June 22-26, 2012 – Black Hills, SD


We left Badlands Friday morning and headed towards Rapid City.  Just East of Rapid City we stopped at Americas Mailbox, our mail forwarding company, and picked up our mail.  It was nice to finally see our “home base”.  We are staying South of Rapid City at Rushmore Shadows RV Resort.  This is a very nice resort and the long pull-through site worked great so we didn’t have to unhitch our “dead” Jeep.


 

Next door to the RV resort was Old MacDonald’s Farm, a petting farm and family fun park.  We enjoyed seeing the goats on the suspended bridge every day.


 



We have been to the Black Hills many times and have seen most of the sights so we didn’t do a lot of sightseeing.  Our main reason for coming to this area is to get registered to vote.  After getting registered we relaxed some and took a couple of scenic drives.  Of course, we had to stop by Mt. Rushmore National Memorial again - we are always impressed when we visit.


 

We also took a drive through Custer State Park, another favorite place.  We were a little concerned if we would see any buffalo as the temperature reached 101 degrees and we thought they may be hidden in the trees trying to keep cool.  We were surprised to come around the corner and see a herd relaxing close to the road.


  


We enjoyed watching the calves – there were a lot of them in this herd.

 







A short ways down the road we came upon these big bulls.


We also saw a deer, a small herd of antelope and a burro.  We always enjoy the drive on Needles Highway with its tunnels and Iron Mountain Road with is hairpin curves and pigtail bridges.  We also had to stop for lunch at our favorite spot, The Blue Bell Lodge, for a great buffalo burger and the best apple crisp.

We had a very relaxing time in the Black Hills and enjoyed our visit.


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