Badlands.......South Dakota

Wow.......all I can say is.....WOW! It's so beautiful, and rugged, and desolate, and lovely. How can it be all that? It is.....and more. It's like another world. There are miles and miles and miles of beautiful spires of rocks. Multi-hued in colors......and so steep you just can't imagine that it could support any wild life. Yet.......we spotted thru our binoculars two momma bighorn sheep with their babies.....surefooted as could be as they lept over crevasses and steep outcroppings. Unbelievable to see yet there they were.

A variety of creatures roam this area. They include : prairie dogs, porcupines, cottontails, snakes, prairie rattlers, antelope, deer, eagles, and coyotes. We saw antelope roaming singly and in herds. We saw hundreds of prairie dogs and their mounds.

Tomorrow, we plan to hike the areas......there are so many places to pull over and take pictures or hike if you like.......and we like! We have our camelback backpacks and will be on the lookout for more wildlife.


The Badlands were originally named by the French trappers who explored the west in the early 1800's and called the area a "bad land to cross." The Dakota Indians also labeled it "mako sica" meaning"land bad."

We stopped at Wall Drugs, in Wall SD after we got here today. It's about 30 miles from the Badlands and a must to see. You see the signs for it for the last 50 miles that you've traveled on the interstate. It actually was a drug store that was bought by a young couple back in 1931. It was in such a desolate area, that no one ever stopped there. In 1936, the young wife had the thought that travelers traveling across the hot prairie were thirsty. She and her husband got the bright idea to put up signs on the interstate offering free ice water. Before they got back to the store after putting up the first signs, people had already begun showing up for their ice water. And history was started for the biggest drug store, blocks long, with every imaginable trinket, t-shirt, homemade pies and doughnuts and......free ice water. See you on the road with more tomorrow.

More pics from Lake Oahe, Pierre SD.

Hey Everyone........ this is the last of the pics I'm sending from here. You can see that this reservoir is huge. I made an error in reporting the shoreline in the last posting....I said 200 miles of shoreline and it's actually 22oo miles! So you can just imagine.......

We've had a terrific time here. We went out fishing with a great couple we met here. Mac & Joyce live in a small town, called Chugwater, Wy. They enter walleye tournaments together as a couple and we just had so much fun with them. It's fun to go out fishing with people like us....fishing fools! Anyway we picked up a neat tip from them we call the "MacKenzie zip". It's a way to pull apart a fillet to get the bones out......we've fished a long time and never knew you could do that. You can always learn from other people. This walleye pictured here was actually Tony's........they are such a good eating fish. Man oh man!

We leave here in the morning for the Badlands, to a place called Interior, SD. A guy here
told me that while you're not at the ends of the earth, you can see it from there! Whatever that means......I'm not sure! I guess we'll see for ourselves.

From there, on to the Black Hills, where we'll spend a week. Lots to see and do out there...we'll report from there and see you on the road.

Love........Kath

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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

Hi all..........one more time trying to post this! This site is not working well.........very frustrating. Oh well. We're here in Miller, SD. This state is one of huge open lands........farms are massive.........you can't see another house for miles. This is pheasant country for sure. You see them in the cornfields........on fences......running along the roads. And when you can't see them, you hear them. We could hear a rooster last night while we sat around a fire. No wonder pheasant hunting is so big here.

Our park here is very pretty, with large sites and a 125 acre lake on it. Actually, it's a dammned up creek, and hooks up to another lake we're told. We want to get out on it with our boat today if we can........the winds here have been fierce, 40-50 miles an hour, so we haven't done it yet.

On the way out here, we saw hundreds of windmills, out on the ridges. As far as the eye could see in some places. Amazing. Maybe they were windmill farms, if there is such a thing. And those windmills are huge......lots of wind going on here! The prettiest thing here I think are the acres of long grass...........undulating in waves, as if on the sea. Dancing and waving as if in some orchestrated movement. It's just stunning to see it. Tony and I have mentioned it many times now, when we see that happen.

We're off to Pierre SD on Tues, to Cow Creek rec area. That is on the Missouri river and we hope to get in some good fishing there. After that, off to the Black Hills and the Badlands. Should be fun.

Bye all.........we'll see you on the road.

Love.........Kath

More boat pictures

Here's a few more. It really DID warm up!

St. Croix boat ride

Hi all........



It seems like it's been a while. The blog site was down and I wasn't able to get on. In any event, we sure had a great time out on the St. Croix river.....Bruce was a terrific captain, and Rowie the most bestest hostess you ever saw......right down to the M & M's! The day started out cool and cloudy, progressed to rain and big waves, and then..........brilliant sunshine and blue skies. Absolutely gorgeous. We had such fun tooling down the river.

Betty loved her 50th presents. I think she'll always know our birthstones now. It was such fun surprising her.

It was hard to say goodbye this time. I know I won't be seeing most of you for quite some time, so that saddens me. I'll just have to concentrate on the good stuff. Tom did tell me that on his flight home, he had lots of time to contemplate what a big, wonderful family we have. It's so nice to enjoy each other as family, as well as friends.

Hope you enjoy these pics. See you on the road.

Love..........Kath

More wedding pictures!

Here's a few more pictures from the wedding. Thought you all might enjoy them. I'll be back with more.

Much love.........Kath