Broomfield, CO

Amazing sunrise this morning before work.

Total Solar Eclipse - Lusk, WY

Our great plan for our vacation was based around the idea that it'd be way easier to get to Wyoming for the solar eclipse from the north, rather than driving up from Colorado. Our plan worked great, and we arrived in Lusk in plenty of time to get a great parking spot to witness the total eclipse.  (We still got stuck in 9.5 hours of traffic to get BACK to Colorado, but let's not talk about that.)

A few shots from the road in South Dakota and Wyoming:

My camera phone didn't really do this view justice (as it came out a bit lighter than it actually was), but this is a shot of the darkness during the total eclipse.  You could see the dawn-like horizon all around during the period of totality, and the sky was dark enough to see many stars and planets.  There was a notable temperature drop as well - I started wearing just a tank top that day, but ended up putting on a jacket half-way through.

Again, a blurry shot from my phone, but this was during the total eclipse.  Seeing the suns corona first-hand was absolutely breath-taking.  Well worth the trip!

Lead & Deadwood, SD

We traveled north from Keystone and stopped in Lead first, to check out the old Homestead gold mine that's now being used as an underground particle detector. While tours of the mine itself aren't available, you can spend $10 to hit golf balls INTO the pit! Totally worth it.

Afterwards, we headed into Deadwood and checked out the sites there.

The Lead Opera House:

Our first stop in Deadwood before checking into our hotel was the historic Mt Moriah Cemetery, where famous legends such as Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried.

The view from the cemetery of downtown Deadwood, including a close-up of the historic Franklin Hotel, where we stayed for the night.

I can't even tell you how long it's been since I've had Cheerwine!

View of downtown Deadwood from the balcony at the Franklin Hotel:

Model train museum in Deadwood:

The No. 10 Saloon:

Deadwood Distilling Company, followed by the bank vault door in the new home of the Deadwood Winery location:

And finally, some shots of the downtown area from the rooftop seating at the Deadwood Social Club restaurant:

Hiking, day 40: Mt. Rushmore

We toured around the mountains today and checked out Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and a few breweries and wineries in Hill City.

Chipmunk!

If you're not familiar with Crazy Horse, it's another monument in progress about twenty minutes away from Mt. Rushmore.  To be honest, I'm not sure it was worth the visit.  There are no hiking trails near the monument like there are at Rushmore (you can, however, pay an additional fee on top of the - rather hefty - park entrance fee for a shuttle trip closer to the mountain.)  I'd skip this one for now until they get the park a little farther along.

Hill City, a bit north of Mt. Rushmore and Keystone, is home to a handful of breweries, distilleries, and wineries.  We rounded out our day at a few.  I think my favorite sample was the plum Gose at Miner Brewing.

Hiking, day 39: The Badlands

We spent a good part of the day crawling around the Badlands, then had a quick stop at the Minutemen Museum before heading to Keystone.

This guy just walked right up to the cars meandering through the park, so I was able to get some great pics of him!

This whole area feels like another planet.  The pics really don't do the scope of the park justice.  Out of all of our destinations on our full trip, this one was definitely the one I enjoyed the most.  What surprised me the most was how many places there are for visitors to climb and hike through the rock formations without the help of constructed walk-ways (though there are a fair amount of those, too.)  Standing on top and at the edge of some of these formations was intense!

We stopped at the visitors center for a quick look around.  They also offer tours of the launch facility, and you can drive up to some of the missile silos as well.