This is Sadie's first encounter with snow.

Today is our third day in Cody. Man, the wind blows stink here. Three days of 25 knots steady with gusts up to 50. So. we have been doing museums, restaurants, saloons etc. Today's photos are primarily en route to Cody and some in Cody too.

Every mile in Wyoming brings another scenic surprise. Here's one of them.











Lots of wildlife along the way, deer, marmots, buffalo, prarie dogs with many more to be seen in Yellowstone tomorrow.











An indian pow wow at the Buffalo Bill Museum. Forty tribes were represented.

The Buffalo Bill Museum is a remarkable place. It takes two days to do justice to the place. Behind Penny is a video of Buffalo Bill (an actor) introducing folks to the museum. The video is displayed on streaming mist clouds. Very clever and very well done. Buffalo Bill Cody was quite a man and he just about created this little city. He sucessfully lobbied Congress to dam a river to enable irrigation for a large territory around Cody. It was built in 1904. In 1922 they added a power plant that provides power to four cities. He built the first hotel, started the Cody Enterprise newspaper still in existence and his memory is revered here. No wonder!

June 13, 2012

Talk about exotic geology!! This is the Devil's Tower just over the state border in Wyoming. The Park Rangers advised that geologists have varied opinions of how this tower developed but it is dramatic. Indian lore tells that an Indian family sought safety and gathered at this point and the Gods caused the land to rise which saved them from a giant bear. This, they say, explains the verticle gouges on the slopes.

Here is a view of Mt Rushmore not often seen. We were en route to the Wind Cave when we saw this. Pictures of the Wind Cave didn't turn out so hot so we'll show you some stuff we saw on the way.









This is a view from the Needles Highway in Custar State Park. The mountain formations are the needles. Notice the similarities of these formations to Mt Rushmore.

More Needles Highway... no motorhomes here. That passage is only 9' wide

These are fossils of Mammoths found in Hot Springs, SD. One of the most important archeological sites created when generations of mammoths fell into a sink hole and were covered as the sinkhole silted in.








More fossils.
Tomorrow, we are off to Buffalo, Wyoming for a 3 day stay. Rapid City was very exciting. There is much to do and see here; more than we expected. The weather was good except for two thunderstorms with pea sized hail.

June 9, 2012

South Dakota's Badlands

   The only thing that lives here are rattlesnakes

June 8, 2012

Penny and I were here with our kids about 40 years ago. The surrounding area was touristy and trashy. It was full of hawking vendors etc. Now it has been cleaned up and is a phenomenal monument. A granite esplanade leads to the viewing area and to the visitor center and a fascinating museum. It is classy and we now recommend it highly. Don't miss the nearby Crazy Horse monument nor Custer Park which we did today for the second time.

This one is for Denis

What is this??? Feeding wild donkeys from inside the car...is that legal? We must remember to look that up someday. Incidently, Sadie was totally unimpressed.

June 7, 2012
After nearly 2000 miles driving in 4 days, we arrived in Rapid City, SD yesterday. We were kind of disappointed with the RV park but this area offers a load of adventure and fun.
Today, after organizing the RV, we toured Bear Country USA, a park where the wild animals roam free while the humans remain caged in their cars. It was really well done and entertaining. Then we explored Custer State Park, a huge wildlife habitat. The scenery was spectacular and we saw buffalo, two varieties of deer, wild donkeys and turkeys. Tomorrow Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Enjoy the photos.

This grey wolf was a real rascal. Right after this picture was taken, he crept up behind a bear, bit him on the butt and then ran with the indignant bear in chase. Didn't take long for the bear to give up.

Rural South Dakota

Metropolitan South Dakota