Blogs from Badlands, South Dakota, United States, North America - page 6

Eight years ago I would have never thought that I would spend my 8th Wedding Anniversary on top of a huge rock formation in Badlands National Park, South Dakota !! The whole day was one to be remembered. We started off with our traditional bath at the local Flying J Truck Stop and then we were off to feed these cute furry creatures at Prairie Dog Town. On the way to see the prairie dogs we stopped off at a hole-in-the wall restaurant called The Haven Inn Cafe for food. The girls and I went in to get a table while Tim went to the restroom and to stretch his legs. Before he was finished in the little boys room, we were already on our way out the door ! Emily, Kayla and I walked up ... read more

So it turns out I live in the U.S. and travel here as well! This is another domestic entry. Over fall break (Oct. 19-23), a group of student photographers and myself along with our professor traveled to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Shannon County, South Dakota. Our focus was to do a series of photo essays on women who are leaders in the Lakota community, because we decided that the whole drugs and alcohol and violence thing was way overdone. It was a wonderful experience. Our first night on the "Rez," we went Red Cloud school where a reservation-wide pow wow was held. What struck me first was the color! The traditional dress is lovely, and I have to say, modern fabrics and dying techniques have certainly made the outfits even more vibrant. The feathered ... read more

Again we got up at 6AM to get ready and pack up our stuff. I took a few photos of the campsite before we hopped into the van and we were on our way. We stopped off at a petrol station where I finally found a half decent fitting pair of sunglasses and bought them. We drove for a couple of hours before stopping off at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial sign where we all took photos then headed for the famous Mount Rushmore. When we arrived Jon told us we have 45 minutes to have a look around before we had to set off again. We headed towards the amazing Mount Rushmore which was an extremely impressive sight. Another sight we had all seen on the television, it was hard to believe we were actually ... read more

After a REALLY bad roast beef sandwiches at Arby's that we couldn't eat we were off to the Badlands. We arrived just before sunset with a full moon rising. Perfect timing the colors were unbelievable. The landscape takes your breath away, around every turn another spectacular view. At the far end of the park there's a lodge and restaurant we were lucky, although they didn't have any vacancies there the receptionist called the other lodge a mile away just outside the park and they had one room left! How lucky can you get. The cows were in the pasture next to us and a view of the badlands out of our window. Not a bad view to wake up to. ... read more

July 24, 2007 Yesterday it was 102 in Sioux Falls, and today it reached 106 in the Badlands. Holy cow, it is really hot! I wasn’t sure our poor van was going to be able to pull the camper in that kind of heat, but someone we made it. Yesterday, we stayed in Sioux Falls the whole day. Luckily, there was a camper dealer next door who very happily kept our van for most of the day to add the cables to run the camper brakes. We stayed at a KOA right off the highway, but were lucky that it had a pool. We spent hours at the pool and in the camper with our AC on. Late that night, we drove to the Badlands. OK, so we thought that driving when the kids were asleep ... read more