Barreling Around Niagara Falls

We arrive in Niagara (Canadian side), check into our room on the seventeenth floor of The Oakes Hotel and crack a bottle of wine just in time to watch the sun set over Horseshoe Falls. One of our most common sayings is, "It doesn't get much better than this" and we use it now. This is only a portion of the panorama.

Niagara Falls is synonymous with the Maid of the Mist.

Here she is looking misty.

Off we go chugging upriver past the roar of the American falls.

Stunning.

Into the Horseshoe for a drenching. Aye matey, she's a-blowin'.

Rainbows are a common sight but always magical.

The view from Rainbow Bridge.

The Maid trying to dry out.

Bad But So Good

The Badlands in the Black Hills of South Dakota is a strange and mysterious place. From the ragged ridges and saw-toothed spires to the wind-ravaged desolation, this is the place mosasaurs (giant marine lizards) once swam and dinosaurs once roamed. It is an awe-inspiring sight. Few leave here unaffected by the vastness of this geologic anomaly. Our camera says it all.

The seemingly barren park is alive with flora and fauna like these Black-tailed Prairie Dogs.

On the Road Again

Whistler to Litchfield this time. Temperatures dip to a chilly 34 degrees as we start our long journey driving through snow storms at Stevens Pass, Washington en route to the mock Bavarian village, Leavenworth where za bier vill varm us up.

Herzlich Willkommen!

Pretzels swing from a tree in front of one of the local bakeries, enticing people in for more.

On to big sky country, Montana.

To pass time on the long stretches of highway Sandi gets creative with views reflected in the rear view mirror.

The Little Bighorn Battlefield (June 25, 26, 1876), also known as Custer's Last Stand, chronicles the history of this world-famous engagement where all the members of General Custer's contingent were killed. It was a significant turning point in the struggle for lands between American Indians and new immigrants. The Indians won the battle but lost the war as a few short years later they were all confined to reservations. Gravestones mark the spots where the bodies of Custer and other members of his family were found on Custer Hill.

Sitting Bull, a holy man from the Lakota tribe, led his people as a war chief during the battle.

Deadwood, South Dakota, was once known as the wildest, wickedest, woolliest town in the West, where Wild Bill Hickok was gunned down and where Calamity Jane claimed she could out-drink, out-swear, and out-spit any man.

Here, at Saloon No. 10, Wild Bill was shot in the back of the head while playing a game of poker.

Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried next to each other in Mount Moriah Cemetary in Deadwood.

Widely regarded as one of the man-made wonders of the world, Mount Rushmore is as much a work of art as it is an engineering marvel. The faces of presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt carved into granite make up one of America's most enduring icons.

The Crazy Horse Memorial, the world's largest mountain carving, is so big that all four heads on Mount Rushmore would fit inside the chief's head. Begun in 1947 the monument is still a work in progress. The finished sculpture will be 641 feet long and 563 feet high (look closely for shape being carved into the rock in the distance). Crazy Horse was a respected war leader of the Lakota. He fought against the US federal government to preserve the land and traditions of his people, participating in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

We drive the Needles Highway and Wildlife Loop Road in Custer State Park through giant granite spires that reach the sky, open grasslands and pine-clad hills spotting pronghorn antelope, white-tailed and mule deer, begging burros and bison, lots of bison.