We enjoyed Mt. Rushmore today! While we were there we learned that Thomas Jefferson wrote the first ice cream recipe in the United States. It was the centennial of the National Park Service today so they were serving cake and ice cream at Mt. Rushmore but we left before it started.
We left the Badlands today and looking back tonight from Custer SD one thing stands out as my favorite part of Badlands NP. When we pulled into Badlands NP on Tuesday afternoon and got out of the car at the first “overlook,” Charis turned to me and excitedly said, “Mom” I have been seeing this in pictures on the computer, I can’t believe I’m seeing it in person! It’s so amazing!”
Smiling and perceiving an opportunity I asked her if she was open to a discipleship moment? She said yes and so I said, “that’s the great invitation of God, that you go beyond “knowing about” Him to “experiencing Him.” Just like seeing the Badlands in person versus on a computer, knowing God personally and experiencing Him is way more amazing than just knowledge about Him. Thats how I pray for you….that you will “know Him!””
Charis responded….”That’s really cool Mom..”
More to come!
The best part of Badlands for me was seeing something I had only seen in pictures, in person! The most fun things I did were see Saturn up close through a telescope and tour the launch facility for a Minuteman 2 missile.
Yesterday Charis and I met Fred and Bobbie from Ohio, and Bruce and Jane from Rhode Island. We were invited to share “Happy Hour” and enjoyed hearing stories about their current trips as well as former trips. Fred and Bobbie owned a small farm for a number of years and kept us entertained with stories about their farm adventures and specifically a really funny story about a stud Hog gone bad named Panama! Panama decided one day that he was not to be told what to do anymore, especially as it pertained to his brood of sows. Panama charged and bit and behaved badly enough to find himself turned into bacon within a week!
Our first stop is…. Badlands National Park! We had a great first day here. The day was very windy, around 30 mph! In the evening we saw the sunset and viewed Saturn up close through a telescope. Tomorrow we go hiking and see the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.
I got up at 6AM because I thought I heard a buffalo. Turns out it was just some loud cows! I’m so exited to see buffalo so I grabbed my camera and bolted out of the tent to see them. Hopefully tomorrow!
This is the message I left on my whiteboard before we took off in the morning! It feels great to have finally left on the trip we have been preparing for for months.
In March Charis and I travelled to Washington DC on Amtrak. Before we even reached Indiana we had a fun moment with a guy across the aisle. Having just finished our sack dinner we pulled out some Australian Licorice as a treat. Sensing the prompting of the Holy Spirit I (Heather) reached over the aisle and offered some to our neighbor. His response was …”oh no thank y….wait a minute I love black licorice!” For the next 20 minutes or so we enjoyed hearing him describe falling for licorice while in Amsterdam. Later during the trip he reached over the aisle and shared his favorite candy form China Town. This was the start of a fun gateway into enjoying some new “travel friends.”
We met a man from Colorado later that afternoon who ingeniously brought an electric tea pot on board. We happened to bring some nice Starbucks …so he shared his water we shared our coffee and we swapped stories through the Shenandoah Valley as we approached DC.
In DC at the Cherry Blossom Parade we pulled out a couple of Andes mints and offered them to a beautiful , older African American woman sitting next to us waiting for the parade to start. We spent the next 90 minutes hearing about her 4 grandchildren and the interesting work she had done as a consultant to universities.
On the way home we shared Andes mints again with a man on his way to Chicago to house/cat sit for a daughter he had been estranged from for over a decade! He was tender and vulnerable and it was an amazing privilege to share his victory story!
SO….we are looking forward to more stories like this. We are thinking San Pellegrino’s would be hard to resist and start up a story or two. We will post these stories along the way!
Look for the heading “Sharing Stories” and enjoy the new friendships with us!
the amazing grace 