8/13 -The Badlands, II

Off to the Badlands again, only this time, I took I-90 to Wall. I stopped at Wall Drug, a kitschy paean to self-promotion and excess of silliness. I got a lanyard for a pen to stay put in the cab and ate a bison burger and had a shake there. Ok, I've been there. 

 Then on to the Badlands and the main tourist road. Lots of wind sculpted spires and it was very green. It is usually brown so all the rain really made it unusually green. I stopped at every pullout and snapped a thousand pictures. On the longer walks, I took my dog and had her do a real heel. She did very well with it. I got to the campground and paid my $15 for a nearly level spot with a nice yard for the dog. On her 6' leash. It is hard to get her exercised with only 6 feet.

After the visitor's center and getting ice at the lodge, I took the dog for a walk around the campground. I met an interesting guy with a teardrop on a 2 month trip. He was just beginning his trek heading west as I am going east. While I was chatting with him, 2 little girls came up to be enchanted by my dog. She did her tricks for them and the older one got her to stop trying to lick her. They followed me to my campsite and picked up a couple more kids so she had an audience of 4 kids who enjoyed throwing her rope for her to catch. Worked out nicely because they couldn't throw very far and she never tires of fetching even a short distance.

Badlands Camp

I went to the campfire talk (no fires in the park, tho). It was about astronomy with a full moon. A little too kid centric and I believe there was some bogus info presented. The spires of the badlands were neat in the moonlight.

Route: I90 -Wall, SD – SD240 to Badlands campground