We’re not in New York anymore, Kiwi

South Dakota and Wyoming brought us some pretty surreal landscapes and sightseeing.Our first stop in South Dakota was for a quick tourist attraction and driving break.  The drive from Omaha to South Dakota had been painfully boring and flat and it would take us awhile before we would really get to the good stuff.  With all the tourist spots in the area, it was hard to know which ones were really worth checking out. Many friends of ours insisted we go see the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD.

It was certainly cute and an interesting place to check out.  The exterior of the “palace” is decorated with cobs of corn which is pretty cool, but even more fascinating was that they redo it every single year!  The interior was not so exciting – it’s actually a small multi-purpose arena and there happened to be some kind of intramural co-ed basketball game going on.  But, we were able to browse the history of the building and wave to our family on the “Corn Cam“.

The drive really got interesting by the time we stopped near Chamberlain, right on the Missouri River.  Suddenly, the flat farmland opened up in to beautiful hills and vast grasslands. We stayed at the Oasis Campground before moving onward bright and early toward the Badlands.

“It’s just land, and it’s… bad,” he said.

One of my favorite conversations with Sam was when I asked him, “What exactly are the Badlands?”

“It’s just land, and it’s… bad,” he said.

I knew what he meant – that beyond all this lush farmland we’ve been surrounded by, there’s a beautiful vast range of buttes and pinnacles unsuitable for farming or much agriculture.  It was unreal.  We hopped on the scenic route which took us right through the park.  What a thrill it was to drive and wind through the peaks – we listened to some music and tears streamed down our cheeks in awe.  We stopped for photos, a quick lunch and a short walk around where I was surprised to learn how soft the ground was.  It was like compacted crumbly clay.  We opted for the extra scenic drive which took us down a long dirt road – it meant that we would miss seeing perhaps the other biggest roadside attraction in South Dakota, Wall Drug, but totally worth it.  Our car and camper are now a dusty mess, and we love it.

Since we still had a lot of day left, we continued on to Mount Rushmore which was another few hours away.  We were bummed to see that dogs were not allowed in the park, but we were feeling “bad” (we just left the Badlands after all!) and stealthily tucked Kiwi into her backpack so the three of us could all go in.  We quickly raced into the park to snag a few photo ops but didn’t stay very long for that reason.  Still, we got to see what we came to see and that’s all that mattered to us!  We saw Mount Rushmore and, politics aside, it was awesome!

But we just weren’t ready to quit.

But we just weren’t ready to quit. We were flying high from seeing so many wonderful things, that we decided to keep on going!  Devils Tower was just a few hours away and their campground was still open so we hustled on over to Wyoming before the sun could set.  Before this trip, I talked with my grandma about her experiences traveling this part of the country.  She told me how impressive it was that you could see Devils Tower from so far away.  Just as she told me, we first saw it from about 15 miles away.  Our excitement continued to grow as we approached closer and closer.  And just as the sun went down, we snagged our campsite in what we consider to be the best campground we’ve visited so far.  It gave us a stunning view and a comfortable place to set up for the night.  Even better that we rose the next morning and enjoyed an early morning walk around it before hitting the road once again.  This time, Kiwi napped in the car – there was no sneaking her in this time around.

We spent the rest of the day driving and a quick oil change in Gillette.  Yellowstone would be another full day’s drive away, so we called it a night in Cody, WY.  Our drive took us through the Bighorn Mountains which was a huge contrast to the plains.  How utterly breathtaking!  Though, Sam had to keep me calm as I panicked about the altitude changes, the lack of cell service, the SNOW, lack of camping options, and the winding roads.  I’ll get better at this!  We are certainly far from home…