Left for South Dakota early Friday, June 6, and saw one interesting site during a layover at the Chicago airport... definitely an attention grabber.
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Having researched things to do in advance and wanting to make the most of an all-too-short weekend trip, I did a bit of driving Saturday in order to see Devil's Tower (actually across the SD border in Wyoming). I wasn't disappointed! Almost 12 miles out, I could see the tower stood out as distinctly different than the surrounding hills...
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Still a few miles out, the tower loomed increasingly arger...
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Up close, the tower was stunning, at least in my humble opinion!
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Favorite pic was one of the last I took during the day, as dark clouds rolled in around the tower.
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During the round trip SD to WY drive, I counted over 70 deer (mostly whitetail and pronghorn) playing in the open hill country. Saw so many I didn't think to take pictures, but did stop to enjoy the view of two toms fighting over a group of hens.
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Also drove the Sturgis, Spearfish Canyon, Deadwood, and Lead areas and took a few photos along the way of natural beauty that caught my attention.
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Sunday morning I ran the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon. With 29 states down, it has to be one of the prettiest courses I have run though also a tough one! The course only had one hill and with a relatively gentle slope... just too bad it was a 13 mile hill
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Between the altitude and the hill, I was gasping enough at the half-way point that my uphill run was slightly faster than my downhill climb down
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Saved visits to Mount Rushmore and Custer National Park for the post-race afternoon.
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Was really amazed at the rough, swirled appearance of the uncut/rough rock surrounding the Presidents. Made me all the more appreciative of the work that it took to do the massive rock carvings...
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As darkness dropped on my final day in SD, I raced through Custer National Park. Final vision from the trip was from Sylvan Lake -- as with so many of my previous state trips, I was left with too little time to cast a line, but seeing sites such as Sylvan Lake have me looking forward to a 50 states fishing attempt
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