The Black Hills

Last weekend I went on a roadtrip with 2 girlfriends. None of us had been to Mt. Rushmore before so that is where we headed. It's about a 12 hour drive from here. We had a great trip. Crammed a lot into our 2.5 days there. Learned that there is a lot to do & see in the Black Hills.   The trip started with the amazing sunrise above. Our first stop was in The Badlands.  Amazing...and hot.

 Mt. Rushmore was first on Saturday's agenda.  Magestic, yet it is hard to wrap your mind around how large the scupture really are.

Crazy Horse Monument.  Still in progress.  This is 50 years worth of work.

Sunday was a lot of driving thru incredible scenery.  I did the driving that day.  This was the first tunnel carved through rock that we drove through.  It is on Needles Highway.  It is barely one lane wide.

This spot was my favorite of the day.  We took a gravel road a few miles off the main highway and had these amazing sweeping views in Wind Cave National Park.

We saw a herd of wild donkeys, 2 elk, and scads of prairie dogs but by the time we were close to the end of Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park all we had seen were 3 lone bison.  But then we came across a herd of over 100 bison right on the road.  We even saw these two fighting it out.

It was a great trip! I would love to go back and do some hiking in the area and see more of all there is up there.