Critters

Tonight we're in North Dakota. Having spent three days in and around Keystone, South Dakota - enjoying Mount Rushmore and other great sites. The Badlands are amazing...as are the Black Hills.


I have never seen a buffalo up close before. Not one that was still alive. This was taken in Custer State Park, and these guys were kind of swarming around the car. Very cool - a little unnerving.

We're listening to John Marshall's "The Journey of Crazy Horse" and so I'm learning a lot about how important the buffalo were to the Lakota.

So seeing them up close and personal, while listening to this amazing man read his people's story is really an experience!

There are other critters running all over the place out here. White tailed deer (which look an awful lot like their cousins in Florida) and the Prong Horn which we kind of call antelope, although I'm not so sure they are. We have a corny habit

of singing "Give me a home..."
And we can't tell if it's "where the deer and the antelope lay..
or play..." We've seen them lying around but not playing. But, maybe they do when we're not looking.

And these guys - well, I'm sure they're a nuisance and annoying but they're really cute. They pop up out of their dens when we drive by as if they want to say hello.

And they cheep and chirp and holler and play. The adults just stand there and watch us - these are three Prairie Dog Pups that were scampering all over the place - I think they were posing for me, because they waited until I got my camera all focused and everything.

They were probably also wanting food. We do NOT feed the wildlife.
And, I have seen birds, birds, birds!! I can't get pictures of birds... I suck and so does my camera. But I've seen (new to me): Western Meadowlarks, Lark Buntings, Mountain Bluebirds, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Wood Ducks and many others (my notes and books are in the car) and I just can't stop watching for them!! It's very exciting.

I'm glad I'm not driving - could be even MORE exciting.

Tomorrow we turn west again and head into Montana. We're going to stop at Medicine Lake Preserve ... I hope I can get to sleep tonight!