Left Longmont and headed northeast toward South Dakota by way of Wyoming.  The closer to Wyoming we got, the flatter the country.  The Rockies dwindled to little more than hills.  A huge statue of a bison suddenly appeared on a hilltop as we approached the Wyoming border.   The ever present wind turbines could be seen off in the distance.  Scrubby grass covered the ground, black angus and steers grazing on it.  Every so often we came upon wild sunflowers growing along the highway and we saw a field of them that must have been planted as they were in very even rows. These sunflowers are about 1/5 the size of the giant ones we've grown at home.   Snow fencing seems to be placed in every open spot (and there are lots of spots) to keep the winter snows from drifting across the road.  In some places they have begun to grow evergreens in staggered rows to act as  wind breaks and perhaps live snow fencing.  There are gates on some of the highways, similar to the ones we have at railroad crossings, that are apparently lowered when roads are closed in the winter because of snow.  

We are in Hot Springs, SD tonight and will be visiting Wind Cave (fourth largest in the world) and Jewel Cave (second largest in the world) tomorrow.

9/6/12

Today we hiked the Wild Basin Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park with a group of Longmont (Colorado) Seniors, my brother, Fred, being the leader.   We walked up and up (supposedly only 600 feet elevation gain) and never did get to the spot we were looking for (a stream or stream bed) crossing the trail supposedly 2 or so miles from the starting point.  Not being used to the mountain altitude, we huffed and puffed a little more than usual but were able to keep up with the group just fine.  The aspens have just started to turn, their leaves shining like gold in the sunshine.

Fred and Mary took us to a tea house in Boulder for dinner.  The building was sent to Boulder as a sister city gift from one of the countries that resulted from the breakup of the Soviet Union--something or other 'stan'.  The building was very ornate, the food offered was varied (i.e. I had a Mediterranean dish, Jack had a Mexican one and Fred & Mary had Indian food).  All of it very good.  After dinner we strolled through downtown Boulder's promenade (walking street) looking in the shops and generally had a very pleasant evening.