the manny chronicles

once upon a time, manny went on a roadtrip to the black hills of south dakota. he was concerned he would be cold because hardly anyone makes manny-sized coats and gloves in nebraska, but he loved the weather much more than he thought he would.

^ you learn something new every day... manny discovered his love of coffee on the road. we had to make sure he didn't get up in the middle of the night to sneak a cup... silly manny. he said it kept him warm.

^ between cups of java, he did crossword puzzles obsessively.

^ he also spent quite a bit of the trip plotting our route and pointing out landmarks...

^ ...like carhenge. manny thought it was pretty groovy. he didn't know nebraska had such artistic genius close at hand.

^ manny thought rapid city was very quaint. he liked the old west feel, and the statues on every corner.

^ he was thrilled to see thomas jefferson with the declaration of independence... manny is all about freedom and democracy.

^ so of course he had to read it aloud for all the passersby... oh manny, sometimes you embarrass me.

^ he had to pose with george bush, fellow texan, and point to his hometown (manvel, texas). manny is always proud of his texas heritage!

 

^ manny loved posing with his second favorite president, ronald reagan (only surpassed by jefferson). and of course he started reciting reagan all day long... one of his favorite quotes is, "there are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. we must have the courage to do what we know is morally right." manny was so thrilled that we stayed in a hotel where reagan once stayed!

 

^ manny decided to give his legs a break and hang out in john adams' outstretched hand.

 ^ manny wanted to pose with every statue in sight... this was another one of his favorites.

^ manny fell asleep in the car on the way to mount rushmore (probably from all that coffee that kept him up half the night)... he missed going inside, but we stopped on the side of the road when you could still see the monument from a distance. he was practically jumping for joy... so much thomas jefferson in one trip!

 

^ as we made our way up into the mountains, manny had to make a snow angel when we first ran into deep enough snow. he said he's made lots of nebraska snow angels, but never a south dakota snow angel! thankfully there was abundant snow all week for LOTS of snow angels.

^ checking out bridal veil falls. manny gives it 7 out of 10 stars... he was disappointed we didn't have time to hike in to see roughluck falls. he was hoping it would be a 10-star falls.

^ manny wanted to go swimming... but i told him he might get hypothermia and his wood would start to crack. he didn't ask again.

^ manny was super excited about our climb up harney peak. he was even more excited when he discovered how many manny-sized trees there were along the trail!

^ our first lookout over the hills... he was pretty scared he would fall off the edge, but he summoned up enough courage to "pose for posterity." what inner fortitude.

^ (he made me include this one too... he likes how you can see the snow blowing around him.)

 

^ his little legs got tired pretty fast, so he made dan carry him most the way up the mountain. and yet he still claims that he "climbed a mountain" this week... silly manny...

^ manny-sized spruce cones! he was pleased as a peach to see so many things just his size.

^ oh manny, getting bold all of a sudden... he decided to take up rock climbing. that lasted for about two minutes, when he realized how high up he was and became terrified.

^ he got stuck for about ten minutes while he was too scared to move... i had to rescue him. 

 

^ he heaved a sign of relief and said, "thank goodness for you giants!"

^ he was enthralled by the icicles...until one fell on him and almost knocked off his good hand!

^ manny wanted to explore this "cave," but got a little afraid of the dark and came out soon.

^ "sunshine!!"

^ he discovered that downed trees make excellent slides.

^ manny had to read all of the options to decide which direction to go. he was afraid "grizzly no. 7" would be full of grizzly bears, so we kept going on trail no. 9.

^ finally - the summit! it was so windy that manny couldn't even stand up... he had to sit back to enjoy the view. he thought he could see his hometown, manvel, texas. (i didn't have the heart to tell him it was all just south dakota.)

 

 ^ we were all exhausted when we got back to rapid city... time for some old movies. manny wanted to watch "man from snowy river" because he thought it might be about one of his relatives.

^ the next morning, we headed back to nebraska. manny kept himself busy writing to friends and family across the country. he just had to brag about his mountain trekking experience - he is the first in his family to ever summit such a high peak.

^ we stopped at the edge of the badlands to stretch our legs and enjoy the view.

^ manny wanted to climb another mountain, but he got over that pretty fast when dan said he wouldn't carry him most of the way up.

^ more sightseeing out the window... manny liked the badlands from inside the car where he was out of danger of being knocked down by a tumbleweed.

^ manny decided the badlands are called "bad" because there aren't many places to stop for coffee.

^ he worked on his photography throughout the trip... he wanted to have lots of pictures to send back to manvel, texas.

^ we took a lunch break in valentine, nebraska, and manny decided to leave bigfoot tracks in the snow.

^ manny and i went exploring while dan was fly fishing, and he was intrigued by the dam and rushing water, until he almost fell in... silly manny.

^ he found a treasure to add to his collection of memories from our trip. he thought it was some kind of rare prairie flower... i didn't tell him it was just a peacock feather.

^ he just now insisted i take a picture of him with his favorite souvenir from our trip - a manny-sized musket.

overall, manny decided that although the midwest is not as cool as texas and its glorious landscapes, the black hills have their highlights. he would come back again and traverse another mountain. manny gives sodak 8 out of 10 stars.