Hills and then mountains.

We arrived in Colorado to some fairly chilly temperatures, but we missed some of the big storms they've had recently. We drove straight up to South Dakota for a few days in the Hills -- Easter at sunrise service at Mt. Rushmore, followed by some nice short hikes at various places with Judi, Shauna, and Shauna's boyfriend Ryan.

Mt. Rushmore, Easter morning

Sunrise service at Mt. Rushmore

One of three waterfalls we visited in one day.

Beautiful day for a hike.

The moon lingering in the mid-morning sky.

Walking around Sylvan Lake.

Hiking in the Hills.

We saw a play and tooled around downtown Rapid.  They now sell the most excellent chocolates at the Alex Johnson -- we chose this maple bacon truffle.

When we went to the ranch, I handily beat Brent at Trivial Pursuit (he will claim it was a close game, but don't listen to him). And then he got sick, and he spent the next day sniffling and sneezing in the basement.

Luckily he was quite a bit better by the time we drove back to Colorado. We landed for a couple of days, then made a five-hour drive to Taos, New Mexico. It's a gorgeous drive through the Rockies, and we lucked out with really great weather.

This was my first trip down there, and I was plenty excited for that alone. But the reason for the visit -- to see two shaman that Brent's mom knows and works with -- was even more spectacular. Our time with them impacted us both and left us with plenty to think about. All good.

Partying with the president.

Last night, we attended the inauguration of a nearby real estate development's beach club.

An open bar attracts a lot of people, so it was definitely THE place to be. Hey, if it's good enough for the President of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, then it's good enough for us.

Stephanie and I with President Martinelli

There was a security detail on the president, but it was quite laid back. He's a very approachable guy, very friendly. I loved it: he's the president, but he's still a human being. The security kept a close watch on him, but gave him space to live his life.

I've never been in the presence of a US president, but from what I gather, it's quite a different situation.

We had a great evening with our friends, and enjoyed a stellar view and great music. There wasn't a lot of food, and our little group got hungry and left. Turns out, we missed out -- everyone said that things really got cranking shortly after we left. I don't think there's any correlation.