jamie’s family has a cabin in deadwood, south dakota, that he and his brothers built back when they were in high school/college. they actually rent it out, but they also use it as a place for family get-togethers, which works perfectly. i finally got to go visit over 4th of july weekend with his family, and let me tell you, i feel like it can hardly be considered a cabin because it huge and super nice and just gorgeous. also, i had no idea how beautiful western south dakota is! it really took me by surprise. we had a wonderful time four-wheeling, checking out needles highway and custer state park, boating on pactola lake, and going out in deadwood. jamie and i ended our trip by stopping at mount rushmore on the way home, which was really cool. i can’t wait to visit again at new years this year!
{packing for the weekend, a.k.a. throwing every red, white, and blue article of clothing i own on my bed and hoping they will magically end up in my suitcase, neatly folded with room to spare!} ;)
{this is in wyoming, on our road trip to SD! i checked another state off my list!}
{jamie had been looking for pronghorns but we hadn’t seen any… and then he stopped on the side of the road so we could take a picture of the sunset and there were three pronghorns looking at us right in the field beside us. they’re hard to see in this picture, but they were cute!}
{sunset over wyoming}
{after a 5-1/2 hour drive on friday evening and multiple deer sightings, pronghorn sightings, and an ELK sighting [!], we made it to the cabin!}
{the cabin is three stories tall and has five bedrooms plus a loft suite.}
{the loft}
{there are huge windows overlooking the black hills.}
{so cozy!}
{the kitchen + loft area}
{the basement}
{the all-seasons room}
{the balcony overlooking the black hills}
{the porch}
{the hot tub! one evening it had just cooled off after a storm so jamie and i got in and watched the lightning and the sun go down… it was lovely.}
{four-wheeling through the black hills!}
{the boys love the four-wheelers!}
{a store that sold neon signs}
{these views}
{the tiny town of galena had a bunch of signs like this! you could tell there was a lot of history in this town.}
{jamie’s mom had scheduled a professional photographer to take family pictures while we were there. this was one i caught while he was taking the real pics! what a great looking family!}
{sawyer and finn were so cute picking flowers for their mama!}
{the professional photos! by kevin eilbeck. i love how they turned out!}
{and then there was some post-picture potato cannon shooting, thanks to rob! the good ol’ spud guns. here’s ashley and the boys getting ready to watch rob shoot one off!}
{a night on the town in downtown deadwood! jamie’s parents stayed home with the twins while we got our party on! we definitely had a lottttttt of fun at saloon #10!} ;)
{at saloon #10. that tw0-headed calf was crazy!}
{jamie’s dad picked us up… this was on the way home.} ;)
{amazing waffles homemade by jamie’s mom!}
{needles highway}
{sylvan lake}
{this place was stunning.}
{it kinda conjures up a scene with roaming dinosaurs, don’t you think?}
{custer state park}
{needles highway was amazing too! i was a bit carsick for part of the drive [or maybe hungover from saloon #10??], but i really did enjoy getting to see this part of the country. it was soooo pretty.}
{at the cabin: fun times with this man and his fam}
{from the deck… i spy custer peak!}
we had a grand time. the rest of our little trip will be posted in part 2!