I Stay Amazed

We're working on a new song at church and the chorus says, "Oh holy God, I stay amazed.  You are so much more than words could ever say..."  I've had it in my head all day long!  I can't get over how beautiful this state is!  It's just beautiful.  Every corner you turn is something different than before.  I can't get over the drastic change that takes place in such a small amount of space. 

We got up and at 'em today around 8:30am.  So, laid back but not too late, it was perfect.  We were headed down the road toward Mt. Rushmore and had to pull a U-ie.  We saw these goats and then another place had baby bears!!  SOOOO CUTE!  And funny.  Nick kept talking like he was the animals all day -- it was hilarious. 

They were up there still at the end of the day when we came back to Rapid City.  Too funny.  There's a little one up in the look out too.

Nick's point and shoot has an amazing zoom on it - the pictures aren't always great, but considering we took this from the road, I think it did pretty good.  Baby bears playing, how can you beat it.

The next stop was Mt. Rushmore!  It of course made me a little emotional - but not too bad.  It's really so very cool.  They used mostly dynamite to make it -- when you think about the fact that it was 1927 when they were doing this it's pretty amazing.  They built it to attract people to the state and they did a great job, there were people from all over the world there.  I love being in places like that.

lol. my hair's still really big at this point. 

We're beverage people!  We started taking these pictures on our honeymoon, but somewhere around our San Fran trip Nick's beverage of choice switched to coffee, so now sipping-a-cup-of-coffee-pic is a priority pic for all our trips. 

So cool 

There's a boardwalk that runs all the way around it and we gave that a walk and then headed out!  We were psyched about Crazy Horse, Needles Hwy and Custard Park! 

We went to Crazy Horse -- people have always talked about that monument a little snarky because it's taken so long to complete.  When I saw it I thought, well, it's almost done, I'm not sure what everyones problem is.  Well... according to the scope of what they're trying to do, it's not even close.  The movie about it was pretty cool tho.  It's a family that's been working on it for years and they won't accept government funding.  So, all the donations and entree fees pay for the work.  It was actually pretty neat and touching.  The Black Hills were Crazy Hores' home. 

Crazy Horse monument to date.  To give it perspective -- Mt. Rushmore would fit in the small smooth section behind his head I think they said.

This is what it will look like.  Nick took the two together.  As you can see there is quite a ways to go and that's just the monument.  There are buildings to build and many other things. 

Our lunch view.  Very cool. 

Wow again!  I can't express enough how beautiful this day was.  Majestic.  Every corner you turned the scene changed and you were blown away again!  These photos don't even come close to expressing the great beauty of this park.  Needle's Hwy was just amazing.  You had to honk before coming thru all of the stone/bridge/tunnels because they were one lane. 

Look at that view!!

OUR FIRST BUFFALO!!!!!!!

Then we hit the jackpot! 

They were everywhere!  Nick kept making fun of me because I'd get scared when they came up to the car so I'd tell him to drive so we didn't get killed and then I'd immediately tell him to slow down so I could take pictures.  Despite their calm demeanor, they were scary when they were coming right at you!

The buffalo were on the wild life hwy loop so we got to see the prairie dogs again and the burros.  Anytime one car was pulled over 5 more cars would come along and pull in to see what was going on.  It was fun actually just to find the things and then see other people get excited about them as well.

You probably need to double click on the picture to see the prairie dogs.  They were NOT happy with me.  They were yapping out warnings and then they'd all chime in.  Then when you'd get to close they'd quit yapping and jump in their hole.   

AWWWWWWWW!!!!  Wish we had had some food.  They went from car to car peeking their heads in looking for food.  People brought apples and carrots for them.  

lol.  Looking in our car window asking for food. 

This pic is pretty small -- again if you click on it you can see there are two white burros in the highway.  They were pretty old.  I think they had fallen asleep.  They refused to move out of the way.  Everyone had to figure out a way around them.  We had to go back for something and they were still there sleeping. 

LOL!  Soooo funny.

Think this one might be an elk??  Not sure. 

These wigwam stick teepees were everywhere!  I could not figure out what was going on with them.  Apparently they are trees that the pine beetles have destroyed.  They are stacked together for burning when it is wet enough so they can keep the fire under control.