Apple Creek, Here We Come!

The grass has gotten greener, and trees trying to bud, but only ever so slowly. This weekend it was rainy and chilly, barely reaching 40. But Joe and I were determined to fish Apple Creek, our first time this season. Joe's truck Rado's very first time, too. The above picture shows the road we wanted to take completely submerged under water, all thanks to beavers. We had to take a 45-minute detour, which was an adventure enough.
Finally we got to the river, and my first cast got me a keeper Brown trout (about 11"). Then later at the same hole I pulled a larger Brown (13"), while Joe had no luck. 

Both our rain jackets were soaked, and finger tips numb. It was time to move on.

At the falls Joe nailed this beautiful 18" Steelhead. He rarely lets me outfish him. Despite the weather and detour, we were glad to be back at Apple Creek once again. This fishing adventure reminded us how lucky to have such a wonderful bundle of natural beauty, from various trees, rocks, hills, streams to the Big Lake, all so close to home.

Art Delivery & Yakiniku

At the very beginning of our wild west trip, I had an important delivery to make. The oil painting that had been in its making for... a long time, finally got completed. It made it to its new home, by which this exact river flows. 
Now that I said good-bye to the Yellow River, it's time to paint new pieces.

The weather is not all that cheerful outside... back to 40s and rain predicted for the weekend. We had a couple of warm days mid-week in 60s, so Joe insisted on our first Japanese BBQ of the season on Tuesday. Oh, how we missed the taste of summer....

Road Trip Part 3

Very soon on our trip we realize pictures just don't do justice. The Black Hills was like traveling in the Lord of the Rings. Instead of horse riding, we had our Subaru. Quite an adventure to celebrate its 3 year anniversary.
Another memorable moment was viewing the Mount Rushmore Memorial in the fog. We definitely got to see our own Mt. Rushmore unlike any postcard pictures we'd seen.

Throughout our travel we encountered many animals in the wild, from buffalo, antelope, mule deer, to a majestic big horn sheep in distance, and Joe was quite content, mentioning the only thing we hadn't seen was the montain goat, leaving the foggy Mt. Rushmore parking areas. Just then 3 mountain goats appeared on the roadside! 

It was a wonderful adventure, worth every mile and minute being on the road, though the 7 days are all in a blurr. Somewhere along the way we celebrated our anniversary.

We came home 2 nights ago, after a grand total of 2223 miles round trip. It almost feels like a dream... now we are back to work as normal to pay for our trip and more adventures in the future. We drooled over a few nice looking trout streams over there, even spotted some fish in the water, so we really want to go back and spend more time in each place.

Road Trip Part 2

It's been an exciting adventure out west, though time is fast running out like no other vacation. We got to see some wildlife as promised, including buffalo.  Our first encounter was by far the closest.

Today we left the Custer State Park area to head back east. Our drizzly chilly cold weather reflected on how sad we were to have to leave....
Tomorrow is another day for 10 hours of driving.

Road Trip Part 1

We've been on the road westward for 2 days... and still not all the way there, yet! After many hours of flat land, just as we thought it would never end, we crossed the Missouri, in a blink, then we made it to the Badlands. What a crazy out-of-this-world experience! 

We are staying in Interior, a town of sixty some people nearby, which itself is quite an experience. Hoping to catch a sunrise in this most strange and wonderful place tomorrow morning. 

May 1st?

We woke up on this first day of May to a snow- covered morning. Only expected to get up to 3 inches, but currently it is snowing pretty good. Tonight after work we will be packing the Subaru, all ready to roll early in the morning. We better not have to do it in snow!