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This has been a truly amazing day! (But do you know how hard is was to not type a-maize-ing?...Corn Palace, remember?) Yes, we did stop at the Corn Palace. It was the first stop of the day and it had been misting and raining until we got within about 10 miles (which turned out to be the standard for the day.) It was really impressive actually. It is redecorated every year using 600,000 ears of corn and 3,000 bushels of other grains and grasses. There are 9 different colors of indian corn used in the mural pictures. The pictures were more intricate than I thought they would be.
After leaving Mitchell and the Corn Palace we headed on west. We stopped at a rest area in Chamberlain because I had read that the view was awesome and it was so true! We were just driving along the interstate and the countryside was pretty, but nothing to blog about, and then bam! The landscape just opened up into the Missouri River Valley. It was really incredible. We'd been getting more of the misty rain when I started trying to get pictures and then turned into a full-fledged rain so the
pictures didn't come out very well. There's a lot of Lewis & Clark history in the area and I started thinking about them seeing it for the first time. What took us a couple of hours to drive through would have taken them days! Miles and miles of gently rolling grassland....and, again, it was pretty but nothing like what was in store for them. Wow...really...just wow!
Our next stop was the Pioneer Auto Show in Murdo. It's a huge, sprawling bunch of buildings with somewhere around 200 cars and trucks. The General E. Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard was on display. It's the only surviving car of the 17 they had for the series. And it really did have the Dukes' horn! I was really amused here by CJ and Jake. Since CJ is still 13 he got in for a child's admission and they gave him a treasure hunt map as though he was 8 years old. But CJ and Jake took on the “challenge”. I think it may have been the promise of a prize at the end. They followed the clues through about 20 buildings and got the required stickers to earn...drum roll, please...a new
Frisbee! I think they were hoping for the keys to a new car!
Well, we hit the road again when it started raining and drove on toward our next destination...the Badlands. The closer we got the more worried I was about the weather. We really needed it to stop raining so we could explore the area and get the best experience possible. About 30 miles out we started discussing our options. I knew if we didn't get to hike today that we would have to come back tomorrow which meant backtracking and losing ground and not doing some of the things planned for the Black Hills. But, really, what choice would we have...it's the Badlands! It's not like we were just going to say “forget it” and keep driving through. But just as we started seeing the first rock outcroppings the clouds started breaking up and the sun began shining through. By the time we got in the park and got to the first overlook it was beautiful! I think somebody was praying! We only got to spend about 7 hours in the Badlands but what a 7 hours it was!
At that first overlook we walked out
on the path and before I knew it CJ was headed off the trail for a “closer look”. Remember the sick feeling I got yesterday at the Falls? Okay, well, multiply it by about 87. Jeez Louise! At one point I really thought I was going to have a stroke! CJ was walking out on a narrow trail to get to a good place to take a picture but there were steep drop-offs on both sides of the tiny little path he was on! I was beginning to hyper-ventilate when he looked up and saw me. I think he realized I was about to stroke out and he came back. None too soon, I tell ya.
It didn't take too long, though, for me to get used to seeing him and Jake jumping around on the rocks...not too high, of course. We hiked out on a trail that was described as moderately strenuous with narrow passages, a tricky ladder, and steep cliffs. Ohmygosh! It was really amazing! It took about an hour and 4 more near-strokes to get to the end but - oh, was it worth it! Steve and Jake had decided to head back at about the
halfway point and CJ and I went on. Like at the rest stop we were just climbing and climbing and then all of a sudden we went around a bend and the whole White River Valley spread out before us! After the hike back we kept driving the Badlands loop, stopping frequently to look around and take more pictures.
Somewhere in all this we stopped at the lodge and ate dinner. We all had the Indian Tacos I had heard so much about. They were made from Indian Fry Bread (which was almost like an elephant ear) topped with seasoned buffalo meat, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. They were HUGE! I couldn't eat all of mine but Steve ate his and the rest of mine, too! I don't know how he did it. I was stuffed from half of it. After dinner we headed out to drive the rest of the loop and head for the motel. We hadn't gone too far when we came up on a car stopped in the road. We looked out in the field beside them and saw three antelope grazing. They were probably 500 yards away - difficult to see clearly even with the
binoculars - but still very cool! Driving on a little while farther and it was me stopping in the middle of the road...for mountain goats. There were two adults and 4 babies climbing around. We just sat there in the road watching for about 5 minutes. (Good thing the traffic is light.) The goats were such a huge blessing at the end of a long, fabulous day!
We're now in Wall for the night. The motel is about as basic as one can get, the water smells funny, and there are people partying outside our door. But you know what? I don't care. It's been a fantastic day! I can't help but feel so fortunate and so blessed to be able to take this trip and to experience all of this with Steve and the boys. There are too few days like this in a person's life. I enjoyed every minute of it and won't let a little noise bring me down. I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!
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Blaine
non-member comment
Thank you
Jackie Thank you for sharing the blog address with me. I am enjoying the pictures (who knew you were so talented) and the journal about the trip. Blessings :)