I recently returned from a two week vacation. My family and I had the pleasure of spending a week on a lake with my husband’s folks. It was beautiful. The weather was great! Not too hot, not too cool. Of course there were the mosquitoes but when we were on the boat (which was a large part of the time) they didn’t bother us. I turned off my cell phone, there was no internet and no cable TV, and it was glorious! I felt little to no stress or worry the entire week.

Fishing isn’t something I just go do. I will fish when the opportunity arises however, and I kept up with the “boys” and caught my fair share. We had a big fish fry one night and ate a lot of our catch. I was not involved at all in the cleaning of the fish (nor in the unhooking of them for that matter), I left

that up to those with stronger stomachs! My kids had a great time catching the fish also. But one of the coolest things we got to see were turtles laying eggs! Ellie, my daughter, had the best time watching the turtles climb the hill behind our cabin, dig holes and lay eggs. We also encountered many other wild animals: herons, loons, bald eagles, osprey, bowfin (very large fish) with swarms of their babies (fishlets?), deer, and a pair of mallard ducks that hung out in our little bay every night.

After our week at the lake, the grandparents took the kids back to Kansas with them and Seth and I were FREE to do some roaming on our own. We took the slow way home through North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. We visited historical sites, wineries, and took only back-road highways, no interstates. We did visit one cemetery on our trip (I have no ancestors that I know of yet across these states). We visited historic Mount Moriah Cemtery in Deadwood, South Dakota, where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried. The entire way we saw the most beautiful scenery and ended our trip by watching fireworks at Devil’s Tower.

What does all of this have to do with genealogy? Maybe not much, however, it was a great time cultivating relationships with LIVING family members. But also, it was a great time to just relax, enjoy the beautiful scenery that makes up our country.