Day 75

Hot Springs

Jul 20, 2013, 8:56 AM

Last night we talked about it and decided to stay two extra days in the Wall/Rapid City area. So on our way out of the campground I went into the office and got that taken care of and then we set off to Hot Springs. Not even five minutes down the road I was so glad we'd decided to extend the stay. The scenery is so beautiful and so different from anything I'm used to that I could stay a month or two and not get enough. 

Mammoth Site

Jul 20, 2013, 11:46 AM

We went to see where they unearthed mammoth fossils. That was pretty cool. There was a building about the size of a football field and inside was a dirt mound that was in the process of being excavated. Oh it was totally cool. There were people digging, brushing, wetting down, and scraping and we were just fascinated. After we were done at the Mammoth Site we tried several times to get lunch. It took three tries!! The first place we tried, Dale's Family Restaurant, we sat down and the waitress took our drink order. She asked if we were ready to place our order and we weren't. She brought our drinks and then we never saw her again. We left!! On to place #2, we'd noticed Cadillac Cafe  on our way to Dale's. We thought what the heck, it could be one of those little jewels, plus there really wasn't much else to choose from. We walked in and they were holding an auction. What the hell? An auction, really? On to place #3, Pizza Hut. So that was lunch and it wasn't exciting. 

After lunch we drove through Wind Cave National Park, which was in the Custer State Park. They both had drives you could do to hopefully see wildlife. The weather was iffy and although we would have loved to do a hike, we were afraid we'd get caught in rain. So we just did the scenic drive and we hit pay dirt!!!!!! Bison! There was one not too far away, but nowhere to pull over. So we drove to the scenic overlook, of course from there we can see nothing. But wait, Steve spotted a herd in the distance through the binoculars. They are so far off you can barely see them with the naked eye, damn!!!! Now I'm frustrated, I want to go back and see if I can get a shot of the first bison. And that's what we did, but no luck, I tried to walk far enough into the grass to see the bison but he was much further than I thought. So we drove on and OH MY GOSH, there was a bison right off the side of the road. Then there was another one even closer on the other side of the road and a little further down. I got back in the car and Steve drove me down to the other bison and now he is walking across the street in front of us. I was taking photos but even more than that LOVING this just because. Oh it was just so great, we were close enough to the bison to be able to smell them. Oh he mooned me too!!!! Can you believe that? What kind of a how do you do is that? As you will note in the picture, this is definitely a male bison!! We also saw deer, prairie dogs, and great scenery. 

I can't wait till tomorrow. We aren't going to do too much tomorrow cause we have a long day on Monday going to Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Cathedral Spires, Needles Highway, and a chuck wagon dinner show on a 9 hour bus tour! Good night everyone!!