Badlands National Park

Anyone driving Interstate 90 through South Dakota will see sign after sign advertising Wall Drug. When Mom and Dad drove us kids to Minnesota we just had to stop. 

Don't bother unless you can't live without a $125 mounted jack-a-lope or a coffee mug. Or anything else you really don't need.

Badlands National Park. You gotta love the name.

We were surprised that we saw life in this beautiful and desolate landscape

Big Horn sheep posed for us at one of the pull outs.

One of my highlights were meeting these people who were moving from San Diego to Minnesota. With their chickens. My parents had done the opposite. With their children.

The tours for this facility were closed for the day. We had visited the Titan Missile Museum in Arizona a few years ago and saw these remnants from the Cold War.

Tim, Renee, Debbie, Bruce, Traci, Tammy, Doug

Our farewell dinner

Bye Bye Tammy! Until next time! 

We left South Dakota and traveled through southern Wyoming to our next destination: Utah. This was another memory of those bi-annual driving trips to Minnesota. It was a treat to stop at Little America on Hwy 80 for ice cream. We stopped and I went in for an ice-cream and asked the lady where all the action was. She said "this is it". Funny how things seemed so much bigger when you are so much smaller.

The Black Hills of South Dakota

In the southwest corner of South Dakota are the Black Hills. It was named such because as the pioneers traveled west across the flat prairie lands the mountainous region stuck up like black hills in the distance. They are full of color and wildlife of all types.
Driving on Iron Mountain Rd to Mount Rushmore Memorial was twisting and turning with circular bridges to bring you to a lower elevation.

As you come out of a tunnel you see the famous sculpture in the distance. 

The entrance is impressive with all the States flags lining the walkway.

There is a walk up closer to the Monument and goes to a visitors area that shows the prototype of the Monument. You can see what the original design was compared to what was completed.

We were so thirsty we needed to stop for a drink. SoTammy and Tim did wine tasting, I had a beer flight.

I didn't realize this type of tent was a real thing you can buy. I thought they had thought this contraption up on their own. Crazy entry with a ladder. No way Jose.

So many people asked us if we would be visiting the worlds largest carving: Crazy Horse Memorial. Only 17 miles from Mt Rushmore, Chief Henry Standing Bear wanted the white man to know that the Lakota Indians had hero's too and commissioned a sculptor that had worked on the presidents nearby.This was the intended design, huge in comparison to the Mt Rushmore

You can see the drawing superimposed onto the rock

The carving began in 1948 and is far from completion. The family has succeeded in capturing an audience while doing minimal work. The endeavor is privately owned and a non-profit raising money from admission and gift shop sales. Is it really what the Lakota intended?

Another great drive in Custer State Park in the Needles Hwy.

Here is a good view of the eye of the Needle

We were camped just outside of Custer State Park for a week. This is Sylvan Lake were we took an amazing hike. It was rated moderate for most of the hike, with a few challenging areas.

We followed a river and had to cross it several times balancing on fallen trees and strategically placed stones. I'm not one for balance and my walking sticks sure came in handy for most of the hike.

At the end of our hike, beginning if you are going counter-clockwise, these handrails allow you pull yourself up the rocks while the stream flows beside and beneath you.

Four miles later we had completed the Sylvan Lake hike. Highly recommended

During our several drives through Custer State Park we saw abundant wildlife.

Creepy

Many many gophers. 

This was our side of the road picnic spot

The view from the fire lookout was a great way to see the areas we had visited. Through the stationary binoculars we could even see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse

Tammy and I kayaked Center Lake

I love that this buffalo posed in front of the Education Center.

Nemo and Deadwood

Friends of ours own this lovely property in Nemo, SD where we were fortunate to spend a few nights and tour the area. I would say this area was just about my favorite part of the Black Hills area of South Dakota. This is the view from our front window

 

 

This was the view out our door. There is a creek that runs below the tree line where we spent time relaxing and watching Molly try to catch fish.

Driving down a dirt road about a mile is where this spruce tree had been planted to replace the one taken for display at the White House.

 Deadwood, SD is a wonderful little tourist town. We've been to many and typically they are all the same, restaurants and gift shops. Deadwood is that way too, but a lot of the gift shops were almost museum-like with interesting artifacts. And they have casinos, that made it feel like you were in an old cowboy town's gambling hall. It was neat.

Although you could drive down the main road, no parking was allowed. This added to the good vibe.

The small mining town of Lead, SD is a mile down the road.This is an elevator shaft that carried workers into the mine.

 

Lead's visitors center showcases a facility for experiments on neutrinos, dark matter and other nuclear physics topics. It was beyond my comprehension.