Summer is flying by!  I have only been on one float trip this summer.  :(  It was just a day trip, but it was fun.  There has just been too much going on to coordinate schedules.  I hope to get in at least one more before fall is here.  I just can't believe it's already August!  I have been busy canning and freezing garden goodies.  We had a pretty good potato and onion harvest this year.  I have already frozen corn and peppers.  I have also  canned pepper jelly, salsa, and whole tomatoes.  Hopefully soon, I will get enough green beans to can.  Today I hope to make more pepper jelly. 

We had a long vacation this summer.  It was exciting to see so many new things, but I was very homesick, and was very happy to get back home.  We put over 3,000 miles on my car in a week's time.  We started out very early in the morning, and drove through parts of Kansas, and on to South Dakota.  We spent our first night in Mitchell, SD.  We camped the first night, but it wasn't much fun b/c it was way too windy to have a campfire, and there were these little black bugs that bite.  We decided to go out to dinner, rather than fight them.  We came back to our tent, and went straight to bed, b/c standing around or doing anything outside of the tent was not a good idea due to these vicious bugs.  I don't know what they are, but I am very glad we don't have them here!  We did go to the corn palace before dinner.  It was pretty exciting for Jeff, but not so much for me.  It was neat to see the art work, but it seems like they really hyped it up.  The next day, we went to Wall Drug in Wall, SD.  Again, I wonder about all of the hype.  There were bunches and bunches of signs building it up, but we didn't get to see very much b/c it was too crowded.  We bought a few things and moved on.  We decided to go through the badlands, which took more time than Jeff wanted, but it was worth it.  We agreed that we were glad we went.  It was amazing to see, and left us both speechless.  We stayed outside of Hill City, SD.  The first night was in a cabin, and the second night was tent camping.  This city is close to Crazy Horse mountain, and also close to Mt. Rushmore.  We went to Crazy Horse the first night, and the next day went through Custer State Park, and then to Rushmore.  This area is so beautiful!!  We saw lots of wildlife on our trip, including pronghorns, mule deer, bison, elk, and even a bear.  We took the beartooth pass, which is a scenic highway.   We both loved it, although it was extremely curvy.  Jeff & I stayed across the border into Montana in a town called Silver Gate.  It seemed very isolated.  I thought there would be more to see and do there, but not so much.  We stayed in a cabin that was kind of unique.  Jeff & I decided it was one of the quirkiest places we had stayed.  You had to use the bathroom in a shared shower house.  The doorway was short enough that even I had to duck my head to go in.  It seemed like the whole building was leaning, which was pretty unsettling.  We headed into Yellowstone the next morning bright and early, hoping to see wildlife.  After spending most of the day there, we wandered into the Grand Teton Nat'l Park, and ended up in Jackson Hole, WY.  We noticed some places refer to it as Jackson, and others call it Jackson Hole.  We were confused about this, and still wonder what the difference is.  From here, we travelled to my sister's house in Ft. Collins, CO.  The next day, we went on to Kansas and stayed one last night there, before driving the rest of the way home.  We had originally planned this trip so we could see Lena, who was supposed to be working in Billings, MT for the summer.  Her plans fell through when her visa was denied, so we didn't get to do that, but thought we would go ahead and keep the other plans.  We are hopeful she will get to come next year, and will probably plan our vacation around wherever she ends up.  It should be interesting!

Jeff has big plans for two thresher's shows.  One is in Montgomery City, and the other is in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.  He has joined the membership for the one in Montgomery City, and will be showing several of his toys.  For some unknown reason, he also signed me up for that membership.  Good grief....Megan, Josh, & Caleb will be joining us in Mt. Pleasant, so Caleb can explore all there is to see there.  I am very excited to show him!!

That is all for now.  :)