travel

Part of the herd
Baby
Papa
The loner
Drive carefully through the park
Custer State Park traffic jam
I saw the driver checking his insurance policy for coverage
Pronghorn antelope
Wild burro
Some wildlife is wilder than others
Jordan and Brenna wanted to bring this one home

Wild thing

Sing with me… “Oh give me a home,where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play.” And the mountain goats. And the wild burro. And the elk. Good grief, there is a lot of wildlife in Custer State Park! We made three trips through Wildlife Loop Road, an 18-mile paved route through classic…

Nearing the end of the Cathedral Spires trail
Trail map
A forest of granite
Near the summit of Little Devils Tower
Jordan making new Facebook profile photos
Boodle
Near the summit of Harney Peak
Near the summit of Harney Peak
Near the summit of Harney Peak
The summit of Harney Peak and the CCC-era fire tower
We were there
The tree that fell right in front of us
Sunday Gulch
My trail crew
Sunday Gulch
Sunday Gulch
The end of the Cathedral Spires trail
Our campsite at Center Lake

Walk is cheap

I like a dirt path. Too much time with city pavement under my boots makes me crabby, so it was good to hit the trails in Custer State Park. I’ve always thought the place deserved national park status with its varied geography and bountiful wildlife, but I guess if I were South Dakota, I would…

What’s in a name?

Scenic, South Dakota is not. Based on recent election results, Liberal, Kansas is decidedly conservative. My third grade geography teacher told me the Vikings named the inhospitable island Greenland and the lovely place Iceland as a bit of PR trickery so they could keep the good stuff all to themselves. We Minnesotans love to snicker…

Happy birthday America

When we pulled into Interior, South Dakota, we were stopped by a parade. Most places put their horses at the end of the parade. Here, they led it. A circle of trailers signaled the rodeo grounds and we found our spot in the bleachers next to a fella I’ll just call Fella. Apparently my denim…

Todd Skinner climbed Devils Tower in 18 minutes, without aid or protection.
Hiking the Tower Trail
Waiting for the mother ship
Watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The view from our campsite
The red banks of the Belle Fourche River

Movie and a view

We drove 672 miles to watch a movie. And it was a rerun. I’m not sure when I first learned that the KOA campground (or is it Kampground?) outside Devil’s Tower, Wyoming has nightly outdoor screenings of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But ever since, I’ve known that I would sit in the audience….

Mitchell South Dakota
They left a few of last year’s panels on the side.
Corn Palace when it’s not under construction
Corn Palace when it’s not under construction
Singing cowboys of Wall Drug
Wall Drug
Ted and Dorothy Hustead. Wall Drug founders.
I had my photo taken with her (on the left) long before she (on the right) was born.
The first Mt. Rushmore we saw.
Wall Drug’s T-Rex
Trouble at Wall Drug
Wall Drug Singing Cowboys

The mad dash or the lazy day

Sometimes when I start a trip I just want to get there. I want to pack food, dehydrate the children for a day to avoid the bathroom breaks, and just roll. The more time I can preserve for the final destination, the better. Other times, I prefer a lazy stroll. Leaving Laura’s Homestead, we were…

Sunrise rainbow at the Ingalls Homestead
Covered wagon lodging at the Ingalls Homestead
Little Wheat on the Prairie
Jordan, Brenna and Karen, post-wagon slumber
Brenna leaving the wagon
Pa Ingalls’ cottonwood grove

Little Stop on the Prairie

When Pa Ingalls made the journey from Walnut Grove, Minnesota to his homestead near what is now De Smet, South Dakota, it took him more than a week by horse and wagon. Friday evening we made the same trip in two hours. Back in his day, the settled lands had been hunted out. There was…

  • Our gear tower…a rather sad effort.
  • Screen grab from family movie night.
  • My shaving cream replica (Better than Richard Dreyfus’)

Last Minute Prep

In my mind, the final days before a trip are filled with hours of relaxation and joy. Coffee with friends, reviewing and fine tuning the itinerary, and maybe picking up the perfect pair of Tevas for the trail. In my mind, the road trip has already begun and the physical presence of my home is…

Travel tip # 73…get off the freeway

Slow down. Stop. Get out of the car. Two decades as a travel photographer and I still have the same knot in my stomach every time I approach a new location. “Crap,” says the voice in my head. “I don’t see anything here. How’s this gonna work?” At 70 mph, it’s hard to see the…

Travel tip #52…Ask for directions

Men don’t stop to ask for directions. It’s an old stereotype with no basis in reality. Or is it? I have been known to drive long distances with my eye on the gas gauge, my directional certitude diminishing by the mile and my carefully planned itinerary thrown to the wind. I remember my dad hurtling…