Custer State Park

Both Wind Cave Natl Park and Custer State Park reintroduced bison herds into the prairie land.  The area is abundant with many other animals also leading to some fun encounters as we were driving through. 

Lots of chirping prairie dogs:

 

Pronghorns:

 

And bison!   We saw three herds roaming at a far distance from our car.  Two were fenced and one herd was roaming free in the prairie near a pond.  Never too close for us to photograph.  

Then, a huge rain storm with small hail arrived.  We took shelter in a lodge.  So lucky for us this lodge also had a dining room serving buffalo stew, pheasant spring rolls, and salmon dishes.  Henry even ate some of the spring rolls!  

After the storm the area was covered with hail:

 

 

The good news is the storm dropped the temperature outside to 60 degrees!   My dream!  We rode on the wildlife loop with the windows open!

And look at this bison having a snack about 25 feet from the road.  We were so surprised.  We stopped the car to watch and he ignored us.  Pretty cool.  

 

 

We were all ecstatic!!