Two summers ago a family vacation changed a part of me forever.  Now in June every year I start getting a longing to “Take a ride across the badlands, feel that freedom on my face, breathe in all that open space.”  As Jason Aldean sings in the song “Fly Over States”.  ‘Cause on the other side of that ride across the badlands is Rapid City, SD.  A place I have come to love!  And it is not just because my favorite four-year old lives there, it’s more.  There is something about the Black Hills that has drown me in and won’t let me go.  I find myself wishing, a lot, that  I could be in the Black Hills of SD.  Usually going out west is a once in a lifetime trip but I have been out west twice, two summers in a row.  And I would love to go back this summer too but I can’t.  It is beautiful out there!  It is like a little piece of heaven on earth!  And the ride out there is like none other.  I know most people think I am crazy when I say how much I love to drive to SD and back.  It is a little far but well worth every mile of it.  I can’t get enough of it either.  There is so much to see that you miss by flying to Rapid City.  Golden fields of wheat and corn and the badlands!  Each turn in  the road brings something new and interesting to see.  When in Rapid City I love to go to Bear County and to Custer State Park and see the buffalo roam.  It’s amazing to think that at one time those beautiful creatures were almost gone forever.  There are big and fast but beautiful to watch.  To look into one of their eyes is like looking into their soul.  Boy I wish I was leaving for South Dakota tomorrow.  Maybe next summer I will go back!  Makes me think of the song Doris Day sang in the movie “Calamity Jane” with Howard Keel.

“Take me back to the black hills, the black hills of Dakota. To the beautiful Indian country that I love.  Lost my heart in the black hills, the  black hills of Dakota.  Where the  pines are so high that they kiss the  sky above.”

[  From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-black-hills-of-dakota-lyrics-doris-day.html  ]

Read more: DORIS DAY – THE BLACK HILLS OF DAKOTA LYRICS