Day 21– Future

In just a few short weeks, not too long into the future I will be returning back to Minnesota and North Dakota to visit family, celebrate my grandparents 65th wedding anniversary (which is actually today, June 21st, 2012!!! WOW!), a summer wedding in Medora, North Dakota and a 90th birthday! Here are some treasured memories of my visits out to these parts of the states, and I look forward to the new ones in the future! Who knew you could have so much fun in these states? 🙂

Minnehaha Falls, always a fun little hike in the city!!

Minnehaha Falls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out on Lake Susan visiting at a cousin’s house. Shown: Grandpa with his 2 sisters that are still living.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More of Lake Susan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Susan. So pretty!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunsets on Lake Susan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More sunsets on Lake Susan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer wedding in Stillwater.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stillwater

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weddings are always fun when you end up in a different state…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good-times in Medora, ND. An old western town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep! They even have horse and carriage rides still… that’s how western of a town it is. I LOVE it!! 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medora, ND.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medora Post Office!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medora… such a cute little town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Painted Canyons. So beautiful and so fun to go trail riding on! Can’t wait for my next ride in these here hills! Yee-haw! Much different from all this flat stuff we call “trails” out here in Cali!! LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WILD. YES WILD horses we saw when out trail riding!! They still have wild horses running about in North Dakota!! Along with buffalo, prairie dogs, elk, deer and lots of other amazing wild life!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORE wild horses!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prairie Dogs!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buffalo and BABY buffalo!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awwwwwww look at the cute buffalo!! (Just as long as you don’t get too close and make anyone mad…. don’t want anyone to stampede or charge at you. 😉

Futuristic bikes… I think Mary, from Along Comes Mary, should learn to ride this bike!! 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or this one… 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great-Aunt Betty knows how to have a good time on the river cruise with her beer (ROOT-beer that is….).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh Canada…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite girl out in North Dakota to hang out with to go out on a ride with. Aero! *DISCLAIMER* This picture shows you what NOT to do when riding…. lol. You should ALWAYS wear closed-toe shoes with a heel if possible and a helmet!! Long pants are always a plus to, but as I had gone for a swim and was in a hurry to get one last ride in before we had to head for the airport, and my riding gear was all packed up ready to go; I just hopped on and went for a quick ride. I know this horse very well, and am a fairly experienced rider, so it worked out for that situation in that moment in time. 😛

For anyone out there that thought there is nothing to see or do out in Minnesota or North Dakota, now you see just a handful of fun opportunities waiting for you out in them here states! So get out there in the great outdoors!! 🙂 I sure cannot wait to see what fun this next trip will bring! <3

Day 20- Present

I’m presently helping to take care of my friend’s horse Dakota this summer while she is away. Say Hello to Dakota!! Here he is anxiously waiting for his treats! Can you tell how hungry he is?? LOL He wants his treats!!

 

 

Day 14–Jumping

Day 14–Jumping

By Erin

One of my most favorite things to do on this planet is riding horses, especially jumping competitively. I do miss this terribly! Taking lessons and showing have been a big part of my life.  I really hope to be able to afford my own horse someday that has the ability to do what I want to do as you are only as good as your horse, since you can’t exactly jump these jumps for your horse! Your horse has to have the ability, talent, scope, heart and desire to jump what I’d like to do.  I’d love to at least show in a mini grand prix someday and try some more medal classes. Until then catch riding what I can will have to do.  Jumping with a horse is like flying without wings. It’s an amazing feeling.  😉

Here are some other horse quotes that I love. 😀

There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.  ~Winston Churchill

Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.  ~W.C. Fields

Riding:  The art of keeping a horse between you and the ground.  ~Author Unknown

It is not enough for a man to know how to ride; he must know how to fall.  ~Mexican Proverb

The wagon rests in winter, the sleigh in summer, the horse never.  ~Yiddish Proverb

Many people have sighed for the ‘good old days’ and regretted the ‘passing of the horse,’ but today, when only those who like horses own them, it is a far better time for horses.  ~C.W. Anderson

No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle.  ~Winston Churchill

People on horses look better than they are.  People in cars look worse than they are.  ~Marya Mannes

Horses and children, I often think, have a lot of the good sense there is in the world.  ~Josephine Demott Robinson

It’s always been and always will be the same in the world:  The horse does the work and the coachman is tipped.  ~Author Unknown

Heaven is high and earth wide.  If you ride three feet higher above the ground than other men, you will know what that means.  ~Rudolf C. Binding

He knows when you’re happy
He knows when you’re comfortable
He knows when you’re confident
And he always knows when you have carrots.
~Author Unknown

The wind of heaven is that which blows between a horse’s ears.  ~Arabian Proverb

Ah, steeds, steeds, what steeds!  Has the whirlwind a home in your manes?  Is there a sensitive ear, alert as a flame, in your every fiber?  Hearing the familiar song from above, all in one accord you strain your bronze chests and, hooves barely touching the ground, turn into straight lines cleaving the air, and all inspired by God it rushes on!  ~Nikolai V. Gogol, Dead Souls, 1842, translated from Russian (above is combination of translations by Bernard Guildert Guerney, Richard Peaver, and Larisa Voloklonsky)

To ride a horse is to ride the sky.  ~Author Unknown

There is no secret so close as that between a rider and his horse.  ~Robert Smith Surtees, “Chapter XXX: Bolting the Badger,” Mr. Sponge’s Sporting Tour, 1853

A horse loves freedom, and the weariest old work horse will roll on the ground or break into a lumbering gallop when he is turned loose into the open.  ~Gerald Raferty

I bless the hoss from hoof to head –
From head to hoof, and tale to mane! –
I bless the hoss, as I have said,
From head to hoof, and back again!
~James Whitcomb Riley

Horses are uncomfortable in the middle and dangerous at both ends.  ~Attributed to both Christopher Stone and Ian Fleming

It’s a lot like nuts and bolts – if the rider’s nuts, the horse bolts!  ~Nicholas Evans

A lovely horse is always an experience…. It is an emotional experience of the kind that is spoiled by words.  ~Beryl Markham