Wyoming and South Dakota – a Tourist Paradise

The next morning, we awoke to another cold, wet, icky day.  We packed up our gear and headed out to Cody for a hot breakfast before heading to Devils Tower National Monument.  Chris learned quickly that biscuits and gravy in Wyoming is not the same as at the Flying Biscuit (quick tip: always order the gravy on the side when you order at a cowboy restaurant).  We continued our birdwatching on scenic highway 14 that curved through the Wyoming hills (and fog, as it turned out).

By the time we reached Devils Tower the fog had not cleared and the monument was completely enshrouded with clouds (perfect alien-landing weather, by the way).  We decided to go ahead and set up camp and cross our fingers that the weather would clear out for a morning hike.  With a whole evening ahead of us, we took a jaunt to the next town of Hulett (pop 406) and whittled away the hours shooting pool at the local watering hole.

The next morning the sky had cleared and the tower appeared in all its glory.  We set off on the 4 1/2-mile hike up the hill and around the tower, with the prairie dogs greeting us along the way.

The hike to Alien Hill

Our buddy the prairie dog

After our invigorating hike it seemed that the weather was turning and warmer weather beckoned us forward on our journey.  We drove on to the Black Hills National Forest that afternoon and stayed the night in Custer State Park, which had hot showers (a high priority for us at that point, if you can imagine).  The next morning we packed up again and wound through the hills to Mt. Rushmore (a must-see SD tourist destination).

Stone Mountain part deux

The plan was to head next to Badlands National Park via Wall, SD.  Hello, who drives through South Dakota without a stop at Wall Drug for free ice water and 5 cent coffee??

Liz riding the jackelope

After some cheap refreshments, we were ready for the Badlands … just in time for the best weather we’d seen all week.  We set up camp and basked in the warm sun, checking out routes for the next portion of our trip.  The next morning we set out on a 6.6 mile hike on the castle trail, along with the prairie rattlers and the tarantula with a gajillion baby spiders hanging on its back.

Bad kids in the Badlands

Big Mama tarantula with her clinging babies

After our hike, we munched a quick lunch and headed on to Sioux Falls along I-90 (uh, didn’t we see that butte already?).  Thank goodness for NPR, which gave us something to keep us awake on the non-undulating road. We arrived in the big city on a Saturday night, ready to par-tay!  OK, so maybe it was only 7:00 but we were ready!  By the time 8:00 hit we were all partied out and ready to crash when we saw where all the people were – a hot air balloon race was ending just outside of town!  We followed the balloons and fellow gawkers and parked by a field speckled with dying and sputtering blobs of fabric.

Hot air balloons in the city!

Now that we’ve seen all there is to see in South Dakota, we’re heading on to Minneapolis for a few days of relaxing with the grandparents and little sis.  Fun times!

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