The Beginning

  Rapid City, South Dakota
Thursday, May 31, 2007

When I got the news that Sreekanth is coming to Minneapolis, I knew that the Memorial Day weekend is going to be fun. And when Srijani joined me as room mate, I was sure we are going to have a blast. Both of them are travel freaks like me. Vinay was planning to go to New York to visit his friends, but somehow we convinced him to join us.
 
Our first plan was to visit Grand Canyon. But the flight rates were high and we had to drop that plan. Later, after talking to people, we decided to go to Yellow Stone. But that takes around 18 hrs and finally we selected South Dakota - From Bad Lands to Black Hills.
 
Srijani, me, our extended family (Sreekanth and Vinay) and Srijani's friend Dipankar - five of us started planning. Later Dipankar ditched us fearing that he has to drive alone for 10 hrs. We were in a dilemma. Sreekanth doesn't have a US license yet and he hasn't driven also after coming here. But we all had confidence in him. Anyways, Srijani managed to find 6 other people to join us.
 
One week, we spent in research and planning for the trip. Four of us went to Wal-Mart and bought camping materials, tissues, paper plates (we already had tent and portable stove from my aunt, Uma ichamma). And then browsing and making plans till mid night. I really enjoyed each moment.

Thus nine travel freaks (Sree, Vinnie, Srijani, Susmit, Ankit, Vipul, Anuj, Abha and me) started the journey to explore Bad lands and Black Hills on a Friday afternoon. We were supposed to start from Richfield at 1 PM. Sree and me started from office by 11:30. We reached home and made idlis. One set was already done the previous night.
 
Susmit came with the van and then we started at 2:30.
 
After about two hours, we stopped at a resting area. Had food, played foot ball and then we started again.

The next halt was at Palisades State Park. I really liked that place, thanks to Vinay and his South Dakota book. We got info about this spot from his book only. I had my first experience of rock climbing here. Ankit and Sreekanth were very quick and the most enthusiastic in the group. Dup dup dup and lo..they were at the top of the column. I was also very excited. The place was very scenic and looked like a good place for camping too. From the top of the cliff which we climbed, we could see the rushing Split Rock Creek.

I wanted to explore the place more, but we didn't have time. We were 2 hours behind schedule. But after the rock climbing, everyone was tired. We unpacked idli boxes and everyone attacked. Within a few minutes the boxes were empty. The mango-chilli pickle which Abha selected was really good. I was also happy that everyone liked our idlis.
After this, we headed for Bad Lands. Abha wanted to know why that place is called so. The books say, it's named Bad Lands 'coz of scarcity of water and the difficulty to traverse.
 
Bad Lands was still 3-4 hours far, so we started playing Anthaakshari. After sometime, when it was dark, we stopped the movie songs and started bhajans. We started with "Om jai Jagadeesh hare". And then Anuj,Ankit, Vipul, Abha and Susmit recited a few Aarti songs. They were good.
 
Time passed, but still we didn't see any signs of reaching our camping spot. We entered a gravel road and it was absolute darkness outside. There was no one on the road. It was very windy too. Susmit lowered the window glass for sometime and we were surprised to hear the powerful sound of the wind. Abha was really scared. She was asking us why we booked the cabin in such a remote area. But as you know, I was enjoying it a lot - deserted place, strong wind which shakes even our car, total darkness outside... :-)
 
We stopped at a gas station and asked them for directions. Finally we reached the KOA camp site by 2AM. We had booked two cabins - one with four beds and the other with 6 beds. Srijani, Abha and me in the small one and the guys in the other. Sreekanth, Srijani and me decided to get up early to see the sun rise at Bad Lands.
 
I got up at 5:30 and looked out of the window. But the sun woke up even before us L I thought Sreekanth also might be up by then. But nobody was awake and then I just roamed around for a while. I could see yellow shades in the sky a little far away. I wished I could go there and enjoy that beautiful sight. But I didn't want to go alone to that secluded area.
 
While roaming around, I met the supervisor of that camping area. He told me that we should have got up by 4:30 to see the sun rise. We missed it and I was very upset.
 
I found the rest room and then took bath. After that I went to the guys' cabin and called Sreekanth. Sree and Srijani got ready soon. We three went to the Visitor Center to collect more information about the place. Sree and me went inside and Srijani was taking photographs outside. A few of the pics have turned out really beautiful. My favorite one is here - see the bird. I don't know how she manages to find birds in every nook and corner.

Bad Lands is a dry area with no vegetation at all. But still it looks beautiful. Water and wind have transformed the soil into castle like formations.
 
After that we went back to the camping site. Everyone was ready and was waiting for us. We then started preparing breakfast. Uma ichamma's portable gas stove was really useful. I had forgotten to take tawa, but the guys managed to heat the chappathis without that. ;-)
 
After a good breakfast, we headed for the scenic trails in Bad Lands. That was really good. We climbed a few sandy hills too. It was a bit tough task since the sand was coming loose as soon as we step foot on it. We went to the Fossil Trail too - it wasn't interesting.

We said Good Bye to Bad Lands and started to the Rapid City. First visit there was to Thunderhead Underground Waterfalls. That's a waterfall 600 feet inside a mountain. We can't go near the falls or touch the water. Just walk a few minutes through a cave and then you can see the water gushing down.
 
Cosmos was the next place. It was a mystery area where gravity doesn't work properly. No one can stand straight there. If we roll a ball on a wooden plank which is kept slanting, it will go up. It's actually a house and the guide will take us through each and every room. All of us enjoyed a lot there. The guide played a trick on Abha. She asked Abha whether she tells lies. Abha said 'No'. Then the guide asked her to sit on a chair whose two legs were in air. She told that if she is an honest person, she won't fall. Otherwise the chair will lose balance and topple. Abha sat on the chair, but she was about to fall and the guide caught her. Then Srijani volunteered to try that. Even she fell down from the chair. Well, that was just a joke. 

After that, we headed to our camp site. Uma ichamma and ettan had warned us that building up the tent won't be that easy. But with six energetic guys in the group (with Sree as the leader), one beautiful tent was built within 30 minutes. It was very cold that night, so the guys volunteered to sleep in the tent giving us the comforts and safety of RV. RV was really good with all facilities - 4 beds, kitchen, bathroom...

We made tea and heated the rest of the chappathis. We didn't have match boxes to light the stove. We had brought only a cigarette lighter. Everyone tried to light the stove using it, but ended up burning their fingers. Finally Sree came and did it. Susmit's gang had bought ready-to-cook dal and some other curries too. Had a very good dinner. It was really cold outside and everyone was standing close to the camp fire only. 

The hot air balloon ride was the first activity planned on Sunday. We got up at 4 and got ready by 5. We had not made the payment for this and were supposed to pay it on Saturday evening. But we forgot. I called the Balloon people and told them that we will be coming there by 5:30. But that guy shouted at me "hmm..This is the right time to tell me that. Just half an hour before the ride". He asked me to come on Monday morning. I then gave the phone to Sree and he somehow convinced him and got appointment for us on the same day.
 
Anuj, Abha and Vipul didn't come for the balloon ride. Rest of us reached Flint Stone Park by 5:30 and the organizer also arrived soon with balloon and other stuff. He then took us to a ground in his jeep. They started inflating the balloon while we were busy capturing that beautiful place in our cameras. The flight was for an hour. It was good. As the balloon started to rise, I was a bit skeptic that I will feel scared (I have acrophobia). But we enjoyed watching all the trees, horses and the camp grounds from high up in the air. In between people changed their positions in that bucket and then the entire thing used to shake. After an hour he said we are descending. He asked all of us to sit and not to get out unless we are told so, otherwise the balloon will again shoot up like a rocket. Oh,my God! All of us did as he told. When we were out, he offered us champagne and muffins. It seems it's a custom to have champagne after balloon rides. There were a few old tractors near the ground where we descended and we all took seats in them to pose for photographs.
 
When we reached the campsite, the other three were already ready. The next one scheduled in the list was 1880 Train journey. Vinay was the most excited guy. He was glad that he could see all those places through which his favorite cartoon Thomas Train used to ride. We reached Key Stone by 9:30 and boarded the train at 10. It was a two hour journey. The train took us till Hill City, stopped there for 10 minutes and then came back. The onward journey was boring. I slept for some time. While coming back, Srijani, Sree, Vinay and me played Dumb Charades. That was the most interesting part during the trip. The way Vinay used to act...we all were laughing like anything.
 
After the train journey, Vipul's pants tore and he said he wants to go back to the camp site to change. All bags were kept in the RV. After reaching there, when I checked for the keys, I realized that it's missing. Sometimes I'm very careless L we lost some time in getting a new set of keys. But it's a good thing that Vipul had to change his pants. Otherwise we would realize that the key is missing only at night.
 
We had to make slight changes in the plan since Susmit's group wanted to go to Mt. Rushmore next. Well, when we go in a group, sometimes we have to make some compromises. We headed to see the Presidents' faces. The faces of former US Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln were carved in that sculpture. It represents the first 150 years of American history. We all appreciated the efforts gone in to its making.
There was a museum located there. Sree, Srijani and me were not interested to visit that. We just took rest while others went there.

After visiting the Presidents, we went to see the Gold Mine. But that was disappointing. The visiting time was over and all the shops were closed. There was nothing else to see there. We just spent half an hour there and headed to Spear Fish. We stopped at a coffee shop in between and got hot chocolate. After that we found a water fall and stopped there. Then Ankit started shouting, "Hey don't stop here. The coffee shop aunty will come after me". He then showed a handful of tea bags from his pocket, which he managed to take from the coffee shop. These guys.... J
 
Spear Fish was a good place for hiking. But we didn't get enough time. And Abha and others were not ready to go into the jungle. L We just saw the waterfalls there, walked for some time through the trails and then returned. All those rocky mountains, the beautiful trails, the water falls - I didn't want to leave that place at all.
 
One funny thing happened there. We were walking back from the water falls. By that time it was dark and the place was deserted too. Srijani was at the front. Sreekanth went after her silently and when he reached near her, he made the sound of a lion. And then there was a loud scream!!! She was so damn scared (She took revenge of him laterJ).
 
It was very late when we reached the camp site. That morning, we were told that other people had complained that we made lot of noise the previous night. So we were whispering and took care not to make any sound. I wanted to sleep in the tent that night, but Abha was not willing. She fell sick also. So that day also, we three girls slept in the RV and the guys in the night.
 
Monday morning - the last day of the trip. The plan was to visit Jewel Cave that day. But we changed the plan and went to Bear Country. That was really good. We had a good safari and we could see lots of bears, pea cock, sheep and other animals. Some bears were sleeping on the road itself and Vinay commented, "kya mast life hai re bhalu ka!" Vinay loves sleeping and on most of the weekends, we won't let him.

After Bear Country, it was a straight journey back to Minneapolis. We had planned for Corn Palace too, but Ankit wanted to reach early.
 
By around 12 midnight, we reached our apartment. That was the end of a wonderful weekend and the beginning of our expedition in US.

Thanks
Abhaya