Danny and Maggie, Where Are You?: Custer State Park Wildlife Loop and Needles Highway

Sunday, June 9th, the McClenny's and we worshiped with a small congregation in Custer, South Dakota. The young preacher did an excellent job of presenting his lesson, and the members were very friendly. It made us glad that we were there. As a side note - ALWAYS LEAVE YOUR PHONE IN THE CAR! I actually put mine on silent before entering, but somehow my alarm had been set for 10:00 AM. Yep, the alarm was not silent. I kept poking Danny to tell him to turn off his phone since I knew mine was on silent. I was so embarrassed!

Following services, we met the Rusts and the six of us along with Bailey their dog drove the Custer State Park Wildlife Loop and Needles Highway. We were really hoping to see some wildlife and we weren't disappointed.

Most of the Loop was beautiful lush meadow land, with
wide open spaces and a blue blue sky.

Here's a herd of buffalo that was right next to the road - in fact
a couple of young calves blocked traffic for a little while.

Wild burros also blocked traffic and some of the tourists
got out to pet them. NOT US as we thought they may bite.

There were many places that had single antelope in the
meadows, but finally we saw a herd of them grazing on
the grass near the loop road.

Part way through the Loop, we stopped at Blue Bell Lodge for lunch. Danny and I ate BBQ buffalo burgers and fries. Not bad, but still my favorite burger is Burger King. No, I don't have stock in Burger King, just like the taste a lot.... and the price is better than at Blue Bell Lodge. LOL!

Blue Bell Lodge without the ice cream was a log lodge with a huge fireplace.

Denise Rust, Linda McClenny and Maggie sitting on saddle
stools at the lodge.

During the afternoon drive, we found the Summer White House where President Calvin Coolidge, his family and staff stayed for several months in 1927 and President Eisenhower in June, 1953. Very quaint and remote place.

State Game Lodge

Part of our afternoon drive was on Needles Highway which meandered through mountains that had spires that resembled needles of barren rock. Very strange formations and quite tall. Here are a few shots of various formations we saw there.

Danny drove us through 3 tunnels that were carved out of the rocks. The smallest one was a little over 8 feet wide as you can see below. Pretty nerve racking, but we made it fine especially since we pulled the mirrors in and drove at a snail's pace.