We visited Utah, Nevada and mainly Arizona in early March, 2015. It was the end of a hard winter in Bloomington, IN but we still had snow. We really wanted to go somewhere warmer and sunny.

I have a school friend in Chandler, AZ and we thought it's a good idea to visit her too. So we arrived in Phoenix airport in the morning and rented a car from Budget rental. Then arrived at my friend's place for breakfast.

In the afternoon we went to see the water fountain in Fountain hills, AZ. It is said to be the 4th tallest fountain in the world. It performs every 15 mins and it was really a huge fountain :)

Then we payed a brief visit to Scottsdale, AZ and went home for the dinner. 
.

.
We were coming back home via St. Louise after having a great time in South Dakota and Nebraska. We found this Lone elk park in St. Louise. It's a small park but it has many elks. We payed a quick visit and saw elks while driving around the park.

They say there are Bisons too but I don't think we saw any. However we enjoyed seeing elks.

World bird sanctuary is close to this park. That's also an interesting place to visit if you love birds. There are some big birds that you wont see everyday.

.

Chimney Rock is a national historic site in Nebraska. There is a rock of the shape of a chimney which creates a nice background for pictures. We visited chimney rock on our way back home from Mt. Rushmore.

The drive from Mt. Rushmore was scenic and beautiful too. We were driving through prairie grasslands. The prairies spreads through a number of states and we enjoyed the scenery while driving in South Dakota too. 

.

Custer state park is located close to Mt. Rushmore memorial. It is a beautiful and lively place with full of Bisons. We didn't have much time to spend in the park so we took two of the scenic byways, Needles highway and wildlife loop road.

Needles highway is scenic and beautiful. You can see the standing thin, tall rocks which look like needles. Wildlife loop is bit different. It loops through a meadow and you can see lots and lots of Bisons while driving.

This is a really nice place to spend the day if you have more time. There are few beautiful lakes too. We stopped by the Sylvan lake but couldn't explore others due to limited time.

.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a carved four faces of four former American presidents on the granite of Mt. Rushmore. The four presidents are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln.

It is a splendid creation. Carving someone's face with the specific features is not an easy thing to do.

Our next destination was Custer state park which is close to mount Rushmore.
.

.
Badlands in South Dakota is a vast dead area consisting eroded buttes. No trees, no bushes but grass with a pinch of greenish. It's a wonderland which is worth seeing.

We didn't hike as we traveled with our baby but the scenic drive was more than enough to have fun. We stopped in few lookout points. It took about 1-2 hours for us for the drive. It depends on how much time you spend in lookouts and hiking.

The views were magnificent.

We left badlands heading west to Rapid city.
.

.
Falls park (in Sioux Falls) is located near the Iowa, South Dakota border. The fall is fairly wide and has number of levels, covering a big area. There are shelters and picnic tables in the park. Nice place to relax or have a walk.

However there were the walking paths were dirty because of the geese. Otherwise it would have been a nice experience.

After visiting falls park we headed to our hotel in sioux falls. 
.