South Dakota: The BADLANDS

       Departing Mt. Rushmore, it was time to start heading back East. We swung through Rapid City for a quick meal at Sanford's Grub and Pub...then drove on to Ellsworth Air Force Base where we stayed for the night. With the arrival of another beautiful morning, it was time to jump back in the car for an hour trip east to the Minuteman National Historic Site. For you history buffs out there, in relatively plain view for decades stood the Minuteman Nuclear Missile Silos which could deliver death and destruction to the Soviet Union within half an hour. The shocking thing is that so few people knew about this and where the missiles were located. For miles on end, all you see is prairie and ranchland and some small non-descript looking buildings that look to house ranch or farm equipment. Little would the outsider know that in those complex of buildings lay missile silos capable of sending out missiles that could destroy the human race! They were literally hidden in plain view! Now credited by most historians as actually helping to preserve the peace through deterrence, the site has now become one of America's newest national historic sites. Unfortunately for us, the tour was booked that day and we could not see the whole complex...but we did see a free video and learn the fascinating story about the men and women that operated these silos.
      After our brief visit, we continued on a few more miles to the Badlands Park Entrance. Describing the Badlands in words hardly does it justice...it is best shown with the pics. I mean that is some Bad Land out there, and that's using every interpretation of "Bad" I know! It is one of those places where you scarcely can believe you are still on planet Earth...it has that otherworldly feel reminding me a bit of Iceland. After a bit of touring, we stopped into the cool visitor center for the film, "Land of Stone and Light." Many fossils have also been discovered here and they are on display at various points in the park. Getting hungry, we ducked out of the park at the south entrance to head to the nearby town of Interior...home to 67 people! Stopping at the Wagon Wheel Bar in town for some grub, we ran into some full-blooded Lakota Indians. Because there are so few full-blooded Indians left, I possibly have met that last of the Lakota...the proud tribe of Crazy Horse.   The Lakota, Ed Kills in Water, explained to me that now everyone is pretty much related somehow, so they will have to look outside the tribe for husbands and wives.
    After lunch, it was time to head back to the Park for the scenic Badlands Loop road. Several little mini-hikes provided us some great shots, we then finished up at Robert's Prairie Dog Town...where we saw no prairie dogs unfortunately, but did meet some German tourists who love our national parks.
    It is here where I must wind up our trip...we stayed in small Chamberlain SD that night and then hit the World's Only Corn Palace in Mitchell on our drive back to Wisconsin. Every year, SD artisans gather to decorate a new mural for the Corn Palace made entirely out of grass and different colors of corn husks. It is quite possibly the World's Largest Birdfeeder! Enjoy all the pics.