The high desert prairies are behind us, and now we see hardwood trees and corn farming.

Prairie Homestead – historic sodbuster farm sitting forlornly in the Badlands.

There’s hardly a living thing out here except rattlesnakes and prairie dogs. Upon entering the park, a large sign warns “Prairie Dogs Have Plague” !!

We had lunch at the park restaurant, hoping it would be as swanky as Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint found it in the Hitchcock movie, but alas it’s just …

Deadwood is famous for its Gold Rush days, circa 1875, and for where Wild Bill Hickok was killed in Saloon No. 10.

The afternoon couldn’t have been more splendid. We ambled through Ponderosa pines, white oaks, and a litter of boulders.

We saddled up and headed out of Yellowstone via the East Gate. This route took us through –aieeee! – the Sylvan Pass, which is a mountainous – watch out! – …

Yellowstone is a wild place, fraught with danger and peril. Park Rangers are fond of telling stories of hapless tourists, most who fall victim to their own foolishness.

Yellowstones’s iconic bus – great way to view the buffalo herds.

We’ve made our way at last to Yellowstone. The approach from the Tetons winds through a thick forest of Lodge Pole Pines, occasionally offering a view of lively streams and …