The State Capitol of South Dakota–Pierre

After the disappointment of the last State Capitol Building,

we are relieved to arrive in Pierre (pronounced PEER)

and discover this beautiful edifice. . .

now. . .in the spirit of full disclosure, and complete truthfulness. . .

I must tell you a tale of how we almost missed seeing it. . .

 

I’m not sure how we came to the conclusion. . .

but for some strange reason, Dave and I both decided that

Sioux Falls was the Capitol of South Dakota. . .

so that is where we were headed from the Badlands. . .

 

had we arrived in Sioux Falls. . .and then discovered our mistake. ..

I’m not quite sure we would have made the three hour return trip to Pierre. ..


Thankfully, Dave discovered the error of our ways,

and we were able to reroute. . .

boy. . .am I glad! 

beautiful rotunda. . .

stained glass ceiling panels of an alcove. . .

the Senate and House Chambers were being painted

and spruced up, so they were not open for viewing. . .

but I loved this glass tile floor. . .

reminded me of the glass tile skylights

built into the sidewalks in Seattle. . .

and as with most Capitol Buildings, there’s always one little quirk. . .

the mosaic tile floors were laid by 66 different tile masons. . .

each mason was given one blue tile to use as his signature,

to be placed wherever he chose. . .only 55 have been discovered.



South Dakota’s State House was a gem. . .

 

See you next time in Sioux Falls. . .

 

‘til then,

Janice and Dave

 

additional pics in the Album are different than the ones in the blog. . .enjoy!

South Dakota State Capitol - Pierre VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

LiveJournal Tags: Full Time RV Living,Motorhome Travel,State Capitol,South Dakota,Pierre South Dakota

Badlands National Park–South Dakota

Our first trip through South Dakota in 2010

was our very first year to travel full time.

We were still in vacation, hurry up and get there mode,

so we missed a lot of stuff. . .just whizzing through real quick. . .

not really slowing down enough to take it all in.

Badlands National Park was one of the places

we felt we did not give justice to on that trip

so, here we are. . .back to soak it all in.

This is Cedar Pass Lodge Campground

located inside the park. . .

50A electric only Pull Through,

easy access, although it was a little weird to have

the door opening  into the street, and the picnic table

on the backside by the hookups. . .

but, all in all a great place to be.

I’m not going to post a lot of pics of the park for two reasons. . .

#1 – it was overcast the day we were exploring. . .

so justice is not done to the beautiful colors. . .

and

#2 – Like the Grand Canyon, this is one of those

places you simply must see for yourself. . .

pics simply do not show how spectacular it really is. . .

the prairies were beautiful. . .

except for. . .well, you know!

I was very, very observant. . .even on the boardwalks

I kinda wanted to see one. . .

but only from a distance. . .with my zoom. . .LOL

 

 

Bighorn Sheep up on the Ridge

Big Badlands Overlook

The Window

beautiful vistas around each curve. . .

couple more wildlife sightings. . .

and for our farewell evening. . .spectacular!

 

See you next time in South Dakota’s State Capitol. . .Pierre

‘til then,

Janice and Dave

 

pics in Album are different from pics in blog. ..enjoy!

Badlands National Park - South Dakota VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

Needles Highway–Harney Peak Range and a couple of Buffalo in Custer South Dakota

this was our view as we began the climb to drive the Needles Highway. . .

thicker and more eerily beautiful the higher we went. . .

these are a portion of the Cathedral Spires. . .

a guy in one of the RV Groups I follow said he drove his rig up,

and never saw any signs for the tunnels until he got to them. . .

we saw many, many signs. . .so hmmm. . .

not sure what the deal was with that. . .

approaching and driving through The Eye of the Needle Tunnel. . .

the exit side. . .definitely a sold wall of rock!

and then later in the day, the clouds lifted. . .

we drove it the opposite direction, and saw these beautiful views. . .

 

in between our morning and evening drive of Needles Highway

we saw couple more things. . .

Harney Peak at 7,242 elevation is the tallest peak

East of the Rocky Mountains. . .

you can hike to the top from the trail head at Sylvan Lake. . .

where you can see this awesome

Harney Peak Lookout Tower, built by the CCC in 1938. . .

is this fabulous or what?

boy, would I love to see it up close and personal. . .

6 miles round trip. . .4 1/2 to 5 hours. . .3000 ft elevation change. . .

reality is. . .not happening. . .LOL!

we just enjoyed it from afar with the binoculars and camera zoom. . .

Custer SD is having their Buffalo Stampede Art Auction. . .

so we wanted to show you the front and back

of a couple of our favorite entries. . .

 

In the morning we roll towards Badlands National Park. . .

 

See you there,

Janice and Dave

 

Needles Highway - Harney Peak Range VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iron Mountain Road–Mt Rushmore–Crazy Horse Monument –Custer State Park–South Dakota

Deciding to camp at the Game Lodge Campground

inside Custer State Park was the perfect decision. . .

The Wildlife Loop started 250 feet to our right. . .

and the Iron Mountain Road and Needles Highway Loop

created the perfect Scenic Drive for a Day Trip. . .

driving along the Iron Mountain Road. . .

our first view of Mt Rushmore

driving through the tunnels. . .

the views only get better. . .

and better. . .

and better. . .

the last pic of Mt Rushmore was taken from Dave’s rock climb at an overlook. . .

seriously. . .do they every outgrow this need to climb things?  LOL. . .that man!

if you are not inclined to drive the pigtail bridges. . .

the hairpin curves. . .and the tunnels. . .

you can take a bus tour. . .which is what we did when we visited in 2010. . .

our F550 was just a little big to try all this. . .

we loved it in the Jeep. . .

or if you’re feeling really brave. . .

well. . .there ya go!

as we begin to descend down into Keystone SD. . .

we can see this profile of Washington in the distance. . .

and as we continue on around, past the actual monument entrance,

we round a corner, and there it is. . .spectacular. . .

with a perfect pullout designed to enjoy the view.

We chose to not return to the actual monument this trip,

as we felt we had thoroughly explored it from every angle Summer 2010. . .

as you can see. . .every single angle. . .LOL!

DISCLAIMER:  The photo ABOVE is a joke. . .

there are no behinds on the back side of Mt Rushmore. . .

but it is spectacular, and if you haven’t seen it

up close and personal you need to add it to your list. . .so worth it!

the other tour we did Summer 2010 was the Crazy Horse Monument. . .

so we wanted to see if any progress had been made. . .

2010                                                                            2014

I know they’ve been working on it. . .

we could see workers up on it the day we were there. . .

I’m just not sure I can see too much difference in it from the highway angle. . .

what do you think?

Maybe the face is a little more defined. . .not sure? ? ?


I was going to include our Needles Highway Trek

in this post. . .but it’s really getting a little long,

so I think I’ll save it for next time. . .

See you there,

Janice and Dave

Iron Mountain Road - Mt Rushmore - Crazy Horse Monument - Custer State Park - South Dakota VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

LiveJournal Tags: Full Time RV Living,Motorhome Travel,Mt Rushmore,South Dakota,Iron Mountain Road,Custer State Park