What a great day for a hike! We chose today to make a 2 hour drive to Badlands National Park. The weather was perfect!! Along the way we began to see a ridiculous number of billboards advertising everything from 5 cent coffee to free ice water! All were the product of Wall Drug in...you guessed it...Wall, SD. We decided to check it out on our way back to the RV.
In the meantime, we continued on our way to the Badlands. What a beautiful display of nature! The striations of color in the stone...the shapes left by thousands of years of erosion...the variety of hues...breathtaking!!! We took what I call a "mini-hike" at one point. We walked into a "bowl" and as far as we could tell, we were the only two people on earth. It's amazing what you can hear when not distracted by the bustle and noise of life. Birds were singing, crickets were chirping...you could even hear the breeze.
A bit later on we encountered a prairie dog camp. They were everywhere!! You can't get close to them because they have "guards" watching and when you get too near they jerk their tails in the air and chitter a warning to the whole community. It was kind of funny, but effective none the less.
Leaving BNP we stopped at what has to be the world's largest drug store...the aforementioned Wall Drug in Wall, SD. It flows from one shopping area into another and even includes a cafe and a soda fountain. They actually give out maps of the store! Apparently the entire community revolves around this store and the parking lot was a testimony to that. The lots (yes, plural) were filled with cars from all over the US. They even provide RV parking!
Finally, after all the hiking, both through the Badlands and through the drug store, we drove back to the RV where we took Beau for a walk before taking a shower and calling it a day!
No comments:
Post a Comment