Life with the Green's: Souix Falls, Badlands and the Black Hills

Where the deer and the antelope play...

After seeing so many to other places in the world we decided when we moved home we really wanted to see more of our country. We indeed have a beautiful world to live in. There is so much to see both near and far. We decided this years vacation would be a trip west. Our first stop was in Brandon, SD to visit with some very dear friends of ours that retired in South Dakota during the same time we were moving to India. Ray and Juanita have been our surrogate parents to us so it was so wonderful to see their new home (although we wish it weren't so far away). They live very near Sioux Falls which we got to visit. I was really impressed with the "falls" in Sioux Falls and the feel of the downtown. The kids had a grand time climbing on the rocks and jumping over puddles. En route towas the Badlands near Wall, South Dakota. The Badlands National Park is really a beautiful park, it had so much more to offer than I ever dreamed it would. We were blessed with really great weather so it wasn't too hot while were there. We did some hiking, climbed up lots of rocks and saw buffalo, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, mule deer, wild donkeys and antelope. Fortunately we saw no rattlesnakes...just the signs posted frequently for them! After staying in the Badlands we ventured onto the Black Hills National Forest. To us these weren't "hills" but mountains and ever so beautiful! We had fun driving the famous Needles Highway (part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway). We hiked in Custer State Park, visited the famous Mt Rushmore, saw re-enactments of gun fight of Wild Bill Hickok and a Trial of Jack McCall, visited an old mine and drove through Sturgis (fortunately it was not bike week!). When hiking up to the little devils tower in Custer we got caught in a thunderstorm. We made it to the top just in time to see lightening off in the distance. We went down as fast as we could, got caught in a hail storm for about the last 200 ft. Fortunately the van does NOT look like a golf ball. The hail must have been soft enough when it hit the that it didn't dent it. I have decided I don't like hiking in storms!! So here are some photos, I will post more later!

Sioux Falls