Washington Trip - Continued

On our trip up to Washington, we stopped at several places.  As we told David, this was our last chance to 'torture' him with a family trip so he had to see the sights instead of playing video games all the time. 

In South Dakota, you are barraged with bill boards about Wall Drug and their free ice water.  Being the compliant tourists we are, we stopped to see the store.  Yes, it is a tourist trap.  But is is an interesting way to stretch, see some kitschy displays (a dinosaur that roars, a jack-o-lope, etc.) and have a free water (no ice to be seen).

Prairie Dog

More interesting was a Minuteman Missile Site.  First we got lost for a bit and had to stop for directions.  Turns out the place we stopped had a prairie dog colony.  While you could buy food to feed the prairie dogs, there was no fee to just watch and photograph them.

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site

In some ways the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site was disappointing.  Apparently the park is new, so the visitor's center was poorly signed.  Then, it turns out that the tours are limited in size.  To get on a tour they recommend getting there early in the morning but your tour may be later in the day.  However they gave us directions to a missile site without any tour or fee.  The directions took us back on a dirt road that heavily shook our RV.  But the site was cool.  No one else was there, so you just walk back and examine a missile site and silo.  Weird, frightening to think about, but cool.

Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park

We stayed overnight at the Badlands National Park.  This gave us a chance to see the badlands at sunset, sunrise, and during the day.  A very beautiful place with interesting geology.  People visiting the badlands were very friendly.  One story...we've noticed that many of the visitors to national parks are not Americans but are European, particularly German.  At one overlook, I was a little off the main path and ended up speaking to a German couple about this fact.  I mentioned that Americans tend to stay to the main paths and the extra walking to this point meant that you were more likely to be German.  At that moment another couple walked past us.  To check my theory, I asked where the 2nd couple where they were from....Germany.  Two couples that didn't know each other, but both from Germany on the same path!

At sunrise I decided to walk a little away from the campground to get better pictures of sunrise.  I met another couple also out to take pictures.  We shared a hill that provided an excellent view while discussing life.  A nice quiet morning.