Day 5 - H-O-T!!

Last night things did cool down. We decided that we would get up early to tour before things got hot again. Fortunately, the morning was pleasant. We took off and traveled along the Badlands Loop State Scenic Highway, a 39-mile road with many stops for beautiful views. When you look at these rock formations you can see that they were deposited in layers over millions of years. These layers are composed of tiny grains of sediments such as sand, silt, and clay that have been cemented together into sedimentary rocks. The area was covered in water at various times leaving sediment layers that looks like ribbons in the rocks. Water and weather then eroded the rocks creating these beautiful rock formations.

Along with these formations, we also spied a variety of animals including bison, prairie dogs, big horn sheep and antelope. Fortunately we didn’t see any snakes even though there were plenty of signs warning us about them.

We then went to Wall, SD, famous for Wall Drug. Look it up! All we can say is if you travel out this way and see the hundreds of signs for Wall Drug, don’t bother! It’s nothing but a tourist trap. We grabbed a quick lunch in town and headed back towards the park. It was noon at this point. We glanced at the car temperature gage … 102 degrees!

We then stopped at the Minuteman Missile Site Museum. It was all about nuclear proliferation. It brought back memories of air raids, hiding under our schools desks, sitting against the wall in school hall hugging our knees or running home when the siren went off. Another memory was the Bay of Pigs when Kennedy was president. Pat’s brother was serving in a naval submarine when this crisis was occuring. Needless to say, the family was extremely worried for his safety. Really … not good memories!

We headed back to the trailer to put on the air conditioner, then headed to the Visitors Center to watch the park welcome video for the second time in air conditioning while the trailer cooled down!

Despite the heat, Badlands is truly striking with the multi-colored rock formations against the ever-blue sky. It’s much like Arizona in that it takes an adjustment to appreciate the lay of the land. We’re glad that we visited this park. It truly is different but beautiful. But did we tell you it was hot?