We first stayed at Smith Falls State Park outside of Valentine, NE for two nights. Though it rained heavily with tornados visible nearby, we had a nice time. Samson loved playing in the waterfall and swimming in the Niobrara River! We also hiked to Fort Falls and Snake Falls, visited the town and drove through a National Wildlife refuge.
Sarah catching raindrops at Smith Falls
From there, we went to a B&B just outside the Badlands National Park in S. Dakota. It was absolutely beautiful and Samson made an instant friend with Hank, their dog. We spent two nights there, enjoying the company of many other travelers, and learning some about the area.
We drove & hiked through the Badlands for two days, taking all the back trails we could find. The changing weather made The Badlands look completey different each day. We saw lots of wildlife, including Bison, Pronghorn, Bighorn sheep, and prairie dogs. To dodge raindrops, we went to the famous Wall Drug for an ice cream and enjoyed ourselves immensely!Al looking out over The Badlands
For our encore to the already incredible trip, we headed into the Black Hills and set up camp at Horse Thief Campground near Hill City, just as the rain started to pour. Our campsite was way up out of the way on a small bluff behind a HUGE boulder. A nice, big site with lots of campfire wood all around. We camped here for a week, in which it rained for the first 6 days. The tent did it's best, but finally gave way on day 5. When the rain let up on the last day, we decided to extend our trip by one sunny day! We saw so much wildlife in The Hills, even getting 'stuck' waiting for a herd of Bison to get out of the roadway. Some of our favorite things we did was visit the Mammoth Site, drive Needles Hwy, tour the underground Wind Cave, walk downtown Keystone, Hot Springs & Hill City, hike in Custer State Park, walk through a mining museum and "off- road" in the Blazer for a total of 1800 trip miles!
In the end, we'd been cold & wet, hungry & irritable, relaxed, reconnected & completely rejuvinated!~
Al, Sarah & Samson atop "Lookout Point"
4 comments:
Hey guys. Like the page. It works for me! Blessings on the new baby. Hope he or she gets here soon! Love, Kristel
Love the page, you did a great job on it! I can't wait to see the pictures of the new baby on the site.
WOW! This was quite an amazing trip! I am sure you will both look back with fondness of the time spent together! I am so envious of the beautiful places you have been able to enjoy! Can't wait to read and see pictures of Eden's first vacation! :)
Hello Figment - Congrats on the baby. Just moving to Munich with my new husband. Glad to see all is well -Zipper
Post a Comment