After leaving the Fossil Beds, we headed north to our next destination. We had a beautiful day for traveling and we enjoyed watching the changing landscape as we drove through the prairies of Nebraska, the Black Hills, and finally the Badlands, where we were staying that night! En route to the Badlands, we made a quick pit stop in Hot Springs, SD, at the Woolly Mammoth dig site. We stayed long enough to stretch our legs and look at the bones of a Woolly Mammoth that was found there. (We are still getting used to our new camera lens, so this was actually the best shot we got!)
Alex was excited to take part in the Junior Ranger program at the Badlands National Park too, so as soon as we got to Wall, SD, we quickly checked into the cabin we were staying at and then headed over to the Visitors Center! We viewed an informational video about the Badlands, Alex completed some activities in the Visitors Center, and then he was awarded his second Junior Ranger badge of the day! He was pretty excited!
We then set off to do some exploring! We didn't get to do quite as much as we had planned... shortly after we left the Visitors Center and Joe had snapped these awesome pictures...
... we heard the gas light ding. We were about 28 miles from the nearest gas station and the road there winded up and down hills. It was a bit nerve wracking, but we made it to the station pretty much running on fumes. We went back into the park to catch the last hour or so of daylight and we are so glad that we did! Alex wanted to see the prairie dog town and Joe was hoping to glimpse a few bison. Unfortunately we didn't really see any prairie dogs... because a giant herd of bison had taken over! It was really an amazing sight! We counted over 100 bison and many of them were so close we could have touched them. We probably spent over a half hour looking at them. When we tried to drive back down the road to leave, the bison were so close to the road and many of them crossing at will, that Joe decided we'd better turn around and take the back way out of the park!
It seems like we always see something amazing when we go to the Badlands, and we weren't disappointed this time either. It continues to be one of our favorite places to visit! The next morning, before we got back on the road, we decided to visit Wall Drug! On the way to Nebraska, we always play a game to see who can spot the most Wall Drug signs, so we figured we had to stop and check it out! Alex had fun running around taking pictures by all the crazy stuff, and I was glad to get some coffee. I think the best time to go to Wall Drug is 8am. There weren't many people there and it was easy to find a parking spot! Now we can say that we've been there!
We had to make good time on the way home, in order to get our dog picked up before the dog hotel closed, so we just did a drive by of the Corn Palace!
We made it home in time to pick up Jilly and then we really enjoyed sleeping in our own beds that night! Alex hadn't been home in 11 days! We had such a fun trip, and really enjoyed each part of it. It was a great way to start out the summer!
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