The badlands were absolutely beautiful! This National Park is yet another location where you can literally just hang your camera out of your window and snap pictures randomly and come out with fabulous scenery. Again, I'm going to let Mike's artistry cover the landscapes later, because I really want to show us having some fun!



Mike was in his element, taking beautiful, luscious photographs. I really can't wait for you all to see them! He'll be uploading them onto his FB account where you'll be able to peruse them . . . after our trip.





That map link I gave you before only seems to have the first part of our trip! Here is our trip from it's farthest point back to our home!

We were able to see some new birds here, being that it's a new kind of habitat, and we were also able to see some more prairie dogs!


I love prairie dogs! We were hoping to see some black-footed ferrets but no luck . . . our consolation sighting was that Si saw a swift fox. Cool!






After a beautiful morning in the Badlands we visited Wall Drug. Boy, this place has changed and grown a lot in the 30 years since I last visited! I think it's at least 2x the size it was. So many crazy things! We had fun (although Simon thought it was more silly than he could be).








If you've never been to Wall Drug, it's a huge store full of every kind of touristy thing you can possibly imagine. In the middle of it all, there is an actual drug store. There are also kitschy statues and stuff all over.





Simon hit the nail on the head when he said that these people have a sense of humor, and have collected all of this stuff because they know it's funny. Gotta love it!






After Wall, we were able to drive to Mitchell, SD and drive by the Corn Palace. We loved that they even have a tribute to the 100 years of Scouting and the BSA anniversary.






We found a local park in Mitchell and grilled out for dinner, which was quite nice. It was good to have some homey hotdogs instead of fancy eat-out food. I think we're tiring of restaurants, and Simon has even been saying that he's kind of tired of steak! I never thought I'd see the day.