South Dakota - why did it take me 36 years to get here??

Saturday, July 30th

I left my seedy hotel and drove 10 miles south to find myself in Spearfish, South Dakota, one of the cutest 'tourist' to

wns I've ever seen. Why didn't I drive just a bit further the night b

efore? I would have loved staying th

e night there!! I would like to take

a trip based in Spearfish someday. It is at the north end of the Black Hills - and the entrance to Spearfish canyon. I had a lovely little hike there to some waterfalls, waded in the creek, and took photos.

Then I headed through the back roads of the black hills toward Mt. Rushmore. When I first saw it, i though - wow, this is overpriced and over commercialized - I don't want to pay to go in. I drove past, and about half a mile later, I turned back thinking I should see it while I'm here. I'm SO GLAD I did! It is built up for 'the masses' - but I think it's a place to be visited, so if that is the exchange for making it easy for the general public, I guess that's reasonable. The park rangers were terrific - the tour and people along the way were very knowledgable. I found it an interesting dichotomy that they seemed to be saying a lot to honor the native americans whose land was taken - but the honoring was nearly exclusively via the voice of the rangers - where is the REAL honoring? Why not give the land back?? The black hills were sacred to the tribes and they were told white men wouldn't enter that land - but when gold was found we took it over... The gold has destroyed areas and been dug thoroughly - can we let it go now??

I love Teddy Roosevelt, by the way - and if you haven't, read "my last chance to be a boy" - one of the best books I've ever read, about Roosevelt's explorations of the Amazon. Incredible man! He was once SHOT on the way to a campaign speech - gave the speech, THEN went to the hospital.

After this, I took back roads to the Badlands - one of the most breath taking places I've ever seen. Near the south entrance I found a deserted town, Scenic, SD - the town is for sale...

If the winters weren't so harsh - tempting :) My favorite part of the badlands (after I finished gawking at the view) was the wildlife, with the prairie dogs being the highlight. I spent a long time sitting in a field with them, watching and listening - there were hundreds. It was incredible! Zoos are so over-rated... just go into nature, watch, listen, and oh it is so much more rewarding...

That night the campsite I had picked was underwater - so I found a spot between two RV's at a commercial campground and slept quite well despite the fact there seemed to be several campground parties going on. I was happy-tired :)