July Activities

July of course starts out with Independence Day, we for the most part just had a nice, long, lazy, enjoyable and rainy weekend. In years past we have gone to Mt. Rushmore for the fireworks but this year we had a family season pass for the Post 22 Baseball League. Although we definitely did not get our moneys worth because we only attended a couple of games we were able to see a nice firework show after the game on the 3rd. According to many friends the fireworks this year at Mt Rushmore were difficult to see due to a fog right above the President's heads. I guess we picked a good year to miss.
Not too much else happening besides everyday life and Pat starting school again through the middle of July.
On July 24th we were able to see Taylor Swift in concert...poor Pat was one of the few "men" there...trust me there were plenty of teenage boys but not many men. We both enjoyed it, she puts on an awesome concert, joining her was Gloriana as well as Kellie Pickler.
Saturday, July 25th on a whim we drove to Pierre for the day. Seriously no reason behind it except we have lived here 5 1/2 years and had actually never been to the state capitol.
The drive to Pierre took about 2 3/4 hours each way. I enjoy long car rides together because it gives us a chance as a couple to catch up and even learn new things about each other and our pasts. It amazes me that even though we have been together 13 years I can still learn little things about Pat.
We took back highways instead of using the interstate on the way there, basically through tons of farmlands. As pretty as that was it was not very nice to our car...we'd heard on the news that the grasshoppers were bad this year but we had no idea until that day that it wasn't an exaggeration. You could literally see them coming at you and then splatting against the grill, hood and windshield dozens at a time.
Once to Pierre we went to a park bordering the Missouri River and ate our picnic lunch, went for a walk and took pictures. Once that was done we drove up to the Capitol building and viewed it from the outside due to it being a weekend and took some pictures there. Although our stay in Pierre was just a few hours we had an enjoyable time while there and of course on the drive there and back.
I will post a few pics from our time in Pierre and then move on to August activities.