Back From the Wild West

{wild flowers in the Badlands, SD}

How did it become September 15 already??!? I haven't had much Internet fun-time lately. Between busy days at work, trying to get some home remodeling projects contracted, and a quick trip out West, I haven't had time to spend visiting my favorite garden blogs.

In between work my husband and I took a little vacation. We've been on an American travel kick in the last year or so, trying to see as much as this country as we can while we're young and child-less. We were up in Maine and New England earlier in August for a wedding, and that was a beautiful part of the country. Lots of mountains, forests, and so close to the ocean that you get lots of fresh seafood. I've been up and down the Eastern seaboard and all over the South, but I haven't seen much of the Midwest or Southwest, so we decided to take our annual vacation in what used to be part of the Wild West. We mainly stayed in South Dakota, but we rented a car and drove into Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and North Dakota. 

It was a great trip, it's so beautiful out there and not as flat as I imagined. The cattle industry is huge, and we saw many, many cattle ranches as we were driving around. We also visited several national monuments and national parks, including Devil's Tower (the first designated U.S. National Monument), Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, and drove through Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the Badlands National Park, and the Black Hills National Forest.  We stayed in Keystone, SD, and Deadwood, which was such a typical Wild West town (but with computerized slot machines now), and learned a little about some old-time cowboys and outlaws.

{prairie dogs}

I saw bison, coyotes, wild horses, wild turkeys, and lots and lots of prairie dogs. They were so cute! Although, they did remind me a little of the squirrels that have been terrorizing my garden. We ate some good food--lots of beef around, as you might imagine--and I had sarsaparilla (which is really just root beer) and drank beer in a few saloons, and talked with a lot of nice locals.

Sadly, you can really see the effects of the drought in this part of the country. Everything is DRY and there are warnings in all the campgrounds, national parks, and practically every gas station indicating that the risk of wild fire is high, so don't flick your cigarette butts anywhere. There was a huge wildfire that had just raged through northwest Nebraska/southwest South Dakota. Locals told us it had been started by a lightning strike in a field. People told us storm clouds have been rolling in all summer, but there wouldn't be any actual rain, so when the lightning stuck, with conditions as dry as they have been, all that grass and hay just ignited and it burned for days. Firefighters from as far as Arizona and California came in to help them fight it. Funny how we haven't heard about that here in DC. There was so much blackened, scorched earth, and when all the grass and hay are burned up, there's nothing for farmers to feed their horses or cattle. You can imagine what this is doing to their local economy. Despite this, everyone we met was so nice, and it was nice to see this rugged part of the country and get away from the crowds of city life. It was the perfect end to our summer.

I'm still working through photos and trying to get my house and garden back in order after some neglectful days. I hope to have more updates soon and see what everyone else's gardens are up to now that we're officially approaching Autumn!

Have you seen the Wild West? Where have you vacationed this summer?