a whirlwind in the black hills

as you all know, i'm terrified of bears.  Shawn made us stop in at bear country USA---it's in the black hills, south Dakota.  and for all of you who saw Shawn's bear pic on his facebook....well, we took it while we were safe in the car at bear country (a ride-through animal park).  after bear country and being horrified at the size of those things, we had a few more stops before reaching Yellowstone park, or "Bear Country."
  We got to visit crazy horse and mount Rushmore.   Crazy horse was pretty cool...it's a Native American who is pointing out over the land (it's not as finished as i thought it would be.)  Mount Rushmore was pretty amazing:)  After Rushmore, we visited the wind cave....  Shawn wanted to do the crawl-through tour, but alas, i'm pretty claustrophobic, so we just did the regular tour.  The wind cave was super huge and fascinating.  the photos weren't great bc it was so dark.  but we had good fun!

                                         so cute.  makes me think of the jungle book:)

South Dakota :) yay for a computer that works

Well, we've been in idaho for about a week now, having fun with the grandparents and with our little cousin Brandon.  My computer started working again and the people at apple didn't know what caused the fritz to begin with....so, they said, "when it breaks again, bring it in and we can look at it." oh, thanks.  anyway, it's about time to get you guys caught up on all our travels.
  From chicago, we spent the night in Sioux falls and then we were off to the badlands in South Dakota.  The badlands were totally my favorite so far.  i had to choose just a few pics or y'all would be so bored.  but anyway, love you all! thanks for checking in on us:)

we stopped in blue earth, mn to see the jolly green giant!

so beautiful- this was a drive-by shooting:)

shawn brushing his teeth at walmart---our first time camping in the walmart parking lot

the corn palace- all the murals are made of corn!

shawn with the corn cob

on our way to the badlands, we stopped to see the prairie dogs

I got a pic of them kissing:)

woohoo! we're here

shawn taking it all in

look how tiny he looks

for dehrae:)

me and my honey

we visited wall drug in Wall, South dakota (all pics for tiffany)

our rig with the wall drug parking sign:)

Chicago Land!

Yesterday we visited Chicago with Peli & Joshua and their two girls, olivia and adelaide.  We took the train from zion, Illinois early in the morning and arrived in Chicago about an hour and a half later.  It was so nice because there was no traffic and we just got to hang out together without any stress from the roads!  Our trip was wonderful- We took the famous Gilmore tour- Millennium Park with the Millennium fountains, the bean, the Buckingham fountain, The navy Pier,  & we also saw the sears tower.  Then, later on that afternoon, the Gilmores left us and shawn and I explored by ourselves.  We were on a mission for Chicago's best Chicago Dog, which we found at Portillo's.  We also rode the El to Chicago's ChinaTown!  After we got back from Chicago, we ordered The famous Chicago Deep Dish Pizza and relaxed.  The day was so hectic, lots of walking, but so much fun!  Thank you, Joshua and Peli for the wonderful memories:)

Almost got run over taking this!

View from Millennium Park

Cheesing at the Chicago Bean!  What a cool sculpture:)

We're in the center- Look for shawn's orange shirt

The beautiful Gilmore Family

The cow got to visit the bean!

Joshua took this and managed to get a shot with no one in front besides us! Awesome!!

Millennium Park

The cow enjoying the chicago skyline

Navy Pier :) it was so windy this day!

Buckingham Fountain

had to get a smoochy shot!

us and the gilmores- so much fun! miss them already.

Joshua and his little adelaide

Portillo's- boy was I happy to get here.  We were SOOO hungry. The search for the dog lasted like 3 hours!

YYYUUUUMMMMYYYY

notice shawn had already taken a bite of his. cheater!

The stranger who took this pic had parents from woodruff, SC!  small world!

Chinatown-  I wanted a knock off D&G Bag, but alas, didn't find one

Chicago Pizza

nice treat after the long day!