Today was a day of remembrance. We decided to so something we have never done in honor of Barry’s mom.

Mary Ellen was a fun loving person who liked to do practical jokes.

We took an amazing helicopter ride over the Black Hills, circled around Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, saw many lakes, Eye of the Needle and lots of other amazing rock formations.The pilot suggested to drive the Needle Highway. Along the way we went through 3 very narrow tunnels.

We drove home through Custer, SD. They have bison like Cincinnati has Flying pigs.

Barry and I went to the Crazy Horse Memorial today. They are working on the arm and horse now.

The gentleman, (his name is on the bronze plate on first picture) was asked by the Indians to sculpt this project in the 30’s.

He and his wife have 10 children. They worked along side of their parents. After his death, his wife and children have carried on his legacy and have continued sculpting and will continue until it is finished. The project is paid for by tourist charges and donations only.When it is completed, it will be something to see.Mr. Z helped sculpt Mt. Rushmore. He began sculpting at age 18 years old. Amazing pieces of art are on display.This is a cultural learning center for the American Indian. This bison is quilted fabric.Then, on to Jewel Cave Monument and Wind Cave.

Neither elevators are working, so, we could not enjoy their cave tours. We did see movies on the history of both. It was disappointing not to see the caves. But, bats I could so without.We put quite a few miles on the truck travelling today. We thought a purple dinosaur was an unusual site to see!!

Barry and I played 9 holes of golf today at Tomahawk Country Club. It is a fun course to play.

We are not sure what the purpose of the hose was, Photo opportunity!

We did see a 8 point buck and at another hole, a doe.

Guess whose ball, birdie!!

Then, we saw a redtail hawk. Picture is not great.

Hand carved wooden sculpture at the end of hole 9.

Fun day of golf with my hubby.

Happy lefthanders day!

Another day of seeing this beautiful, amazing country we live in. The weather has been in the 70’s and 80’s in South Dakota. Great weather for hiking. This is the first morning we woke up to 40 degrees weather, burrr!!

Barry turned the fireplace on to warm us up. Then, we have been told the ac unit puts out heat, so we don’t have to use propane. Supposedly, the ac has a heat pump. Which I know from our past home, it is not hot air. Then, our furnace turned on a few minutes later. It was vibrating and loud. It did give us heat; not sure if the vibration and loudness is normal. Will be making another phone call tomorrow to find out.

So, we travelled to Wyoming, today, to see the Devils Tower Monument. On our way we drove the Spearfish Canyon Trail stopping to see 3 waterfalls. The Roughlock waterfall was a mile hike one way. It was so worth the time. Nature at it’s best.

It took us awhile to hike and we really wanted to get to Devils Tower. We decided to bypass the others today. They are close to where we are camping and could hike them on another day. We needed to pace ourselves to hike at Devils Tower. Barry drove us into Wyoming, what a difference of scenery. I thought I would bring you with us on part of our drive.Check out the climbers.A Climber videoAnd, wild life.We walked 12,060 steps today and 17 flights of steps. And, Barry and I survived.It is hard to leave places like this.

Look up the Indian Legend about the Tower.

So, very grateful to be here.Back to South Dakota, we go, collecting lots of bugs on our drives. We saw this huge rocking chair.

We ended the day with a relaxing fire, and we are getting smoked out!! Hope you are having a great night too!

Barry is always up early to see the sun rise, not me. He shares his pictures with me, and then I with all of you.

We had a 35 minute drive to see Mt. Rushmore National Memorial.

As Barry drives through the Black Hills Forest, we saw beautiful mountains with ponderosa, a few aspen pines and gorgeous bodies of water.

We stopped at the visitor center and found out August 9th was Smokey the Bear’s 75th birthday.

The Gold Rush.

398 year old Ponderosa Pine

We continued to another area and walked down to the edge of the lake and saw quartz rock. People were fishing for trout; one man caught a rainbow trout while we were there.

Mt. Rushmore is a site to behold. To see this amazing man-made sculpture, especially being on the side of a mountain.

We hiked 250 steps up and back to get as close as possible. It was taxing to say the least. My heart was pumping hard and Barry’s knees weren’t feeling to great. But, it was a challenge we were up for.

TJ’s ice cream recipe tasted just like homemade ice cream.

When we left, drove into Rapid City to pick up a few things, drove thru Keystone. Saw a beautiful home on the hill.

Just enjoying seeing our great country, today.

Barry and I went into Medora, walking around checking out the shops.

The Post Office had bird houses made from cowboy boots with a license plate for the roof.

Craft idea!!

We found St. Mary Church; oldest catholic church in the Bismarck diocese. They have mass at the community center only on Saturday from May thru September due to tourist. This church reminds me of St. Aloysius in Shandon, Ohio, where I attended when young.

The Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum is in Medora. Lots of cowboy, indian and rodeo memorabilia.

It was a hot and dry day, so we treated ourselves with ice cream. Barry had pecan praline and I had black licorice. The ice cream was delicious. Yes, my tongue turned black but not lips. Good thing, because we attended mass at 4:00.

Aug 11th

Left North Dakota this morning and arrived at The Badland National Forest. We arrived to our next adventure, staying at Whispering Pines Campground.

We are nestled in beautiful mountains of green pines.

Today, is the first time we have thunder storms during the day. So, today was uneventful for sight seeing.

Tomorrow, we will venture out to see Mt. Rushmore.

We can hear the thunder around us, but, we are enjoying the sunset with a few showers in between.

We drove to Theodore Roosevelt North Loop a little over an hour long.

Barry was hoping to see Long Horned sheep standing on a cliff. We would had a better chance if we were there during early morning.

We did see a bison herd and other amazing sites.

I did find cute little flowers blooming today, even a butterfly having lunch.

I forgot about visiting the visitor center museum yesterday. Personal items belonging to President Theodore Roosevelt and his family where in his cabin. The cabin is approximately 14 ft x 25 ft; our rv is 12 ft x 34 ft with pullouts.

He had his wife and three children living there without an upstairs.

One of Theodore Roosevelt’s favorite sayings: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are”.

Even though he enjoyed hunting, he did realize he needed to preserve this land and animals from extinction.

When we returned home, we had a few things to do.

Just cleaning for me and outside stuff for Barry.

Enjoyed relaxing a little once done.

We decided to stay at Boots campground once we realized our truck and rv would not fit on the site at Cottonwood Campground. So, our dry camping has been postponed for the moment. We started our day travelling through the south loop of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.Barry and I took a hike to the river and saw bison and horse footprints on the river edge.There are many places to pull over and take in the views, hike or climb. I decided to climb, and need to buy better shoes for climbing, yoga shoes aren’t the best. We were incredibly lucky to see all the wildlife today. We saw bison and horses.

Then, we saw wild horses.The loop road in the park is closed at one point. On our way back, we encountered this.Then, at the Wind Canyon Trail.In the evening, we attended the Pitchfork fondue dinner. They deep fry ribeye steaks and have bison, chicken buffet.After dinner, while we waited to attend the Medora Musical, we saw two elk on the hillside.Ending our amazing day listening to exceptional music and a really funny Comedian.

We are on our way this morning, for more great adventures. Heading west to Medora, North Dakota, Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

I heard from Gail and Les, friends we met in Mandan, to travel the Enchanted Highway on our way.

We saw huge fields of sunflower crops.

We stopped at the Painted Canyon Visitor Center Rest area. This a must see, words cannot describe the view. Pictures do not do it justice either.

We found an overnight campsite at Boots Campground. To pay for the night, we went to Boots Bar and Grill. Of course, we had dinner and met Wenda and PJ from Virginia.

In the evening, we drove into the park to see our campsite for the next few days. On the way, there were wild horses, prairie dogs and a deer.

And, a beautiful evening sky.

We now are on Mountain time zone, 2 hours behind Ohio. I’ll try to remember that!!

While we waited for UPS to deliver our new converter, Barry and I began preparations for our first real dry camping experience.

We found a very nice laundromat in Bismarck.

Then, visited Walmart for groceries. We drove by the Capital building of North Dakota.

In Mandan, there is a wooden sculpture. Peter Wolf Toth has carved and donated one to each state. Look him up on line, he is from Akron, Ohio. The sculptures are called Trail of the Whispering Giants.

Once we returned to our home, the package was waiting for us. Yeah!!

Thank goodness, I have a handyman living with me. Barry relaxing after the repair work was done.

Early evening we had lots and lots of rain with dime size hail.

The storm moved on, sun came out, took a walk to see the tepee and cabin and we ended our day by having our last fire.