Day I and II of Thanksgiving adventures.

On Tuesday morning we loaded the dog truck and headed west to spend Thanksgiving with Arlyn's family! We had a somewhat hairy (snowy) drive until central Wisconsin, then the roads were dry. We did stop for a romp at the Neceda Wildlife Refuge near Stevens Point which was quite pretty. Arly didn't get any photos there as it was nearly dark by then.

We made it to Austin MN, home to Hormel, and of course Spam.  
Wally had never been in a motel before.

It's a long drive to central South Dakota so on Wednesday
we stopped in Sioux Falls to hike the trails at the Great Bear ski hill. 
Arlyn and Sandy moved from SF in 1995 and the city operated
ski area has since added hiking and ski trails to their menu.

We've been cooped up too long!

We stopped by the grooming shed to chat with operators
but didn't find anyone around, but the door was open!

The view from the top.  This is pretty.

Now in Chamberlain SD at Arly's folks home. 
Ya Charmaign, we don't ever get any hugs at our house.

We had LOTS of fun here.

I tried to be on my best behavior, but as you know that's hard for me.

Hey! I got to meet Herb's dogs. This is Jake.

And that's Kate.

We made each other nervous, until we got to know each other better.

Oh ya, now we can romp.

Maybe we can help out on the farm!

It's always fun to get to meet new dogs.

And puppies! Ty and Stella have 2 blue heeler-border collie pups.
(Well one of them is her folks' pup...)

Wally was glad to not be the littlest or youngest for a change.

Do you know how much I like visiting?

Arly didn't manage to get photos from Thanksgiving dinner at Marla's. Lame!

Anyway, we kept things spiced up at Aronson's.

On Friday, we had to get out and go for a serious hike.

We checked out the shore of the Missouri.
This is looking south from the interstate bridge.

Oh dear! I got gumbo mud stuck in my pads.

We saw quite a few migrating geese while in S.D.
This area is a major fly-way.

Brr! The river was quite chilly.

We found a friendly hiker.

We're always so glad to meet a new friend!

You can imagine what it was like for the Lewis & Clark expedition.

We were lucky to have a nearly calm day.

We checked out some interesting rocks.

OK, let's head to lunch then back to the farm.