Badlands National Park

Saturday was a horrible bad weather day, so we just chilled in the rig.

Sunday, the sun was shining, so we headed to Badlands National Park.

On our way we stopped by Wall Drug Store. The advertising signs begin miles away and by the time we finally got there we had to check it out.  Lots of stuff, but nothing we needed.

Before we got to the Badlands, we stopped at the Minuteman Missle NHS.  It was interesting looking at the exhibits, but unfortunately the tours were full so we continued down the road.

We arrived at

and were greeted with a beautiful song by this bird.

The Badlands were rugged and picturesque.

While driving through, we noticed a group of cars and knew that probably meant one thing, Wildlife Sighting!!!  We weren't disappointed when we stopped and saw this herd of bighorn sheep!

Two of them were playing king of the hill.  We actually heard their horns hit.  It was pretty cool.

The weather was still chilly.  It wouldn't have been bad, but the wind was blowing steadily from the north.  The good news is, the rest of the week is supposed to be in the 70's.

It's Snowing!!!

We arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota on Thursday.  We pulled into Hart Ranch just outside of town.  It's a wonderful rv park in our RPI network.  About 30 miles from town, it began snowing.  Snow for these to south Texans is definitely foreign to us.  Luckily, nothing was sticking and the roads were good.

The next day, it was cold and the skies were cloudy, but we thought we would head towards Spearfish to go through the local history museum.  Jim's great grandparents were early settlers in Spearfish.  His great grandmother was the first school teacher there.  Unfortunately, the museum was closed so we drove around town and then headed back to Hart Ranch via the Spearfish Canyon road.  

As we began to gain elevation,  the snow began to fall.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Since the roads were still in good shape, we enjoyed the view.

We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls.

Our favorite was Roughlock Falls.

As we approached Deadwood, it was like a winter wonderland.

I had to get a picture in snow.  We figured it has been over 20 years since we had seen this much snow.

I'm Back

I can't believe it's been over 18 months since I posted. We have still been traveling, but I just got tired of writing and posting pictures.

Now that I have had a long break and will try to get back in the swing. Of course, I'm already two weeks behind since we left the San Antonio area. :)

This year we are on our way to Alaska and our first major destination was Rapid City, SD.  On our way we stopped over at Scotts Bluff National Monument in Gering, Nebraska.  Scotts Bluff was a landmark used by both Native American and early pioneers.  Just about every trail passed through these bluffs as travelers moved westward.

There was a road taking you up to the top with breathtaking views.

One can only imagine how settlers felt going through these giant bluffs.