SD Trip

Last week Nick decided he wanted to go to a cattle sale in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, so we decided to make it a quick "2nd Honeymoon" trip.  Last Tuesday after work I sent Julianne to Grandma L's, we packed our bags, loaded up the car and were off to the great land of South Dakota.  We didn't have any hotels rooms booked and or plans made and were just going to "wing-it."  I don't usually do well with non-organized events (okay - that may be a slight understatement), but luckily Nick's mom borrowed us their AAA travel book so at least we had a map! 

Well, the trip didn't start out to well... I was late getting home from work, we drove all the way on Tuesday night in the rain and wind and the first hotel we got too was booked.  So we just decided to drive another 1 1/2 hours to the next town and got a room there.  Then we got a wake-up call at 7am Wednesday morning from the hotel front desk - some had backed into our car in the parking lot!!  Talk about not a good way to start a vacation, but it turned out our car was just a little scratched and was still drivable.

Wednesday we set out for the Black Hills and took our time driving through South Dakota.  I swear Nick is like a 5-year-old on Christmas morning out there - he LOVES seeing all the cattle grazing on the hills and the countryside. 

This is one of the lakes created by the Oahe Dam along the Missouri River.

We stopped at the Oahe Dam just north of Pierre

After lunch in Pierre we drove to Rapid City and of course had to stop at Wall Drug.  We didn't end up buying anything but we had to stop!  From Rapid City we took some back roads through the Black Hills to Deadwood.

Would you believe this is in South Dakota?  I had been to the Black Hills a long time ago, but I didn't remember that it was so pretty!

More of the Black Hills 

And still more of the Black Hills... 

This was an old gold mine from the 1800's.  After 20 years of mining, they hit water, which then flowed out of the tunnel.  The rushing water then created the above waterfall right outside the tunnel. 

Okay... so Wednesday night we had a little fun!  Would you believe they had Tequila on tap!  Nick has his Christmas list started... When we got to Deadwood we checked into our hotel went to eat and had a few lots of drinks.  We ate at a good Steakhouse in downtown Deadwood and then came back to our hotel where we each doubled our money playing slots!  (Don't get to excited - double of $10 isn't really that much... )

And then on Thursday we had the main event... the sale at the Belle Fourche Livestock Exchange!  I actually thought it was pretty neat.  I felt like I was in a Western Movie (with the exception of the fancy trucks and trailers hauling the cattle... ).  Everyone was wearing Wranglers with western shirts and cowboy hats.  There were even people on horses rounding up the cattle.   This is Nick on the "catwalk" taking a look at the cattle before the sale.

More pens of cattle at the sale.  Aren't they cute?!?!

After the sale we drove into Wyoming and went to Devil's Tower. 

And since were in the Black Hills, we had to stop at Mount Rushmore!  We make a pit stop there on Friday morning before making the LONG drive back home.