August 5, 2013
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Epic Road Trip, Day 4, part 2
So there we were on the Needles Highway in South Dakota and it was pouring down rain. But it was still gorgeous, especially when we drove up to this birch grove.
And saw a deer. 
I enjoyed the tunnels and tried to get a photo whenever we were about to, or driving through them.
There was an Earthcache here at Sylvan Lake. We were supposed to get out and walk around to see things but the raindrops were the size of marbles and no one was interested in getting out for a stroll since we had brought no rain gear. So we answered the questions to the best of our car-locked ability.
After that, it was just a matter of poking the camera out the window when we saw something interesting, like trees growing in the rocks or crazy formations.
Some formations were more interesting than others. I believe this one is called Clinton Rock. But I won't explain why.
Every where we looked there was something that made my eyes pop, and I was glad there was little traffic because I would just slow down in the road and pull aside regardless of how much space was on the side to do so.
Another very determined tree.
And another shot of our Unhappy Frog.
Unhappy Frog (his name is Jonathan, but we never call him that) and Quin had a lot in common. They both acted like they were miserable most of the time (well, all the time in the frog's case) but deep down they were having a blast.
Bisons are one of my favorite animals and I was excited to see these big guys (you can also see raindrops falling if you look close) but in the 5 minutes or so that I sat waiting for them to lift their heads, they neither one did. Not even for a moment. Just graze, graze and torment.
We found a hideaway! 
And another rock shop, where I fell in love with these stone bison figures but was not willing to pay $30 for (the smallest) one.
We stopped at the Jewel Cave National Monument but the tours were booked for the day so there wasn't much to do but pose at a sign and pick flowers.
How can one NOT stop at a town named Pringle? Especially if there is a cache in the cemetery and a pile of oddly painted bicycles welded into a pile? It also had a very fine public rest area (Quin: why do they call these rest rooms public? Don't most people want to pee in private?"), ok, pit toilets, a couple houses, a mechanic's shop and....and....well, then I blinked and missed the rest of the town.
We also stopped to see this giant blue bison on a rooftop and realized we were close to an Earthcache called Kidney Springs, where we read about the solids content in the posted analysis of the water. This water will cure ya of what ails ya. Or it will kill you. We didn't take that chance and got our info and some pictures and then headed out again.
Out on the open road. There were many beautiful stretches of open road like this and yet it was not boring to drive through because it was so different than what we were used to.
We drove into Nebraska on this road, but that will have to be yet another post because Carhenge deserves it's very own post, wouldn't you agree?
