I'm back.... Wifi is spotty in our new hotel home, hence the long delay in posting. Fingers crossed that we have it figured out and my blogging is a bit more regular! We have a lot to share. On to Pit Stop #2! This journey brought about a much welcomed guest on the trip. Grandma Jane decided to join us for this leg of the trip and we were excited to have her along.
We drove through the Badlands National Park, where beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe the sights and scenery.
The beauty of this park was amazing - and almost unfathomable how such these landforms were even created millions of years ago.
The girls rode in the car with Grandma Jane, so this fur child got LOTS of spoiling during our Badlands loop…
We didn't realize until AFTER the fact, that dogs are not allowed on the walking paths in the Badlands. We are guessing this has something to do with all the "Beware of Rattlesnakes" signs posted all around. We captured Tessa's first trip to a National Park before detaining her in the car.
A man and his dog...can you see the two of them out there on that ledge? Just another opportunity to make me nervous. Shocker.
After the Badlands loop, we would be remised if we didn’t stop by Wall Drug. It holds fond memories for me as a child, and I am always up for nostalgia.
While I can’t deny that they have amazing donuts, Wall Drug was a bit of a let down for me.
Perhaps it was the gazillion people on the streets and in the stores, or my tiredness and patience being tested, but it was not the nostalgia I was hoping for. Nonetheless, we went. We saw. We ate a donut.
As if that wasn’t enough for one day, we also packed Mount Rushmore into the evening. While we have been there 204 times in my lifetime, it never disappoints.
The following morning we headed out to Wind Cave National Park. Their tours are on a first come, first serve basis (a pretty archaic system if you as me), so we knew we had to be there early. Others had the same idea as us, but thankfully we were able to secure a tour.
I say thankfully we were able to secure tickets because the beauty of this cave was something else….
We all though Mammoth Cave in Kentucky was pretty cool, but all of us ranked this cave better than Mammoth by a mile. A definite must do if you a) like to get up early, b) don’t mind dark, cool, semi-claustrophobic places, and c) want to cross of a National Park visit off your list.
After all the sight seeing and national park visiting, we were tourists in Keystone (where we got our share of of fudge and taffy) and did some penny pressing...
We also just got to sit and relax at the cabin and take in the beauty of the Black Hills.
This lag of the vacation was breath taking and amazing. But all good things must come to an end, and off to Wyoming we went!
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