have the best of all worlds. The first chance we got upon settling in the park was to make our first trip around the Wildlife Loop Road to get my firs 'buffalo fix'. They are such magnificent animals and we got to see the first two babies of the year and the new baby burrows. Haven't had a chance to get back, but have had visitors to our site.

We were blessed with a visit from friends Jim and Rhonda from St. Pete. They were here for a few days on their way to Idaho. We just love sharing the park with friends and seeing how they respond. We are looking forward to seeing Dick and Karen next week.

Went to the Game Lodge for Mother's Day buffet as usual and had a great time with our old frinds Archie and Karen, and new volunteers Sue and Doug. Had our first fire and got to know some of the new volunteers and renewing friendship with the returning ones. It is terribly dry here and it looks like it might be a very hot dry summer. The risk of fire is always a concern here with all the forests around here. The little creek near us isn't even flowing, it is usually gushing this time of year. Hope you enjoy the first pictures of the year, I will try to be better this year than last, but have not had a very good start. Hope everyone is well, please keep in touch as we do miss our 'other set' of friends and family!!!