South Dakota 2011: Part 3

 Our biggest sidetrip from our base in Hill City was into Wyoming! Devil's Tower looked interesting, so westward ho for us.

But it was not our first stop.

Shortly after the state border, there was a state visitor's center, as there so often is. It offered brochures, maps, rest rooms, and free cold water, much appreciated on a hot August day. But there were also signs there for the Vore Buffalo Jump. We had no idea what it was, but it sounded interesting, and besides, buffalo!

It turned out to be absolutely fascinating. The Native Americans had no or few weapons capable of killing  bison, so basically they would chase a herd over a cliff. Yes, it sounds brutal. The exhibit at the bottom of the cliff was incredible. They are still excavating there, after nearly 50 years. The Native Americans used almost every single bit of the bison for something: food, clothing, housing, utensils, just everything.

Then we headed west again,  to Devil's Tower. You can see it from far off and it just looks more and more majestic and incredible the closer you get. 

There are also a lot of prairie dog colonies on the road there!

The Tower is 867 feet or 264 meters high, and truly awe-inspiring.

See what looks like an ant crawling up in that last picture? That is a person, climbing up!

Another wonder of nature which I can only very highly recommend.

Our other outing on another day was to Reptile Gardens, in Rapid City.

 They are best known for the giant tortoises, which are, yes, extremely big and extremely slow.

They used to allow children to ride on the tortoises' backs, but fortunately no longer do that.

They had other reptiles, too. 

We had not expected to see alligators!

They also had a large and thriving prairie dog colony, which was my favourite here.

After our wonderful time here, we flew back to D.C., and then drove to the Tappahannock, Va., area, for a family gathering. My brother and Lucas joined us there, and a day or two later, we flew home.

South Dakota 2011: Badlands and Black Hills, Part 2

 On to Custer State Park! What can I say, we loved it. Guess why! 

How can you not love them?

At one point while I was driving, a huge herd came toward us on the road. Nothing to do but stop and wait and admire. They were so close that they even brushed against the car! Sadly, no photos, but the memories!

There were other critters, too.

We spent one night in the lodge at the park. We had a choice of a modern hotel room, or one of the original historic rooms in the main lodge. Of course we took the latter. It was up stairs, and only slightly larger than the Honeymoon Cottage had been. I think the bathroom was even smaller! But it had a lot of character, and we enjoyed it.

I remember that we ate dinner in the room that night, and there was no place to sit except for the bed. We had a small wooden cutting board with cheese on it, and the mattress was so lumpy, the cheese kept falling off the board!

The next day we drove on to Hill City. This being Sturgis Week, it was full. We found a parking place and walked around, looking at all the Harleys, the bikers, the stands, and the whole spectacle. This being August, it was hot, so we stopped at Dairy Queen for ice cream. We both still remember sitting outside at a table on the sidewalk, eating our ice cream and enjoying the whole atmosphere.

Our house for the next few days was a rental, "Black Hills Sanctuary", a one bedroom place, which I believe is still available for holiday rental. A wood house/log cabin, with nicely sized living area, bathroom and bedroom. It was away from town, away from the road, and quiet.

One morning we woke up and saw a shadow moving across the window. We were a bit shocked until we realized it was a deer 

The house had no over or stove top, for insurance reasons, but a microwave, crock pot, and plug-in electric burners. But it also had a large grill, which is where Norbert prepared most of our meals. 

It was obviously not an anonymous vacation rental that could be anywhere in the world, but gave a feeling of the local atmosphere. Highly recommended!

Anyway, back to the park. We were in the area for 5 or 6 days, and while I no longer remember everything we did, I was able to find photos of some of our adventures.

I remember that we visited the Mammoth Site at Hot Springs. On the way, we drove by the Hot Springs, right along the side of the road. And I also remember that our lunch turned out to be sandwiches bought at a gas station, and eaten at a picnic table at the Mammoth Site, which was actually quite pleasant.

The Mammoth Site is a "paleontological dig site", where they have found 61 mammoths and 87 other Late Ice Age animals. If memory serves me right, the story we were told is that there was sunken water hole there, and with water rare, a herd of mammoths found it. The females leading the herd mainly avoided it, but the younger males, i.e., the teenage boys, jumped right in to drink it up. Only to discover that they couldn't get out! The moral of this story is obvious, as is the fact that some things never change.

We also visited one of the caves in the area, I believe the Wind Hills National Monument. And I have no particular memories of it.

One day we drove up to Lead (pronounced Leed, not Led).We drove up a beautiful canyon or valley. I cannot remember the name, or even find it on the map. We stopped at this lovely waterfall.

Lead is known for the Homestead Gold Mine, which operated for more than 125 years. There was this outside  operation, and then they went underground,

You could even go ever-so-slightly underground. I had to get a photo of Norbert in his hard hat, shades of his days at the coal mine here at home. (He did not work underground, by the way.)

Back to Custer SP! So much so see and take in and be in awe of!

We drove Needles HIghway, named after these unique formations.

Guess what else we saw! 

Plus there was a turn-out where you could see these guys. We had already decided not to go to Mount Rushmore, as it just didn't interest us. But we did get this look at the monument. 

We also saw the Crazy Horse monument from the road. Big carved monuments don't seem to be our thing.

A word to Sturgis Week and the riders. It was not so horribly crowded anywhere, we always found parking places, for example. There were a lot of them on the road, but we were never aware of any problems, traffic-wise. 

Interesting thing about the riders, partially from our personal experience and partially from my brother's experience at an Outer Banks Bike Week. These are not the young crazies, nor Hells Angels. They tend to be 50 plus in age, and professionals, like doctors and lawyers. In other words, people who can afford a fancy Harley-Davidson and the time off to take part. WE talked to several, and quite enjoyed our conversations.

South Dakota 2011: Badlands and Black Hills

 I was very happy to discover a treasure trove of photos which I had thought long gone. So get ready for some "older" vacation reports. Be warned that I certainly don't remember a lot of details.

In 2011 we went to my Mom's and the Outer Banks, as usual, for a week or more. We then drove up to DC and did something new and different. We dropped Lucas off at my brother's house, and then Norbert and I took off for about a week!

We flew from (then) National Airport to Minneapolis. Sitting in the waiting area for our next flight we noticed a number of interesting looking people -- and discovered it was Sturgis Week. If you don't knjow it, it is one of the largest motorcycle gatherings, averaging about 500,000 attendees.

Anyway, we flew on to Rapid City, a nice smallish airport, and got our rental car. It was a Ford Escape, a top-of-the-line SUV, and I believe the first SUV we rented. We've not looked back and always go for an SUV now, and even drive one here at home. 

When we walked to the lot, we were greatly surprised to see this sign Kitty Hawk Rd. -- we had recently been near Kitty Hawk, NC!

We drove directly to the town of Wall. The biggest attraction there is Wall Drug, It opened "in the middle of nowhere! in 1931 and was known for its free ice water for tourists and five cent coffee. Over the years it has become a really "schlocky" tourist trap.

We spent the night in a hotel there -- I have no idea which one. All I remember is that we saw this cute little bat when we went to breakfast the next morning. 

We drove to the Badlands National Park. The scenery on the drive there is basically this: 

We had no idea what to expect from the Badlands, but obviously what we saw turned us into lifetime Badland lovers.

The evening, sunset, and moonrise were stunning. 

There were critters there, too. These are the cute little fuzzy ones. 

We did see a snake but fortunately not one of this type. 

And we had our introduction to bison! Love at first sight!

We also learned that bison make very large mounds of poop, and that it you drive through it, you have bison poop all over the bottom of your car.

One of the attractions of the park to us was the cabins there. We spent the night in the Honeymoon Cabin, which was only slightly larger than our car. Also only slightly larger than the bed. The bathroom was tiny but complete. 

We walked over to the Cedar Pass Lodge for dinner, and for breakfast the next morning.

We are not hikers at all, so did not see the full extent of the park. But there was certainly more than enough to admire from the car and all the pull-offs. And of course it must be clear that what we saw and experienced was enough to bring us back to see more of the same many years later.