We just got back from the BEST weekend in the Black Hills of South Dakota with my parents. My mom had never been to Mt. Rushmore before, and seeing as this is the last fall we'll be here in Casper (a great jumping off point to get to the Black Hills), they decided they'd better get a move on this trip before winter sneaks up on us. I nudged them into choosing this weekend so Jared and I could join them and see some pretty fall leaves. With how few trees there are in the town where we live and how windy it is in Casper, fall is pretty short-lived here. Luckily we caught the Black Hills at a beautiful time. Most of the trees are evergreens (dark green ponderosas with black bark--hence the "Black Hills"), but there were enough aspens interspersed for some amazing pops of yellow.
I'm going to divide our weekend in Black Hills into 2 or 3 posts to keep the pictures to a manageable level. I haven't taken this many pictures on my DSLR in a long time. Part one will be our ride on the 1080 train from Keystone to Hill City, SD. This was a highlight for everyone! It's the most Hogwarts Express feeling train I've ever been on--a double steam locomotive? I wished we'd brought some jellybeans and chocolate frogs. They don't always use this beautiful historic train--we just got lucky being there on the day it was in use.
The ride was the perfect length of time for a two-year-old. We did a one-way trip that took about an hour. Jack was pretty wiggly, but we passed him back and forth over the seat to Grandma and Grandpa and back and he did great. He loved looking for animals and trees out the big windows. I'm so grateful Jared was able to join us. There was a covid-related work fiasco where Jared was going to have to work through the weekend on backup duty. Luckily one of his kind friends agreed to take his Saturday shift so he could join us for most of the trip. He did have to drive up in a separate car but that wound up working in our favor for being able take the train just one way.
Jack just adores grandma and grandpa. Definitely made the experience more magical (if a bit more exhausting) to have a toddler yelling "wow!" and "toot toot!" and "yay! again!" every minute or two. Also there was an adult man (likely with some kind of disability) who chased the train in a white minivan through the entire ride and would get out of the car at every corner to enthusiastically wave and give the biggest smile to everyone on the train. He was delightful.
Now that we're back home Jack keeps playing with his wooden train set as though he's reliving his train ride experience. He detaches the front engine, takes it to get cleaned and fueled, and then pulls it back and aggressively attaches it to the rest of the train.
Afterward we got lunch at Cruizzers Pizza--it was really good! Also it was just around the corner from our Ramada Hotel in Keystone (great location, would recommend). Hopefully you'll get a part two tomorrow. For now I've got to order a grocery pickup because our fridge is vacant.
