Our Last Day in South Dakota

CATHEDRAL SPIRES
A group of granite pillars located in the Needles that have been designated a National Natural Landmark.

While in Custer State Park, we traveled the scenic Needles Highway which winds through pine forest and around granite spires called "the Needles."  The route snakes through several small, one-way granite tunnels that we just barely fit through.

I don't know how this bus made it through the tunnels.

As you come out of this tunnel you can see Mount Rushmore off in the distance.

On our last day we rode to Mount Rushmore and walked the President's Trail.

There was work going on right on top of  President Roosevelt's head.

George Washington
"I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them."





Thomas Jefferson
“We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”




Theodore Roosevelt
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people. "






Abraham Lincoln
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. "

Beautiful Day for a Walk Around the Lake

Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park

This is part of the trail around the lake.

Sadie loved this little walk.

We camped in the Sylvan Lake Campground which is about half a mile from the beautiful Sylvan Lake.  The lake is surrounded by massive rock formations and ponderosa pine trees.  It's really hard to capture the beauty of this place in pictures.  There was a wedding party getting ready for an evening wedding next to the lake.  Great place for a wedding but it was so windy and cold - I felt sorry for them out there.


Several trailheads begin at Sylvan Lake and one of them takes you to the top of Harney Peak, the highest mountain east of the Rockies.  The view is suppose to be very impressive, overlooking the Black Hills and with a view of Mount Rushmore.  We didn't take that trail but did take the mile trail around the lake.

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.  ~John Muir

Custer State Park and the Wildlife Loop

Our next stop was Custer State Park near Rapid City, S.D.  This park covers 71,000 acres and is the second largest state park in the country.  The scenery is beautiful and diverse with prarie grasslands, lush green forests, serene meadows, fishing lakes, and majestic mountains with towering peaks. There are several campgrounds and lodges inside the park and we stayed at the Sylvan Lake Campground. 

The park is home to a herd of 1500 free roaming bison.  Elk, mule deer, white tailed deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, mountain lions, and feral burros also inhabit the park. The park is famous for its scenery, its scenic drives (Needles Highway and the Wildlife Loop), with views of the bison herd and prairie dog towns.

This big guy was not with the herd in the Wildlife Loop, but just walking near a campground on his own.  I sure wouldn't want to meet up with him in my campground!

This is at prarie dog town. I don't know what they eat here but there must be plenty of it!

We loved these little burros. They would come up to your car to see if you had a treat for them. Some people were feeding them carrots or apples.

We saw lots of these Pronghorn Antelopes.

 We missed the Annual Buffalo Roundup by a few weeks.  Each year the herd is rounded-up for branding and vaccination.  Thousands of spectators gather each year for the weekend's events which include an organized stampede of buffalo and an arts festival.

The Wildlife Loop is a must see if you ever go to Custer State Park!



Beautiful Praries of South Dakota

I though South Dakota was a beautiful state and would love to go back and spend more time there. Our first night there we stayed at Vermillion Lake State Park which was very quiet and peaceful and looked like a great place to fish. The next day we traveled west all day on Interstate 90 across beautiful prarie and grasslands. It was just gorgeous weather and you could see for miles. We saw sign after sign advertising Wall Drug in Wall, S.D. so we just had to stop and have our five cent cup of coffee. Also enjoyed a $4.00 ice cream cone!

Loved all the old farms with interesting looking barns!

Here we turned onto I.H. 90 which seemed like the top of America to us. We live near I.H. 10 so this is a long way from home!

This is the first time I had ever seen a real pumpkin patch. It was just in their front yard. Wish we could have found a whole field of them.

Interstate 90  is the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at 3,099 miles and is

the northernmost coast-to-coast interstate. 

Just beautiful "Big Sky Country!"

Crossing Farmlands of America

On our trip we had some long days of traveling and weren't able to stop every time I wanted to take a picture so a lot of my pictures are just drive-bys - traveling about 60 mph while holding my camera out the window. That's why some are not really in focus but I just wanted to capture at least a little glimpse of the beauty of America's farmland. Every now and then I was able to catch something that made me happy such as these two.

Bless Our Family Farm

(Edward C. Schaefer)

O Lord, please bless this land we farm,

our buildings, home and all the rest.

Protect the seed we plant in spring,

and send the rain to do its best.

Give us the wisdom to tend your land,

and do our best and what we know.

Please help the seeds we planted,

to multiply and grow.

Command your elements to be kind,

and guard our crops out in the field.

Bless our farm at harvest time,

and fill our bins with a grateful yield.

We thank you for these special gifts,

you've granted through the year.

But most of all, we thank you, Lord,

for our family close and dear.

Palo Duro Canyon, Texas

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:12 NIV

Have a great Sunday!

Spiritual Sunday

We saw this church in South Fork, Colorado a few years ago. Thought it was so pretty nestled in the middle of the beautiful fall foilage.

Believe and do what God says. The life-changing consequences will be limitless, and the results will be confidence and peace of mind.
Franklin Graham

God Bless Our Land

These are more pictures that we took at the apple orchard near Kansas City. We saw some beautiful farm country as we traveled through Missouri. I wish we could have stopped more often to take pictures - especially the big red barns.



This tractor looks like it has done its fair share of work on the farm and deserves a time of rest in the pasture under a shade tree.

Alldredge's Apple Orchard, Platte City, MO

On our trip to K.C. to see Jason and Jill we found this apple orchard outside of town and decided to go pick some apples. In Southeast Texas we don't usually see apple trees so this was a lot of fun for us. We came home and made a yummy pie and had pie and ice cream for our dessert.

I love riding the ferry across Galveston Bay. It was a beautiful day and the water was so pretty and green. We picked up Jeffrey and rode over to Crystal Beach and ate at the Stingaree. We also visited the Fort Travis Park at Bolivar - I'd never stopped there before. Too bad you can't go inside the bunkers.

There is still a lot of work going on in Galveston and on the peninsula putting everything back together after Hurricane Ike, but things are looking much better now and we really enjoyed our beach day.

"The Extravagance of God"

More sky than man can see
More seas than he can sail,
More sun than he can bear to watch
More stars than he can scale.


More breath than he can breathe,
More yield than he can sow,
More grace than he can comprehend,
More love than he can know.

...Ralph W. Seager