And the Badlands Start Treating Us Good...

And the camping begins.
We drove through Wisconsin (cheese curds are good!) and Minnesota where we learned that the speed limit is 75 but if you say that you're on your honeymoon when you get pulled over, you'll get off with a warning.  Minnesota is currently leading the race for the state with the friendliest occupants and not just because of the nice cop.
After driving through six hours of cornfields we crossed the Missouri and entered a entirely different landscape.

Six hours of this...

Then KABAM!

We made it to the badlands just as the sun was setting.  A lot of people told us about the Badlands and how incredible it is.  We had been looking at pictures for weeks as we planned the trip but nothing compared to seeing them in person.  As soon as we pulled into the park, we stopped at the first overlook and then just stood there and didn't speak.
We set up camp in the less rustic of the two camping areas on the first night.  We left the rain flap off the tent which led to a pretty cold night (42) but amazing views of the stars.
Hiking options are limited because of the bison and because of the damage hikers do the peaks of Badlands.  They look so strong but when you start to climb up them, you realize how fragile they are.  We hiked three trails (ok, two trails and one ridiculous boardwalk loop with "recreations" of fossils found in the park).

Kevin climbing the ladder on our first hike of the day.

The view from the top

We headed to the infamous Wall Drug for a milkshake as a reward for hikes and then to a local establishment for a couple of cold ones - where we saw a man eat a potato chip sandwich.  We then drove back to the park and made the 12 mile drive back a dirt road to the more primitive camping area.  The previous days camping host told us only the hearty and the crazy camped back there.  We will let you judge in what category we belong.  We passed a couple of bison on the way in and were quite excited.  After a quick cold dinner, we hit the tent for another cold, windy night where we both had dreams of the bison coming into camp.  It turns out we weren't too far off because we woke up to a fresh buffalo patty right next to our campsite and four of the beasts about 50 yards off grazing in the prairie.  We got some good picks and decided it was amazing to be that close to the bison and headed off to Mt. Rushmore.
Until...we hit a little roadblock.

We sat for about ten minutes until they decided they'd had enough of us and ambled off.

We survived our first night in the thirties and are now off to Yellowstone and Glacier with a stop to get Kevin some long underoos.  They are calling for lows in the twenties and snow so send lots of warm thoughts our way!

We'll talk to you soon.
h + k