06/05/12 Badlands of South Dakota & Mount Rushmore

A scenic route (SD Rt. 240) that passes through the

Badlands of South Dakota National Park south of Wall, SD!

On June 05, I decided to visit the Badlands of South Dakota and Mount Rushmore with no formidable severe weather risk across the Great Plains in the offing. I woke up quite early after rooming the previous night at a Best Western in Wall, SD and began heading south out of town on SD Rt. 240 that passes through the Badlands. I figured I'd do one photography session during the morning and one later in the afternoon as I arrived back to Wall, SD after visiting Mount Rushmore located southwest of Rapid City, SD. I spent about a hour and a half shooting many photos of the absolutely beautiful landscape. There is no doubt I'll be back here sooner rather than later. This was my first time visiting this location and I surely was impressed. I could spend endless days doing photography of the Badlands. Anyhow, after photographing the eroding rock formations I visited Mount Rushmore around noon and than later returned back to the Badlands around mid-afternoon to photograph them with a higher sun-angle. I've added many photos from this day's activities below:

A beautiful early morning shot of the Badlands!

 A shot of the sign which

is a frequent tourist photo-op...

 Bubbling cumulus over the Badlands by mid-afternoon!

 Mount Rushmore around midday...

(Canon 70-300mm telephoto-zoom lens)

I can't forget the South Dakota sign right?

One more I can add to the collection...

 What a beautiful landscape and a great view!

 Wildlife shot!

(Canon 70-300mm telephoto-zoom lens)

 A viewing point (left) of the Badland's buttes looking

down into the deep canyons...

 A portrait-shot of Mount Rushmore!

 Another great view!

A falcon in-flight?!

 Ongoing erosion can be seen here...

 A close-up...

Kind of was funny watching the tourists

with their "wimpy" cameras while I pull

out my beast of a DSLR camera!

 Talk about a scenic route...

 Crazy formations!

 Bighorn sheep relaxing on the crest of this hill...

 A wide-angle shot of the beautiful landscape!

(Canon 10-22mm wide-angle lens)

 A white-tail deer roaming the prairie

during the morning...

 A wide-angle shot of Mount Rushmore!

 Definitely not a "bridge-to-nowhere"...

 Portrait-shot of the bridge!

 Another beautiful view...

 Some falcons catching some thermals...

 A close-up shot!

(Canon 70-300mm telephoto-zoom lens)

 Another wide-angle shot here...

 One more close-up...

(Canon 70-300mm telephoto-zoom lens)

 A hot warm day nearly popped some convection

while I was in the park during the afternoon...

 Another wide angle shot...

 Cirrus clouds drifting over the Badlands...

 Portrait-shot of the amazing formations!

 Mount Rushmore yet again...

 Same photo, but with that Old School feel...

 One last shot before I head back for the evening...

 Convection indeed does develop as I arrive back to Wall, SD!

(This was shot from the balcony at my hotel)

 
I've added a GoPro video (above)

I would later call it a day after a long day of photography as I was already booked for the night at a Best Western in Wall, SD. I got a good night's sleep as I had another long drive the next morning to chase in Colorado. That post still to come...

06/03/12 Oklahoma Convection

Atomic bomb anvil as convection develops across the

Oklahoma panhandle west of Buffalo, OK...

On June 03, I left my hometown around dawn with an initial target of northeast Kansas near Emporia, KS as it appeared that this day would feature some severe convection in that area during the evening with supercells likely. Unfortunately, lingering morning convection to the south really killed any chance at a decent chase in that area so I spent most of this day traveling to Oklahoma in hopes to salvage the chase day with some convection along the dry line that would develop across the panhandle of Texas and specifically the panhandle of Oklahoma. Unfortunately, I was too far behind to catch some of the severe convection that did develop in that area. I was able to catch a glimpse of it however from a distance of the "atomic bomb" anvil off to my southwest as I crossed the border into Oklahoma. After realizing I was a too late to catch up to this convection I decided to grab a hotel room in Greensburg, KS and take a stroll around the town since I've never visited this town during my travels that was ravaged by a massive tornado in May 2007. I quickly called it a night to get rested up for a "travel day" to Wall, SD since there was no formidable severe weather in the forecast over the next couple of days. Kind of the norm for 2012 many would say when it comes to tornadoes. I've added a few photos of this "bust" below:

Crossing the OK/KS border along U.S. 183...

 Oklahoma wheat field with distant convection

firing along the dry line!

 Greensburg, KS sign on the outskirts of town...

The next day I traveled to Wall, SD to visit the Badlands of South Dakota and Mount Rushmore. That post is still to come...

06/02/12 Summer Vacation

Crossing the KS/NE state-line a few weeks ago

during my two-week vacation just south of Alma, NE...

During the May 28th-June 10th time-period I traveled across 9 states: IL, IA, NE, KS, OK, MO, SD, CO, WY during my two-week vacation. Along the way a shot a few random photos that I kept in a separate folder to post here on my blog. During this two-week period, I storm chased several days, visited the Badlands of South Dakota (future post), and visited Mount Rushmore as well. Anyhow, I threw a few random photos below on here that didn't really have a place in any previous post or future post. I've added a few of these photos below:

One of our goats posing for the camera...

 A thunderstorm in the local-area outside Neponset, IL!

 Some building cumulus above the Illinois landscape...

 A thunderstorm lingering overhead some

Illinois tall-grass prairie...

 Some interesting formations along this Kansas landscape!

 A pond in Nebraska with some of the

Sandhills (background) visible!

 A typical Kansas oil well...

 A hawk in-flight at my parent's house!

 A random shot here...

 One of our other goats enjoying a spring afternoon!

That's all for this post. Of course I'll be posting more in the coming week as I get caught up on some of my down-time. I only have something like a couple weeks worth of photos and video to get edited and posted at some point. Stay tuned.