What to Do on a Rainy Day in Spearfish, SD

 In between all our visits to Custer State Park and hiking in Spearfish Canyon (post to come), there was a rainy day in there somewhere. Sparky knew of a wonderful artist in the area, by the name of Dick Termes. He is an internationally acclaimed artist and his unique works are displayed all over the world. He has a gallery in Spearfish, and that's where Sparky headed on one rainy day this week. It's called the Termisphere Gallery in Spearfish.

You need to call for an appointment, and even during Covid, they are still accepting visitors this month (September 2020) if you wear and mask, and please use the hand sanitizer when you walk in. The gallery is so cool, Sparky wanted to see it again after ten years. It's a place that fills you with joy when you see all the spheres gently spinning. There are globes everywhere of many different sizes. The designs are AMAZING!  Dick and his wife are delightful to meet and talk with. She's a puppeteer and they complement each other beautifully with their interests and artwork.

Dick Termes has been making these beautiful pieces of art since 1968. It's difficult to explain, but it's 3D art on a globe with 6 point perspective. That sort of means you can see up, down and all around in a visual piece that is basically a spherical painting. He uses a special kind of durable plastic with acrylics as his medium. The globes revolve, like planets in the solar system.

It's kind of like an optical illusion and an inside view of an outside world, if that makes any sense. At any rate, it's a marvelous little gallery of space and time exploration. We highly recommend it!

Next....hiking in Spearfish Canyon..don't miss it!

Michelson Trail and Custer State Park Days 3,4

The days are starting to blur just a tad, as far as what we saw on our last two days, so here we go...First...SNOW! We are 5 miles from Spearfish, and less than 10 miles from Deadwood and Lead. (rhymes with bead). The area received a healthy dose of snow this week. Lead got 10 inches! We got about one inch which melted quickly. But Sparky was so excited! (She LOVES cold and snow, everybody, in case you didn't know, explains Eldo.) She even got up in the middle of the night and looked outside, like a little kid at Christmas, when you want Santa to come so badly, but feel there HAS to be snow for him to come. It was that kind of feeling, and Sparky is 70 years old! (What can I say, I never grew up! :-) says Sparky.

The next morning there was a dusting on the ground, but Sparky wanted to try riding the Michelson Bike Trail. One of the trail ends is in Lead and that was close, so let's go! she says...Eldo, ever the accommodating guy, drove Sparky to the trailhead and dropped her off so she could ride to her heart's content. (Eldo has bad knees and is gradually getting back to bike riding, so he was the driver today). About two miles in, here is what Sparky had to deal with.

And it didn't get any better. There was at least 4-5" on the bridges, and the trail was sloshy, muddy, and the tires sank in. Ugh...Not fun!

It's a beautiful trail, 109 miles long total, but after slogging thru for awhile, at about 3 miles, Sparky decided to try again another day. Just as she was getting off her bike at the trailhead start, two deer came running through right on the trail! Unfortunately, Sparky was so shocked, she didn't get a photo. If you want to get on the trail, you need to buy a pass for 4.00 every time you ride. There is a good map of the trail that shows you mileage between trailheads and elevation gains between trailheads. The map stinks for drivers who are trying to be the "sag wagon" for riders, picking up or dropping off, but the trail map itself for bike riders and hikers is fine. (Ask me how I know, says Eldo) More about that in another post.

Day 3 and Day 4 at Custer!--wow! what can we say...we saw it all...bison herds, this time far away, but that's ok...they are still beautiful majestic animals...

More pronghorn....

Bighorn sheep!

A bluebird sitting on the top of the prairie dog mounds...

Bison pairs here and there...

Mt. Rushmore thru one of the tunnels using a zoom...Mt. Rushmore's visitor center is under extensive renovations, a multi-million dollar project, so viewing is limited there....we didn't go this time.

And cool tunnels and bridges on our way back thru the Peter Norbeck Scenic byway....a wonderful drive.....don't miss it when you visit the area. 

We are coming to the end of our stay here in Spearfish, but there are a couple more cool things to see and do...Sparky mentioned surprises, and one is still coming.. also one more try on the Michelson bike Trail, and a trio of beautiful hikes in Spearfish Canyon! 

                                            

                                                    The End

Custer State Park Day 2

 We love Custer so much, we headed back for day 2 to see what we could see. Our park is a little far from Custer State Park (about 60 miles) but the drive is so beautiful and oh, my gosh! We saw the biggest bison jam ever! We found out later, that the herd numbered about 500 that day in this location. Be sure to ask at the ranger station when you buy your pass (20.00 for 1-7 days) where the herd was last seen. They are VERY accurate in their reported sightings advice and we have seen the herds every time where they said they would be.

The thicker black line is the park wildlife loop around the park. On day 1, they were on the inside park gravel roads, the skinnier lighter reddish brown lines. We were glad we had the truck to go down these dusty gravel roads.

On day 2, they were on the main wildlife loop road, and how! It was nuts! Picture a herd of about 400 in all, spread out on both sides of the main wildlife loop road, all heading for a different side of the road, but the cars kept interfering with the cross over to the other pasture. The cows, bulls, and babies kept coming and the cars kept coming.

It's hard to picture the enormity if the herd with this photo, but the bison are EVERYWHERE! Sparky has a video of the bison coming and coming, while the cars try to keep moving forward. It's hilarious because as the cars pass in front of our truck, (there is a fork in the road), you see people sticking up out of their moon roofs, trying to take photos. (Sparky has not figured out how to incorporate a video into the blog. She did it ten years ago, but things have changed. She will have to relearn!)

Sparky is in the bed of the truck, Eldo is worrying

Sparky decided to get into the bed of the truck (when it was safe, reports Eldo) and take photos from there. 

We saw pronghorns...people call them pronghorn antelope, but another name is the South Dakota antelope. They are the fastest land animal in North America. They can run up to 60 mph for great distances. A two day old fawn can outrun a man. At 4 days, it can out sprint a horse! They can wander up to 10 miles a day looking for food, so they are all over the park, you just have to look in the grassy areas. They blend in extremely well! They have cool markings on their throats, and the horns can be up to 15".

We were fortunate to see a small herd of them. Most of the time, we have seen them solo....

As we were heading towards the end of the loop, we saw prairie dogs!

Bunches of them! But here is just one...He just sat and sat right beside the truck. We think he was waiting for us to throw some kind of food at him. Nope, not these travelers! Sorry, dog.

We continued out of the park and saw deer after deer after deer. You don't see those as often where we used to live in Florida, but boy, are they abundant here! You have to watch the road very carefully at all times of the day. 

And that's all for today, folks...The End. Until next time....

Custer State Park Day 1

not too bad a road, a little washboardy in places

We headed to Custer State Park, one of our all time favorite parks, national or otherwise, located about 60 miles from the RV park we are staying in, Elkhorn Ridge RV park. We LOVE Custer State Park...it's beautiful, and there is lots of wildlife to see every time. The ranger station has very knowledgeable people working there, and they tell you where the latest sightings of the buffalo herds can be found.  

Today, they said, you have to go off the park loop road onto some gravel roads, and that's where you will find them. We have a four wheel drive truck, and that would be easy peasy to take a truck on those kind of roads. They are just dusty and dirty, usually, but not a problem for cars, either, so off we went.

We hadn't gone just a few miles, when WHAM! There were two big boys off to the side, grazing and lounging around by themselves. Guess they could have been big girls, too, who knows? Here's the bigger one of the two.

A little further down the road, and here comes the herd....

We just love seeing these big bison out in nature, and they just mosey along wherever they feel like it, cross the road whenever they feel like it, and just do their thing. We saw them laying down dirt holes that they've scraped out, and rolling around in the dirt. We saw babies walking dutifully along behind their mothers trying to keep up. 

And then, a trip to Custer State Park is not complete without seeing the begging burros. They are definitely NOT following safe distancing!

There are quite a few of them, at least half a dozen and they are used to being fed as you can see....

And then there are some, who are like, meh....

Here's something you don't see very often in the rest of the country!

We haven't seen any bighorns-yet! We will keep watching!

On our way out of the state park, we traveled the Peter Norbeck Scenic Highway. It's got several tunnels that you wouldn't want to take an RV through--of any size. Sparky wasn't sure we would be able to take the Dodge Ram dually thru, but we made it ok.

There's another tunnel you go through, and on a beautifully clear day, you can see Mt. Rushmore thru the tunnel. We couldn't see it today...some people actually lie down on the middle of the line in the roadway to get the best shot of Rushmore in front of that tunnel! Sparky did that years ago, but today, it was hazy, and Eldo wasn't having any of that!

Here is another one of the tunnels....They are all one lane, so watch out, here we come! Or there you go!

Until next time, see you later! Don't let the world get you down!

South Dakota in September--WOW!

 

If you know Sparky, you know she's an Indiana girl..she LIKES fall, cooler weather, COLD weather and yes, even snow! So, when she saw these temperatures, it was a big "YIPPEE!".   Eldo, not so much. Sparky thought he was worried about the pipes freezing, but he says, "I'm not worried about the pipes freezing, I'm worried about ME freezing!"

We are at Elkhorn Ridge RV resort in Spearfish, SD for 7 nights. It's a little more expensive, but then again, many of the parks in this area average over 50 a night. Elkhorn Ridge is about 67.00 a night. Lots of amenities...a beautiful pool, nice walking paths, quite a few beautiful cabins, and a great location for visiting the Spearfish area.

one of many beautiful cabins at the park

It looks like a fisherman's paradise, judging from all the people we have seen fishing the local rivers. There's a championship golf course across the street. The resort has a gift shop, grocery store, beer and wine, an expresso coffee bar, lighted tennis, pickle ball and basketball courts, horseshoes and volleyball, too. There are three shower houses and three laundry facilities located on the premises and free wi-fi. Here is the pool area....

The sites are spacious and long, but there isn't much shade here in this park. The trees have not matured very fast since the last time we were here about 10 years ago.

It's 60+miles from the RV Park to Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore, and Crazy Horse. There's the beautiful Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway drive, which is about 15-20 minutes from the RV park.  Four wheeling is huge in this area, and there are quite a few places to rent them. Sparky is VERY excited about the Mickelson Bike Trail, a 109 mile trail. She plans on riding that in the next day or so, just as soon as the weather breaks.

Today is a super rainy COLD day...so we are planning and researching our future travel plans. The wind is out of the north/northwest and it's raining hard, holding at 45 degrees for the moment, but heading downward. We will see you later, when it warms up. Sparky has a surprise in store for our readers, something you can do on a rainy cold day in September. See you later!

The Corn Palace, Corny but Cool!

We spent one night at the KOA in Mitchell, SD and got there early enough that Sparky could go see the corniest of corny tourist attractions, The Corn Palace. Sparky thinks it's really cool. 

The corn palace was first built in 1892 to have a gathering place to celebrate the harvest. It's a building decorated with over 325,000 ears with 12 natural colors of corn (Sparky had no idea corn came in so many different varieties!) and also uses other grasses and grains like straw, oats, and wheat. Over 500,000 people come to see this tourist attraction each year. Inside are exhibits and a gymnasium, and it's used for expos, proms, graduations, and banquets as well. It has a corn cam across the street. Sparky called her daughter and grandson and told her to get on the website to see her. Sparky's daughter and grandson thought that was very cool!

The Corn Palace is stripped down to the bare concrete walls and then redecorated every year with a certain theme. This year's theme is "South Dakota Home Grown". The murals and side walls have been designed since 2018 by Dakota Wesleyan University students. The ears of corn are each nailed to the wall one by one. It's quite the amazing thing to see!

Mitchell's high school sports teams are called the Kernels. The local radio station's call letters are "KORN". Mitchell isn't called the "Corn Capital"of the world for nothing!

Here are some of the murals from this year's structure....

The designing process that the students use is very interesting, a grid with squares colored in sort of like color by number. The colors and angles are intricate and interesting. 

What's George McGovern, presidential candidate, doing on the side of the Corn Palace? Why, he's a South Dakota home state product. "Home Grown" from Avon, SD.

If you ever get a chance to stop by on your way through South Dakota, The Corn Palace is a must see. It's just one of those uniquely American  tourist attractions, and it's FREE. We thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it. Our next stop will be Spearfish, SD for a longer stay....see you there!

The Most Beautiful Campground Bathroom Ever!

Sparky was going to tell you all about the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD, but today's blog is about the most beautiful campground bathrooms ever. If you want to skip this blog, Sparky understands. But hey, if you want to know about the KOA in Mitchell, SD, Sparky thinks this KOA wins first prize. And let Sparky show you why... 

This is the women's bathroom at the KOA...Sparky is assuming the mens' looks just as nice. Each sink, and there are five, is a different Mexican tile style motif. The mirrors are all different. The facilities are impeccable. The showers have that "rain shower" fixture overhead instead of on the side wall. 

While we are talking facilities, this KOA is really special. They have nice walkways around the back of the park for an early morning or evening stroll so you don't parade around in front of everybody's rigs. They have the usual nice pool and really nice laundry facilities--better than average.

our site at KOA, Mitchell, SD

All the sites are pull thru. Many are more than ample for big rigs. We happened to get a little squeezed into this particular site, C4, but it works. Water and electric, no sewer, for about 53.00 a night. The holiday weekend is nearing, so prices climb just about everywhere.

OK, enough about KOA...it's a pretty park with great facilities..Eldo just read the temperatures for the next spot we head to, Spearfish, SD, for 6 days...Here we go, a roller coaster of temps. We arrive tomorrow,  Thursday.

Thursday--78, 57

Friday--85, 60

Saturday--96 (!), 62

Sunday--86, 54

Monday--61, 36

Tuesday--44 (!), 33

Wednesday--57, 40

Crazy, hunh? See you later...don't worry, Corn Palace report still coming. Sparky got sidetracked (AGAIN) because she's a little ADHD. (A LITTLE??? laughs Eldo).....