Day 10: Minneapolis to The Badlands, SD

We had intended to get up at 6am, but for some reason Janet's watch did not alert us (perhaps a consequence of setting it in the dark?), so we got up a bit late. But not too late for Blake's famous waffles:



Today was driving across Minnesota and almost all the way across South Dakota. It forces you to find amusement in just about anything:



So, aside from that, the main scenery was:





As we entered on South Dakota, we came up with a few other things we're excited about in Colorado:





Time flew by somehow (partially because we entered Mountain Time) and we were at Badlands National Park. After advice from the lady at the entrance booth, we took the short hike along the Notch Trail. The only semi-craziness was the part where you had to climb this shaky ladder:



The funny part actually, was waiting for other people to come down before we went up. The very bottom of the ladder is almost horizontal, but you don't necessarily notice as you're climbing down. So the people before us were taking FOREVER and spending 10 seconds on each rung. When they reached the bottom, and finally stood up, they had this sheepish look like: "oh, I should have just stood up and walked down instead of crawling backwards like I was clinging to it for dear life".

We reached the lookout:



And a little panorama of the hike back down the Notch Trail:



Before we drove away from the main parking lot on the Eastern edge of the park, we took one last look out "The Window":



As you drive west through the park, it seems like you come to the end of the "good stuff" in terms of scenery, but it keeps getting more amazing...and greener?!?



The park itself is pretty awesome to see, although, it's probably a 1 day, drive through (with a short hike or two) type of place. Unless, you go camping on your own. You can camp anywhere as long as you are a certain distance of the road. It would be pretty cool to just head out and camp on a distant grassy plateau.

The park is split up into two different pieces, and Ryan thought: "what a great idea, let's drive to the other side", not realizing that much of the drive was on a gravel road. So at the midway point, we reached the town of Scenic, South Dakota, which looks like this:



Yes, that's the entire town.

And in our continuing animal coverage, here are some of the other inhabitants:



The sheep were a little skittish, and those calves where very standoffish...stomping the ground and trying to protect the sheep.

So beyond Scenic, we entered the other half of the park, which was almost all gravel road. Still scenic, but perhaps not as much so. After finally getting out of the park, we were essentially locked into another 25 miles on gravel road. So yes, in South Dakota they do put gravel roads on the map apparently. This road was listed on my map that shows the entire state on one page!

We got into Hot Springs (setting for the movie Crazy Horse) at dinner time, and hit up the hopping looking All-Star Grill. The food was decent, but they were very backed up and the food took a long time. Thankfully, in the shadow of two Brett Favre posters, we were able to watch freestyling Monster Trucks on TV. To make it up to us, Janet's beer was free. Our total bill was $16.

One of the waitresses told us about a good nearby campground, which we amazingly found in the darkness (after a mile or so down a gravel road with numerous unlabeled turnoffs). And promptly set up the tent and immediately fell asleep.

Total Distance Traveled: 661 miles!