Back from South Dakota, Part 1

Well, we are back form a great vacation in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This is an area that I had never been to before and I was just blown away by the beauty of the area. The Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, Sturgis, Dinosaur Hill....there is tons of stuff to do and then some. The trip from San Francisco, to Rapid City, our base of operation, took about 2 1/2 days to drive. Going into Salt Lake City driving east you run into the salt flats. These are miles and miles of white, dry, flat salt covered land. It is were speed trials were done.
It is hard to imagine but all around you in this dry area are mountains and dry flat land covered in crunchy salt. The air is hung with a fine dry powder of salt. We were travelling with our three chihuahuas and even they wouldn't venture out on to this land. The picture was taken at a rest stop.

We made it into Rapid city a day later. I think that our excursions into the Badlands were really the most eye opening. You can see for miles and miles, nothing but buttes and dry desert and mountains. It is very hard to get a sense of the magnitude of the vistas in a picture. It is also impossible to imagine the quiet the surrounds you out there. Living here int he city you are inundated with so much noise day in and day out. In the Badlands it is so quite that your ears ring. Walking out on a butte it was so quiet that you could hear the crickets/grasshoppers hitting the blades of dried grass at you feet. A very humbling experience.


I have lots more pictures that will go on as I get to them.

Thanks for stopping by, leave a comment if you have the time.

Take care,
edgar