South Dakota

Leaving Wyoming we merged into South Dakota and stayed in Rapid City.  Instead of the sharp mountain peaks as seen in Wyoming...we started seeing hills that looked black against the sky.....thus named The Black Hills.

One of the big attractions is Custer State Park.  We visited an area called The Needles which had amazing needlelike rock and mountain formations plus lots of hairpin turns and killer dropoff cliffs.  

we somehow managed to SQUEEZE the truck through here

Also inside Custer State Park were lovely lakes surrounded with mountains and beautiful scenery.  One spot looked like a wedding planned there in the near future.  Crazy Hammer and I.......had a moment.  

WE DO

After visiting Custer we went in search of Crazy Horse....cousin to Crazy Hammer.  The statue is still in its formative stage but when finished it will be quite a sight to see.

The following day we headed to Mount Rushmore to visit with Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln.  

The walkway leading up to the mount is an archway with the flags from all 50 states.  The flag of Massachusetts was furled and I couldn't take the pic.

I zoomed up really closely onto Theodore Roosevelt's face and you can see the delicately sculpted spectacles around his eyes.

An interesting tidbit of trivia was on a sign there stating that Thomas Jefferson brought the very first ice cream recipe to this country.  And if you zoom in really closely you might be able to make out the recipe!

South Dakota has so much to offer tourists.  We went to another amazing place.....The Badlands, and took so many beautiful pics of this gorgeous place.  It reminded us of gorgeous and colorful sand castles.......WITH RATTLE SNAKES HIDING ALL AROUND!!  

You only need to tell me ONCE

The Badlands were lovely the day we were there....temps in the 60's.  But we were lucky.  Temps can go up as high as 116 and as low as -40.  Beautiful.....but deadly.  

The most interesting were the rainbow colored rock formations.  This area was carved over the course of 40 million years and was at one time a lush tropical forest and even a sea.  The colors are from the different layers of sedimentary rock and fossils which accumulated over the years.  Even alligator and three toed horse fossils were found here.  

Strangely....almost as famous as Mount Rushmore....is WALL DRUG!!!  All across the state.....because of its starkness that you notice them.....are signs for Wall Drug.  How many miles left until you get there.  What kids of things you can buy there.  You are almost there.  How many exits until.........    It kept us busy as we crossed S. Dakota.  So to appease the signs we had to GO and see it.   Ha ha.  it's kind of like Kittery Trading Post.  

And NOW....for the South Dakota animal report!!

white prairie dogs....supposedly only found in South Dakota

bighorn sheep in the Badlands.....posing for me

regular colored prairie dog

We are now starting our long but fun journey back home.  The first place we needed to visit is THE MALL OF AMERICA!!!  After sooo much beautiful nature.....we NEEDED some fabulous artificial and man made excitement.  And let me tell you....The Mall Of America is ALL THAT and THEN SOME.  It has 4 floors and an amusement park to rival any Six Flags.  It took us 4 hours just to walk the entire place.  What an amazing mall.  The restaurant area takes about 20 minutes to walk by.  

And now family and friends......thank you all for sharing this epic adventure....RIVETING too....with us.  This will be the final entry for this trip.  Hopefully this early spring we will begin another adventure.....the southeastern states.  Hope you all join us for that too.               TTFN.......
Love, Princess Glass O' Wine and Chief Crazy Hammer   xoxooxo

Wyoming with The Grand Tetons and Devils Tower

Wyoming was everything we expected it to look like and be.  It truly is the "Old West".  Lots of real cowboys all around and gorgeously picturesque ranches nestled in mountain ranges.

my new retirement home

shops selling beautiful saddles and cowboy gear

  Wyoming also was the first state to allow women the right to vote and the first state to elect a female governor.  It has a rugged history to match its rugged landscapes.

As we were driving along we began seeing the majestic peaks of The Grand Tetons through the haze.  As we got closer their images became sharper and took our breath away.  

A Teton Glacier

We stayed in a true cowboy town...Dubois...and the views from our site were to die for.  The gorgeous painted rocks in the background and Wind River running by. 

our beautiful campsite on Wind River

The town of Jackson and Jackson Hole were fun to visit.  Lots of cool shops and animal trophies hung on the walls of every shop.  Antler arches surrounded many towns in the area.  

and we thought BEAR SPRAY would thwart an
attack by HIM!!!!  REALLY!! Give me a
BREAK!!!!  haha

Wyoming was also where my two favorite bad guys....Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid hung out.  We shopped in shops where THEY shopped and visited saloons and hotels where they stayed.  

We went to the town Sundance, where The Sundance Kid got his name after steeling a horse, rifle and a saddle from a ranch when he was 15. He  spent 18 months in the Sundance Jail. 

  

a jail that The Sundance Kid was in.

Etta Place and her Sundance

As we were leaving Wyoming we visited Devils Tower, America's first national monument in 1906. 

 Being there reminded me of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

  The legend of the tower is of  7 Native American Indian girls who were being chased by a huge bear.  They jumped on a rock about 3 feet high and began to pray to the rock to take pity on them and save them.  The rock began to rise higher and higher into the sky.  The bear began to claw at the sides of the rock causing the deep lines on the sides of the tower.

  The bear continued to try to climb the rock until the rock pushed the girls up to the sky.  They then became the group of 7 stars of the Pleiades Constellation. 

And let's not forget a couple of cool animals we saw.

mule deer

marmot

bull elk taking an afternoon siesta

Our next stop is South Dakota and all of the exciting things that await us there.  TTFN!!