Badlands, South Dakota
After leaving friends in Chicago (much later than planned, but better to have stayed for an amazing lunch) we headed West through Wisconsin, Minnesota and then finally to South Dakota. Along the way we visited another state Capitol (Madison, Wisconsin seems to be a bustling city) caught up with Siri’s former school superintendent in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (need to return sometime and actually see the falls), stopped in at the infamous (?) world’s only Corn Palace (think of a Midwest Old Opry decorated with corn murals) and then made it to the Badlands National Park.
This was in Siri’s list of places to stay and I was a bit ambivalent. I mean it is probably called the Badlands for a reason. The reviews were mixed, some friends stated it was only worth a quick drive through while others were completely fascinated by the rocks. We arrived, checked into our cute cabin, and then went on a ranger hike that ended up being just us. It was a private guided tour.
Within just a few minutes, the energetic younger ranger had me convinced that the Badlands are actually pretty amazing. The grasslands, which used to cover all of the central US and even went into North Carolina, are now almost gone and only 2% remains in public protection – like this park. Walking just across the road from the visitors center we encountered several different types of grasses, several native plants and beautiful bright flowers. There we sooo many. I had thought the plain grasses were all the same, but in reality there are over a dozen types of grasses and other plants that formed the Great Plains. Did you know that plain grasses are like icebergs, with over 2/3 of the plant underground in their roots? With the 1 inch of erosion per year, there are lots of opportunities to find fossils – and sure enough we did! Badlands were pretty cool – just need better marketing – maybe start with the name.
The next morning in Badlands National Park we head out on the Loop Road – which is really not a loop – and find lots of prairie dogs and bison (!). Badlands has the second largest herd of bison, next to Yellowstone. We stop at each look out to take more rock photos – look red ones! Now yellow! Blue AND purple! We couldnt get enough. We even stop at the Paleontologist lab that has real paleontologists working with 32 million year-old fossils (!) – just like we found yesterday. We could have stayed here for a few days, but alas we must keep on moving.
Sadly we said goodbye to the Badlands … and right outside the park is the Minuteman Missile National Historic Monument. Who knew that we had 1,000 nuclear armed ICBM’s hidden in plain sight on the plains? One more of those dichotomies of this trip. The tranquil, wide-open grasslands and just behind that non-descript barbed wire fence is enough firepower to end life on this earth. We learn there have been a dozen (!) near misses, where mainly due to computer error, the US and the USSR nearly launched these things. Fortunately, there are far fewer missile silos, but still makes you stop and think about this Mutually Assured Destruction policy.
And then only a few miles down the road is the infamous (?) tourist attraction – Wall Drug. Basically, a tourist trap on steroids in the middle of – seemingly – nowhere. Why wouldn’t you stop after seeing their billboards for the last 400 miles? We walk through the added upon building which now is a whole city block. We make it out without purchasing any keychain, T-shirt, cowboy boots, fine art, jewelry, stuffed animal, or even the homemade donuts. OK, I did break down and tried their ice cream – unfortunately not anything to write about there.
While on the sidewalk we do bump into a friend from Redmond! I still thank my friend John who said this will always happen while travelling, but this was very close, like meeting your next door neighbor in Paris. Well, Wall Drug, wasn’t quite the Eiffel Tower, but it was packed with people making their own pilgrimage.
We catch up a bit and then head back on the road, we are headed to Mt. Rushmore and Crazy horse that evening (did I say this was an overly packed day? Well, Siri did) and they were headed into the Badlands.
The Badlands?! Well, let me tell you all about them….
Siri and David Adventures 