The Badlands

So I finally figured out how to get my photos off my camera and onto my Mac so I can now show you a bit of my trip to South Dakota and the Sturgis Rally.

The first two nights in SD, Friday and Saturday, we stayed at the Circle View Guest Ranch. I would highly recommend staying there if you want to see the Badlands. The rooms are clean and the breakfast is great. You really feel a part of the host's family when you are there and the hosts take great care to learn about all their guests. At the ranch they had free range chickens, a goat, and two donkeys. This was a perfect introduction to farm animals and I learned just how friendly goats can be!

Each morning the bed and breakfast would serve eggs form their our chickens. I have never seen scrambled eggs as yellow as the ones I ate here - apparently due to their free-range diet.

Although the goat doesn't look too friendly here he did seem to thoroughly enjoy being around humans. He did chew on everything he could get into his mouth, including the shirt I'm wearing here.

Chewy seemed to enjoy licking my dad. Unfortunately my dad didn't find that experience as enjoyable as Chewy did.

 A couple photos from the Badlands. Although it looks arid, this part of the state had clearly gotten much more rain this summer than the last time we were in SD in 2010.

Sunset in the Badlands.

Inside a small cave formed from run-off water.

When we finally decided to leave the Badlands for the Black Hills we took the scenic route. What we thought would be a nice, but still relatively short, scenic drive through the southern part of the park turned into a 4 hour drive along dirt roads through Pine Ridge just to get to the edge of the Black Hills. The drive was beautiful but much longer than expected. In the end it took us about 8 hours of driving to get from Interior, SD to Spearfish, SD a distance of only 123 miles. The experience was great, but not one that I would repeat. Here's some of what we encountered in the first few hours of the drive:

Shepherd Mountain Table overlook in the southern Badlands. A must-see off the beaten path experience. When you're up there you can see miles in each direction - likely 30 - but can't really tell how high up you are as there is nothing you can use as reference point - no houses, cars, people, cattle. 

Off the side of the road to Shepherd Mountain Table.

Entering Pine Ridge.

A small, possibly abandoned church in Pine Ridge.

A sunflower farm. This is the second time in my life I've come across sunflower farms and I haven't ever seen something more beautiful. There were sunflowers as far as the eye could see. In my opinion there wouldn't be a better farm to live on. 

Driving over a river on HWY 2 west of Pine Ridge on our way to the Black Hills.