Green Thumb

Since a picture says a thousand words, I thought I'd just let my photos do the speaking...





















Tomatillos





















Lettuce




















Tomatoes















Peppers





















Monster Acorn Squash















Cucumbers





































Watering the Peas
















Potatoes
















Onion



Our little seedlings have been doing quite nicely, wouldn't you say?

Being a Tourist

Learning German

I got to learn some German this past weekend. Volksmarch.

Quoting from wikipedia (a very reliable source), volksmarching is:

a form of non-competitive fitness walking that developed in Europe. Participants typically walk 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) on an outdoor path.

Every year, in South Dakota at the Crazy Horse Memorial hosts a volksmarch all the way up to the top of the monument.

Jason and I decided that it was our year to finally do this. I've been here for the past three summers, but I was always busy with the boy scouts. However, with this BSA free summer, we finally got to enjoy this special little event.




















We started our little mecca from a grassy field that was turned into a make shift parking lot for the masses. And here our hike began (however, not included in the 10K).

Once getting to the official parking lot we registered with the AVA (American Volkssport Association... only a $3 fee to see Crazy Horse up close... pretty good deal).
















And we began the offical journey here.

It was a pretty nice walk. Lots of trees and good inclines.





















Being the little photographer that I am, most of the pictures of Jason and not me... but the background should give you an idea of the verdure. Good ole pine trees.

The next leg of the hike wasn't are lush a green.





















The rest of the volksmarch was one a gravely road, but as you can see, Crazy Horse Memorial is getting bigger, little by little.

Then we got to the top. It was pretty impressive.




















The head of Crazy Horse is the most completed thing, but, hey if I had to carve out a mountain, I would take a while, too.
















I know its not polite to look up people's noses, but I didn't think he'd mind.

So after a leisurely view from up top...















like this one of the parking lot, it's great to see the reverse perspective of things... I think I can see my car from here...

But once we had our fill, we started the descend. This part wasn't as bad. It was more keeping up with your feet more than anything.
















We made it and finished though. A great little lesson in German... ok not really, but it was a fun little jaunt. The best part of all, if you can't tell by the clouds that it was about to rain at any moment. We arrived safely to our car by the time it decided to do that.

So we were winners through and through!