Author Archives: jennifer

Day 6: Yellowstone National Park

Posted on July 20, 2011 by jennifer

Day 6 found us waking up in our little apartment at Pahaska Teepee Resort. Our accommodations were the top floor of a large cabin with 5 sleeping accommodations. Ours was actually 3 bedrooms plus a bathroom: one with 2 Queens … Continue reading →

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Day 5: Devil’s Tower & Driving to Yellowstone

Posted on July 18, 2011 by jennifer

Day 5 was mostly a travel day, but there are a few things worth noting. On our way to Yellowstone, we detoured an hour or so our of our way to stop at Devil’s Tower National Monument. Our annual Park … Continue reading →

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Day 4: Mount Rushmore & Custer State Park

Posted on July 17, 2011 by jennifer

Day 4 brought low clouds and fog with the promise of thunderstorms in the afternoon: not ideal weather for a second attempt at viewing a mountainside. We dilly-dallied a bit in the morning, hoping the fog would lift. Eventually, it … Continue reading →

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Day 3: Wonderful Wall Drug

Posted on July 15, 2011 by jennifer

After hiking the slump trail in the Badlands in the morning, we headed back to Route 90 toward Rapid City, SD. If you’ve ever driven Route 90, you know the Wall Drug billboards. I read that Wall Drug spends $400,000 … Continue reading →

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Day 2: Beautiful Badlands, SD

Posted on July 14, 2011 by jennifer

One of my purposes in blogging this trip is to have a record of it, in photos and words. Our family will enjoy re-reading these posts over the years to come. I also want to give friends and family the … Continue reading →

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Day 1: Serendipitous Sioux Falls, SD

Posted on July 13, 2011 by jennifer

Scheduled to depart at 10:00 am, we pulled out of the driveway at 11:08 am, excellent timing for the Merck family! We’re off on our next trek of the summer. My husband’s company has an amazing sabbatical plan: after 10 … Continue reading →

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Thoughts on His Confirmation, from Mom

Posted on June 6, 2011 by jennifer

This is what I read to Austin on the afternoon of his confirmation: Austin Gray Merck My firstborn. Your arrival made me a mother, which has been the greatest joy and the greatest challenge of my life. Fourteen years later, … Continue reading →

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Thoughts on His Confirmation, from Dad

Posted on June 2, 2011 by jennifer

The next installment of our Confirmation presentations is from my husband and Austin’s father. This is what he read the afternoon of Austin’s Confirmation: On the occasion of your confirmation, I would like to offer a few thoughts about how important … Continue reading →

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The Confirmation of His Baptismal Vows

Posted on May 31, 2011 by jennifer

Our oldest son, Austin, was confirmed last weekend. Hal and I did not grow up in a tradition with confirmation, so this was a new experience for us. We were impressed by how Austin chose to embrace this opportunity to … Continue reading →

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Here I Stand

Posted on February 5, 2011 by jennifer

For several weeks, I’ve been toying with the idea of moving my blog from tumblr to wordpress. Well, today was the day. I don’t have huge volumes of posts, but nevertheless, the move went fairly smoothly. You may see some … Continue reading →

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