Cheryl Scott Sheinin, retired after 45 years in the BJ Finance Department, and husband Neil Sheinin, a former BJ staffer, spent a glorious two weeks enjoying America’s majesty.

That included trees, trees, trees.

And the Sioux Falls, South Dakota Falls, Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Badlands National Park (I’ve been there, on my way to a job as the one-man reporting staff for the Glendive, Montana Daily Ranger that lasted 5 weeks), Devil’s Tower National Monument and Mount Rushmore and the lesser-known but equally impressive Crazy Horse Memorial.

Her return home isn’t too shabby either, since she frequents Portage Lakes.

Cheryl and Neil will celebrate their 37^th wedding anniversary AND Cheryl’s birthday on September 29. That was very accommodating of Neil to let Cheryl get married on her birthday. Or was it a way for Neil to buy ONE present for both a wedding anniversary and a birthday? J

Cheryl is a Garfield High graduate. Neil is a baseball aficionado. He threw out the first pitch at a 2012 Akron Aeros baseball game (they are the RubberDucks now, but still play minor league ball in Canal Park). In two decades he made his way to 350 baseball stadia, mostly in minor league parks.

Cheryl was good friends with the late BJ security guard Anna Nitz, even attending the spreading of Anna’s ashes into the Atlantic off South Carolina.

Let Cheryl discuss their trip, which she emailed to me at my request:

“Neil and I had a super nice vacation heading West.  Neil has bought trees from the Arbors Day Foundation for more than 10 years for friends to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries or for memorials and in appreciation they offered us a two-day stay in their Lied Lodge at the Arbor Day farm in Nebraska City, Nebraska.

"So many trees! We took a tractor-pulled tour of the area and had some great meals at the lodge. The farm features eco-friendly reusable power sources.

“We then journeyed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to visit the Pettigrew Home (U.S. Senator and land owner in South Dakota) and the Falls in Sioux Falls that is compared to Cuyahoga Falls in terms of the size of the falls but has a huge, beautiful park around the falls.

“From there we went on to Williston, North Dakota to visit the Lewis and Clark museum.

“Then to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and got some nice pictures and saw many of the park animals in their natural surroundings. Bison, Prairie Dog 'villages,' mule deer and wild horses.

“Devil’s Tower was our next stop. We stayed in the Devil’s Tower Lodge Bed and Breakfast with a view of the Tower from every room.

"Took pictures of climbers on the tower …. no way!!

"Devils Tower is a laccolithic butte composed of igneous rock in the Bear Lodge Mountains near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River.

"In September 1906 Devil’s Tower was named a National monument by Theodore Roosevelt. A sacred place for many Indian tribes.

“On to Custer, South Dakota, 20 miles from Mount Rushmore Memorial and Crazy Horse Memorial.

"Drove to Custer State Park where we traveled the Needles Highway and Wildlife Loop. Needles features stone spires 300+ feet high. Narrow tunnels you have to inch through and again natural wildlife roaming around the area.

"Bison, mountain goats, longhorn sheep and again Prairie Dog 'villages' and wild burros that came right up to our cars and one stuck his head in my window.

“Last stop was Badlands National Park with spectacular views of rock formations and flat lands. Again the animals were in their natural habitat. Adding to our list of spotted wildlife we saw the pronghorn antelope and Rocky Mountain Big Horn sheep.

“A great 2-week vacation but always good to get home …. traveled cross-country and first travel holdup was when we got back to Ohio and had more than an hour delay on the turnpike.

“Cheryl           

   “May you always have a shell in your pocket and sand between your toes. “