Black Hills

Well, we left Iowa, the tornados, and Sioux Falls on July 5th.  Hard to leave Laura Lee,  but now that I know I can fly without too much stress, I may not have to wait til next summer to see her again! 

David at Chamberlain, SD Visitor Center

Chamberlain, SD overlook

Stopped at a visitor center in Chamberlain, SD that had a gorgeous view of the hills and the Missouri River.  Lewis and Clark info, as well. Worth a stop if you ever get through there.  They are kinda cautious about their poisonous snakes, tho.  Saw quite a bit of tornado damage on that route – from the same ones we experienced in Iowa.  Quite a massive storm system. We headed on west and spent one night in Wall, SD.  Fun little spot.  Jerri had warned me not to break my neck getting pix of Wall Drug signs on the way.  She said there would be plenty.  Sure enough, we counted 88 from Sioux Falls to Wall!  And each one was different.  So that was fun.  Got a good glimpse of some Badlands around Wall.  And some rolling green hills as well.

Wall Drug 

 Only took us about an hr to see everything we wanted to see at Wall Drug.  Most of that time was spent climbing on and off that jackelope!  Kinda frustrating wrestling the 9 year olds for a turn at that thing. Lol

Custer's Gulch Rv Park

Custer's Gulch Bunny

Flower from David

7-6-10:  We got to Custer, SD.  Beautiful drive over here.  Saw a lot of signs with flashing yellow lights that warn of big horn sheep in the road.  Didn't see the sheep yet, just the signs. The Black Hills are beautiful!  Very woodsy.  I prefer that to the Badlands. David found us a great little rv park called Custer's Gulch.  Close to so many of the things we want to see. And got the name because Custer once “bivouac'd” here.  Not sure I spelled it right. 

Custer State Park

Custer SP bison

I guess it was their road

Big ole fella

7-7-10:  This morning we drove through Custer State Park.  Very pretty!!  Great campgrounds there, too.  We got stopped by a herd of buffalo for about 15 minutes or so.  Had traffic a little backed up.  We picked up a couple of bicyclists until we got through the herd.  The buffalo were starting to get a little too close to them. So they tossed their bikes in the back of our truck and sat back there a little while. We had passed them riding their bikes up those hills and they made us sick. It's disgusting for someone to be that fit!  But they were pretty nice when they were riding in the back of the truck and not exercising.  One buffalo decided to scratch his head on the front of someone's minivan.  Cute. But that couple in the minivan did not seem amused.

Our first glimpse of Mt Rushmore

Our first glimpse of Mt. Rushmore came at a little turnout.  Really exciting to see it for the first time!  Tho it was at a distance, it was an awesome view!  A lady from Spirit Lake/Okoboji, IA took mine and David's pic together there.

On the way up the mountain

Black Hills on the way to Mt. Rushmore

Black Hills around Mt. Rushmore

Black Hills

Mt. Rushmore

Tunnel on way to Rushmore

David on way to Rushmore

Many addt'l great views on the way.  Going in the park was nice and up close.

Getting Closer

And closer

Inside the Park

The guys up close

George

 I think my fave part of that was being in a Minneapolis family's photo.  I was standing reading the sign that listed all the men who worked on the monument – I always like to read those for Goff's and McClintock's – when a man tapped me on the shoulder and said “excuse me?  We are trying to take a picture here.” I apologized and then said, “you don't want me in the shot?”  So he pulled me in to the pictures.  His wife took pix of me, him, and their 2 daughters.  He said I'd be forever in their posterity.  We never swapped names, so I'm not sure how they'll refer to me when they show those pix to their peeps. We did tell each other where we're from, so they may just call me Texas – among other things.  I could kick myself for not having her take pix with my camera, too.

Pigtail Bridge

Washington's Profile behind the park

Behind Mt Rushmore

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse Statue w/Monument in Background

Loved all the tunnels and pigtail bridges on that drive around Mt. Rushmore.  Very scenic.  Went on to the Crazy Horse monument.  We just kinda went there half-heartedly.  We can see it from the road and it didn't thrill us.  But, WOW!  That is really neat and has a wonderful story with it.  They began the blasting for that one in 1948 and it's still not even near completion.  The face is done.  But they still lack the arm, the horse, etc.  No telling how long it'll be before it's finished.  Great, great, grandchildren may see the finished product. I don't know.  We were blown away by the size of it. It dwarfs the Washington monument and Statue of Liberty.  All 4 prez heads put together at Mt.Rushmore are smaller than Crazy's head.  If you go there, make sure you watch the 20 minute movie about it all. Or google it ahead of time.........

Lake Pactola in SD

Bird at Lake Pactola

7-8-10:  Went to Deadwood, SD via hwy 385.  Saw Lake Pactola – gorgeous.

Homestake Open Cut Gold Mine in Lead, SD

After Deadwood, went to Lead (pronounced Leed), SD and saw the Homestake Open Cut Gold Mine.  Pretty awesome deal! You should prob google an aerial view.

Spearfish Canyon Drive

Spearfish Canyon Drive

Spearfish Canyon Drive

 Took the Spearfish Canyon Drive – beautiful!!

Dances With Wolves filmsite

Bluffs where ending was filmed

 Took a little backroad there and saw the Dances With Wolves film site.  Remember the bluff where the Indian guy was saying “bye” to Kevin Costner and his woman as they were riding off?  That was the spot.

Spearfish Canyon waterfall

hillside on the way to WY

daytrip to WY

Wyoming 

David in WY

 Drove to Newcastle, WY.  Saw some antelope in the wild.  Took the Hell Canyon Drive – looks like there was a fire in that part of the forest. Still quite pretty!

Wind Cave Herd

Backscratch

Antelop

7-9-10:   Took the Wind Cave Nat'l Park drive.  Saw more buffalo and antelolpe in the wild. 

Prairie Dog

And several prairie dog villages – sooo cute!  

Digging at Mammoth Site

Mammoth digs

Hot Springs, SD Mammoth Site

Mammoth Site

Mammoth

Went to Hot Springs, SD to the Mammoth Site.  Very interesting story.  I stayed outside with Rocky and didn't see it.  But David said it was worth the visit.

Wild Donkey in Custer SP

More Wild Donkeys in Custer SP

Went back through Wind Cave drive and hit the Custer State Park Wildlife Loop.  Between Wind Cave and Custer S.P. , I think this was my fave drive that we've had so far.  So beautiful!  Saw wild donkeys. They came up to the cars. Rocky was so wanting to get out of the car when we got to them. I guess it brought back memories of his donkey friends from Ingram. 

Custer SP Bison

Saw a huge herd of buffalo, hundreds.

Buffalo hunting

Rocky sure can sniff out the buffalo!  He was always alerted to them before we could see them. 

Picnic in Custer SP

Stockade Lake

Stockade Lake

David picked a great place for a picnic in Custer State Park.  Then we drove around Stockade Lake.  So many pretty lakes up this way!  Would love to see them in winter!

Black Hill train ride

Checking Credentials

Scene from train

Coming round the bend

 Arrival

Black Hills Steam Engine

Biker alongside our train

We have one more week here.  I think we've done most of the touristy stuff we had planned.  Next week, we may ride the train from Hill City to Keystone. 

Wind Cave Drive

Wind Cave drive

Storm coming in over rv park in Custer

Hailstorm

Hail

Hail in the woods behind our camper

SD Hail

Other than that, hopefully get in some golf, ride bikes,  and walk around Custer, SD.  Great trip!

On to Yellowstone from here...................


Becky

“I will return to you in stone”   --- Crazy Horse