South Dakota

Leaving Wyoming was tough for me....such beautiful scenery and wonderful folk. We drove through the night to South Dakota and was pleasantly surprised at the beauty although the weather is a bit crazy here. Hail storm in August leaving snow on the ground! Our first stop was the Battle of Little Big Horn, where Custer met his demise where pictured above, the dark tombstone is his grave site although his remains were later moved to West Point. The National Park is run by 3 different tribes of Indians. It was very interesting to walk the grounds and learn of the stories of the Red man and their fight to keep their way of life. Next stop,
Lead, South Dakota....home of one of the biggest gold mines in the country. We took a tour and panned for some gold and came up with a few nuggets. Them thar' gold in thar' hills!! After deciding we were not going to get rich from our little nuggets, we ventured on to the Crazy Horse memorial and to Mount Rushmore. It was amazing and I felt like I was back in Washington DC visiting the memorials. We stayed for the evening presentation and the lighting of the monument. Spectacular and very patriotic. All the military in the audience were brought up on stage while the color guard lowered the flag. Very touching....and heartfelt.
We camped in a secluded campground called "horse thief" camp ground. Since we are in Indian country, we decided to give the dogs Indian names as well. Cosette is now called "poops while walking" and Story is appropriately named "long tongue" although they don't really respond to their new names :) After a hearty breakfast, we were on our way to Rapid City, SD for daily life needs that a city would offer.....ie, hair cut, pedicure, dog food, alignment on the RV, etc....which took most of the day. Late afternoon we headed to The Badlands.
We certainly felt like we were in a different planet.....the craters and mountains resembled being on the moon!
It was nice to be able to "get close and personal" with these formations as hiking trails cut right through them.
With only an inch of rainfall per year in these parts, the ground was completely parched and made for some slippery hiking as the ground crumbled beneath our feet. The Badlands are known for the most prehistoric fossils on the earth as this was the breeding grounds for dinosaurs and such. As dusk fell upon us, it was time to move on.....Colorado or bust......