|
|
1996 Minnesota / West Vacation -- August 31 through September 13, Part 2
Index| 1996 West Vacation, Part 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Frontier Village | Theodore Roosevelt NP | Montana | |
| 1996 West Vacation, Part 2 | |||
| Custer State Park | Wind Cave NP | Mt. Rushmore NM | Badlands NP |
 |
| My 1996 Minnesota / Black Hills Vacation. 14 days, 3,450 miles.
Part 2, Black Hills to Badlands NP, South Dakota. |
Custer State Park is probably my favorite State Park. Of the four times I've passed by the Black Hills, I've stopped in three times. (Also see 1998 and 2006.) The only time I didn't stop was on September 14, 2001, and we just didn't feel like vacationing anymore.
It's a rather large park, from meadows and low hills where the buffalo roam to the spires and pinnacles of the Black Hills. It's also neighbors to Mount Rushmore National Memorial to the North, and Wind Cave National Park to the South. 50 miles East, is Wall Drug and Badlands National Park, and 30 miles to the West is Devils Tower. Just don't come during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, unless you're going to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Really. I'm not kidding.
Be prepared to stop for a Buffalo Jam, and bring a bag of carrots for the Burros. Just make sure they DON'T SEE the bag, or your done. They'll pester you and won't leave you alone. There are two groups of Burros, one on the Wildlife loop road, and one on Iron Mountain Road. In either case, be prepared to stop, 'cause both the Buffalo and Burros could just be standing around on the road...
Go on Needles Highway if you want pictures of Big Horn Sheep. In 1996, I got the pictures below and thought "How often do you get pictures like that?" Well, the answer is, pretty much anytime you go there. Not only have I seen them every time I took Needles, but I also saw them on a Travel Channel program about the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
Also on Needles Highway, are truly phallic rock formations, and their centerpiece, The Needles Eye. It's a nice drive.
Oh, if you were reading above when I was talking about the grasshoppers, check out the front of the car...
Custer State Park
Back to Top
We went to the Cave, but not in time to get on any of the tours. I finally did that in 2006. So our visit was just a nice drive through some prairie dog towns and another herd of buffalo...
Wind Cave National Park
Back to Top
Custer, SD
Back to Top
Like any gunfight, you want the sun at your back...
It's a good rule to remember. The first time we got to Mount Rushmore, it was late afternoon, and you literally had to shade the front of your lens with your hand to prevent lens flare from the sun. Bad for pictures. So we went back the next morning, and with the sun at our backs, and the faces fully lit, and it was the difference between a great picture and a lousy one.
Yes, that's a recommendation you get there in the morning. :-)
The person I was with claimed the pictures didn't look real. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the sky was a uniform blue. I was back in 2006, and there were *too* many clouds. Life's rough...
Mt. Rushmore National Memorial
Back to Top
Day 5, September 11. Comfort Inn, Oacoma, South Dakota
I've seen badlands in North Dakota, Montana and even Arizona, but they aren't as striking or vivid as those in Badlands National Park. There are places you can stand and look in one direction and see flat grasslands as far as you can see, then turn around and see a drop-off revealing layers of different colored deposits to another plain below.
I was also here in 1998 and 2006. If you're coming in from either direction, stop in at Wall Drug for lunch. It's not out of your way, and it's one of the most interesting Interstate Tourist Traps around...
Badlands National Park
Back to Top
Here's a perspective of just how large those hay rolls you see are. When you seem them in an open field, you just don't realize how big they are... :-)
OTR Home
Back to Top
We stopped overnight in a Comfort Inn, in Wisconsin Dells, just because we were tired. It would be a quick 3 or 4 hour drive home the next morning, avoiding most of the Chicago traffic.
My 1996 trip out West, started a travel bug in me that continues to this day. It showed me a different America from the midwest and the East. It showed me places that seemed so far away on the travel shows, but when the rubber hits the road they're actually within reach. So over the next few years, I did some reaching...
End Minnesota Part 2
Go to previous part | Go to next part