The Next Day- Family Reunion Part 5

Emily and I were in charge of dinner (read... Emily tells me what to do and I do it) and our (term used VERY loosely) plan was to do Cafe Rio style Pork Salads so in the morning we stuck the meat in the crock pot. Then most of the family went to go fishing.

For some reason, I was rather cranky alot of the trip (no sleep=cranky.. I also didn't go running this day like I did the day before*) so its a good thing I didn't go. Woulduv scared the fish away.

Bethanie and family weren't interested in fishing either and neither was Aaron and Alec. So we headed off to a miniature golf/arcade place in Deadwood (just down the valley from Lead). I think I was brought along to provide cash rather than my sparkling/fun attitude. Did u know these type of places ARE NOT OPEN in the mornings? Come on now! The great town of Deadwood didn't have enough people to support it being open before noon? Sigh.

So Aaron and Alec went back to the cabin in my car (first time anyone but me has driven it) while I hitched up with Bethanie and family to see the Tourist Attraction of Deadwood.

Here it is.
Can you see it? Its peeking up from between the people sitting on the bench.
Come on people.. Can't u tell what it is? You know.. DEADWOOD?

Fine.

It's Wild Bill's grave site. And Calamity Jane's too (since she died after Bill, she got to decide they were friends enough to be buried next to him).

Oh.. I see, it was the picture. Your right.. its hard to tell from that angle.

We did go right up to it (BTW, it costs a dollar per person to get into this graveyard so be prepared to shell out some dough), but a big tour bus with a bunch of old people and an annoying tour guide showed up (hey now, Even Bethanie and Jim were annoyed by him). We decided to get some pictures on our way back..... And then on our way out there was ANOTHER tour bus with a bunch of old people and an annoying tour guide.

So all u get is that picture. If you want a better one, u will need to visit Deadwood your self. The road up to the cemetery on Mount Moriah goes STRAIGHT up the mountain!

While waiting for the old people to leave, we looked at some other graves.

The poor Sheriff is DEAD. It really hit Bethanie hard. She's the empathetic kind. (Bethanie, Natalie, Hannah)Hannah was pretty interested in the dead people buried there.

Are they all dead? Yes. My grandma is dead. Yes, your Great Grandmother Ricks is dead. Grandma Ricks? Yes. They buried her. Yes, we did. They are all gone. Yes, until they get resurrected. Resurrected? Yes. Like Jesus? Yes. Then they will get new bodies. Yes. And leave their old bodies? ... ... Um ... yes, kinda. New bodies like Jesus. Yes.

Bethanie told me later some lady passing us said "Sounds like your Christian". Why yes, yes we are.

Bethanie had switched with Aaron in lunch duty so I helped her shop at the local Dakotamart to get some nasty sauerkraut, good chips, red drink, and meat.

On the way back to the cabins, Bethanie yelled... "Stop Jim! Jim! STOP! STOP JIM!"

So we stopped and took pictures. Phew. Almost missed the photo op. After a great lunch of grilled sandwiches, the rest of the family did.... some fun things (I think it involved a cave?) while Emily and I worked on dinner. Bethanie and family, Sarah, and Angela kept us company.

It kinda took a while (LONG TIME). In Emily's defence, she had planned on being as organized as, say, Jenny, Amy, Neita, and Mom, but we kinda ran out of time. It was that darn temple trip I planned. Messed everything up**. (We also ended up with enough leftovers to feed the NM Helms the whole time I was home... but I shore wasn't annoyed about that. I LOVE Cafe Rio Pork Salads.)

Before the rest of the crew arrived back for dinner, those of us left behind ran back down to Lead to the visitors center to see the BIG HOLE and tried to pan gold, but the shop was closed. (I don't know what this is about little towns and closing up shop at a reasonable time. Who is ever reasonable on VACATION?)

We headed for some water to look at and Emily to play in and I forgot to take my camera. Lucky u, sad me.

Then it was back 2 the cabin for eating/gabbing/eating/gabbing with the family (Neita won for the best piled Pork Salad)**. It was so sad knowing we would be leaving in the morning.

*I went running on Tuesday morning with Thorpe (Angela's Assistance Dog) and about did him in. Poor old dog is used to sleeping under desks all day. At first he would run out ahead of me, stop to sniff something, then bound out ahead of me again. This was during the first few minutes. The rest of time when he stopped to sniff something... he then spent the next 5 minutes trotting to catch up. Only so many bounds are left in that old dog and he wasn't about to use them all up. I brought him back and he didn't even have the effort to eat breakfast. Just laid by Angela and panted (this is the dog who usually is continually thinking about food/treats. Give him an ice cube and he is ur friend for life).

**Updates: OF COURSE THE DINNER WAS DELICIOUS! And I think Emily is WONDERFUL! I thought I had made that clear (phrases like LOVE Pork Salads, mentioning it was MY FAULT it took so long, mentioning that we kept eating cuz it was so good), but I will make it clearer. I love you Emily and the Cafe Rio Pork Salads were the highlight of the reunion!
(PS, I loved it so much that I made a third salad even though I had filled up on the first two cuz it looked SO GOOD. But it was a good thing cuz I accidentally threw Amy's dinner out as we were cleaning up (it was on the counter with little people's half eaten salads) so I had another one all ready to give her)

Next installment - THE LAST DAY.. sniff sniff