Badlands, SD

One of the most beautiful places we visited in South Dakota was the Badlands. The soil around the rock formations is being constantly eroded, leaving behind the exposed buttes, gullies, and ridges that we see. There are many fossils found throughout the Badlands. It was really, really hot the day we went, and there are no trees for shade. But the sky was clear, and that makes for beautiful photograph!

It is so hard to get a sense of depth in these photos, but these rocks stretch on for MILES.





I love these next two pictures because they were taken from a moving car. So they're a bit funky, but still show off the beautiful scenery!




The color of the rocks is so amazing!






Just beautiful.


You are allowed to climb on the rocks, so of course, we did! Here are my cousins Jordan and Cory hanging out.

Devils Tower

Some more South Dakota pictures here... although the Devils Tower is actually in Wyoming.

Beautiful sky that day!






Close up of the rock formations.


My Dad and I being hardcore. Forgive the blury photo... it was taken by a 6 year old!

South Dakota

Jon and I just got back from a week long camping trip to South Dakota with some family, and we had a great time! I have so many pictures to share, so I'll start out with one of the most awesome things about the trip - the buffalo! Specifically, these pictures show that buffalo kinda just go wherever THEY feel like! More to come later.

Buffalo cross the road whenever they please!


South Dakota traffic jam.


Bumper to horns.

And the road is finally clear!

Twins.

Garden harvest

This is only my second summer owning a house, therefore only my second summer having a garden. But already I've learned SO much after just one year, and I think this year will be even better. I have a very shady yard, so I'm learning what grows best. Last year we had an adorable little fence, but it let the bunnies right in to munch away – so now we have a heavy duty fence that is keeping all the critters out! Don't worry... they still have the compost pile to dig through and find treats! The rain has done a great job of watering the garden this year, with only a little help from the water in my rain barrel. My goal is to grow enough produce that would equal the cost of the garden, although I'm still a few years out from that.

Tonight my sister and I made the first harvest from the garden – lettuce and mixed greens! I should have taken a picture of the garden and how much there is, because there is SO MUCH! Last year no lettuce survived the bunnies.



Although it didn't look like we picked that much, we had enough for three salads and some leftovers.





Tasty! Here's hoping to much more garden success this year!

Oh yeah!

Awesome grafitti I saw on the side of a passing train...

Bird's the word!

It has been such a busy two weeks, with the next two promising to be equally busy! The blogging has suffered, and I'm sorry!

Just a quick, random update...

I work in downtown Champaign, and one who works in an urban area expects to see certain animals... pigeons, a few other birds, squirrels, and maybe even a racoon. You don't usually see Canada geese hanging around! But this spring a few geese have made their home in downtown Champaign, and it has been pretty funny to watch.

Take me out to the ball game!

Another day at the ball park, supporting the Parkland Cobras women's softball team. My little sister rocked it today, and the team won both games.






There was a pond near the ball park and some kids at the game found a turtle. A brand new baby turtle! He was the itty-bitty-est turtle I have ever seen!