Exploring, Gaping, Eye-Popping... Mar 7

South Dakota! Woooooo!  (that starts out being really sarcastic, but I kinda love South Dakota right now. We started out driving... a lot.

A lot of this. I loved every minute of it.

We arrived at Crazy Horse Memorial literally 10 minutes before they closed, so we snapped some shots and decided to read about it all online.  It is a fascinating story and I recommend you reading it if you get a chance.
http://crazyhorsememorial.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Horse_Memorial

The next day we spent the day in the Baaaaadlands.  Oooooooooo.

On the way, we passed through this town. Population 67? Seriously? Do they update that sign a lot?  What is it like to live in a town of 67 people??

I saved hundreds of people from this dinosaur.

THE BADLANDS!!!!
We went to the visitor's center, where we learned that these magnificent geological structures were carved by water and wind over about 60 million years or so.

perspective- thats a telephone pole.  So these amazing peaks are "small", but look like crazy mountains.

This was part of the path we took while climbing up. I got so giddy excited clamoring through this landscape. It was so fun! I've just never been in a landscape like that.  The land was so different! Like rocks, but dried mud, but dried mud that dried about 60 million years ago, so like rocks. If you catch my drift.

The cool thing about it was that these "mountains" flattened out so quickly into the flattest plains ever. Wild!

Bigfoot trampled through here before we got there.

This little guy... wait.. this huge guy... was standing next to the road and we stopped and stared at him a bit. He didn't appreciate it and snorted at us until we left, at which point, he galloped away totally disgusted. We felt bad, sort of.

There were SO many prairie dogs, and yeah they were adorable.

hahahaha hay butte.

some perspective on the vastness.

A herd of buffalo on the plains. We had lot of existential moments dreaming of thousands of buffalo grazing the plains.

If you know my "Todd" voice, then you'll appreciate the fact that I talked in my "Todd" voice while imagining what the buffalos were thinking about.  Like "Hey guys... I'm so big I can barely fit in your picture frame... figures... I might as well just walk away now... too bad so sad..."

I have been driving on a LOT of roads recently and this dirt road, lighted by the sunset, is the most stunning road I have ever looked over.  The warmth of the light isn't captured quite as much as it truly was. And i'm too lazy to photoshop right now.

sunset. oh, the sunset on the badlands.

This is one of the best sunsets I've seen on this trip.

What a wonderful day. Full of giddy running and exploring, followed by respectful gaping at the buffalo, and ending with the eye-popping delight of the sunset.  I am so glad I made this part of my trip.