Road Trip Day 5 ... White Lake, SD

Today we did not travel.  The purpose of the trip, well not the only purpose but Quent's main reason for traveling this weekend was to pheasant hunt. South Dakota is a pheasant hunter's dream.  Although the number of birds were down this year, there were way more pheasants than I've ever seen before in my life.

It was fun to spend time with Quent's cousins during the hunt.  I was able to go hunting with them although I did not hunt.  I took pictures and hung out with the girls eating sunflower seeds and picking up birds.

There were about 30 people out hunting, only 20 guns, the picture below is only about half of the hunters.  The limit is 3 birds per person per day, we only picked up 30 birds on Saturday but a great time was had by everyone.  Aunt Mary and her daughters, daughters-in-laws prepared quite the spread for both lunch and dinner. A big thanks to everyone who made the first day of hunting a success!

Saturday night we spent with Tiff and Jeff, Tiff made amazing enchiladas and we sat up half the night talking.  It was fun to finally meet Tiff and Jeff, we look forward to many more visits!

Hunting on the farm!

Road Trip Day 4 ... White Lake, SD

Today's adventure took us across the state to White Lake, South Dakota.  On our way to White Lake we stopped at Wall Drug, one of the world's largest tourist traps.  At the suggestion of several people we did buy some donuts, nothing like fresh donuts, thanks Viv and Jeanne for the suggestion!  We picked up a few things at Wall and headed to Badlands National Park.  We saw some buffalo, mountain sheep and prairie dogs. The scenery was amazing and the weather was perfect.

We arrived in White Lake in time for the hunters camp to get set up, Quent's cousins, their friends and family all set up a hunting camp on the farm of Quent's aunt and uncle.  It was great to meet more of Quent's cousins, so many I'd hate to list them and leave someone out.  We spent the night at Jeff and Tiff's house in White Lake, SD.  We displaced their son who gladly gave up his room so he could spend a couple nights out on the farm.

Mileage: 259 miles

 Wall Drug, Wall South Dakota

Badlands National Park, SD

Road Trip Day 3 ... Black Hills, SD

Our Adventure today took us down through the Black Hills.  We spent time at Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Custer State Park.  Our day ended in Rapid City, SD where we finally got to meet Collin, Megan's boyfriend and were able to take Megan and Collin out to dinner.  A big thanks to Jeanne and Rich, Quent's aunt and uncle, it was great to see them again and we enjoyed spending the night at their house.

Megan took us on a tour of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, where she and Collin go to school.  It was great to see her and see the campus.  Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures with Megan.  We had a short visit as she had a test to study for and work to go too and we forgot to grab the camera at dinner.

Mount Rushmore was different than I had expected (ok not the actual monument, it looks the same as all the pictures) but for some reason I didn't realize it was up in the hills, not out for all to see.  We spent quite a bit of time there, what an amazing accomplishment that is.

Mileage: 170 miles

 Lake Patcola Reservoir, Black Hills, SD

Mount Rushmore, SD

Mountain Goats near Mt. Rushmore, SD

 Crazy Horse, SD

 Custer State Park, SD

Jeanne and Rich

Road Trip Day 2 ... Spearfish, SD

Up and on the road early.  Today's adventure took us up through northeast Wyoming.  We hit Devil's tower National Monument before crossing over into South Dakota.  Neither Quent or I had been through this area before.  Nothing but sage brush, cows and oil fields.

Devil's Tower National Monument was amazing.  Such a unique site out in the middle of nowhere.  We stopped and took pictures of every angle.  I saw prairie dogs for the first time in my life (other than in the zoo), I only snapped a few hundred pictures of the cute little guys.  A great way to start the day.

We hit Spearfish Canyon, the fish hatchery within Spearfish and Strugis before spending the night at Quent's aunt Viv's house.  

It was fun to finally meet aunt Viv and uncle Howard.  I was also able to meet Quent's cousins Dawn and Kurt (and their families).  It was a great night of visiting and great food.  Thanks to the family for making us feel so welcome.

Mileage: 317 miles 

 

Devil's Tower

Prairie Dogs

Sturgis,SD

Spearfish Canyon

 Fish Hatchery in Spearfish, SD

Viv and Howard Jacobs