Autumn in South Dakota & Nebraska


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Our last night in SD, we stopped in the town of Winner, SD.  We had a difficult time finding a hotel room (and were lucky to grab a room when they received a cancelation) as we had forgotten that it was the opening weekend of Pheasant Season! Entering the restaurant, we had a good giggle at the sea of orange hats!  (pardon the blurry picture!)

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Everywhere in town, there were signs welcoming the hunters to the "Rooster Rush".  We even had to try some "Ring Neck Ale" in honor of it!

Autumn Color in South Dakota







After a night in Winner, we woke to gloomy, grey, drippy skies.  The moisture brought out the colors in the landscape and we loved the russet and ochre colors of the grasslands punctuated by the myriad shades of greens left in the trees!  In some places the green had lightened to the point where it almost looked like spring rather than autumn!   


Autumn Color in South Dakota
In the dry western prairies, trees only grow where there is water, so while the broad hill tops are grassland, every little gully seems to have trees.

Autumn Color in South Dakota
We loved all these little gullies of color!  I wish the pictures did them justice.

Red Wing Blackbirds over a sunflower field

Eventually, we turned south to the LaCreek National Wildlife Refuge for a little bit of birdwatching. South of the refuge, the sunflower fields were filled with enormous flocks of redwing blackbirds and vesper sparrows. Such fun to watch them!



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Being on the prairie makes me want to get out my oil paints again, as I love the barns and grain elevators.  This one is in the small town of Merriman, Nebraska.

Bluffs east of Crawford, Nebraska
These lovely buttes are east of the town of Crawford, Nebraska, where my Uncle Jake and Aunt Olive used to have a grocery store, way back when!  We were so busy looking at the buttes, that we missed the turn into town.  We'll have to search out the store location (which was later purchased by another cousin of my Dads's) on a different trip.

Bluffs south of Scotts Bluff, Nebraska
South of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, we turned onto highway 88 and saw these lovely buttes, known as Hogback Ridge, in the setting sun.  Gorgeous!


Comments

Daniela said…
Beautiful autumn!
Anonymous said…
At the end of all your wonderful pictures I clicked on your "happiness" spot and I forgot how much I loved your little 'dotees'. Especially the precious Easter dotee. Mary
Adrienne said…
Catching up a bit and enjoying the sight of Autumn on the prairie. I had to laugh at the thought of the little town filled with pheasant hunters - we used to live in an Eastern Oregon town and that happened each year.
~Adrienne~
Unknown said…
What beautiful pictures. I was just out west this summer driving my son from Illinois to Spokane, Washington, with our trip originating in NMichigan, lots of driving! But gorgeous scenery as you captured so well in your photos.

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