We are staying just outside the Badlands for three nights—thank goodness. Feels delightful to take our time for a minute. Today, I woke and worked out. I’m trying to figure out a routine that doesn’t wake everyone up so I can work out in peace, but that hasn’t happened yet. With the time change and the newness, everyone keeps getting up at 5:30 am. Tho I think I almost have it (I’ll keep you updated—I know you are dying to know). Keith is officially on vacation for a couple of weeks so we are a little more relaxed about things and today we took Goat Dog on a drive with the family around the Badland Loop Road and continued onto Sage Creek Rim Road instead of exiting the park. If you exit you have the opportunity to go to something that is highly advertised called Wall Drug Store (we never made it there but there are like 100 signs on the highway). However, I think bypassing this essential tourist moment was the right choice because we saw Longhorn sheep on the cliffs, followed by prairie dogs, and then Bison, right up close—Next to our car BISON! So cool and a smidge scary…but they seemed fine with it. These two roads combined are like a car tour of the whole park. Keith and I took turns taking the girls on different overlooks or short trails Goat Dog wasn’t allowed on. Lots of signs for rattlesnakes so I definitely wouldn’t want GD along for a long hike. The park is amazing and has both prairie’s and rocky mountains…but is very scarce on trees. Looking forward to a hike tomorrow.
Things we did:
- Stopped at the following overlooks on Badlands Loop Road: Big Badlands Overlook, Fossil Exhibit, Prairie Wind Overlook, Homestead Overlook, Conata Basin Overlook, Yellow Mounds Overlook, Pinnacles Overlook, Hay Butte Overlook (saw Longhorned sheep on the mountains), Badlands Wilderness Overlook (Saw a herd of Bison in the distance—I never knew Bison rolled in the dirt like dogs =0…and our first prairie dog); Roberts Prairie Dog Town (Yes, we saw them)
- Saw Bison!! walking by our car shortly after Prairie Dog Town (after the turn off for Wall Drug Store—which we did not visit)
- Realized I personally was really excited about seeing a Bison and didn’t think we would see them—but we saw so many!
- Continued down Sage Creek Road seeing different parts of the plains
- Switched between driving through Badlands NP and Buffalo Gap National Grasslands (BGNG looked like Westworld—was it filmed here?) I really loved the ways the landscape shifted…Little House on the Praire meets Wild Wild West.
- Swam in the RV park pool when we got back
- Made Rice Krispy treats—Happy 4th of July!
Ruby recited this poem at the pool:
I feel tingly on a holiday
Like a blast of excitement
Like a blast from a water canon
Happy 4th of July!
Make sure you wait for the photos and captions to load below! If the photos are too small and you want to zoom in don’t forget you can Cmd+/- on a Mac or Cntl+/- on a PC to zoom in/out your browser!
Thanks for the tip about making the pictures bigger. I love that you are getting to see all the different environments. I’m a little surprised that you saw as many animals since it was so hot.
I guess that first day it was threatening to storm…so it actually didn’t get above 85, so that is probably what happened! I didn’t think of that but definitely!
Hi guys, I also appreciated the tip on how to zoom in. now I should go back and read the other days again and zoom. 🙂
It does look like WestWorld!!
Great! I did look and Westworld was filmed in AZ and UT, so maybe they look similar? Perhaps we will find out =0