photography – OsteoPraxis on the road

Crystal Bridges day 2, The Bachman-Wilson House

Returning for a second day at Crystal Bridges was not any kind of chore. The mission on this day was to visit the Bachman-Wilson house, a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house which had been dismantled, transported and re-assembled on the site.

When we visited in 2024, this had not been available because in the few days before we visited a series of tornadoes had devasted the grounds leaving them closed to public access.

This time we were able to take the time to visit both the house…and walk some of the art trails around the grounds which cover 134 acres of native Ozark forest.

The house was essentially rescued from its original site where it had suffered repeated damage from flooding.

As with most of the Frank Lloyd Wright houses we have visited, there is no photography allowed inside….so if you want to see the interior…..it’s worth the visit…..

From the house, we followed the Art Trail….partly to get around to the other side of the house…but also to wander along the collection of outdoor art/sculptures in the gardens.

This next picture is of a ‘wall’ of small round mirrors….if you look closely at the picture you can see it. It’s a fascinating thing in person.

The plaque by this one invites you to sit with the people on the benches….so of course I had to…..

….and the path brings you around to the front of the Bachman-Wilson House…..

As we wandered further around……this piece is a collection of stainless steel balls floating free in this part of the creek…..they move around…and they sound a bit like wind chimes as they bump each other in the breeze.

It was also very reminiscent of the shimmer balls at the Chicago Botanics…..

This beast is called ‘Maman’…the ginormous spider has a basket holding eggs under her abdomen….it’s eerily beautiful…..and extremely creepy at the same time…..

There are scatterings of bronze animal sculptures by various artists…..

This ‘turret’ is James Turrels ‘The way of color’ A sculptural piece with a skylight to view the heavens …and a bench to sit and observe. While we were there a family came in, sat around on the bench and started singing hymns….!!!

Mother nature added a little beauty of her own as we wandered down to some huge crystal slabs embedded in a rock wall.

As we made our way back to the building we found this Keith Haring piece, which is part of the Crystal Bridges permanent collection

…and to Scotts delight, we also found the car, which is featured in the advertising for the 3D exhibit of Keith Harings work….but the car itself is in a completely different location in the building….!!

On our way back out of the building we noticed this rather confusing sign…LOL

Rather than taking the shuttle bus back to the parking garage…we opted to wander back through the sculptural gardens. These giant flowers were produced by the same artist that made the coloured light balls inside the gallery. Yayoi Kusama.

…and just before you get all the way back to the parking….is this Fly’s Eye Dome by R Buckminster Fuller…..he’s the guy who designed the geodesic biodome in Montreal and inspired the Spaceship Earth Dome at EPCOT in Disneyworld Florida.

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Chicago Botanics and beer with Al Capone

The first part of the summer this year had a bit of a plan….and the next part was to spend some time just south of Chicago with some friends for July 4th celebrations. (250th anniversary after all…!!)

With a few days here to hit some high spots……there was a singular lack of any ‘must see’ events for the big anniversary, so we took this opportunity to visit the Chicago Botanical Gardens.

It’s quite the place, all 385 acres of it……

Expecting a hot day, and with thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon, we set out early…both to make the most of the cooler part of the day…and to…..hopefully….avoid being drenched in a thundershower……

When entering the gardens…the first part of the landscape you meet is the lake……beautiful….a popular spot for wedding pictures….!!!

We were headed to the cactus house first…..but to get there we passed through the bonsai garden….always a fascinating place…..

The Chicago collection was no exception…..I particularly liked the plum tree……with both blossom and fruit on it……amazing…..

….but the cactus house was no disappointment either……

Trying to follow the map…our next stop was the Japanese garden……as I crossed the bridge there was an enormous turtle feeding on ‘something’…(no idea what…but it looked like it was munching on some floating weeds)

The Japanese garden is a loop trail around an island…..a lovely stroll…..

Once you have looped around this section…the bridge off now had us at the other end of the Botanics…we were not quite sure where we were on the map…but we could see these shimmering globes on the water….so we headed that way.

There are three sections to this art installation that is the Shimmering Summer event for the season…….if you look closely at the globes…you can see my blogtographer has been up to his tricks……there’s me in the reflections…LOL

They were really pretty on the water……the big ones on land were emitting music as well….!!!

We were just too early for the blossoming of the corpse flower…..according to the information boards it was due to open the following week ( I was not disappointed….!!!)

The Chicago Botanics are beautifully laid out with one section segueing neatly into the next. Gorgeous landscaping and pristine management.

As the thunder started to roar around us, it was time to hit the road and head back to the trailer. We made it to about 20 minutes from home when the heavens opened and we drove the last bit in torrential rain with vague visibility. As we drove…I was watching google maps as roads in the area were closing with flooding…..!!!

Our next venture out with our hosts could not have been a more stark contrast to the serene beauty of the Chicago Botanics.

After a lovely breakfast out we visited a local tavern….Edwin’s Place. Formerly the Miami Gardens.

An unassuming little establishment in Peotone Illinois…..run by a lovely lady, Janice, and named for her late husband with whom she bought the place.

This prohibition era establishment was the former bar and brothel built in 1929 and run by the infamous Chicago character, Al Capone. Janice has maintained the bar and the back party room in its original condition…and if you ask her nicely she will take you back there to see the room where all the notorious gangsters partied and gambled.

The history of the place is fascinating…..the walls in the entryway are lined with memorobilia and newspaper articles.

There are photographs of the patrons themselves…!!!

The photo below of the last supper was recreated for The Godfather movie.

And Janice has maintained the floors and ceilings in there original ornate splendour…..

She even has the actual money laundering till that they used to count bills, the first unit made by NCR….and there used to be a basement large enough for up to 20 cars. If you read the newspaper article regarding John Dillinger and his escape from the posse chasing him, Capone hid him in Miami Gardens and gave him a different car to escape the law.

If you visit this place and meet Janice….be sure to ask if she will show you the special tiles in the shower…..!!!

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July 1st, Canada Day in Amherstburg.

Having taken full advantage of the quieter day ( the day before a public holiday ) in Point Pelee National Park, July 1st, Canada Day was a day for wandering the festivities in the lovely little town of Amherstburg, Ontario.

There was a bit of a delay to the start of the day to miss the road closures for a 10K/5K walk/run happening through the town…then we wandered downtown…..stopping for a gander through Park House Museum..

…..where the first of our heritage demonstrations was happening with the local tinsmiths .

…….to the park along the river that is the Fort Malden property.

Amherstburg has a fair bit of history…being right on the Detroit River….and the US/Canada border.

We were heading through the town to Fort Malden National Historic Site, checking out the food trucks/vendors and museums along the way. The museums were open for the day and we were promised some heritage demonstrations in the park.

Fort Malden was built by the British army in 1795 to defend Canada against those marauding Americans……it has quite the interesting story.

The food trucks were basically the ice cream truck and the burger truck….but the demonstrations involved fully costumed re-enactments.

So we had the great pleasure of chatting with this young man…Ben…..

….in his full ‘redcoat’ attire (complete with his grandfathers hobnail boots and fob watch which he proudly showed us…!!!) as he guarded the guns which were being prepped for the demonstration firings on the hour at 12.

The uniform also had the ’34’ buttons of the 34th Cumberland Regiment of Foot.

We took a stroll through the museum as we waited for the gun firing demonstration.

…and then back out to the riverside for the demo……we also learned that with the loud ‘BANG’ apparently you don’t cover your ears….you cup your hands in front to deflect the sound around your ears…..I learned something new…!!!

Theres a whole process to prepping and loading the barrel…..

….and then…….’BANG’…..

My intrepid blogtographer positioned himself to capture the fiery shot….!!!

….I gather there was no actual shell fired as none of the sea-doos out on the water seemed concerned…or were harmed..!!!

With a walk through the museum and out the other side to the barracks rooms we met more young people all fully dressed in period uniforms…..

..some practicing marching drills and many acting as tourist information. All very friendly and helpful.

On our way out of the Fort there was a blacksmithing demonstration…..they were branding wood blocks with the royal ordnance symbol…

I have no idea how those young folks managed that day…it was very hot…and they were in full uniform…with those wool jackets on….but none of them were complaining…and all of them were very polite and personable.

The only way to finish the day was with an ice cream on the way home….and a cold beer when we got there….!!!

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Point Pelee National Park…an Ontario Treasure.

Leaving Paris behind….but not quite out of Ontario yet….our last stop before crossing the Ambassador bridge was in Amherstburg to spend a couple of days with a good friend.

The weather had returned to the more typical Ontario standard of hot and humid …..so in the interest of not boiling the cat alive we opted to stop at Willowood RV park just a few minutes outside Amherstburg.

It’s a lovely campground with big spreading trees and reliable 50amp service to run both chilly AC units.

Even though we lived in Ontario for many years and it was on our list for a visit, we had never made it down to Point Pelee national park. So we packed up our water bottles and snacks and headed down there for a grand day out.

Point Pelee is the most southerly point on the Canadian mainland…..apparently as far south as parts of Northern California…..

Knowing the walk out to the point was going to be pretty much flat…we made the woeful decision to put on sandals…..Sandals are fine in the heat…perfectly comfortable for easy terrain with little or no elevation….but really not suited for walking any purposeful distance on the beach….!!!

The blogtographer wanted us on the beach….( Editor. I mistakenly assumed sandals were designed for ‘sand’ )

We posed for his pictures…..( Editor. In a ‘let’s get this over with’ way )

Then headed back to the trail….. (he was the smart one with shoes on…!!…don’t tell him I said that)

Tho we were past the spring season and well into summer…there were still some blooming cacti and trees along the way….

The trail we were following, tho not on the beach front was still pretty sandy…so we thought we might indulge the guy with the camera and since our feet were being filled with sand anyway….maybe try walking along the water edge….

The sand not in the water was hot…..and gritty ( in a large and sharp way…!!)…the ‘sand’ on the waterline….was also pretty sharp…and you can see the slope of the beach….it was tough going to walk barefoot…..so we gave up again…..

But then the problem was de-gritting and drying our feet….

Before the last walk out to the point …there is a huge lookout tower…(in the first picture we are halfway up….in the second we are at the top looking for camera guy.)

The view from up there is phenomenal….but it was a hazy day….

From there its more walking on sand (whilst chatting …of course..!!) to get out to the point.

It’s a strange projection out into the lake…and the way the waves come in from opposite directions they clash over the sand point…..hard to photograph…..you just have to go there I guess…..😊

We used the sandy feet excuse (plus it was hot and humid..!!) to take the shuttle back to the visitor centre…..

….then took a stroll out onto the baordwalks through the marshland……which is HUGE at Point Pelee….its a birders paradise…..

If you look really closely at that final picture above you can see we are still in it…and still chatting….putting the world to rights…LOL

All in all a lovely place to visit and wander through…..maybe in cooler weather tho…..

We stopped at the Oxley winery for a very civilised late lunch/early supper……and then another stop to see if we could see Pelee island from the ferry port at Kingsville….

It was too hazy….but we did meet these lovely people fishing off the pier……and successfully too….

A Grand day out it was indeed.

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Eastern travel once again.

Some overseas guests arrived for a great visit last two weeks of May. It was wonderful to have them here….. we managed a three generation picture just to prove it…..

….and then it was time to get on the road again….

It’s always a little sad leaving because we do love our oasis in Alberta.

But time for some travel adventures has arrived so we will leave our buddies behind and just hope they don’t eat ALL of my trees….!!!!

After a couple of changes to the plan…we started south through Coutts /Sweetgrass and made our first stop in Glasgow Montana.

We have stopped there before…but this time we stayed at the Shady Rest….which sounds more like a funeral home than a campground……but be assured the residents and staff were quite lively…!!!

In Glasgow (Montana)one just has to take the stroll down to the Busted Knuckle Taproom.

We arrived there to discover it was the start of the Milk River Catfish festival. So there were many many people in very good humour….and even some dancing with a live band.

The next days driving was a bit of a challenge. Strong crosswinds straight from the south all day as we drove straight east. Stopping in Bismarck, North Dakota overnight we were pleased to see a pickleball court there….but the wind was so ridiculous there was no way to play.

Back on the road and weaving through Minnesota to a Harvest Host in the middle of cabin country, an overnight at the Snarky Loon kraft brewery in Jenkins Minnesota was next on the list.

A lovely spot…fairly level parking…good beer, food and people.

After some heavy rain overnight I was a bit concerned about just how soft the ground underneath us might have become….I had visions of the leveling blocks sinking straight into the ground….LOL…as ever…my fears were unfounded…

Then a stop in Ironwood, Michigan. The last time we passed through Ironwood we tried to go into Stormy Kromer.….but we were there on the only day of the week that they are closed. This time I planned a little more carefully…and booked the campground at the other end of town….!!!!

…and yes we bought the hats…!!!

One more stop on our journey over to Ontario. We had this great idea that if we stopped at the Straits State Park….right by the Mackinaw Bridge … we would get some good pictures of the bridge…..

We carefully selected a site right at the edge of the park as it looked like we might have the best photo angle……but no. ……it’s an old park…and although the site was definitely big enough …the angle it was at was…well…it was impossible….I should have taken a picture…but was too busy trying to arrange a change of site…and praying there was another we could get into.

We moved a bit further down the loop and pulled onto a site right next to a very lovely couple form Michigan. (Hi Kristie and Tony…!!!) as you can see the grade was a bit scary….but the angle was do-able.

We took a walk down to the beach for some pictures…..through the fog….(and the additional fog of bugs…!!!) ……

……then spent a very pleasant evening round the fire chatting with our neighbours.

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Patricia Rodeo 2025. Part 2.

Patricia Rodeo has never disappointed us, but I have to admit my favourite day is the ‘Little Britches’ on the Sunday.

I mean….what’s not to love about these little tiny people on huge horses…..handling them like pros.

The barrel racing is exciting with the full sized people……but nail bitingly riveting with the smaller ones.

….and here’s one that works as a slideshow……

As I put these together….it almost seems impossible to show just how much speed and movement is happening……especially when we get to the next heat of the Wild Horse race….

The kids don’t tackle the big animals…but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own battles…….here is calf wrestling…..teams of two have to get both the front end and the back end of the calf laying down….

Well…that’s what they are trying to do……

…but more often than not one gets a good hold…..and the other gets left….

…But boy oh boy they hang on…and keep trying….even when they get dragged around in the dirt…..

…..and hey get stomped on …(slideshow….click the right hand arrow)

Because you can’t succeed if you don’t try…..!!!!

Same kind of grit and determination in the Wild Pony Race. The kids don’t have to get a saddle on …they just have to get a person on the pony for one jump.

Those ponies aren’t big….but they are definitely pretty wild….!!!

Persistence pays off……..😆 (you just have to check out this slideshow…!!!)

A couple of years ago they were looking for a sponsor to add a purse for the junior pole bending…..so ….being big fans of this particular rodeo…we ponied up….LOL…!!!

Every day of the rodeo finishes with the chariots and the chuck wagons……the blogtographer looks for a different angle every year….this year he was eating dirt and fighting biting bugs at the top end of the track…..but I think it paid off…!!!

Another charming aspect of Patricia is the use of heavy horses to do the infield harrowing between events…..

…and back to the fury out on the track……

😁That’s it for 2025………….maybe……!!!

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Next one is a slideshow…these guys got totally spun around

…and this is another great slideshow…..

Patricia Rodeo 2025. Part 1.

For anyone who knows us, or has been following us…you know that one of our high points of the year is always the Patricia Rodeo. Not that I think we are ‘rodeo people’…whatever that may mean….but this small town Alberta event is something very special…..and that brings us joyfully back here every year.

It’s a combination of the warmth of this community that welcomes us back each time…and the event itself, which is a glorious combination of real stockmen cowboys demonstrating skills with an incredible, palpable respect for the animals they are working with, and the grit and determination of kids growing up not afraid to get dirty, fall over and take a few knocks…while the hands behind them make sure nobody gets badly hurt.

Not only are the competitors are impressive, but also the fantastic pick up men retrieving stock and protecting riders, the rodeo ‘clowns’ who are in there in a flash doing their thing distracting the massive bulls and steers, allowing the competitors to safely exit the arena …

..and the unseen stock handlers behind the chutes looking after these beasts and making sure no one or no animal comes to harm.

With the weekend admission fee of CAD$50 camping on the grounds is free…..and the trailers started arriving even before we did this year. We arrived on the Wednesday in plenty of time to claim our regular spot and greet all the familiar faces….but as the weekend approached more and more RV’s arrived and set up in circles of families and friends, gathering together for the highlight of the year. We get to know a few more faces each year.

The rodeo itself starts Friday evening with chuckwagons, chariots and also bulls and broncs….I think the blogtographer came and sat in the stands for that tho…!!!

The first big highlight of Saturday is the Wild Horse race……a bit different this year as Patricia is now an official stop in the Championship Wild Horse Racing. So 12 teams this year instead of the usual 6. Same bedlam tho…..

i have tried to put the sequence of the event in slideshows…..click or touch the arrow on the right hand side of the picture to see the next one.

Similar format…..the buzzer goes…the giant wild horses are released from the chutes wearing a halter and a short rope. Teams must wrangle their horse, get a saddle on him…then get a rider up there. The rider then presumably says a few extra prayers and hopes that the horse takes off around the track.

This next sequence is also a slideshow.

The winner makes it around and back through the north gate in the fastest time…..all under 6 minutes. It always seems like a lot longer than 6 minutes. (this link click is a video taken by one of the official photographers)

The barrel racing is a show of skill ….and some beautiful horses…..

We gained a whole new appreciation for the team roping after the Writing-on-Stone mini rodeo a couple of years ago.

The first roper goes….to rope the horns….

Then the second roper has to get both heels…..in one throw of his rope.

It amazes me every time they get it……and often very fast.

The next heat of the wild horse race……here’s a good sequence…another slideshow……(click/touch the arrow on the right.)

And while that’s happening …there are five other teams of guys trying to do the same. (and one girl….this year one of the teams had some girl power with a saddle.)

Always an event that gives us hope for the grit of future generations…..mutton busting……

So does the sequence work better as a gallery (above) or a slideshow (below)?

This next one was terrific….Darrel Robertson…the regular Patricia clown/entertainer had to run after this one to get him to let go….real tough cowboy in the making here….!!!

Darrel has been the head clown guy at this rodeo for many years….he is definitely one of the features that makes this event such a classic.

The last few years has seen the hard-working core of experienced volunteers who make this thing possible dwindle somewhat. To keep it alive, Rugged Rodeo was brought in to make it manageable…..this also brought new lighting to the arena which in turn made more evening events possible.

Bulls and broncs under the lights…..

Even a bit of team roping…….

…….and that’s only the first part of the story……

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I couldn’t resist putting this sequence in…..its just too cute…….same deal on the slideshow….look for the arrow on the right side of the picture and click/touch it to move through.

All part of lifes’ rich tapestry.

From Custer, South Dakota to home is still quite a journey. Luckily tho, another one of our favourite spots is very handily part way up the road.

Buffalo, Wyoming has some great little antique stores and outdoor stores (as well as a terrific craft brewery…. a wool mill…and a cowboy bar straight outta the movies..!!!)

So we broke the journey home by stopping for a couple of nights under the lovely shade trees at Indian Campground ……..

………and some wandering through the art stores and antique stores on Buffalo’s main street.

Then…its the decision whether to stop again in Billings..(another Harvest Host favourite at Canyon Creek Brewing……) or to just make that long haul home…..

This time…despite all the rain storms, as the daytime and night time temperatures were still pretty high…we decided that an overnight without power (ie no air conditioning) was probably less appealing than the long drive….. so decision made to make for home, we set off through the winding mountainous roads of the Black Hills of South Dakota…and then through the Bighorn Mountains.

After all the long steep grades through South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana……..around 10 miles shy of Billings Montana….we lost brakes….!!!!

As we gingerly pulled over to the shoulder …it was the trailer brakes that actually allowed us to stop. (Just before the highway dropped into a long steep descent) A quick look under the belly of the truck ……aaaaand…….brake fluid was pouring from the back end of the truck…..Not good….!!!

Thank the heavens for AAA…. (..click here… they have saved us before…!!!)

Now stopped on the shoulder of a very busy highway (speed limit 80mph)…..early morning so getting busier by the minute……..it was not long before the blue flashing lights of a patrolling state trooper appeared at the back of the trailer. Just checking in that everything was OK and we were being taken care of.

Many thanks to the officer who stopped……he actually moved his car back a bit to push the giant trucks out to the outside lane earlier to reduce the increasing buffeting we were experiencing as we sat. (State law requires traffic to move over for emergency vehicles)

I asked if it was OK to take his picture…and particularly that it was OK to publish. His response was that there were plenty of images of him out there on the internet ….but none of them with him smiling……LOL……

If you click the picture and enlarge it you will see the giant grin on his face….I just love it….!!!

The tow truck arrived…..

Hooked On U towing company. (Isn’t that just the BEST name for a towing business..!!)

We expected to be pulled off to the closest ‘safe ‘ spot…then the truck and trailer separated to be towed separately……but it was just under 10 miles to The Brake Shop in Billings……Matt hooked us up and towed the whole rig ….like a giant train….!!!!

It was impressive…..!!!!

The Brake shop in Billings …I could not sing their praises enough….they were great…..trailer parked in their back lot…they took the truck straight away…got the whole thing sorted, staying late to do it, and we were all set to be on our way again.

By this point it was late in the day….so Brewery it was..(Editor. OH NO I said, but I gave in)….nothing quite like a beer and a taco bus after a day like that…..oh…and to boot…it was happy hour when we got there…..so the day ended on a much happier note. When life gives you lemons….

We have learned to be very grateful that when these things happen to us…it seems like we are in the right place to have it all fixed….and have met so many truly magnificent people along the way.

It was good to get home though……despite the armpit high triffid-like weeds and grass..!!!

Good to be home……but the summer of storms…….or character building experiences was not yet over…..

One HUGE thunderstorm here at home saw our hydro (electric) pole hit by lightning…..yes the one right outside the bedroom window…!!!

It shattered, what I now know is the lightning arrestor…..a ceramic insulator…

The guy from Fortis Power had to be up there with one of our very large Ferruginous hawks screaming at him the whole time…!!!

Other than a loss of power for a few hours……oh…and it blew the control board on our well pump…..another learning experience……all was well with the world. (no pun intended…!!)

Cathedral Spires, Needles Highway and Sylvan Lake.

Still happily ensconced at Broken Arrow Horse Camp, we had another day to find some fun and frolics out on the trails. One of the great things about Custer South Dakota is that not only Wind Caves National Park is on the doorstep…but also Custer State Park (another gem)

(The two parks share a boundary….but interestingly are fenced to keep the bison herds separate. Wind Caves herd is genetically pure plains bison whereas the Custer State park herd has hybridized cattle DNA…..so the fence is there to try and keep them separate.)

One of our favourite hikes from this campground has been the trail up to Black Elk Peak. Rather than redo that one, I found a trail that ran parallel, but on the south side of Cathedral Spires. Black Elk Peak trail runs to the north of the Spires.

To reach this trailhead in Custer State Park….we travelled up Needles Highway……not like the needles highway from Route 66….this one is literally driving through the eye of the needle…..a tunnel through solid rock after a seriously serpentine narrow road to get there.

The pictures never truly reflect the steepness of the grade, the sharpness of the hairpin bends……or the horror of the sheer drop on the passenger side of the vehicle….!!!

The approach to the tunnel is impressive to say the least….

The tunnel is 8 feet wide and.9 feet and 9 inches tall……only wide enough for one vehicle at a time…and you had better turn off the proximity sensors as you pass through it.

I took video on our first pass through …. these pictures are on the return journey….

The road, after you pass through…does not improve any. The hard switchbacks and invisible corners on this perilous path carved out of the side of the cliffs is a whole experience unto itself.

On one of the switchbacks they have built a wall that shields parking spaces on either side…..a bit like the ones in Great Smoky Mountain National park…if you are lucky there will be a spot….if not…there is absolutely nowhere to stop.

We were lucky….and there was a parking spot.

The trail itself is a bit of a climb and rock scramble most of the way up. But the views are spectacular all the way.

Sometimes the view is ahead of you….or right beside you and up…..

….or sometimes when you stop for a breath and turn around to look down….

Hydration and frequent rests are crucial on these paths……this one is not a long hike …but it’s a decently challenging climb…..especially for the heat of this season.

Another rest and opportunity to turn around and look out…..and up…

Near the top the path levels out and continues along the base of the spires…

It was interesting to see the spires from the other side…..I’m still not sure how people manage to climb up to the top of them (When we did Black Elk Peak…we could see people standing on the tops of the spires…having climbed up)

As with most rock scrambley paths…the way down is about as entertaining as the way up…!!!

Even tho my guy carefully takes his pictures without other people in them….this was a fairly busy trail…..and getting busier as we descended.

Part way down we spotted this ‘eagle’. Its easy to see why these rock formations were sacred to the indigenous peoples…..there are so many ‘faces’ and ‘figures’ in these rocks. They don’t have to be sculpted to look like something.

Near the bottom there was a sudden roar….and fly by of some military jets…..Mr Blogtographer was pretty quick off the mark to get the camera up to get these shots.

On the way back…the drive back through the tunnel is just as exhilarating the second time.

We finished the day with the very scenic hike/walk around Sylvan Lake.

This is a very accessible spot and looks to be a great swimming hole…..but by the time we had done the other trail and explored the Needles highway it was late in the day and very busy. There was even a wedding party taking their shots on the lakeshore, spectacular back drop.

As many people as there are on the beaches….surprisingly few were on the hike around the lake. (it’s only a couple of kilometers)

Hidden behind the big rocks is the dam that holds the lake…the dam was built in 1819…..and quickly turned the area into a popular tourist spot…..and it is beautiful.

….and there were all these little fishies in the water…..!!!!

I had intended just a little stroll as we had been here before and the rock formations per the Black Hills are extraordinary (it’s like all those fake styrofoam rocks from the original 1960’s Star Trek episodes….except they are real….!!!) and turned out to be a much nicer walk than I had expected…..

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A close shave and a lone bull.

On our last visit to Custer SD….we had happened on the local barbershop, enticingly named ‘ A Dudes Place“, on the main street. It sparked a discussion about traditional wet shaves ( a service offered by this local barber) …after a bit of thought …….. Scott decided to give it a go……unfortunately we arrived too late in the day….and it had been our last day there

This time…..we got in ahead of the game. It’s a walk-in place….so in we walked and waited for the barber to finish the haircut before us.

The result was impressively smooth…and reportedly very comfortable. Would he do it again…….he did say yes….!!!! (Editor. It was a remarkably relaxing experience, I’d recommend it)

After the underground walk with the cave tour….we needed a proper hike to get the legs moving….and to get out there on the high plains and observe some local wildlife…..bison (at a distance…!!) and the prairie dogs (closer up..!!!)

It was hot so it needed to be a reasonably tame hike and we were looking for one not done before….Alltrails gave us the Lookout Point Trail

The Trailhead for this one (in Wind Caves National Park) was a lovely shaded spot….which was fortunate as it was a very warm day. We set out early to try to get ahead of the sun.

Most of the trails in Wind Caves National Park are very exposed, with these mostly treeless high plains covered with prairie grasses and prairie dog towns.

The trail itself was not entirely clear to begin with and I was mostly navigating with my phone and the Alltrails digital map.

Once we found the familiar marker posts (the ones bison had not pushed over…!!!) the trail became clearer.

Wind Caves National Park is at just over 5,000 feet above sea level…..it’s hard to imagine as you look at the prairie stretched out in front of you. In July with the heat….it really does feel like you are quite a bit closer to the sun.

Although quite a bit greener this year than any of our previous visits…..like most of central north America there has been quite a bit more rain than usual this year.

The trees up ahead were very welcome for a bit of relief from the beating sun. (If you have a look…I am actually in all of these pictures……that’s how BIG this place is)

After a stop for a bit of shade and some rehydration……the path led down through one of the prairie dog towns……..

…….always entertaining…they get so indignant when you walk through…LOL. ….and the babies are so stinking cute…!!!

To illustrate the scale of the prairie……can you spot me?….second picture with arrow if you can’t…!!!

About the midway point the path did take us through an area we had been in before… thankfully into a shaded portion of the trail…

A familiar portion of the path…but green and lush with wildflowers….

….and then as I turned the corner……what did I see….?

A large bull bison….standing looking at me………

…and closer than I would like to have been to a lone bull.

I hesitated !!!!

Another couple of tourists appeared behind us….walking at quite the clip (well he was……she was toddling along behind…!!) They passed us as I was plucking up the courage to pass this giant bull .

He turned around a couple of times and flumped down in the grass….

The lady tourist stopped in front of him and started snapping multiple pictures with her phone…stepping off the path and moving closer.

I seized my opportunity and sped along and past her (at this point I only had to run faster than her….and she was presenting herself quite well as a target if Mr Bison decided to be annoyed…)

My blogtographer laughed his blooming head off at my wussiness and sauntered along behind to capture the images of me actually getting close to the beast……(Editor. I have waited many years to capture her ladyship and a bison in the same frame.)