On The Road Friday ~ Black Hills, South Dakota

 We are on the road today.

I am taking you back to our trip to South Dakota in late September.

We did a lot of hiking on this trip. Hiking is one of our families favorite activities.

Grab your hiking stick, canteen and .... here we go.

We hiked in the Black Elk Wilderness which lies in the heart of the Black Hills.

Named for Black Elk, an Oglala Lakota holy man, the area is characterized by massive granite outcroppings, pungent pine, and scenic vistas across the hills.

 Looking up at the outcroppings. 

 The weather was perfect. The blue sky was so beautiful. It was such an amazing color of blue.

 The Aspen were just starting to turn color. We hiked into a beautiful valley of Aspen trees.

 This area is rich in history for gold.

We did not find any gold nuggets, but we did stumble on the following treasures.

Hidden waterfalls, the best treasures indeed!

Four hikers make it back out of the Black Hills. When we got home from our week long trip to South Dakota, I asked what was each ones favorite. Three out of four said "Hiking in the Black Hills" ... so when the South Dakota tourism advertisement states ...

Nearly everyone has a special place somewhere in the outdoors. Many have found it in the central Black Hills .... they are right!

Have a great weekend.

Thank you for joining me for a hike in the Black Hills, South Dakota.

"Keep close to Nature's heart, yourself; and break clear away once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."

John Muir

   

Fallen Hero's

Our little town of Cameron is preparing for a large funeral on Friday. 

Our side streets are closed along our Arlington Avenue.

The funeral will be held at our former Elementary school just two blocks from our home.

Media trucks and helicopters are buzzing our neighborhood.

Our neighborhood is shining BLUE night and day.

Blue lights are glowing up and down the streets of Cameron.

The funeral is for a police officer who was ambushed  and killed  Saturday night.

He was 33. A husband, a father to three and a hero. A hero who went on the call to check on  a disabled auto.  Only to have a bad man waiting for him, and shot and killed him.

 Fallen Hero

To read the story and see photos of our glowing blue Village of Cameron, please click on the above link. 

Thank you for praying with me.

 

Hello November

Hello November

 November is the month of thankfulness.

Our family as created a thankful tree in years past.

I create a tree and each of us write down on a cut out leaf what we are thankful for that day. We paste it to the tree and fill the tree with colored 'what we are thankful leaves".

 We do this for the month of November.

SOURCE

A friend introduced me to Ann Voskamp. I like what she came up with for the month of November. I am sharing her calendar below.

If you want more information about Ann click here Ann Voskamp

Looking at Ann's calendar a few ideas grabbed my attention right away...

Give someone the benefit of the doubt.

Give someone 5 minutes when you do not think you have it.

Thank someone older and younger than you today.

Text someone Good Morning or Good Night!

How about you? Do you have a special way of celebrating November, the month to be thankful.