Snazzy Snaps & Travel Tales
Welcome to my travel blog! I've visited 30 countries (kickstarted by Remote Year) and 38 U.S. States. Click SUBSCRIBE to receive an email when a new post is published.
South Dakota and the Bad Ass Badlands
I had no idea what to expect from South Dakota, but the state really surprised me! This blog should probably be called 'West South Dakota’, because, I only really stopped in the western part of the state, which I think is certainly more picturesque! I spent time in both the Badlands National Park, and Mount Rushmore.
See more snaps and a review of the experience!
I had no idea what to expect from South Dakota, but the state really surprised me!
(Sorry SouthDakotaCJ, I should have known how good it would be from your IG!)
I left my friends in Louisville CO, which is a fine town in Boulder, BTW!
Actually, it got voted “2nd Best Place to live in America” recently. It features this dog / people park the Davidson Mesa, which is where this sunset video comes from.
Nice big park, big time dog-friendly! Great neighborhoods!
This blog should probably be called 'West South Dakota’, because, I only really stopped in the western part of the state, and just drove straight through the east.
The West is certainly much more picturesque! I spent some time both in the Badlands National Park, and Mount Rushmore!
Badlands National Park features these iconic rolling hills
BTW, if you want the ULTIMATE Guide to the Badlands National Park, the folks at 10Adventures.com have an incredibly detailed website and gobs of info about it here. Free to download route maps, with reliable GPS coordinates and much more info.
Mount Rushmore is set in the Black Hills National Park.
I arrived at Mount Rushmore kinda late, but got there just in time to set up my tripod and see sun down and the ceremonial pre-show they put on before the nightly lighting of the Monument.
The scene is pretty epic!
First, a Black Hills National Park Ranger starts the show with a warm welcoming speech.
He told a touching story about the history of the park and the creation of the monument, which is a little bit…let’s just say…complicated. Read more here and more here.
After the initial welcoming speech, they played a ~35 min video tribute to the 4 men featured on the famous monument:
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt
Legends!
The cinematic video was well done!
A great history refresher featuring stories about each man. The show is loaded with tons o pomp and circumstance, good ole Americana values and and just the right touch of cheesiness!
And then…they lit the monument!
“Ahhhhhhhh….oooooohhhhh….wooooooowwwww….”
I felt this incredible sense of pride for my country when I visited this monument. So much that I felt I needed to invest in a souvenir t-shirt:
Ok time to go.
Here is the scene looking back from the main entrance.
Driving out of Mount Rushmore, we had some tough traffic, but it gave me a chance to snap this side view of George Washington.
Nice posed profile pic Georgie! Sign him up for an Instagram!
The next day, I headed west toward Badlands National Park!
I basically just took an afternoon to drive the Badlands Loop Road (Highway 240), which takes a couple hours and features plenty of scenic vistas, and stopping points.
I had no idea what to expect about the Badlands but I was big time impressed! Super cool rock features, super unique coloring on the mountainous terrain and just overall weird! (In a wicked awesome way)
Where’s Wildlife?
Get after the view player, I got your back! 100 Insta Likes right there.
Boy vs Goat Standoff!
The vast landscape is quite nice all over the park!
A fellow park visitor asked me to take a snap of him, and I agreed to send it to him.
I sent it through email, but I don’t think he ever responded. Not surprised.
It’s cool, I ain’t mad at ya, Badlands Guy.
The Park was cast in a decent amount of clouds that day creating some sweet mood.
Glad I had my wide lens for some if these vast long shots!
Fascinating colors…
Would be a blast to do some longer hiking around here!
“Hey guys, come here check out this view!”
The coloring in these hills is so unique and cool! For more info about it and free downloadable hiking routes, 10adventures.com has tons of info!
If you look close, you’ll see a bunch of lounging mule deer, maybe? Maybe pronghorns!?
Hmmm, looks like it’s about to rain…
STORM WATCH!
Then, it cleared up.
Watch out for rattlesnakes!
I really only drove through the Badlands National Park for a few hours, but it was a total blast!
Every National Park has its own style, aesthetic and flavor.
A goal of mine is to visit ALL the US National Parks someday.
I highly recommend visiting the Badlands National Park.
And I can’t say enough good things about the Mount Rushmore experience!
Visit South Dakota!
Yellowstone (Not Jellystone) National Park
Yellowstone, not Jellystone. Definitely different than Yogi Bear's top place to picnic. The world's first National Park, A UNESCO World Heritage site, and one of the weirdest places I've seen on Earth. In a word: otherworldly!
Yellowstone, not Jellystone. Definitely different than Yogi Bear's top place to picnic.
It's a UNESCO World Heritage site, and one of the weirdest places on Earth. Truly otherworldly!
Yellowstone National Park is noted as the world's first National Park (although the folks up in Yosemite would beg to differ). It spans across 3 states (Idaho, Montana and Wyoming), with the vast majority in Wyoming.
It really is unlike any place I've visited. Remember science class? I know it was a while ago, so let me school you.
Volcanos. Deep below volcanos, you find this wicked hot stuff called magma that exists in this big underground chamber. Yellowstone is home to a wicked big 'supervolcano'. This wicked big volcano had a wicked big magma chamber. Think of a cave under the Earth's crust, "about 37 miles (60 km) long, 18 miles (29 km) wide, and 3 to 7 miles (5 to 12 km) deep".
In this chamber is water.
Magma is so hot it heats the water.
Water boils.
Creates steam.
Sometimes gets so hot and steamy it needs to escape.
Kinda like a teapot.
Creates holes in the Earth.
These holes are geysers. (Remember them?)
Or steamholes.
Or, they create thermal pools.
Or, hot springs.
Scientists and geologists could give you a lot more info. But, that's the gist. Get it? Got it? Good.
Enough science. Let's just look at some of this madness!
Tons of wildlife in Yellowstone: Bison, Elk, Bears, Coyotes, Badgers, Moose, etc.
First place I visited was the Lower Basin. They call this the "ghost forest" cuz the trees have been killed by the geothermal features (hot springs are super salty and toxic, and btw, it smells like rotten eggs in a lot of these basins):
Looks like you could swim in this nice hot spring, right? WRONG. Death.
Really? Did you think I was going to blog about a national park and NOT include a waterfall?
I loved the Lower Basin, especially at sunset, but the Norris Basin was really otherworldly! Almost reminiscent of the Salt Flats in Bolivia.
I stopped briefly at the Midway Geyser Basin...huge cavernous pools, and some incredibly shallow pools featuring floors that look like stepped slate or something.
In the big pool, there was this weird phenomena where I saw a rainbow circle around my head in the steamy shadow of this pool. Can anyone science-splain this to me?
The Upper Basin is the main course for Yellowstone. Featuring everyone's favorite geyser: Old Faithful, which lives up to its name in every way. It used to erupt every ~30 mins or so, but after an earthquake years ago, it now is on a ~90 min schedule. Old Faithful's blowhole is only 4 inches wide.
Old Faithful gets so much love from park visitors, but the Upper Basin offers so much more than that! Again, I can't help but think this of this word: otherworldly.
Looks like a nice place for a dip, eh? (If you're into the whole sudden death thing)
This next snap shows the scale of some of these geysers. Granted, this one is slightly in the foreground compared to the people on the left, but not by that much. Some of these things are huge.
Just a coyote crossing the trail. "Don't mind me, just comin' through, doin' my scavenger thing."
Sentimental moment:
My last experience before I left Yellowstone involved a Grizzly Bear mama and 2 little cubs and a heroic effort by me. (Not really. But let's go with it, k?) Full story in the video below:
Yellowstone is now 2nd on my list of U.S. National Parks, behind the Grand Canyon!
GO BOOK YOUR TRIP.
NOW. I highly recommend checking out the travel experts and friends of mine at AllTheRooms.com, this crew has got you covered!
Wait, why are you waiting? :]
Next up: Grand Teton National Park and the story of how I came face to face with a black bear and cheated death!
Oregon Trails
Oregon does not disappoint! I spent ~a week and a half hiking trails, putzing around Portland, looking at lava lands and floatin' down the Deschutes River. Oregon is on point!
Oregon does not disappoint! I spent ~a week and a half hiking trails, putzing around Portland, looking at lava fields and floatin' down the Deschutes River. Oregon is on point!
Portland gets a lot of hype and I get it now! Very charming city. Culturally rich! Coffee shops, boutique art shops, and big time beer culture. Here is a snap of Portland from the Ross Island Bridge.
But at the end of the day, I'm more inspired by nature than cities. I'm going to let the images do the rest of the lifting from here. No need for words when you got beautiful imagery!
On Father's Day, I hiked the Mirror Lake Trail to see some reflections of mighty Mount Hood.
Gorgeous weather...only thing better would have been to stay for the sunset to capture golden hour colors.
The opposite side of the lake is also sweet.
I got lucky when someone pointed out a snake swimming on top of the water. Not every day you get to see a snake on a lake.
A day or so later, I made my way down to Bend Oregon, aka "the new Aspen of Oregon" where I was going to meet up with my friends, Alexis and Roger. They highly recommended hiking at Smith Rock and even though it was 97 degrees that day, I embarked on the Misery Ridge Trail.
Hiking alone is nice, but when it's 97 degrees and you're huffin' n puffin' up the steep switchbacks, it's sometimes nice to have a buddy. Met this local girl Peri, and we headed up together.
Peri was only going halfway up the trail, so we hung out for a bit at this summit, before we parted ways.
This is the view on the opposite side of the mountain as you can see Bend off in the distance.
Smith Rock is known for having great rock climbing routes, and I saw tons of climbers diggin' deep in the heat. There were actually a few on this thumb-lookin' rock formation. Definitely a multi-pitch climb.
Seeing white capped mountains off in the distance when it is near 100 degrees is always bizarre to me.
That thumb-lookin' rock formation looks like a face from the other side!
Deer aplenty.
Did I mention it was hot? The hike is about a 3 hour hike, and by this time, I was definitely dehydrated and squinting from the sunblock that seared my eyes.
And, this is the final stretch of the Trail, a nice reflection photo for the road.
Here's a sweet little state park: The Cove Palisades State Park.
Some cool bridges.
Some rivers and waterfalls in Bend.
Floatin' down the Deschutes with Alexis Brandow!
And later that day, we visited the Lava Lands, or Lava Buttes, which are out of this world. A volcano erupted thousands of years ago, and today the lava still lies. Fascinating. Creepy? Maybe. Odd? Yup. Cool though!
Unfortunately, I did not make it to the Lava River Cave, but at that time, I realized, I gotta start heading east if I want to be in NYC by the Fourth of July. I never made it to Crater Lake either, which gets highly recommended, especially for photography.
Will put them on the list for future trips! So much to see in this great country. Good ole' USA! It is truly GREAT!!!