I spent September 18 through afternoon of September 19 teaching a work related class in Aberdeen. My vacation really kicked off about 5pm on Sept. 19 when I left Aberdeen with a goal of reaching the Missouri River to catch some sunset photos.

There were so many birds about as I drove that I couldn’t decide which way to look. Imagine a kitten with multiple laser dots to follow.  Here are a few of the feathered residents or or visitors to the area:

Sadly, I am not good at identifying hawks, so I don’t know what this is yet though he (she ?) posed quite prettily.

These however, are double-crested cormorants.

As for that sunset, I just made I to the Missouri River in time. It felt like a bit of race at the end but this was my reward.

From that point, my plan had been to make my way to the Okojobo Point Campground just outside the Ft. Pierre National Grassland. There I would grab a few hours of sleep while waiting on sunrise to explore the grassland. Evidently the camp ground I was looking for no longer exists or at least doesn’t exist where I thought it was located so I continued south to I-90. In fact, the website for the campground no longer exists. Thankfully, Ft. Pierre is close enough to home that I can visit there another time.