Pics of Our Vacation to South Dakota

[EddieWalker]

Bird,

My first time that I went overseas, I wen to Paris. I was 20 years old and I just bought my first 35mm camera. I was there one day on my way to West Africa, so I spent the day exploring the city and taking pics. I took one picture of each site and used up almost a roll of film. Later, I had it developed and realized that I wasn't very good at taking pics. I was crushed.

At that time, I didn't know if I'd ever be in Paris again, and all my pics were terrible.

After that, when I traveled, I took multiple pictures of the same thing, and sometimes several rolls to be sure I increased the odds of getting a good picture. My thought was that it's cheaper to develop film then it is to go back and take the pictures again.

Later I learned that one camera isn't enough either. My camera froze up on me in Singapore, and I couldn't take any pics. I bought another camera and learned that two cameras are better then one. Eventually I carried three cameras and never had less then a dozen rolls of film on me at all times.

Now with digital cameras, I do the same thing. We took 1,500 pics on this trip, but ther are dozens of pics of the same thing. Since neither of us have any idea of what we're doing, we just keep taking pics and hope for the law of averages to reward us with a good one!!!

srossman,

Thank you and your welcome!!!

Nat,

Mapquest had it at just over 20 hours from our house to our hotel in Hill City, SD. We broke it up into two stops and whatever we came across on the road. We left Saturday morning at 8am and arrived at our hotel that night just before midnight Sunday. We could have done it allot faster, but it really wasn't important to us what time we got there. The same thing happened on the way home. We drove East for a day, then wondered around for two more days on the way home.

This was my third time to Devils Tower, and it's always impressive. It was Steph's first time there, and she was blown away!!! We did the walk around it and got a few good pics of it from different angles. I carried my binoculars, but the only real use for them was to spot the wooden ladder on the side. It's almost impossible to see with the naked eye.

On my past visits, there were rock climbers all over it. This time, there were none. Just Steph, me and a couple hundred bikers in jeans and tank tops. They all wear the same thing!!!! hahahaha

We were also impressed by the size and mass of the pieces that have fallen off. I can't imagine what it's like to be there when it happens!!!!!

Thanks for the great pictures.
Eddie

 

[elalexander]

Hey Eddie. What type, model camera do you use as your primary digital and do you use another digitial or a regular SLR as a backup? Just wondering.

EL

 

[atgreene]

Great photos!

I just joined-up here and came across this thread. Last month my wife and I flew to Colorado to purchase a friends GMC 5500 and drive it home to Maine. We did 3154 miles and visited a lot of the same places. Wyoming and South Dakota are amazing, it's neat to see pics of the same places from someone elses perspective.

 

[California]

People were very friendly, but everyone we talked to all said the same thing, they weren't seeing very many animals. ...
the animals are there, they are just hanging out just inside the treeline and out in the open early in the morning and late at night. One of the elk we spotted was less then 100 yards from the horse camp. Nobody saw him and said they hadn't seen any elk at all.

Eddie that looks like a great trip!

At Yellowstone I discovered there are some Americans who have no concept of the outdoors. We got out of the car at a traffic jam consisting of people looking at several elk (maybe moose?) that were right next to the road. I overheard, and I'm not making this up:
"Where do they put them away at night?" and
"They just can't be real. No way!"

But my all-time classic remains the time we took along a daughter's friend on a mining-claim trip, when the kids were about the age of your daughter. We took the tent trailer only when we expected rain, otherwise used the tent or just a tarp over the sleeping bags. The little guest retreated into the tent trailer after watching us set up camp and start dinner.

We asked her what she was doing inside.

"There's so much dirt out there!" she exclaimed.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Happy Anniversary you two!

Thanks for posting all the pic's. I know it was a lot of work but now I feel I've been on vacation myself!

Anyway, looks like you 2 had fun.

Later,
Kyle

 

[EddieWalker]

elalexander,

The Cannon S2 is our main camera. There's just no comparing it to our other cameras. For a backup, we brought my little Kodak digital camera. It's not very fancy and only has a 4x optical zoom, but it's what I use for most of the pictures I take. To back that one up, we have another Cannon compact digital camera that's just a little below the Kodak in quality. We also have a Fuji Finepix that's OK, but not something we use anymore.

My 35mm cameras are all gone now. I sold them off at a garage sale for a few almost nothing compared to what I paid for it. I haven't developed film in five years, and don't think I ever will.

atgreene,

Welcome to TBN!!

I also enjoy seeing others pics of the same places I've been. Both Steph and I have really enjoyed Nat's pics that he posted. Same place, just a diffent month, and totally different pictures.

California,

Those were some funny quotes!! The one about where do they go at night is priceless. What's really sad is how many people have no clue about nature, wildlife or reality. Laws are passed based on what they see on TV and have nothing to do with the animals. I'm sure you enjoy paying taxes to protect the mountain lions there. hahaha

Kyle,

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the pics. I was hesitant on posting so many, but Steph just printed out 300 pics this weekend for the album, and she's worried that's not enough.

We've been going through withdrawels since getting back. It's really a fantastic place and one we could easily move to. I'd be lying if I said we havn't talked about it!!!

Eddie

 

[Skipholiday]

Very cool.
All that traveling you must have run upon some good eating places?

 

[EddieWalker]

Neither of us are very fussy eaters. We perfer fast service in a clean place over anything else. $10 each is about normal for us when eating out. hahaha

Eddie

 

[InlineDieselFan]

Congratulations on the anniversary!!!

It looks like you had a nice trip and photo safari. You were able to see a lot of the country. It has been about 30 years since I went to Mt Rushmore and all of the sites around there. So this brought back some nice memories. Just too bad I had to wait until I was at work to see the pictures, snail speed at home is a PITA.

steve

 

[Torvy]

Dragged this up looking for my South Dakota people. I did most of my growing up there.

Happy belated, Eddie. Glad you enjoyed my home state. We made the trip similar to yours about 14 months ago. My daughter hadn't been there since she was about 2.

My cousins have a 150+ year old ranch outside of Sturgis. Home to 1000 head of cattle and a bunch of pronghorns.

City folk would view them as ignorant hicks, but they all have BS degrees and generational wisdom of ranching. From the outside, the ranch looks like many others, A throwback to another time...in reality, it is a scientific marvel with millions of dollars worth of land, cattle and equipment.