South Dakota

We went to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD.  You go into the building and the dig is right there.  It was really great. 

They leave most of the bones in place so you can see the process.  They think the animals got trapped in a sink hole and died there. Sort of like the La Brea Tar Pits. 

This one is almost complete with only it's head missing.  They have found 60 mammoths so far, and they have only dug twenty or so feet down so far.

These people are from Earthwatch.  They volunteer to dig a couple of weeks in the summer.  Some even come every year.

They think the native people built homes using the bone of mammoths.  They've found similar buildings in Siberia.  Interesting

This is a copy of the baby mammoth that was found in Siberia. It's name is Lyluba ( I think.)

Later that day we drove to Wind Cave National Park.  We didn't go into the cave, but we did drive around for a while.  We saw tons of wildlife.

Like this herd of bison about a football field off the road.

We saw lots of pronghorn throughout the park.

One pronghorn was even licking the road; we think she was after the salt.

We drove on into Custer State Park.  It's on the same highway.  This is a herd of wild burros. This brave group was begging from the tourists.

They seem to like people.

This little girl had a handful of carrots and the gray one kept following her around.

We saw the Badlands National Park.  It's like a wall of stucco that runs a long way.  In fact the old timers called it the wall. 

From up high you can see for 25 miles.  This view is from the Cliff Shelf.  We walked up and back.  I think that it was a mile loop.

The shapes were weird.

Can you imagine coming up on this in a covered wagon?

We walked all but one trail here in the park.  It was six miles long one way.  No way.

You can see the stripes in the hills.  It is layers of sediment from an inland sea a looong time ago.

We visited an old sod house from 1913.  People the Browns lived on this property until 1960ish.

It's so lonely out here.  Your nearest neighbor must be miles away.

Prairie dogs are so cute, but they sure messed up a garden.

At least they had a lovely bathroom.  Haha

Back in the Badlands.

We saw a deer along the side of the road.  She had a radio collar on.

One of the trails had some fossils on display.

A view of the "wall."

This is what it looks like up close.  It is very hard.  People were walking on it and it didn't leave footprints.

We went into Wall, SD to the Wall Drug.  We had a burger in the café. 

They have a dinosaur that "feeds" every 12 minutes.

This the patio that has a fountain that kids can run through.  

The place is like a theme park in the middle of nowhere.  It's kind of kitchy.

More Prairie dogs

Too cute.  He's standing guard.

 

 

We are in Casper, WY today.  We'll be here for three days.  Tomorrow we have to do the boring things that must be done like laundry and grocery shopping.  Ugh.  But then we can go sight seeing.  Must go for now.

 

Love, Mom and Dad