FROM BAD TO WORSE

We're in the badlands (remember). The weather has turned ugly; misty and cold. At the first stopping point we meet 4 young men traveling in 2 separate RVs. And why is this relevant - because they were from our neck of the woods - Oneonta (how weird). Before we get to the pictures, a question: Did we escape from the Corn Palace without any souvenirs?

Anyway, the badlands are an interesting mix of prairie and some of the nastier looking projections we've seen. It is also rather stark and bleak. Most of the projections are not rock, but clay. Many are striated and a few are a true yellow in color. Here are a few representative shots. More will be available at some point on Shutterfly.

There was little wildlife to see, except: Not totally sure what it is. Kind of looks like a young mountain goat, did not expect to see that species in this area. Whatever.

Although we were lucky to hook up with a native guide, she was unable to identify the 'critter'. Maybe because she couldn't see anything from under her foul weather gear.

However, the foul weather did make it less enjoyable to walk around and try to see everything, especially if attempting to do so by walking on the clay. Some not too bright person did not realize that once clay gets wet it is like quicksand and there are still traces of it on his sneakers to this day. As the weather became less conducive to sight seeing, we opted to head out of the Badlands and head for possibly the most famous attraction in all of South Dakota:

Yes, Wall Drugs in lovely Wall, SD (Pop 815). Wall also happens to be the western gateway to the Badlands. (From the sublime to the ridiculous). We actually started seeing advertisements for it as soon as we left Sioux Falls (a mere 295 miles away). Does this remind anyone of the billboards for South of the Border along I95? Anyway Wall Drugs actually is a drug store as well as a cafe, a souvenir mecca, art gallery, jewelry store and almost anything else you can think of. It actually does sell coffee for 5c a cup (6 ounces), with as many refills as you want (payment is on the honor system). We browsed, but did not stay too long as we wanted to get to Rapid City before the predicted snow started flying.

We got to our hotel (The Alex Johnson) in Rapid City after getting a bit lost (no comments please). As it was after dark , no picture available. It was an older, traditional inner city hotel that is listed on the National Registry of Historic buildings. There are supposed to be some haunted rooms, but we did not get one. The restaurant was closed for reservations so we walked around the corner to a nice restaurant called The Firehouse (yes it really is a converted firehouse. Good food, and good local brew. We went to sleep not knowing what to expect in the morning as heavy snow was predicted overnight (up to 6 inches in town and more in the hills).