Custer State Park

This past weekend I had the opportunity to take photos out at Custer State Park. Well, mainly because I went there to see Lance…and I hadn’t taken any blog-worthy photos lately… 

I know that this first photo isn’t phenomenal, but every time I see the start of the Black Hills, I get excited and think that I’m almost there – even though I have an hour and a half left to drive. And yes, I took this photo while I was driving. If it makes you feel any better, I was not actually looking through the camera – my eyes were on the road!

By the time I got to Lance’s, it was almost dark so he took me out on Saturday and we drove around to find some scenic, picture-worthy places. For example, this frozen lake with a small waterfall:

I tried to re-enact my Florida palm tree photo – not quite the same effect (palm trees and bright blue sky versus dead pine tree branches and cloudy sky) but I thought it was still neat.

And then it started to snow. (Another photo taken while driving, but this time Lance was at the wheel and I was concentrating on taking photos.)

And another ‘driving’ photo. Sorry. This one is on Wildlife Loop Road, I believe.

I don’t mind not having to drive super curvy roads to get to work every day, or unpredictable weather, but I do love the serenity of living in the middle of a park. It’s so quiet and so close to nature – I don’t know how many buffalo, turkeys, bighorn sheep and antelope I saw. (Lance, aren’t you proud I could name them all??)

I hope you enjoyed my mini-vacation photos.  Coming up next: Christmas at home!

trip to the Black Hills

After Jen & Eric’s engagement session, Lance and I toured many locations around the Black Hills and took a few photos to document our journey. 

First, we saw a snake! Lance made me take a picture. 

Shortly after seeing the snake and hearing other creatures, I called Jen to make sure we were on the right trail to Roughlock Falls. That’s when we found out we could drive the mile instead of walking, so we did that instead. :-)

After Deadwood (I was tired of carrying my large camera by this point in the day, so I have no photos of Deadwood – don’t worry, all we did was eat and ride the trolley so you’re not missing anything there – except for the amazing truffle shop!!) we drove through Custer State Park (where Lance will be working for a couple months this winter) and found a lake!

We found a couple other lakes, but those photos look too similar, so I won’t bore you with them. :-)

Sunday we got up early and went to mass and then over to Jewel Cave for a free tour. Which was pretty a pretty drab 15 minutes in one room after waiting over an hour to get in. So we drove part way and walked the rest of the way to the natural entrance. Which was also somewhat drab. Therefore we took goofy pictures here to enhance your viewing pleasure!

After Jewel Cave we ventured over to Mt. Rushmore – notice the extra layer of clothes (it got very chilly that afternoon) and Lance’s change of caps (gotta switch up the different camo patterns!)

Chillin’ with Mr. Gutzon Borglum:

Did you know that it was Gutzon’s idea to carve presidents that represented the birth (Washington), development (Roosevelt), expansion (Jefferson), and preservation (Lincoln) of the nation instead of western heroes? Lance and I do. Because we are official Rushmore Rangers – we even have patches to prove it!

After Mt. Rushmore we took a detour to Sylvan Lake (my favorite) to enjoy a bit of the sunset before we crashed for the night and drove home all day Monday!

Our next adventure: Jonas’s first birthday party this weekend!!