North Dakota Badlands

Badlands--Not a place you'd really want to go, hmm? Wrong! In the case of Teddy Roosevelt National Park in the North Dakota Badlands, you'd totally want to spend time there. Check out a couple of the pictures we took. We drove a 36 mile loop. It was a little more time than just going straight down the road, but we didn't care. The views were amazing. The visitor's center had lots of information about Teddy Roosevelt and his conservation efforts, too. The prarie dogs were hilarious. They were none to fond of me standing there laughing at them. One kept cheeping, cheeping, cheeping, until I moved. We drove to Rapid City afterwards. The land was so desolate. We got down to a quarter tank of gas, and I got a little nervous. We kept passing exits that said "No Services." Not too comforting. Finally when the GPS directed us to get off the highway, we found some gas and snacks. Good thing because we didn't get to Rapid City (outside Mt. Rushmore) until 9 pm. By the time we checked in, everything nearby our hotel, the Alex Johnson (not to be confused with Howard Johnson) where Alfred Hitchcock stayed while filming the ending of North by Northwest, was closed. We drove to the business district where fortunately, we found a Wendy's. Unfortunately, when we were driving back to the hotel, we also found a Sonic Drive-in. It would have been yummier. We decided that we'd head there for breakfast the next day.