We only stayed a week. I think it we may have to return! :) I don't have many pictures as both Sylvia & I were working all week. Larry showed Mike the "ropes" of fishing on Lake Texoma.

Fun family get together to celebrate Mom's 88 years. She's awesome!

On our way back from Wyoming, we accidentally stumbled onto a 50th birthday party at Pals Brewery. We planned to boondock there, but the bonus was it was the owner's birthday and there was free beer and delicious food happening. Also bonus; a funk band from Omaha was playing. You can never go wrong with beer, bands, & a bunch of old hippies having fun!

We went kayaking up at Mirror Lake - gorgeous! You can see this lake is about at the treeline level where deciduous trees aren't really around and few evergreens. Lovely day and crystal clear waters.

Saratoga is a small town with a population of about 1700, therefore, they only have 1 grocery store and MAN! it's a cool one.

I'm going to have break down the Saratoga pics as there was so much to see. We took at trip to Rawlins and toured the Frontier prison. Pretty cool and very scary!

We decided to escape Nebraska's July heat & humidity and headed over to Saratoga, Wyoming. What a great idea! Not only was it gorgeous and much cooler, but we met some friends that I think will be lifelong for us. Larry & Sylvia go to Saratoga every summer to escape the Texas heat. We visited them at their Texas home last week . Any hoo, we stayed in Saratoga for 3 weeks and it could have been all summer and I would have been happy. The wildlife was plentiful and great! The only thing we didn't see was a bear. Wyoming truly is wonderful!

We've never been to Summerfest in O'Neill, so this year we checked a box on that. Wow - super fun and lots of things to do and see. My Mom volunteers at the Holt County Historical Society and I get to hear great stories from her and her fellow volunteers. Here are just a couple pics from the celebration.

I grew up going to rodeos. My Dad competed in the bull riding. My uncle and his sons did roping and my uncle Lawerence roped, team roped and was a pick-up man for many years. Wherever we lived in the US, if there was a rodeo, Dad was riding. Mike & I both really enjoy a rodeo and we even got to take my Mom to the Burwell Rodeo this summer. Nebraska Huskers volleyball Coach John Cook was the Grand Marshall of Nebraska's Big rodeo this year. It was fun to hear him talk about his ranch and his beautiful horses - one of which he rode in the Rodeo parade!

Thanks to Nancy & Greg (Mike's sister & brother-in-law)! We stayed over at their Texas ranch and got to "help" with the moving of cattle and sheep. So fun to watch the cowboys and cow dogs work the herds! Never gets old.

I love the Chambers 4th of July celebration. I did not get too many pics, but the celebration starts on July 3rd evening with Cruise Night and the Burger Bash - such fun! Then, on the 4th, the day starts with a road race, then games including the ever-popular turtle races, the parade, there is a ping pong ball drop, splash pad for the kiddos, multiple games for all, a free will lunch and supper, and, of course, fireworks!

I am so behind on the blog that I have decided to try to do a photo-dump with some minor comments explaining where we were and what we did this summer(2024). If you have never visited Fort Robinson, we highly recommend. If you don't have a camper, they have many types of accommodations; whole houses Officer's Quarters and barracks and more traditional rooms in the main building.

Fun Fact: Fort Robinson is the most booked destination for family reunions in the U.S. Several of the Officer's Quarters are large enough to house 60+. It's neat the way that they have made it comfortably modern, yet continues to retain its old west integrity.

First of all, shout out to Mike for all the planning he did to show Michael and I a wonderful time! It takes a lot to figure all the logistics out to do a trip like this one. We were camping a ways away from the hubbub of the main attractions and Mike had it all planned so very well - thank you, sweetheart!

We did our 1st night in the Black Hills at a campground just north of Hot Springs. Our week was booked at a campground at Angostura State Park, but we couldn't check in until Sunday. So... Mike turned us loose to go explore - very nice of him!

We finished up our 1st day at Angostura with a little evening fishing. So beautiful.

We have discovered that we really LOVE short trips! We have pulled some 400+ mile-a-day trips so far on our journeys, but not our favorite way to travel. The trip to SD was fun and short - we made it there in less than 1 day, so we had extra time for activities. I just want to share some of our road trip pics.