Day seven - The Badlands

We only heard distant thunder that night, but it was a lot colder in the morning. This was our last day in the Black Hills and we packed the car and set off for our next stop which would be Omaha. I had to wear a jacket for the first time this trip and still felt cold despite running up and down stairs fetching suitcases and so on. On the way we wanted to drive through the Badlands and take some pictures and then carry on to Omaha where we were to spend the night.
The Badlands is a large area of land that has been eroded into canyons and valleys leaving sandy coloured bluffs and ridges over a large area. Something like a miniature Grand Canyon. Before we reached the Badlands, we passed Wall and so used Wall Drug as a rest stop.

We bought coffee and doughnuts and ate and drank on the road.

Coffee may be hot???  Boy, some people must be dumb if they need this warning

I did not buy a souvenir cap this time as I was hustled past the clothes section by The Better Half (TBH). Wall is not far from The Badlands and so we were soon entering the park gates.

It is a long drive through and the scenery gradually became more and more spectacular.

There are several viewpoints and we stopped at the first one to take a series of pictures and then continued through taking picture after picture.

One of the inhabitants

 The strange thing about thes place is you start to think you are coming out of it and it cannot get any more spectacular when you turn a bend in the road and whole new vista is there before you.

Ths gives some scale to the area when you see the people

By the time we had finished, we were all slightly overwhelmed and were very glad we were not pioneers trecking through with a wagon train. Leaving the Badlands, we returned to the i90 and headed east.

After the Badlands, this should be known as the Goodlands. 

We had spotted this rather inconspicuous sculpture on our journey to the Black Hills and I was able to get some better pictures on our way back.

It is part of the Wane Porter Sculpture Park and altogether contains a number of wacky sculptures created by this artist. He has created a number of other roadside sculptures elsewhere, but I believe this bull's head is the largest. We continued along the i90 until Sioux Falls where we joined the i29 and turned south.

As we travelled further south, the temperature rose steadily and each rest stop was warmer than the one before. Just before Omaha we left the i29 and joined the i80 heading west across the state line into Nebraska and then on to our hotel where we spent the night.

The Omaha skyline

The view of Omaha from our hotel window

Next post – day eight