Days 21-27. Out of South Dakota and back into Wyoming...

We're in Cody, Wyoming as I write this, but we'll get to that in good time.  We've been doing a lot of primitive campsites that don't have electricity, much less wifi, so we're combining about a week's worth of stuff to try and catch up.  We realized yesterday that we've been travelling for a month!  It's flown by and is really a blur.  Thankfully we have a ton of photos to look back upon and remind ourselves where we've been.

So on that note here's some photos from the recent past.

Hope you enjoy!

"Begging Burros" in Custer State Park, South Dakota.

Never got the story on these guys but they're wild burros that reside in the park.

They come right up to the car and beg for snacks and basically block traffic.

Bison in Custer State Park.  We were really excited when we saw these.  Now we're in Wyoming and these are basically like seeing deer back in Texas...

After Custer and into Wind Cave National Park.  Very unique and super cool cave  (the lights kept going out on our tour....made it super scaaaaryyy!!!) but we were in a hurry to get to the tour and forgot a camera so no pictures inside the cave... duh....

Great campsite at Wind Cave but unfortunately it rained so it was cold and wet and we didn't get to hike.  The surrounding prairie is BEAUTIFUL.  I never knew prairies were so pretty!!

After Custer and the Black Hills, we went to Badlands National Park, South Dakota.  Here is the usual self-portrait on a windy day.

The Badlands are beautiful but they seemed a  little anti-climactic to us after the Black Hills.

 

After the Badlands, we made camp in Spearfish, South Dakota. 

Spearfish is one of several cool little towns (also Deadwood and Sturgis) that we passed through in southwestern South Dakota.  This have a city park where they allow camping.

Tacos for dinner!!



On our way to Devil's Tower, we took a turn down a dirt road and ended up at Cook Lake.   It was deserted and beautiful.

And then on to Devil's Tower.  Sadly, we didn't have any close encounters.....

 

The Native Americans have several legends for the creation of Devil's Tower.  There are subtle differences but basically they all agree that a group was fleeing a giant bear and climbed onto a small rock.  They prayed to the rock to save them and it grew, taking them out of reach of the bear.  The bear then tried to climb up the rock to get to the kids, so that's why the sides look like they have claw marks.

There's a prairie dog colony at the foot of Devil's Tower. Hours of entertainment!

They might turn into Gremlins...

Texas has got nothing on Wyoming when it comes to Cowboys (and Cowgirls)!!  Ran into this cattle drive on the way out of Buffalo, WY where we had spent the night.  They were herding them right up the highway.  Pretty cool (of course we weren't in any hurry. so we totally enjoyed it, unlike some of the locals!!)

Thermopolis hot springs in Thermopolis, WY.

The bride and her bridesmaids are on a walkway across a huge mass of minerals that has built up over thousands of years.  It sort of looks like frozen waterfalls.

Here's another nearby formation.  This one has a trickle of water bubbling out of the center that just keeps depositing minerals.  We took a dip in a pool that had water from the hot springs circulating through it.

That night we stayed in Riverton but we should have stayed in Dubois, this super cute little town.  And this is the Cowboy Cafe in Dubois.......

.......where we blew our daily food budget on this deliciousness!!!

This is the "Cowboy Benedict".

Biscuits with ham, fried eggs, and smothered in gravy.

I'm hungry again just looking at the photo.

5 minutes later.  Yum.

Next: Grand Teton and Yellowstone!