Devil's Tower National Monument

As you approach Devil's Tower, it appears on the horizon miles from your destination.

The tower rises dramatically 1267 feet above the surrounding terrain.

It is a popular climbing destination.
We spotted three groups of climbers on the tower.

 We hiked the Tower Trail around the base of the tower, 

an easy hike that lets you experience the size of the tower.

And ate lunch in the picnic area near the Circle of Sacred Smoke Sculpture.

The sculpture signifies the importance of the tower to the native Indians.

 Some prairie dogs joined us for lunch!

Wind Cave National Park

Just a few miles from Custer State Park is Wind Cave National Park.

Wind Cave is park number 39 for us.

It is the 7th dedicated national park and the first cave.

 The cave is famous for its boxwork formations which are only found here.

Although the cave was interesting, I thought both

 Carlsbad Caverns & Mammoth Cave were prettier caves.

It was a a very narrow cave with few other formations other than the boxwook.

Wonderful Custer State Park

 Custer State Park rivals the national parks.
The park is 71,000 acres of rolling prairie,

towering peaks & mountain lakes.

One popular area is the Needles highway an area of tall towering spires.

Along the Needles highway are several tight tunnels carved into the mountains,

barely big enough to fit a car through.

 There are lots of beautiful mountain lakes, such as Sylvan Lake.

The hike around Sylvan Lake is easy, but filled with fun.

 There are lots of activities to do too.

We rode the chuckwagon and had a steak dinner in a valley.

Cowboy hats were included!

Just don't order your steak well done!

The Wildlife of Custer State Park

Custer State Park is a lovely park teaming with wildlife.

The park has a herd of  1300 free roaming buffalo.

 If you want to see buffalo, this is the place.

 Springtime means buffalo calves.

 There are lots of other wildlife in Custer,

like this marmot.

 And this heavily pregnant pronghorn

And whitetail deer.

 And you can't miss all the prairie dogs!

(Unfortunately we never saw the famous begging burros)

Badlands

 We explored the Badlands National Park.

Even though we have been here before, its always awe inspiring.

You are driving across the plains and suddenly the bottom drops away

 and these colorful formations appear.

 Colorful layers of rock are exposed.

We hiked some of the trails, like the window trail shown.

And spent the night in a cute cabin.

Everywhere we went we heard meadowlarks singing.

And we saw lots of rabbits everywhere,
some of them just dozing in the sun.

Home on the Range

Oh give me a home

Where the buffalo roam

And the deer and the antelope play

Where seldom is heard s discouraging word

And the skies are not cloudy all day!

 We are in the Black Hills of South Dakota!
More photos to come.

Mitchell Corn Palace

I've always heard not to miss the Corn Palace in South Dakota.
The palace is a multi-purpose building with an auditorium & gym for the community.

Every year the exterior of the building is decorated with new scenes 

created with corn, rye, wheat & other natural materials.

 This western scene is made up of cobs of corn.

The corn theme continues inside the lobby with large columns tiled to look like corn.

In the gift shop, you can buy anything corn related or

 whatever they could think of with a corn motif.

Corn suckers?

How about some Gummi Corn?

Even the street lights have a corn theme.

 Acting corny at the Corn Palace!