Legendary part jack rabbit, part antelope - as you can see they put them to good use out here in the West.
We were scheduled to stay 3 days in a nice campground with free wifi and cable. Woo-hoo. Good thing, cuz this is what I got for Mother's Day.
Yep - 8" of snow.
The only one who hates snow more than I do is Guido!
Needless to say, we were thankful for the Cable t.v.
The snow was gone the next day and we were on to our next stop - Country Charm Cabins & Corrals, just south of Custer, SD, in the southern Black Hills. The owners, Owen & Lois, were from Inver Grove Heights, MN. They had raised their family of 7(!) there, then moved to the Black Hills and built this nice little campground. Up until last year, they had 15 horses and would take their guests trail riding. The campground is down in a little valley with Ponderosa pine trees and lots of wildlife.
We were all alone, except for the deer & the turkeys.
The only downside was no cell reception, no wifi & no t.v.
There were beautiful trails through the trees and meadows.
Trails, like this, went on for miles. We were also only about 2 miles from the George Mickelson Memorial Trail, which is a gravel trail that runs from Deadwood to Edgecumb - 109 miles!
Loved this little pine growing out of a rock!
Towering old Ponderosas.
Caves in the rocks.
What a view!
Owen & Lois told us that South Dakota had had a very mild winter with very little snow. There was a lot of concern about the wildfire possibilities.
Well, Mother Nature sure took care of that in the 2 weeks we were there! We had some kind of precipitation every 2-3 days. There was everything from driving rain, thunderstorms, sleet, snow and one entire day, it was like we were sitting in the middle of a cloud! Fog everywhere, light mist - never seen anything like it!
On those days we took trips into nearby towns.
Hill City is a pretty little artist's community just north of Custer. They have 3 wineries (we tasted at Prairie Berry) & lots of galleries full of all kinds of artwork.
The artist who did these two metal sculptures was fantastic. There were many of his pieces on display.
Of course, I loved this horse sculpture.
Another day, we made our way down to Hot Springs. It is one of our favorite Black Hills cities. Really friendly, not as touristy as some of the others.
Our drive down took us through Wind Cave National Park, where there is a large herd of bison. They are not at all afraid of cars and will walk right up to you - pretty intimidating!
We did some retail therapy at Wanda's Finds. If you ever get to Hot Springs, make it a point to go to Wanda's! It is full of all kinds of stuff - from horse tack to western things to antiques - and Wanda is wonderful!
We stopped at "The Vault Bar & Grill" to get dinner. They had an impressive display of mule deer and elk trophies.
And this one, nasty looking boar. I asked about where it came from & the bartender said the owner had been asked to come down and help round up some of these that had escaped from their enclosure (not native to South Dakota). He got to shoot one & keep it for his wall!
We also spent a couple of days in Custer seeing a few of the sights we had not seen last summer.
This is the Custer Museum.
It included all kinds of exhibits of the various industries through the years in the
Custer area. These are old tools used in the lumber industry. There was an exhibit on the mining industry, too.
A recreation of the general store
and the outfitter's store.
This is a shackle and a part of a tree used to hang a man!
Obviously, this one is about ranching - but it was honestly one
I could not stop laughing at. LOOK AT THAT HORSE!
The other museum we visited was the National Woodcarving Museum, just west of Custer.
It was originally built to house a collection of carved wooden scenes, many of which are animated. Dr. Niblack, a chiropractor & inventor, spent over 70,000 hours carving the pieces. He also invented and built the "animation engines" that made them move. His work was so innovative that Walt Disney brought him to Disneyland to help animate Mickey & friends.
There were several intricate small scenes like this hospital.
This one was life size - the chief pounded his drum & the squaw's chest moved in and out like she was breathing.
The mirror under this one shows the "works" that make it move.
Dr. Niblack made his own furniture too! This was his desk (he also made the lamp on top).
And, this was the desk chair (see the cowboy boot feet?)
Speaking of cowboy boots - with all of the rain, I was able to spend some time on my hand painted cowboy boots.
When we were at Saguaro RV Park in Benson, AZ, I found these boots in the "Nieman/Marcus" area (You donate stuff you don't use and can take something you want.) My original idea was to "bling" them, but then I decided it would be more fun to paint them. Now I can't wait to wear them!
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