Google "The Rainbow Bridge" . When I had a dog put down and my husband and I were both feeling so sad, we cried when she had to be put down, the vet gave me a copy of it and it really helped us.

Perfect!! This advice will make your whole trip. Don't forget Crazy Horse Memorial near Mt. Rushmore.

I have probably heard your name. I mainly know people I went to school with in Hill City.

Between Deerfield Road and Reno Gulch Road west of Hill City. Thanks, I thought it was either Reynolds or the old McVey Ranch.

You are lucky to be living there. Grew up near Hill City and still own the ranch there. Get there when I can. The barn and house are familiar to me. Where are they located?

There is always a possibility that you could get a good action shot when stupidity goes wrong. LOL

If you cropped to the right of the reflected tall tree on the right and at the bottom of the mountain on the left next to the small tree that is against the skyline, it would make a nice vertical.

I absolutely agree. Two cameras because Murphy's Law--Whatever can go wrong will and if one poops out, you have lenses and no camera. I took a Canon DGSLR with 18-270 and my Canon SX50 which has a larger zoom. Worked great.

I'm a late 1939 model and the older I get, the more I come to appreciate the years and experiences I had growing up. I only wish my grandchildren could experience the lifestyle we had and the activities we participated in. Sad to say, they would probably be bored to death. We found ways to amuse ourselves and we could be outside and feel safe. I was an only child who grew up on a ranch without any nearby neighbors. I used my imagination to create ways to have fun. My dad was a WWI veteran who never saw active duty. We never had milk delivered, it came from the cow, "Maxine" and when she grazed on grass it tasted terrible. I remember going to the grocery store with my mother and her using the ration stamps and I also remember her sending "Care Packages" to relatives in Germany after the war. I remember asking my parents, "Who was he and why did he die?" when the news came over the radio that President FD Roosevelt died. Don't know why I remember that so clearly. It is sad that our generation is disappearing. Guess our parents felt the same way.

I absolutely agree. I've always used Mac and travel with the Mac Book Air which is a full computer, but compact. My Macs last way longer than my friend's PCs. Only had one out of five crash. Still using three of them. The first one became too outdated, but I can still look up stuff on it.

If you are out in the wild, you need to think about dogs with long hair and burrs. Shorter haired dogs work better when you are around those pesky stickers. Pheasant hunters in SD have found out that long haired dogs are not the best because they spend more time picking off the burrs than hunting.

One of our favorite family photos is a photo of my son-in-law changing my granddaughter's diaper on the front seat of the car with the burro looking on.

Grew up on a ranch west of Hill City, home of the 1880 train. Still own the ranch and visit whenever I can. There was a huge fire in Custer State Park this winter.Normally the park would be covered in snow, but it was a dry year and the fire was pushed by wind. All of the buildings were saved. It is expected that the grass will grow back and it will be beautiful again in the spring. Three of the popular burros had to be put down from burns, but the rest are being treated by veterinarians inside a building off the park. Buffalo are being fed hay in the buffalo corrals because the grass burned and park fences were destroyed which would have allowed the buffalo to leave the park. Only a few animals were lost in the fire. Dead trees are being harvested which should help the landscape. Tourists can expect the usual photo opportunities next summer. I visited just after Christmas and the park was covered in snow, but you could see where the fire burned. A tree falling on a power line started the fire.

My husband's grandfather built a stone fence around his homestead in South Dakota. The farm is located in a glacial deposit area and the land is covered with rocks. It is hard to dig a fence post hole. Part of the fence still exists, but his family did sell a section of the fence to be used as rip rap along the shore of a nearby river to prevent the road next to the river from being washed away during flooding. It is hard to believe the effort that went into building those fences. Doubt if anyone would do it today.

Unfortunately if more people could get there, they would destroy it with graffiti and taking rock samples. There is not enough money to control the vandals. Sad, but true.