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Page 4
Carone
(our daughter) received a music scholarship to the University of
Michigan
at Ann Arbor. As she had her own car, we decided to accompany her
on the long drive from the West Coast. We left California on a
Saturday,
and needed to have her there by Monday afternoon for check-in.
Needless
to say, we covered a lot of miles each day. Afterwards, Dave and
took some vacation time and decided to travel back to California via a
northern route, stopping as we saw fit. We drove over 6500 miles
in just under two weeks. Presented here are photos from the
trip--any
image can be seen in more detail simply by clicking on it. |
We stopped to get gas at this place called "South Dakota's
Original 1880 Town". There were a lot of cats and kittens there,
which were very friendly. This one wanted to go home with us....
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Also
on display was a locomotive labeled for the South Dakota Central, which
was merged into the Great Northern Railroad and finally into BNSF. |
We finally reached our first major destination, Badlands
National Park. As you head down to the visitor center, you soon
start to see the pastel spires.
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At
the visitor center, there were a pair of very noisy magpies happily
munching on the insects smashed on everyone's cars.
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We
decided to hike a trail we saw on a map in the visitor center. It
took us through some of the spires and onto a plateau. There was
a nice play of sun on the hills.
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Part
of the hike requires you to climb through some of the spires. It
was quite slippery, and Dave and I both fell once.
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Although the Badlands doesn't look like it can support much
life, some flowers could be seen here and there.
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The
Badlands is very quiet when the wind isn't blowing. Quite
peaceful.
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The Badlands appears to be made mostly of mud, the
remains of an ocean or lake. Many fossils have been found here.
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As
we hiked, we saw this deer browsing neer a single tree. He heard
us, even though we were far away, and took off at a fast clip.
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On
the plateau to the east of the Badlands, the terrain is rolling and
populated with grasses and cacti.
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The
spires took some amazing shapes, looking like castles, towers, and even
trees.
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Just
as we started to descend back out of the cliffs to our car, I took this
panorama of the Badlands. Click on the picture for full-size
panorama (440 KB).
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I
had read that a new Monument, consisting of an original Minuteman
missile silo, was opening. South Dakota was covered with these
during the Cold War. While we couldn't yet tour, this is a
picture of the access building to the missile control room (situated
underneath this building and protected with a blast door).
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The
control room controlled ten missiles spread over several miles.
In case of a nuclear attack that prevented the blast door from opening,
this escape hatch allowed the missile officers to escape.
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We
decided to make a small detour to Wall, to visit the famous Wall
Drug. The store was huge and amazingly kitschy. Think of
all the Disneyland souvenir booths brought together and you have a good
idea.
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We
spent the night in dreary Rapid City, and the next morning attempted to
see Mt. Rushmore. Unfortunately, clouds hid it, so we headed off
into Wyoming on our way to Devils Tower. The Wyoming countryside
on I-90 was beautiful.
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The
view of Devils Tower as you approach on Highway 24 is breathtaking,
even in the weather present when we visited.
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As
you enter the monument, a large prairie dog "town" greets you.
The fat little rodents were everywhere.
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These
creatures were very busy foraging and ignoring the humans clustered to
watch them.
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