En Route to Cody, Wyoming June 14th, 2010

We left Deadwood, South Dakota early in the morning and headed west passing Sheridan to our destination Cody,Wyoming.  The views were OUTSTANDING.  At this point of the trip I realized there is something very special about Wyoming.   

Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore June 13th, 2010

Today I decided to take an optional trip to Custer State Park in the Black Hills before we headed to Mount Rushmore.  It was beautiful!  71,000 acres  full of woods, granite formations, rose quartz and wildlife!

Granite Formations

Some Rose Quartz

Mount Rushmore waaaay in the background

The creepy lake

Me giving Custer trees some love

And later that day Mount Rushmore.  Mount Rushmore is a place where 1 single picture of the presidents will suffice.

Visiting "Tatanka" in Deadwood, South Dakota June 13th, 2010

After spending the morning at Custer State Park,the early afternoon at Mount Rushmore we then visited "Tatanka," in Deadwood. While I was out west, I was still just getting comfortable with my new DSLR.  I have to admit though, some of my favorite shots in South Dakota were of these lifelike bronze buffalo statues at "Tatanka" which in Lakota means "Bull Buffalo."

Keystone, South Dakota June 12th, 2010

We left Denver bright and early and headed onward and upward to the Black Hills of South Dakota.  Here we would stop just north of Custer and would spend the day at Crazy Horse Memorial.  Crazy Horse sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear dedicated their Crazy Horse Memorial dream on June 3, 1948.  It was pouring rain and foggy the entire time that we were there, out of the many attempts to get a "good" shot of the memorial, I only came out with one decent picture.

Some arrowheads and artifacts

Behind the "gift shop" was Korczak's studio which showcases some of his many wood, bronze and marble sculptures(my favorite park of the day)

This one is my favorite wood sculpture.

After a long day and scouting out some dinner in the town of Keystone I had to take some pictures of the touristy towns sights.