Badlands

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Today we visited Badlands National Park

When we arrived, it was so foggy that we couldn’t see much.

 

 

 

 

 

Saw some bison and big-horn sheep.

 

 

Didn’t see any rattlesnakes though.

 

It started to clear up around 11am.

 

 

 

 

On top of that last mound, the mud was so thick and sticky that the kids had inches of mud on their shoes.

 

 

 

 

 

We drove to the visitor’s center to get Junior Ranger books for Kyrah, Audrah and Jedidiah to work on.

 

 

We decided to drive out of the park and fuel up the van. At the same exit, we found the Minuteman Missile Historic Site so we stopped there.

 

During the Cold War, the US had thousands of nuclear missiles stored and ready in silos built into the ground in the plains of the USA. They were hidden in plain sight.

They were manned and on the ready to shoot over the north pole at the Russians.

Here is some more history about it.

Silo locations along Interstate 90

 

Most have been disarmed and removed, but a few remain.

 

One commercial from the 1950’s

 

 

Looking for ninja holds to climb the wall with…

 

We then returned to the Badlands. The fog was gone and we saw some beautiful sights.

 

 

 

 

Come walk with me…

 

These guys have no fear.

 

 

 

Looks like a good place for a handstand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the sand on the path. Neat how the colors swirl together.

 

 

We are staying in a campground in the town of Walls, South Dakota. There is a famous store there called Wall Drug Store.

Yes, they do still sell 5 cent coffee.

 

 

 

It’s almost like a mini-mall.

 

This leather store smelled wonderful!!

 

 

Thought this rattlesnake cowboy hat was interesting. Yep, that’s a real rattlesnake rattle!

 

Kyrah keeping grandpa company.

 

 

Trying on a coon-skin hat.

Tomorrow we head to Mt. Rushmore.