Day Two - The Bandlands National Park
We left Sioux City, Iowa, after procuring more road snacks and hit the border of South Dakota soon after. What a pleasant surprise to find the speed limit in South Dakota is 80! After leaving I29, making the turn onto I90, and leaving Sioux Falls behind, I can see why the speed limit is 80! There's really nothing from one end to the other. That's not a slam on South Dakota - it's beautiful. You can see for miles and miles across the grasslands.
We made our first requisite tourist stop in Mitchell, SD, home of the Corn Palace. We took some pictures and once again had our meal at the Telluride cafe (sandwiches out of the back of the car :) ) I'm in a rocky mountain-side spot while I'm writing this so my internet is sooooooooooooo slowwwwwwwwwwwwwww. I'll limit pictures so I can actually get some uploaded.
We spent the rest of the day traveling across the grasslands of South Dakota remarking how beautiful the scenery was. Traffic was light, no traffic problems, and lots of sunshine.
We made our second requisite tourist trap stop at Wall, SD to stop at the World Famous Wall Drug. We stopped, we spent 5 minutes in a shop for souvenirs, and moved on to the big event for the day - the Badlands.
You can see pictures of the Badlands, but pictures just don't do it justice. I'll include some of our pictures here but we all agree that what we saw with our eyes was so much more majestic. The Badlands seem to appear out of nowhere. Hundreds of miles of grassland suddenly turn into an other-worldly vista.
After another delicious meal at the Telluride cafe, we headed west to our first extended stay, Hill City, SD . Grassland turned to to hills which turned to forests rapidly. It feels like the mountains of North Carolina here. Pictures tomorrow when it's light.
We made our first requisite tourist stop in Mitchell, SD, home of the Corn Palace. We took some pictures and once again had our meal at the Telluride cafe (sandwiches out of the back of the car :) ) I'm in a rocky mountain-side spot while I'm writing this so my internet is sooooooooooooo slowwwwwwwwwwwwwww. I'll limit pictures so I can actually get some uploaded.
We spent the rest of the day traveling across the grasslands of South Dakota remarking how beautiful the scenery was. Traffic was light, no traffic problems, and lots of sunshine.
We made our second requisite tourist trap stop at Wall, SD to stop at the World Famous Wall Drug. We stopped, we spent 5 minutes in a shop for souvenirs, and moved on to the big event for the day - the Badlands.
You can see pictures of the Badlands, but pictures just don't do it justice. I'll include some of our pictures here but we all agree that what we saw with our eyes was so much more majestic. The Badlands seem to appear out of nowhere. Hundreds of miles of grassland suddenly turn into an other-worldly vista.
After another delicious meal at the Telluride cafe, we headed west to our first extended stay, Hill City, SD . Grassland turned to to hills which turned to forests rapidly. It feels like the mountains of North Carolina here. Pictures tomorrow when it's light.
Sounds like a lot of fun!
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