Custer State Park...

 The next stop on our journey is Custer State Park...it is a vast place with many lakes, streams and rivers...it reminds me a little of  the mountains at home...since we were late in the season...there weren't very many people there...a good thing!

 But we weren't lonely...we met lots of friends on the way around the 72 miles long loop we decided to take...

 It seemed like everyone was there to greet us....but we were on a search for bison...there is a very large wild herd in this state park...they had to be around here somewhere...that's a lot of bison!

 We drove and drove and walked a little too...where could they be...

 These guys didn't care to share any information with us...but if you look closely...could that be bison poo??

 The prong horn were everywhere....happy to pose for us...but very tight lipped when we asked where the bison were...

 We couldn't spot them anywhere...

 And then out in a field...I saw 2 of them grazing...where were all the rest...as far as we knew...bison stay together in a herd...hmmm...

 To our dismay...we found that just a few weeks earlier...they had been rounded up...cowboy style...to be vaccinated and tested for any problems...they were in a fenced area...we couldn't see them up close...I was bummed...all this searching to find bison in the wild and they were in a coral area...

 We drove on...had to stop for a few pedestrians...

 We were amazed at how much wild life we saw along the drive...

 Then...we drove around a blind corner...and there he was... magnificent!!!

 Even though we were in a pretty big SUV...I was a bit nervous to actually get this close...Don rolled down his window and took a few pictures...no telling how this one got away from the others...but he was not a bit concerned about us being there...he didn't even look up...

 He just kept grazing...I didn't want to go...but it was getting late and I had seen a bison up close...and a herd from a distance...so I was very happy!!

We saw lots of incredible sights there in Cuter State Park...we took so many pictures...I can only show you a few...I think Western South Dakota has been my favorite spot so far...it reminds me of home...yet it is still wild and free and not so many people...I could live right here I think...if only...

Until next time...enjoy your day!!!

Crazy Horse Memorial

 We left the Badlands and headed west...things started looking a little more like home here...trees and hills...I like this area...

 We checked into our hotel in Rapid City where we would stay for 3-4 days...so glad to be in one spot for a while! Since we gained an hour because we are now in Mountain Time...we thought we could take a trip out to The Crazy Horse Memorial...

 I was so excited when we arrived...I have been looking forward to this part of the journey for so long! As soon as we arrived at the memorial...we were instructed to see a movie about the building of the memorial...it was very interesting...we learned so much from that short film...I want to tell you a little about it before I show you more...Crazy Horse Monument is on private land in the Black Hills...when completed...which probably won't be in my lifetime...it will depict Crazy Horse...a Lakota warrior...the area is sacred to the Lakota tribe and the memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear who was a Lakota elder. It was to be sculpted by Korczak Ziolowski...a well know sculptor from Boston...who also worked on Mount Rushmore...

 This is what you see from the museum area...they are now working on the arm and hand...and you can see the painted outline of the horses head...

 Here is the original bronze...and what the monument will look like when complete...

 I took this picture from inside the museum...it is all windows at the back...I tried to get both the bronze and actual monument in...

 You can take a bus ride up pretty close...but not too close...on any given day you can see people working...the face was completed in 1998...16 years after Korczak's death...for the first five years...he worked alone...going up and down a make shift ladder carrying heavy drills and sticks of dynamite with him...I was really impressed with the whole story...but I think what really impressed me most was that all the money raised to build this comes from private donations...as per Korczak's request...the federal government has offered money...but it has always been turned down...his wife and 7 of his 10 children took over the work...

 Here is a plaster statue that sits outside...the actual monument in the background...everything is perfectly to scale...it amazed me!

 The memorial is quite large too...more than 4 times that of nearby Mount Rushmore when complete...it is to be the center of a cultural center and one day have a satellite campus of University of South Dakota thanks to large private donations and lots of small ones...there are however lots of controversies over the building of the monument....

This was from a picture showing how large the monument will be...I had read many books and studied the history of the area before coming here...there is so much to learned in this area...and such a beautiful place to see...I feel grateful that I was given a chance to finally get to this place...I will remember this day forever...

Until next time...enjoy your day!!!

Badlands...

 We woke up early in the morning...before dawn to get started on the next part of our journey...it was going to be a long drive and we had a few places we wanted to see on the way...The Badlands were the first stop...

 My pictures don't do this place justice...it's incredible! It sort of reminds me of southern Utah...only much larger...can you see all the layers of rock that was formed over millions of years...amazing!

 It almost doesn't look real it so fantastic...what an barren yet such a beautiful place...all the prairie grass had turned golden...it made it that much prettier to me....

 It's hard to think of all the wind and rain making these beautiful formations...

 We met some friends along the way...these guys were too busy eating lunch...we were looking for bison...

 No bison here...just a cute little cottontail eating breakfast...she didn't seem to mind that I was right there...

 We signed in at the trail head...

 Everyone was wondering what we were doing way out here...

 We were hoping we wouldn't see any of these...Don assured me it was much too cold...it was about 42 degrees while we were out hiking...nice and brisk!

 I could stare at this scenery forever!

 We had a friend come to greet us...Hi there!

 His friends were too busy eating to stop and say Hi...

 The prairie dogs stopped working to check us out...

 These are called the Yellow Mounds...gee... I wonder where they got the name...so original!!

We hated leaving this place....but we were getting hungry and there was so much more to see...

Until next time...enjoy your day!!!

Pierre, South Dakota

 We headed northwest to our next destination for the night...it was a little out of the way...but worth the trip...

 We crossed back over the Missouri River...into Pierre...the state capital of South Dakota...

 We decided to do a bit of exploring...Pierre is a pretty small city...so it didn't take us long to find the Capital building...but it was Sunday...so we could just look around the outside...

 We met a couple citizens hanging around...

 They were too busy to sit and chat...

 We walked all around the area...lots of interesting places around here...

 We walked around the other side and found a lake...

And an interesting memorial to World War II, Korean, And Viet Nam Veterans...

 On the other side of the small lake is a quiet neighborhood...we thought this would be a nice house to live in...it even has an R already on the door!

 Or perhaps this one...

 Then there was this one! Hey...what's this huge mansion doing in the middle of this neighborhood...we found out that it's the Governor's Mansion...

 It was pretty quiet...so we walked around to the back...can you believe they didn't mind that we did that??

 Such a pretty place right in the middle of town....

 We met a few more citizen's...but they were more interested in lunch...

 We saw tons of these...since I'm not familiar with the area...I didn't know what kinds of birds call these home...there weren't any around...maybe they flew south for the winter...

 We walked around some more and found the Missouri River...it ran a couple blocks away from our hotel... 

We had a great stay in Pierre...short but interesting...if you're ever there...stop and check out Mad Mary's Bar and Grill...one of those dives from the outside...but fun on the inside...and a great filet mignon and tin taters that melted in my mouth!

Until next time...enjoy the day!!!