We started the day in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and started our drive across the state.  Very little traffic and 75 mph speed limit made for good time on the interstate. We had to make a couple stops on our way to The Badlands. The first stop was in Mitchell, South Dakota- the Corn Palace. Not worth getting off the highway for. The second stop was Wall Drugs. All across the state they have signs for Wall Drugs. The good thing is-all the signs are different I don’t think I saw the same one twice and there had to be several hundred signs. I had been there with my grandparents as a teenager. A lot of touristy shops to buy things and some restaurants. 5 cent coffee. We looked at the souvenirs and ate lunch- buffalo burgers-which are really good.

From Wall we were close to The Badlands. I know people who have went to Mt. Rushmore and I will ask them- did you go to The Badlands and some of them didn’t. The Badlands are not to be missed. There are two Badlands-the one in South Dakota and the ones in North Dakota. I had been to the South Dakota Badlands a couple times before. Always impressed with them. We drove on The Badlands loop road which is 32 miles long. There are a number of pull offs on the road for views and we pulled off each time. We also took a couple side roads- one out to the Roberts Prairie Dog Farm. The Prairie Dogs are fun to watch. We spent a good 4 hours on the loop road. Near the end of the loop road was the visitors center. We went in there and watched the film.

The weather was great. Cool, sunny. The sky looked as blue as I’ve ever seen it. From what I’ve read The Badlands area has some of the clearest, freshest air in America. The views are great. The Badlands-starkly beautiful. You could spend days there if you liked-hiking, camping. biking. We didn’t have time to do any of that but we sure enjoyed the trip and this is one of the places we’ve talked of returning to in the future.