Where The Buffalo Roam

Where The Buffalo Roam

Cluster's National Park

South Dakota

July 2012

I traveled to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore.  I had never thought about visiting this monument.  But I had been teaching in China for the past semester.  When asked where they would like to visit in the USA, one of my students mentioned she wanted to see the beautiful tribute to our leaders.  So I came home and made plans to see what I could see.

Mount Rushmore was underwhelming to me.  It was interesting but only for about ten minutes and then it didn't hold my attention anymore. I took about 50 photos of the the monument form every angle but then deleted all but two of them. Really, I had one too many.

But I will tell you what did capture my interest: the buffalo roaming the nearby national park.  I couldn't get enough of them.  they tended to concentrate in one area of the park.  So we found ourselves making our way there each night as the buffalo tended to room in small herds as they liked for a place to settle down for the night.

A road cut through the middle of this area and cars were allowed to travel a loop which allowed close access to the animals.  Sometimes the animals stood in the middle of road and blocked traffic.  Most of us loved these moments which allowed us to see these animals up close and personal.  But others who sued this road as a path to get home each night found it annoying and did their best to nudge and hurry the buffalo along to the other side.

They were massive, powerful and mighty in their presence. I watched them for hours and that still wasn't enough.