Pierre South Dakota

Greetings.........and a happy 4th of July to all. We are in Pierre, SD......wide open lands of cowboys, pheasants, and good hunting and fishing. We've been here for 5 days now.

This campground we're on is called the Cow Creek recreation area. It's on a huge reservoir, and I mean huge. There are over 200 miles of shorline.......it's really beautiful. Lots of walleye, smallmouth, and pike. The lake here is called Lake Oahe, and it's heavily fished. All the guys here have large Lund boats.......you see them everywhere. It's really big water out there, so you have to be careful. We're going out today in our little 10' porta bote.......it ought to get a few laughs, but hey.....it lets us get out there. We just won't go too far as it's a bit windy today.

We spent the 4th going into the town of Pierre. It's the capitol of South Dakota, so we stopped at the Capitol building and went thru it. Absolutely gorgeous......with inlaid mosaic tile floors, crafted by 65 different artists. Just stunning. The dome had beautiful stained
glass and sculptures that were too many to list. The surrounding grounds had veterans parks and more sculptures of horses and wars fought. Very pretty.

Then........it was off to the rodeo for a fun afternoon. What better way to spend the 4th of July in a land of cowboys and horses. And were they ever good. I have always appreciated the wonderful riding of these young men and women. There was bronc riding, bareback riding, calf roping, bull riding, and steer wrestling. It was all just a lot of fun. Those cowboys sure could handle a rope......how in the heck can they rope the back legs of a running calf, while riding pell mell across the arena with one hand on the reins and the other twirling a rope? Although it is nothing I aspire to do, I watch in admiration at their prowress.

We're going out fishing today, so I will add some more pictures to this same Pierre SD area.........hopefully there will be some fish to show!

We'll see you down the road!

Love.........Kathie