Day 2 (Wednesday, June 12th): It was quite the chilly night in our tent, but we all seemed to stay warm enough. When we woke up, we discovered that the ideal hangout spot to chat and warm up was in a sunny area at the end of the parking lot, across from the bathrooms. That became the daily gathering place each morning until the grass at the campsite dried out with the sunshine and/or everyone else had woken up. We got to see Mugs at last (Sam had been saying he was so excited to see Meggy because he hadn't "sawn her for a long time")! Heather and Terrell made us breakfast of dutch oven biscuits and sausage gravy. YUM!
And then we were off on an adventure: a visit to Badlands National Park. On the way, we made a potty pit stop at a rest stop along I-90, then another to get gas and ice before we entered the park. We passed a few interesting looking trails, but decided to head on toward the visitor's center near the entrance (but past all the cool trails? weird planning) where the picnic area was since it was lunchtime by then. We didn't backtrack to the first trails, but did get some climbing up the dried mud mountains in our system after lunch before we checked out the visitor's center. Then we traveled along the road, stopping at various trails and overlooks until we were ready for and ice cream stop at Wall Drug. What a weird place! After exploring the shops for a little while, we piled back in the cars for the ride back to camp, where Mom and Dad made taco soup and we visited around the fire before turning in for the night.
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Sweet sleeper - even when it got super bright super early
she just kept sleepin'! |
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| Morning light in the (neighboring) campsite. |
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The view from the end of the parking lot. Our
tents and tables and fire ring were back beyond
my parents' trailer. It was perfect! |
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| Good morning, Grandma! |
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| Breakfast crew. |
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| Morning PT for the PT. |
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| Chow time. |
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Everyone's shoes and feet were so wet from the heavy morning
dew (and the rain the night before), we had to get creative trying
to dry out the kids' shoes (since we didn't bring multiple pairs for
them) as we drove to the Badlands. |
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Once we hit the freeway, this became the best way to quickly
get them dry. Worked like a charm! |
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| Rest stop photo shoot with Gma. |
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In the distance is "The Wall" of the Badlands, hence the name
of Wall, the city. |
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| Noted. |
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| The clouds were just spectacular! |
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| Lunchtime! |
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| Climb time. |
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| Group shot from the top of some weird dried mud mountains! |
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| This place is crazy cool! |
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Down yonder you can see our cars in the lot
and the lone tree we picnicked under (since
all the tables were occupied when we got there). |
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| Mom took this from below of the climbers. |
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| Sister selfie. |
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| Cousin pals! |
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| Something else I can't remember. ;) |
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| I mean, really! Isn't that spectacular? |
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The boardwalk here reminded us of Yellowstone
last year. |
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| More climbing kids. |
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| More great clouds. |
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| Here is the White River Valley Overlook. |
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| Ky says this could be an album cover. Haaaa! |
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| Everyone loves Meggy! |
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The next overlook, that I unfortunately don't
remember the name of. Doh! |
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| Mom and I were taking a pic of the group. |
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| And then someone offered to take a pic of all of us. :) |
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| The colors were so amazing! |
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Walking from the parking lot to Wall Drug - the massive
gift shop in the middle of nowhere. Gregg wrote a post about
their marketing story, in case you're interested. ;) |
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| Ice cream for everyone! |
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| Yeehaw! |
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| Weird place, I tell you what. |
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While dinner was cooking, Gregg and I went on a "date"
bike ride down the road to the marina and back. |
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| My dishy dude. |
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| Dinner time! Yum! |
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Then we all walked or biked to the lake for some
rock skipping time. |
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| It was the most beautiful evening! |
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| Sign me up! |
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| Simply delightful. |
What's next?
Mount Rushmore!
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