West to the Black Hills

Amazingly, I got no photos from Jon and Layne's wedding, so I swiped this one from Jon's fb page:

As I said, they had a great wedding--very spiritually centered. Uncle Paul did a great job and they carried it all off with an enviable mixture of penache and solemnity. 

We were in charge of making people sign the guest book, and of transporting the cards to a safe place, and making sure no (es)strange(d) uncles tried to make off with them for the wedding loot. 

We achieved our goal.

And, since Joshie was in the nursery with Katie and Katie, the former the sister of the boyfriend of Katie, Jon's sister, we were able to pay attention to the whole ceremony without having to chase Joshie around the church.

Which, admittedly, had its own full-sized gymnasium and no fewer than three nurseries, so there were plenty of places to roam. But that's a digression.

After Jon and Layne's wedding in Pierre we headed West with Katie and Ruth to a cabin in the Black Hills. This trip was almost all highlights, so I will start with a modest description of the cabin and it's environs.

It was all in natural wood--floor, walls, ceiling. Here's J. chillaxing on the couch which folded out for Katie to sleep on. The four Collins/Gilbert-Collinses were in one room, which was cozy, but spacious enough to be comfortable. The hosts provided a stack of firewood and makings for s'mores. The only thing lacking in this cabin was internet service, though you could argue its absence was a plus. If you wanted it, you had to go stand outside of one of the cabins down the road, and even there it was a trickle. 

Katie spent the summer working at a Dunkin' Donuts in Myrtle Beach with a team of CRU student ministry workers, who lived together and used their off hours to spread the gospel. Not sure how that resulted in her wearing a bottle of water on her head, but somehow it seems tied in.

She also gave Joshie some rides. Well, we all did.

Sam counted 21 wild turkeys who would wander by daily.

Sam and Josh and I took a little hike up the hill/mountain behind the cabin. Partway up was this shell of a building left from some bygone era. The ground was littered with gorgeous chunks of mica and quartz, including some really nice specimens of rose quartz. Oh, and Josh spotted a small snake on the way up. Sam kept asking whether we'd be likely to see a bear, or a bison, and what to do if we did.

This is Sam on an outcropping near the top. The rock formations were really fun and interesting. The Black Hills are separate from the Rockies, though geographically proximal, and are a good order of magnitude older. They reminded me of the Adirondacks, another range which makes the Rockies look young.

This is a view from near the top. 

Next installment: The Badlands!