Our Amazing Trip!

I think this post is way overdue!
A couple weeks ago, we took the biggest trip we have ever taken as a family. We headed to Kentucky for the Noah Conference and to visit the Ark and the Creation Museum. It was a wonderful time.


We drove through Idaho and Montana the first day. It felt like we spent SOOO much time in Montana. I'm sorry, Montana residents and lovers, but we got so tired of Montana after we had driven through it for hours and hours! :)

This was at our first rest stop in Wallace, ID

This was the back row of the car! It was packed, but it was fun.

Back row L-R: Emily, Me, and Becks
Middle row L-R: Greg, Sam, and Leah
Front row L-R: Amanda and Faith

 We had planned to hit South Dakota around August 13th and see a bit of Deadwood, an old Western town. What we didn't realize until the night before was that the annual Sturgis Motorcycle rally was still going on until the next day. So, as we neared South Dakota, the motorcycle traffic became quite heavy! God was good to us, however, and protected us despite the fact that we were right in the heart of the whole event.

An old wigwam that we saw right near Custer State Park in SD

Belle Fourche, SD - the geological center of the nation

 There were motorcycles EVERYWHERE in Deadwood. They were lining the streets for as far as the eye could see. Hundreds of them. Mom told Dad to be careful not to hit one lest the entire street be covered in fallen motorcycles!

 Deadwood

 And how could we be in South Dakota and NOT see Mount Rushmore?

Mount Rushmore

Walking around the Mount Rushmore monument area.

 Ignore the huge Super 8 sign and look beyond to the large structure on the hill. We looked it up and found out that it was a Christian missionary training school. It was kind of neat to see that taking up the hillside.

 We took an impromptu walk around this gorgeous lake in South Dakota. It was SO beautiful and clear!

Feeding the ducks

The twinsies and me

This was a wild burro that came right up to us
 on another nature loop we took..

Buffalo!

South Dakota badlands

 This was at the Omaha Zoo in Nebraska. We spent an entire day there and walked about 7 miles around the place. It was big!

Yay! A new state!

On one of the days, I noticed that about half of us were wearing pink....

and half of us were wearing blue.

 The Ark Encounter was incredible. I didn't get any fabulous pictures of the interior, so all the more incentive for y'all to check it out!
If you haven't heard of it before, check out this website for more information!
https://arkencounter.com

Yay! We made it!

 After the day at the Ark, we spent a couple days at the conference in Kentucky and then headed to St. Louis, MO, to visit some friends that we haven't seen for nearly 9 months!

 After an amazing few days with the S. family, we headed back home. We made time for a trip to Yellowstone National Park, though. It was beautiful, and these pictures hardly do it justice.
Once again, I would encourage you to visit it yourself!

Old Faithful

Anyway, here's a summary of our two week trip. I tell ya, it was really neat. It was a wonderful time, but it was also a good growing experience. There were plenty of struggles, but plenty of joys. We saw some beautiful places, and got to do it all as a family. (Although we missed our sis, Dani....)

I hope to be writing a bit more frequently, but with school starting again, we may be fairly busy. But stay tuned for an exciting announcement that I will be posting very soon!

~Hannah