BADLANDS

So....even before we crossed the border from Wyoming into South Dakota, we started seeing these signs advertising "Wall Drug". I mean, there were a MILLION of them! Apparently, back in the 1800s, they were this little drug store out in the middle of the dusty prairie that had this genius idea of offering free ice water to customers. I guess it made them famous. It's now a full block long. They have western clothing, a restaurant, a multitude of tourist-trap-type souvenier shops, a restaurant, an arcade a bookstore, and tons more. They have 5¢ coffee and homemade donuts...

After that slightly odd experience, we went to the Badlands. Imagine living back in the 1800s and riding your horse along the prairie, which looks like this...

...and all of a sudden, you come upon this....
It's very odd. Standing at the edge, if you turn around, it's all green prairie grass, and turn around again and it's this beautiful canyon of red and yellow and white rock.

This cute bunny was just hanging out at one of the viewpoints.

Ken & Luke at one of the viewpoints. It's always windy there...

Today was our last day in Rapid City. We'll be leaving here in the morning and traveling to Billings. More pics tomorrow!

Love and miss you all!

Are They Bison or Buffalo?

The South Dakota trip continues....

Today we went to Custer State Park and to Wind Cave National Park. Custer State Park had two personalities - one a beautiful, mountainous area, and one a part prairie/part pine tree area. It was very green. LOTS of wildlife. We saw buffalo (or bison, not sure which), prairie dogs, pronghorns (which are like antelope), deer, wild turkeys, and even a vulture (eating roadkill, of course!).


We toured the Wind Cave, which was interesting, but not NEARLY as pretty as Minnetonka Cave.


Here are some pictures.

Luke at Wind Cave Ntl Park

Pennie & Luke getting ready for the cave tour.

Just a small specimen of the wildlife in the region...

Some cute wild burros. They're not native to the area, but are decendents to some burros that used to pull wagons of touristsup to the top of the mountain.

Just some beautiful scenery from the wildlife loop of Custer State Park.

Dead Presidents and Native Americans

Ken, Luke and I are in South Dakota. We arrived yesterday - drove almost 700 miles to get here! Wyoming was sooo boring. But South Dakota is beautiful.

This morning, we went to Crazy Horse Monument. It was a beautiful day, partly cloudy with a bright blue sky and whiter-than-white clouds. But it was really windy and cold. When the wind wasn't blowing, it was nice. So we toured around the monument and saw all that there was to see there, then went to Mount Rushmore. It was more beautiful there than I remembered (I was there when I was about 12.....or so). The wind died down and it was pleasantly warm. We all bought souveneirs - Luke bought a book, Ken bought a pin and I bought some Black Hills Gold - a necklace.

We left Mount Rushmore and went to a little town called Keystone, which is an old wild west town, with saloons, shootouts and tourist traps. As we were walking back to the car, it started to sprinkle. We were traveling the same way as the storm was, and it followed us back to Rapid City. Right now, the sun is shining, but I can hear thunder. We're just resting now, then we'll head out for dinner, then we'll be in for the night.

Miss you all and wish you were here!

Here are some pictures from our day.

Ken & Luke in front of Crazy Horse

Pennie & Luke at Crazy Horse
(Notice the wind!)

We took a bus tour to the base of the monument. WINDY!
There is much work left to be done on the monument...obviously.

This is what the monument will look like
when it's done.

Here we are at Mt Rushmore.