wildlife win

wildlife win

my reception in the hills was not great, so i’m posting from home after 10 hours in the car. getting home is always nice 🙂

buffalo on the move!

day two of the hills started off well with the wildlife loop through custer state park. the buffalo roundup was last weekend, so we saw all the bison slated for auction in november. we also saw a few prairie dogs and some very curious donkeys.

after cruising through wyoming where the pronghorns were prolific, it didn’t surprise us to see a few more.

tuesday ended up being a really nice day – 70s and sunny. so we took needles highway, stopped in hill city, drove past rushmore, stopped in keystone, and then took the iron mountain road back.

going to the hills in october is great if you can time the weather right. you spend a lot of time with the older crowd – not a lot of kids but a lot of retirees. i’m ok with that!

we saw mountain goats on needles! at this point, we’d seen bighorns, goats, buffalo, donkeys, pronghorns, p-dogs. nate said all we needed was a rattlesnake.

we got back to camp and ended the day with a nice supper at bluebell lodge – buffalo sirloin tips for nate and a sirloin steak for me. the food at bluebell was fantastics.

wednesday started off great, temp wise, so i decided to go for a hike on the centennial trail.

see that river? i forded that river with my camera gear on my back. i was so scared i’d go in the drink and be out my camera gear. but i made it across and then back.

and guess what?

I SAW A SNAKE. i don’t know if it was rattler (no rattle) but it COUNTS. wildlife bingo complete for this trip.

i got back to the cabin and the temp peaked for the day about about 70. the temp then dropped nearly 20º in about a half hour. i went from baking in my sweaty clothes after a hike to shivering in my sweatshirt.

so nate and i took off again, stopping at custer, then heading to hill city to check out the train museum. then we went to keystone for lunch/supper at the ruby house. they branched out since i was last there, with more affordable food options.

then we went a packed to go home. booo. this morning we left in 30º ice pellets. huzzah. it rained the entire way home. we did stop in wall for breakfast, but it just wasn’t the same with anticipation at its highest.

now here i sit in my house with my kitties. i drove home through the avon hills and could see the leaves are starting to turn. i’m excited to see what the leaves have in store for us. vacation is nice, but it’s just as nice to come home.

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