May 29, 2009 The Badlands Again!

Every time we look at a sight in The Badlands, we see something different! The lighting, the color, the wildlife - something has changed ever so slightly. The Indians called this area "Bad Land" and, when the French settlers first came to this area, they named it Bad Land. The bottom suddenly drops from the prairie leaving crevasses and lava formed spires and no crops can be grown here. The prairie grass that is here is great feed for the livestock that roam the area and for the native Mountain Goats, Big Horn Sheep, White Tail and Mule Deer, Pronghorns and Bison that are abundant here. Carol has been seeing wild mountain flowers growing out of the rocks and so here is one that she can take with her forever! Nothing I wouldn't do for that lady! The raw, rugged beauty of The Badlands is stunning and beautiful! Carol also loves the shades of pink found in the rock formations here. They are featured in many of her photos. We saw a Mule Deer "bouncing" away. They do a sort of bounce/leap when they run. There are some really big cows around here. Must be the good prairie grass and clean air. The horses were frisky today, many running and loping instead of merely feeding their faces! Our lunch stop for the day was a beautiful scenic overlook from a back road we took to the top of Sheep Mountain - just us, the sky and the beautiful vista below us - WOW!!! When finishing our lunch, a nice couple from Arkansas stopped by and took our photo. Contented looking couple, eh? We have never seen a Long Horn steer with this large a rack! We saw the mountains of The Black Hills off in the distance and they reminded me of "...for purple mountains majesty..." This evening we were taking our evening drive through The Badlands and called my sister to sing "Happy Birthday" to her. We have a family tradition of calling sisters, children, grandchildren on their birthdays and singing for them. I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket but we never miss. It was so good this time that even the rock formations liked it hence the photo of the Smiley Face found in the rocks using the shadowing of the setting sun. Soon it was getting dark and the formations still were wonderfully beautiful. Finally we saw a great sunset that said "Good Night!"