Our trip out west was an unbelievable experience. It is a trip I have wanted to make for such a long time. I had thought that the best plan was to visit out of the country places first and then there would be plenty of time to travel our beautiful country. We had some wonderful trips to faraway places we had read about in school. We loved our trips to New York, Chautauqua and San Francisco and New England.

Our trip to Green Lake, Wisconsin last summer gave me the courage to make this trip. My personal travel agent daughter directed us to the Fairfield Inn in Spearfish, South Dakota. It is about 40 miles from Rapid City. This inn has a wonderful breakfast and Rose Mary looked after us like a mother hen. One morning she even had our place set for us.

My goal for years has been to get into every state. On this trip we added four more – South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota. I now know what a prairie looks like. Devil’s Tower in Wyoming was our first national monument. The General Store in Aladdin is 127 years old. There are 15 people in the town. The lady in Baker, Montana bragged about the sparkling condition of her Porto let. The Badlands are spectacular and Crazy Horse is thrilling. Of course, Mt. Rushmore was the most memorable for me. The Vore Buffalo Jump was fascinating. It was Jan’s favorite. Spearfish Canyon is absolutely beautiful. Carol really enjoyed the music both at Mt. Rushmore and the flutist at Crazy Horse. We saw one lone buffalo in Custer State Park.

As always we met wonderful, interesting, friendly people along the way. We meet wonderful people everywhere we go. I have four states left to visit” Iowa, Nebraska, Idaho and Oregon.