Blogs from Custer State Park, South Dakota, United States, North America - page 2

Today was a day for some of the Black Hills most important sites. I began with a long drive to the southern Black Hills town of Hot Springs. The road ran along the edge of the prairie next to the hills proper, which gives a sense of how they stick up from the surrounding landscape. Hot Springs was named after actual springs, which were turned into a health resort in the late 1800s. Most of downtown contains distinctive sandstone architecture. The hot water resorts are mostly gone at this point, but the town still has a vaguely hippy vibe. A park downtown also frames a nice waterfall on a cliff. I got a picnic lunch at a local café and pushed on. Wind Cave National Park Heading northwest, I reached the first target of the day, ... read more

Today we get an early start in order to cover everything we want to get done today. We will be visiting Custer State Park for a driving tour of the 18 mile Wildlife Loop Rd., going by the Crazy Horse carving, and returning to Spokane Creek by way of Needles Hwy. On the wildlife loop drive you will see pronghorn antelope, buffallo, and very curious burros, that appeared to be looking for a handout at every turn, even though there were signs posted everywhere not to feed the wildlife. We did not realize the amount of time it would take to do the wildlife tour, and when we were finished we all agreed we were starving, and could not continue without some nourishment. Aaah there is a small town just west of here about 5 ... read more

May 31, 2010 - "Fire in the hole!"...and no...I don't mean that kind! Sickos! Happy Memorial Day to all from South Dakota. We slept in a bit this morning and still found time to pack a lot in. We're so used to having to move our clocks ahead an hour, it's been kind of weird setting them back. The temperatures were chilly last night, but not too bad. The extra blankets we packed helped. We began our day with a return trip to Crazy Horse. They had a blast scheduled and we didn't want to miss that. We arrived with time to tailgate out the back of the truck. We're getting good at throwing together some simple sandwiches. Karen even invented a new sandwich yesterday...Peanut Butter and Lettuce? Yes, lettuce. You know...it wasn't that bad. It's ... read more

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 We’ve done everything on our list in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Today is an easy, relaxing day at our RV campsite. We stopped by a local museum where in the back of the multi storied building it is said to be the only place a lawful hanging took place in Custer; 1982. Does that mean they dispensed with legalities from then on? Or maybe a bullet was considered cheaper and quicker than stretching a good length of rope that could be put to more commercial purposes? On Wednesdays, the library in town doesn’t open until 3 p.m. That’s where I’ll be heading later to use a password protected wifi to pay some bills using my Quicken software. And I’ll update my travel blog. A little while ago, I called and ... read more

What a fabulous day we had today. This morning we headed for the Norbeck National Scenic Byway/Needles highway in Custer state park. What a gorgeous drive. The road is very steep with lots of hairpin turns and incredible vistas with each turn of the road. Driving through rock tunnels and winding past rock spires, the Needles Highway was labeled impossible when it was constructed in 1919. It curves and winds through 14 miles of magnificent rock formations called needles. It also has two tunnels blasted through sheer granite walls. These tunnels are less than 13 feet high and 11 feet wide. Owing to the narrow roadway, sharp turns, and low tunnels the vehicles that travel this road are almost exclusively sightseers. There were hundreds of bikers on the road, mostly Harley riders and what a great ... read more