Badlands: (seemed pretty darn good to us)

Just can’t imagine doing this, I complain enough in the front set of the Camry. (our hotel is in background)

People are exceedingly friendly here. I think they might be bored. I’ve heard lots of unique stories. They chat away and once in a while they ask us where we live. We say Mexico and generally that stops the conversation. They look befuddled and don’t know what to say.

Before we had selfies…. Even it was accidental.

We stayed at a hotel that was part of the park system with nice views of Badlands. I’m not sure what this says about us, but generally the parking lot was empty when we came in at night and everyone had left by the time we left. Long trip… we must pace ourselves.

I did photoshop a little but it was amazing… almost eerie.

The history of Badlands is very interesting. It existed as tropical islands in the ocean 75 million years ago, then Indians lived there for eleven thousand years. Then the air force used it as a training area from 1942-1945… gunnery and bombíng practice. .

These bales were everywhere, but never once did I see anyone picking them up. What’s the deal? (Across the street from our hotel).

All of this has resulted in a rich collecting ground for fossils and Indian antiquities, but do not pick up shells or casings. It may be unexploded ammo from the Air Force. There is a phone number to call if anything is found (so they can detonate). Progress… it only took 75 million years to mess it up. ( I know it’s more complicated than that).

This is also in Wall. Can you see Brant? (Head is next to antler on left).

There is a town near one end of the park called Wall that has a place called Wall Drug store. A pharmacist and his wife began it with a 3,000 dollar inheritance in 1931 (depression years). They were about to go broke when the wife thought it would be good to offer free ice water to travelers on the interstate. That did it, the tiny town’s pharmacy became a little mini mall with gift shops and bookstores and a restaurant. They still have 5 cent coffee and free water. Seems very asynchronous with the nearby beautiful national park, but I did get some water and coffee.

My favorite hike…. The notch! “Come on, I’ll show you…. “

My favorite because you have to go up this ladder…

And it makes you a little nervous when you are walking back to it…

…. Make you forget how easily you could fall. Sort of.

So the usual, would we go back? Not sure but probably not. Beautiful and unique but it’s a fur piece away. On second thought might go back for a fossil hunt!

And I forgot the Wildlife: #1. Pronghorn sheep….

Number 2: a bison. (Probably shouldn’t have been this close, but Brant did take this excellent photo from the drivers side).

Lastly…. A prairie dog… my new favorite animal.

It is very difficult to pick which photos to use, so the heck with it. If you’ve already seen enough you can stop now, but I wouldn’t because they are some cool pics.