We added a couple more states to Lee's life list. We drove out of Montana, into Wyoming and across the border into South Dakota. Beautiful, beautiful and beautiful, all in their own way. We passed through rolling hills with white capped mountains in the distance. Drove by mountain streams and herds of cattle. There were ponderosa pine forests and sagebrush and fields of hay. Miles and miles of empty roads with the occasional cars zooming past at 80 mph. That's the speed limit on I-90 out here in big sky country. I prefer a more sedate 72 mph and am happy to pass the few trucks going slower and letting everyone go around me.

As we were going through the northeast corner of Wyoming we realized we would be getting to our destination for the day, Rapid City, SD, with time to spare so when we saw signs for Devils Tower National Monument we thought, why not? What a great decision. We drove about an hour north off of I-90 and found a magical place. It was breathtaking. No wonder the Indians consider the area sacred.

The clouds gathered speed as we hiked around but we managed to be back in the car before the skies opened up. But before that, we started with lunch.

We took a hike that took us through a prairie dog field. They were adorable.

Then the trail headed up towards the tower itself, which gave us fabulous views.

We even saw some rock climbers.

There are a pair of climbers on a ledge on the left side and a person rappelling on the right edge. 

Here's a closeup of the rappeller.

The clouds got darker and we could hear thunder in the distance. Time to head back to the car.

That's Whidbey waiting for us in the parking lot.

We found another place we'd like to come back to. The list keeps growing.