My wife and I just returned from an anniversary trip of sorts out west. We traveled with our son and his wife and their family of five kids aged eight years down to sixteen months. The first stop was in the Badlands of South Dakota where we saw a bunch of little prairie dogs and lots of rock structures. They named them the Badlands because no crops or grass for grazing can be grown there. It’s basically a bunch of rocky hills in the middle of nowhere. They are quite beautiful in their own way, and we have stopped off there a few times over the years, so it seemed only fitting to go there with our grandkids. One of the significant parts of a trip to the Badlands is stopping to admire the little prairie dogs. Now these cute little guys are not dogs at all. They look like little groundhogs as they scurry around on the ground popping in and out of their holes. 

Our next major stop was at Mt. Rushmore where the sight of those four great president’s faces carved into the mountain never gets old. Then it was off to Custer State Park where we saw literally hundreds of Buffalo. When we first got to the park we were greeted by some massive bulls who were just hanging out in small groups. We got very close to them as they walked slowly by our vehicles. What surprised me so much was the size of their heads. They were massive. Some of these guys were just meandering down the middle of the road and so the traffic was stopped, and people didn’t really know what to do. When the bulls finally walked by and moved off the road and into the grass, the traffic took off again.

After seeing these sights it was off to Billings, Montana where our sister lives. Her oldest son was having a graduation party, and we wanted to be a part of it. It was a blessing to be able to share in his big day. The day after the party we went to church with my sister, her husband, and all their family. My brother-in-law led the songs, and his sister played a lively piano. It was great to see other believers worshipping just like we do. After church we took off for one of our favorite spots, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming where my wife and I had honeymooned some thirty-nine years earlier. We had been back a few times but never on our anniversary. There we saw hundreds more buffalo once again. There we also saw three huge bull moose who were enjoying the lush green pastures. We were able to take some video of them slowly fording across a river as the sun was setting. It was magnificent. The following day we left the park and drove on to Cody where we stopped to see my ninety-five-year-old Aunt who had been a missionary nurse in Kenya, Africa for over thirty years. We had a great visit before heading off for Colorado Springs where we met back up with our son and his family who had split off to go see our daughter-in-law’s grandpa in Grand Junction, CO. 

We then spent three days seeing the sights of Colorado Springs where my brother pastors a church. We took a couple pretty grueling hikes when we were there. One was at the Great Sand Dunes National Park about an hour and a half southwest of Sprins where all of us down to our sixteen-month-old granddaughter made it to the top of the sand mountain. Nest week I’ll write about a few more of our adventures out west. One thing is for sure God’s creative beauty could be seen everywhere as we traveled along. Psalm 104:24 says How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all. Until next week, God bless!

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Scott Cernek is the pastor of the Peace Bible Church in Browntown.