Hidden Bluffs campground in Minnesota

A picture of my wildflower bouquet. I picked these up along one of the trails in the park.
We crossed the mighty Mississippi and went into La Crosse, Wisconsin one day. The whole city is built on the Mississippi delta. In 1904 it was nothing and as you can see from the collage below it is a city of about 55,000 now. It is home to a technical college,Uof Wisconsin La Crosse and University of Viterbo which has a great nursing program in conjunction with Mayo Clinic.

We found a good many beautiful Victorian homes in the area and the gardens around this house were beautiful.

Several large and beautiful city parks around the city.

The campus of this university was beautiful.

These are just some scenes taken from the trails right here at the campground. For the most part the trails were grass nicely mowed. Makes for easy hiking.

We have really been able to just sit back and relax here. Did a lot of walking the trails, good eating at a couple of places in town, and meeting some new folks. It is a very well kept park and quite an enjoyable spot to just chill.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

Teaching kids to count is fine,

but teaching them what counts is best.

Badland,SD / Hidden Bluffs resort Minnesota 8/27/09

As you can tell we are slowly making our way east. The campground above is an RPI Preferred. It was the best managed one of our entire trip. Located in Rapid City, SD and member run. Everything was beautifully groomed and all the facilities were very clean and well maintained. Nice bike trails and a huge dog park where big dogs could actually get a run in. This park should be a model to the other campgrounds out there. They do such a good job and they still maintain reasonable camping fees.
This is where the campground sits. Just out among the rolling hills. Very quiet and peaceful.

We had been told by our friends Will & Ella to be sure and go to Alpine Inn for dinner one night. Boy, were they right. We had a beef fillet dinner for $8.75 that was fantastic. It is a German run restaurant. We also had a lunch there. They make all kinds of different sandwiches and their potato salad was to die for. Alpine Inn is located in Hill City and it's a cute small town, worth taking a walk through.

This horse made out of all kinds of metal paraphernalia was incredible. Enlarge the picture so you can see the detail.

When we left Hart Ranch we drove through part of the Badlands. Depending of the time of day and where the sun in located they are many different colors.

Kinda like the Grand Canyon of the Badlands. So many different kinds of beauty out there. Each is so unique in its own special way.

Then eventually the terrain changed and we drove through rolling hills. We spent the next night in Mitchell, SD. Mitchell's claim to fame is "The Corn Palace". A palace like structure made out of corn. We decided we could probably pass by that experience besides we had a lot of miles to cover the next day.

So the Badlands were left behind by the time we reached Mitchell and the next day we drove out of South Dakota and across Minnesota.

All the way across Minnesota there were three things we saw 1) fields of corn 2) fields of sunflowers 3) fields of soybeans. That's it--nothing else.

Sunflower field

Corn and soybean field

We are now in an ROD park in Spring Grove, MN. It is a very pretty park. We do a hike every day and have enjoyed the park. There is not a whole lot to see around here it is mainly a respite after several long days of driving.

God has been so good to us to enable us to make this trip. We have seen so much and enjoyed doing so many different things. More than anything I will cherish our time with our California daughter and family what a special treat. We had wonderful times with Lee's sisters and cousins. It's just been a very special trip, one we will reminisce about for years to come.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Happiness is a journey not a destination

Work like you don't need money

Love like you've never been hurt

And dance like no one's watching

Mount Rushmore / Custer State Park 8/17/2009

In the last post I did not have a picture of where the Star Valley Ranch campground sits. The above picture shows the campground just at the base of the foothills. The field I am standing in is the field we were able to play ball with Nicky in.

This was the most unusual barn. Mixture of rocks and logs. It was really neat.
Nicky catching another good one. The morning we left at sunrise there was a balloon lift with 13 balloons. It was so cold that morning but the air was just right for take-off.

There were many beautiful vistas between Thayne, WY and Rapid City, SD. We stayed one night in a Walmart along the way. Too many miles for a one day trip.

As you can see, once we were out of the mountains the terrain became very flat.

We arrived at Hart Valley Ranch (RPI) about 2:30 PM. Another very lovely park. They have a dog park that is incredible. All sites are on a concrete pad and the grass is gorgeous. There are 4 pickle ball courts, a heated pool and 5 hot tubs. Those of you who are RPI members should look into a week here sometime.

We took the first day to get settled in and then the next day we took off for Mount Rushmore.

Garrett, I have an assignment for you. Look up and tell Nana who the 4 presidents are in the picture above.

All of a sudden there were these rocks growing up out of the ground everywhere. The narrow tunnel of rock that we drove through is called the Needle. Can't guess why can you????

Enlarge the picture above by clicking on it twice. On the first rock you see a white spot. If you look closely you will find that it is a tarp set up to be a tent. Also there is a rope or line of some kind from the first rock to the second rock and some one is moving across that line. Now, look closely on the third rock and you will see someone standing on it. My question is WHY????

We saw these piles through out the forest in Custer State Park. These piles are a result of many hours of hand work. These piles, called slash or brush piles, are created as part of forest thinning in an effort to clean-up the forest floor. Removing excess tree branches and stems takes away potential fuel for wildfires. Thinning also helps remove dead plant life, which enhances the health and vigor of the forest. The piles are usually burned within a year, during the following winter, when the wood has dried out and snow can help contain the fire. Then the process begins again. I thought this was very interesting.

There were Buffalo, prong horned antelopes, wild burros, and prairie dogs every where in Custer State Park.

Many Tatanka. Who knows what movie calls the Buffalo tatanka?

These prairie dogs continue to drive Nicky nuts with their continual chirping and popping up and down from their holes.

This guy was beautiful and there is Mr. prairie dog chirping away.

This is a herd of the wild burros I mentioned.

The area surrounding Custer Park looks pretty much like this most of the time. You can see why the wild life enjoys grazing here.

There were times when the terrain changed to this red clay and rock mixture.

The above picture is of Linda and Jerry. They were are neighbors here and we really enjoyed them. They travel and have a home in Arizona. We all went to a great pizza place for dinner the night before they left. When we got back we played pickle ball under lights. Great fun was had by all. Hope we cross paths again.

Thayne, WY / Grand Tetons Aug.,2009

Our drive to thayne WY was beautiul.

This is a picture of the Pallisades Reservoir in WY. We stopped here and had lunch.


The valleys were loaded with color. Greens and reds and blues and wild flowers all over.

This truly is big sky country. Don't know what it is but the sky seems endless. When you sit on the back of a cruise ship and gaze at the stars they seem to be a huge canopy that stretches right to the bottom of the water. The MT, and WY skies remind me of this same feeling when you look at the sky.

The campground we stayed in is called Star Valley Ranch. It is an RPI park. It is located right against the foothills in this picture. We would highly recommend this park for those of you who may be visitng the Grand Tetons. It's a good location for that and it's just a lovely park. It is a beautiful valley. We are surrounded by ranches, hay and alfalfa crops. No matter where you happen to be driving the scenery is gorgeous.

Everything requires irrigation. The crops look fantastic but I guess they should. When you totally control the watering like that you're not taking as much of a gamble as the eastern farmers who do not irrigate but count on the weather cooperating.

The day we left to go to the Grand Tetons we had to wait for the herd above to be moved to the pasture across the street. Nicky didn't even bark, he's gotten used to cattle and bufflo walking past the car.

Depending on the crop you are looking at, you get such a variety of color across the valleys.

The pictures above are some of the different terains we viewed along the way to the Tetons.

We were driving along the Snake River most of the trip over to the park.

The pictures above are so symbolic of the parts of Montana and Wyoming we fell in love with.

This makes for quite a drive down the road doesn't it?

I remember this being my mother's favorite park. She just loved these mountains.

This is a picture of Jenny Lake.

This moose was laying in the brush with her calf and I did the best I could to get a picture of them.

I know there is a name for these kind of deer but I can't remember what it is. They sure are pretty. I sure have enjoyed seeing all the wild life recently.

This is Jackson Hole, WY the big ski area. We had to go through here to get to the park. The town was full of tourists. I can only imagine what winter must be like.

The rest of our time here will be spent relaxing and having a little down time rather than being on the go all day every day. I need to groom Nicky and give him a bath and we'll catch up on wash and probably get around to washing the car.