Welcome to our “Yellowstone Trip”. This page will describe our South Dakota visit.

Souix Falls

Finally a good sized city! Very modern & pretty much everything you could find back home (except Dunkin' Donuts). The Prius had its first oil change and then we found the local Wal-Mart to pick up a few supplies (i.e., some additional food items). We arrived at our friend, Mary Ellen's house after 5 PM so everything worked out well. Dinner was at her sister & brother-in-law's, Jean & Bob,(pix) where we had delicious grilled Buffalo &/or steak. After dinner Jean, Bob & Mary Ellen took us on a tour of Sioux Falls - the Veteran's Park (beautiful), the Cathedral (with a lovely Mother's Garden) &, of course, the Falls, which are most impressive. (pix) The next morning Bill had to play catch with Mary Ellen's dog, Bailey, before we could leave. (pix)

Our first stop of the day today was in Mitchell, SD, for a look at the Corn Palace. (pix) It is quite amazing to think that this is redone every year with a new theme. Before we could get to the Badlands, we made a stop to see the Missouri River. (pix) It was more impressive than the mighty Mississippi.

We could see the Badlands approaching as the terrain changed from flat prairie to more hilly. Fortunately there was a time change in mid-South Dakota, giving us an extra hour of daylight. This was another awe-inspiring area. Beautiful, stark, peaceful, there are so many ways to describe it. (pix). Did you know that the prairie is the Badlands next door neighbor? And, yes, this is near Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House on the Prairie". We managed to see a few animals, a very tame bunny who posed for us, hundreds of prairie dogs, and a few mountain goats. (pix) They have no trouble climbing up, down, left & right on the steep slopes. We even observed a rain shower off in the distance. (pix) As the sun was beginning to hide behind the peaks, we headed on to Wall, SD for the night and dined at the famous Wall Drug. (pix)

Thursday morning we headed off to Mt. Rushmore. About 3 miles before we arrived, we drove thru Keystone, SD, (population 311!). Here is a good, old-fashioned Western town. We came back later in the day for a closer look. (pix) Rose got a photo of Mt. Rushmore before we even got to it. As we rounded a bend, there it was! (pix) Although it was probably not a particularly busy day for Rushmore, we wondered where all these folks had been before today as the roads were never busy. Well, we did all the tourist things, walked the 1.2 mi. Presidential Walk and took many more pictures than we could have imagined. (Just how many different photos of these four faces could there be? Surprisingly, there are many.) (pix). After revisiting Keystone, we drove on to Custer where we will stay for a few nights while we get our fill of the Black Hills & the other interesting things in the area. Stay tuned, we will try to update daily for the next few days.

Custer State Park was our goal for Friday. After breakfast at our motel, we headed off to the Needles Highway. About 5 miles after we left, the car decided to have a problem - the gas engine stoped runninging and the "Hybrid" system display went blank. This did not portend well for our plans! Bill spent a fair amount of time on the phone with the Toyota Road Assistance person (somewhere in California) trying to explain just where we were in South Dakota. They did get us set up to get service - in Rapid City, but were not sure how soon they could find a towing service. AAA to the rescue! The tow truck arrived about 20 minutes after our call to AAA, we were towed all the way to the Toyota dealer in Rapid City (about 40 miles) and were back on the road about 3:30 PM.

We decided to drive the Needles Highway rather than lose the entire day. It is part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway inside of Custer State Park. Up, down, around and around the Black Hills we drove on a mostly 2 lane road with numerous pullouts to take in the views. There were 4 or 5 tunnels that were 1 way only. (pix) It is a very beautiful area and drives through the Black Hills National Forest. So, although we got such a late start, the day turned out very well.

Tomorrow will be our last day here and we will head for Custer State Park again, this time to drive the Wildlife Loop Road with the expectation of seeing Buffalo. This is the largest herd in the US and we have been told that "You WILL see Buffalo." Tune in tomorrow for pictures of these very large animals (and probably several other animals.)

Today was a very full day. We set off after breakfast, took a quick look at Crazy Horse (pix) and then drove up to Keystone to get on Iron Mountain Road. This was great fun - one-lane tunnels, "pig-tail" bridges, beautiful scenery and even a view of Mt. Rushmore from a tunnel. (pix) This road is part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway and everyone should take a drive on it. From there we entered Custer State Park and started on the Wildlife Loop Rd. Within 5 minutes we found the Buffalo! (pix) They are HUGE! Even though there were many clouds, the scenery was awesome. Along the way around the approximately 30+ mile loop, in addition to the many buffalo, we saw the "begging" burros, pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs, horses, a bunny and even a motorcycle riding dog.

It was about 3:00 when we reached the end, so we took a break and then drove down to Hot Springs to see the Mammoth site. (pix) This is an active site that was discovered in the 1970's and they expect to be "digging" for another 30 or more years. (pix) It is fascinating! On the drive down and back we saw some additional wildlife - more buffalo & prairie dogs as well as deer and turkeys. So, enough for today. Got to get organized and pack up for tomorrow's drive to Devil's Tower and Buffalo, WY. BR>

Created ... August 27, 2009
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