Over the 4th of July weekend this year we decided to split our time between Belle Fourche and Hot Springs. Both have excellent 4th of July festivities and their own unique things to offer. South of Hot Springs is a reservoir called Angostura. It's a very popular 4th destination and without reserving nearly a year ahead of time it's darn near impossible to get a camping spot.
Ken (my father-in-law) had gotten us, them and 3-4 others from their church a spot for this year. We decided to head down after my run and Belle's parade on the 4th. We got there early afternoon and set up camp.
The lake is located at the very south edge of the Black Hills where it starts to turn to prairie, so you have a mix of terrain and ground cover. The 4 sites of my in-laws and their friends were on the upper loop of the campground where it was more flat and grassy like prairie with a few deciduous trees among the sites. Our site was directly behind theirs on the lower part of the loop down a slight drop off. We had deciduous, pine, trees and a more shale based chippy dirt base that was difficult to keep out of the tent but an overall shadier spot. I spent a while laying on the hammock enjoying the scenery while Zach and Jake explored.
Wild asparagus grows all over the hills...
The night of the 4th we went into town and watched the city fireworks. We "raced" Grandpa & the boys in the Mustang with the Mamma Mobile.
We did many of our meals as a group, which is awesome because you get to try a little bit of everyone's favorite dishes they bring and the meat is generally more impressive too.
One night we had a stew of sorts made in a huge dutch oven style pot. It was yummy and many bowls were had by all....especially Jake
Another meal was in Ken's new humongous smoker. He made a rubbed pork loin that was AMAZING!!!!! Zach was the one who ate his weight in meat this meal.
We also ate the traditional burgers and brats for meals too. It doesn't matter what it is, it all tastes better when you're camping!
As entertainment, there was lots of bike riding..
Games....
Exploring...
On the 5th we went to the beach and met Carrie and her family with their boat. Andy and Emily worked on waterskiing. Andy did really well for his first time out!
Beach Bums....
What's camping without s'mores?
On the 6th it got way too hot for us. It's always a nice 75* degrees until the weekend of the 4th then WHAM 90+ degrees the entire 4th weekend. We got too hot and headed into town to cool off. We went to Evan's Plunge for the afternoon then laid in the air conditioning until we got the call supper was almost ready.
Yes we are bums like that in the heat.
That night when Zach was headed from our tent to grandma and grandpa's camper, he let out a fear incited scream and did a nice dance while yelling my name. Luke was shining a light and there was this bazaar bug that was creepy looking and FAST!! Wayne's first instinct was to step on it while I yelled for Andy to grab a cup or bug catcher for me. We herded it in, took and posted some pictures and researched the net. We found it to be a Wind Scorpion or Camel Spider. Many of our friends who had served overseas were impressed to see it in SD and said they had seen them often in Afghanistan much bigger (than their hands).
We were intrigued and kept it. It sawed its food while secreting an enzyme that dissolved guts and bones to liquid that it could suck out leaving an empty shell of its food. We fed it countless flies. It was neat to watch.
We kept it until it died....twice!
The first time it laid eggs then played dead for two days before coming back to life starved half to death. At the end of summer it died AGAIN and we gto nervous the eggs would hatch and get everywhere so we disposed of them.
The next day Wayne and I took the convertible Mustang (my fav) for a ride around the lake. We went on a short hike up to an outlook. It was nice.
That night we got word that a storm with 80mph winds and large hail was headed for us. 5 campsites were very quickly packed down and caravaned out. The storm didn't hit town, and I never did hear if it hit the campsite, but better safe than sorry.
We headed out and had a game night in Hot Springs then went to church in the morning. I love the church nursery.
Another camping trip in the books!!
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