Devil's Tower

We traveled to the Badlands of South Dakota in November 2011, where we visited, among other places, Devil's Tower, WY.  This was the site of the scene of the movie, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," where Dreyfuss came face to face with the extra terrestrials.  On our visit, we were not so fortunate, but as you can see from the photos, the trip was hardly a waste.

This view of the tower doesn't allow you to appreciate just how big it is.  Here's a picture of a climber on the tower, from that day:

The tower is so big, it took us two hours to hike around the base of it.  We encountered deer nearby as we hiked:

All along the trail were posts with information about the area, including the people.

The area...

Home Wild Life

This little guy is a regular visitor, although its hard to tell if this is "Sammy" (my wife gives them all names), since there are probably hundreds of them running around.  The population has been culled by the red tail hawks in the area, but they've been prolific enough to maintain a significant presence.

The birds in the area provide a special treat now and then, with their presence.  Everything from hawks to eagles to cranes.  We happened to capture this Cardinal on the roof.

A few weeks ago the Great Flood of 2013 came, and we had ducks in the backyard.  This was taken a little late; that morning when we first got up, the backyard was like a river, ducks and geese having a good old time.

Wolves and coyotes gather behind the house in the early morning and late at night.  A pack lives on the other side of the airport behind the house.  These two stopped by to mark some territory one morning.