Sunday August 20, 2006

Finals Days in South Dakota

Saturday was out last day on the road, before arriving at my parent's house. Coming through South Dakota, the drought they've been experiencing was stunning to see. There's little left of the corn crops, and in many places, the corn was bundled up into hay bales instead of being harvested.

Early in the morning, we stopped at Devils Tower.

There is a really nice trail that goes around the base of it, so I went on a nice little hike around it. In many of the trees and bushed, you could see prayer cloths left by American Indians.

Around the tower, there are some beautiful red rock formations:

This little guy was in one of the prairie dog areas around the monument. While he was eating, he'd tip backwards and his little feet would go up in the air.

After spending a couple hours in that area, we headed over to Badlands National Park.

Here's a couple pictures from inside the park:

After a very long day of driving, we made it to their house around 1 AM Sunday morning. After unloading the dogs, and a few essentials, I crashed on the couch for the night. Sunday morning, I headed back to Des Moines, and am finally home again.

Final Yellowstone odometer: 13245, 408 miles in the park.

It was an absolutely incredible trip.