Editor in Chief
I wanted to announce the name for the Prairie Dog today but we have a 3 way tie!
The names that made the final cut are: Whiskers, Scout, and Flower.
An editorial team is reviewing the results and will make an announcement of the final winner next week. Stay tuned. Feel free to add your comments.
Prairie Dog with Flower
Whiskers, Scout or Flower?????
The “If there’s any Spare time” list is made up of things I enjoy or think I’d enjoy but also don’t mind skipping for something better. Sandy may feel differently and if so, we’ll just have to shift things around.
Here’s the list:
Zebras at the Out of Africa Wildlife Park
On the list of things that I would do but Sandy probably won’t want to:
Hot Air Balloon
I’m sure I’ve left something out but these are the lists that come to mind as the first stage of planning begins.
This vacation can be summed up in one word…AMAZING! It was so much more than I expected. What a journey of perception to go from “What’s in South Dakota” to “Amazing”.
Everyone’s hot button will be different but for me it’s animals…all kinds of animals. If I’m in Florida I’m always on the look out for creatures, ‘gators, birds, snakes ; when we go to Alaska I’ll want to see seals, sea birds , bears maybe whales and walrus but I didn’t know what to expect in South Dakota.
I think I loved the Wild Horses the best
Racing the Wind
followed by those funny little prairie dogs.
But seeing buffalo in the wild ,
not a zoo was really something as were the “beggin’ burros of Custer State Park.
Of course it is “where the deer and the antelope play”. 
I couldn’t help but compare my Pronghorn experience in Arizona with the Pronghorn experience in South Dakota. In South Dakota there were Mule Deer, White tail and antelope around every turn. Some even seemed to be posing for the photo ops, very few seemed skittish..
Sometimes it seemed like they were as busy watching us as we were them. In Arizona I saw 1 pronghorn way off in the distance and 1 mule deer family while I was on a tour bus at the grand canyon. The difference is notable.
We didn’t eat in fancy restaurants but the food was good and everyone we met was nice and helpful. The Foothills Inn was clean and everything as promised. Our stay there was very pleasant. I have no complaints.
Mount Rushmore takes your breath away when you see it for the first time. It is truly a monument for the ages. I only wish the weather had been better when we visited the mountain. Maybe next trip. Sorry I missed the Needles Highway but Iron Mountain Road was a great experience. Had our budget and time allowed, we definitely should have included a visit to Crazy Horse and not just the drive by. Next time?
Keystone to Hill City and back on a vintage train. The 1880 Train did not disappoint.
It was a relaxing ride through the Blackhills while the narrators gave us quick bits and stories sprinkled with lots of humor.
The caves, Wind Cave and the mining tunnel at Thunder Falls…both interesting and worthwhile visits. There are still many more caves in the area to explore as well as more passages and tours in Wind Cave. I guess you could say we only “scratched the surface”.
The Mammoth Dig isn’t a cave but it’s a great indoor activity for a rainy day. Well worth a visit.
Rapid City is a great city.. We only just touched on what there is to do. I’ve heard there’s shopping and art but we only had the one day so we got to visit Skyline Dr and Dinosaur Park,
checked out the presidents in downtown
and ended at the Journey Museum. 
The city has a beautiful park as we learned on our trolley ride and so much more that we missed.
It deserves more than one day. To paraphrase a saying…so much to see, so little time J
I can’t forget to mention the “Longest Dirt Road” that crossed Pine Ridge Reservation and meeting with members of the tribe. A nice, nice memory! Maybe next time we’ll find a Pow-Wow and visit Wounded Knee.
We need another visit to Wall Drug with it’s “Free Ice water” . Great souvenir shopping so bring your wallet! They are also online. www.walldrug.com
Last but certainly not least was magnificent scenery of the Badlands. That rugged beauty impressed me as much as the Grand Canyon but in a different way.
I’m so glad I have so many pictures and wonderful memories. My friends said I wouldn’t want to come back to New England. Well, I wasn’t ready to leave South Dakota, there was still so much to see and do, as one of my readers expressed as they told us of waterfalls and sights we missed, but I am not ready to move there. LOL I would consider a 2nd vacation and next time someone says to me “what’s in South Dakota I’ll know just what to say…”So much you just won’t believe it ‘til you see it!”
That about sums up the South Dakota vacation. It’s time to start planning the May trip to Sedona, Arizona. I also have some day trips coming up that I will fill you in on as they roll around. As always suggestions, comments , cheers and jeers and welcome. I hope I’ll be hearing from you, my readers!J
Just a quick reminder…there’s only a few more days to vote for your favorite name for the Prairie Dog.
Prairie Dog with Flower
You’ll find the poll on the archive site: http://aroundustyroads.blogspot.com
I know I still have more to tell you about South Dakota but I had to acknowledge my little friend, the Ground Hog. Last summer I had saw a little Ground Hog that seemed to have made his home right by RT 44. I saw him almost every day when I went to work. When fall came around he disappeared. I don’t know if he died, moved his den or was trapped and moved. I still look for him but there aren’t even any tracks in the snow. Still in honor of Ground Hog Day I am posting his picture.
Since it’s sleeting and storming, we can assume the ground hog didn’t see his shadow but the way this winter is going, I really don’t think it will matter. I am fairly certain that we will have more than 6 weeks of winter to get throughJ
NEWS FLASH!…The weather is so bad even Woodstock Willie plans to stay in on Wednesday. No word yet on Punxsutawney Phil’s plans.
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After another splurge for breakfast at Perkins Restaurant we headed back south to explore Wind Cave National Park. We were nearing the end of our time here in South Dakota and wouldn’t have enough time to check out all of the many caves and cave systems in the Black Hills so we asked for guidance. The cave most locals recommended was Wind Cave although Jewel Cave was a close second.
Red Wing Backbird outside the Foothills Inn
Our luck with the weather seemed to have run out as well, as if to tell us our time was up! So as we headed out there was a light mist and no sun. Well, we weren’t planning to sit on a beach or hike the mountains . We would be in a cave so I guess it doesn’t matter if it’s raining or not.
On our way to Wind Cave National Park we cut through Custer State Park again and followed the Wildlife Loop Road. I guess even the animals figured it was too nasty to be out as there was very little activity. We spotted a couple of antelope in the distance but this was the lightest day for animal sightings since we’d been here.
As we neared the entrance to Wind Cave National Park we thought we saw a Pronghorn with a baby in a ravine by the road. We turned around and tried to get back to see for sure. We had to wait for a lot of traffic to pass before we could turn around and by then the animal or animals had disappeared. So we turned around again and headed into the park.
The Visitor Center is a clean, modern facility and it was quite busy for a rainy day. I guess everyone felt like we did about the weather.
There were a lot of tours to chose from but it was almost lunchtime so we decided to take the shorter Natural Entrance Cave tour. Since it was almost lunch time I checked my blood sugar and it was fine. There is no food, candy or gum allowed in the cave so I wouldn’t have any “reserve” with me. The tour was about an hour long so I figured I’d be fine. (Boy was I wrong but more on that later)
We were directed out to a roofed pavilion to wait for the ranger. It was definitely cool and damp but everyone on the tour seemed to be enjoying themselves in spite of the weather.
Pretty soon our ranger arrived. I think he said he said his name was Ranger Nick. He is a teacher by profession and does the ranger gig part time. He was a slight man but he knew how to project his voice so there was no problem hearing his stories and instructions. Our tour was made up of all ages and physical abilities.
Ranger Nick's orientation
Ranger Nick gave us an orientation doing a great job of involving the children in the group. Then he led us off down the path toward the cave entrance. There was one more stop before we entered the cave and that was at the spot where the cave “breathes”.
Wind Cave is a huge cave system and it is still being explored but for years no one even knew it was there. The Native Americans spoke of the “hole that breathes cool air” and they may have explored some of the cave system. Following up on those legends, explorers finally found the “hole” and sure enough a breeze was blowing out of it.
At this point in the narrative, Ranger Nick climbed down into a depression next to a hole in the rock wall. He asked for a volunteer and one of the kids joined him. The little boy was given a ribbon and told to hold it in front of the hole. We could all see the breeze lift the ribbon and blow it out like a flag.
The "Hole that Breathes"
We turned around then and headed back to the entrance and into the cave itself.
Down we go
Almost immediately the cave started to slope downward. Before we would finish we would climb down around 300 stairs.
As we progressed through the cave, Ranger Nick stopped often and pointed out various formations. The rarest but most abundant of which is the boxwood formation. Wind Cave has more boxwood than any other cave in the world. It’s hard to believe but Ranger Nick said early miners actually used the fragile formation as post office boxes leaving letters and notes in the natural boxes. A partial list of the types of formations we viewed , I can’t remember all of them, is: Boxwork, helictite bushes, quartz rinds, dogtooth and nailhead spar, quartz, button popcorn, sawtooth flowstone, gypsum luster, flowers, starbursts, and hair and conulites.
Bottom of the Cave tour
Again I don’t know if I am remembering correctly, but when we reached the last room on the tour I recall that Ranger Nick told us how many feet it was below the surface. I think he said 228 ft but I could be wrong. If anyone knows the lowest point on the Cave Entrance Tour, please post it in the comments!
It was about this time that I began to feel really shaky and weak. I was glad the tour was wrapping up because I suspected that the mild walking had made my blood sugar drop more quickly than I had anticipated. We all loaded into elevators that took us back the the surface. I think I’d have been fine then if they had opened into the visitor center and I could have gotten something to eat but turned out that we still had a short walk but a small incline. It was the incline that was about to do me in. Ranger Nick came over to see if I was ok and said that arrangements could have been made for me as I have a medical condition, (diabetes). With Sandy’s help I made it back to the visitor center. They didn’t have a snack bar but they did have a room with some vending machines. I got something from there. I don’t even remember what and sat for about 15 minutes after eating. By then I was feeling better and we headed out to find someplace for lunch.
I was feeling a bit foolish but lesson learned. Take the glucose tablets or something even when food is not allowed!