South Dakota 2011: Badlands and Black Hills

 I was very happy to discover a treasure trove of photos which I had thought long gone. So get ready for some "older" vacation reports. Be warned that I certainly don't remember a lot of details.

In 2011 we went to my Mom's and the Outer Banks, as usual, for a week or more. We then drove up to DC and did something new and different. We dropped Lucas off at my brother's house, and then Norbert and I took off for about a week!

We flew from (then) National Airport to Minneapolis. Sitting in the waiting area for our next flight we noticed a number of interesting looking people -- and discovered it was Sturgis Week. If you don't knjow it, it is one of the largest motorcycle gatherings, averaging about 500,000 attendees.

Anyway, we flew on to Rapid City, a nice smallish airport, and got our rental car. It was a Ford Escape, a top-of-the-line SUV, and I believe the first SUV we rented. We've not looked back and always go for an SUV now, and even drive one here at home. 

When we walked to the lot, we were greatly surprised to see this sign Kitty Hawk Rd. -- we had recently been near Kitty Hawk, NC!

We drove directly to the town of Wall. The biggest attraction there is Wall Drug, It opened "in the middle of nowhere! in 1931 and was known for its free ice water for tourists and five cent coffee. Over the years it has become a really "schlocky" tourist trap.

We spent the night in a hotel there -- I have no idea which one. All I remember is that we saw this cute little bat when we went to breakfast the next morning. 

We drove to the Badlands National Park. The scenery on the drive there is basically this: 

We had no idea what to expect from the Badlands, but obviously what we saw turned us into lifetime Badland lovers.

The evening, sunset, and moonrise were stunning. 

There were critters there, too. These are the cute little fuzzy ones. 

We did see a snake but fortunately not one of this type. 

And we had our introduction to bison! Love at first sight!

We also learned that bison make very large mounds of poop, and that it you drive through it, you have bison poop all over the bottom of your car.

One of the attractions of the park to us was the cabins there. We spent the night in the Honeymoon Cabin, which was only slightly larger than our car. Also only slightly larger than the bed. The bathroom was tiny but complete. 

We walked over to the Cedar Pass Lodge for dinner, and for breakfast the next morning.

We are not hikers at all, so did not see the full extent of the park. But there was certainly more than enough to admire from the car and all the pull-offs. And of course it must be clear that what we saw and experienced was enough to bring us back to see more of the same many years later.