Westward 2011, Day 3

So, South Dakota got infinitely better today. We crossed the Missouri River, which was awesome. If you're driving along I-90 and are crossing the Missouri in South Dakota, DON'T MISS THE REST STOP. Wicked views, and an awesome little trail through a pine forest. Also a very nice Lewis & Clark exhibit, as the duo apparently stayed at that very spot, naming it "Plum Camp."

The Badlands blew my mind. I've been waiting for this road trip for over a decade...and being out here, and touching the rocks, and walking around in the dirt beneath these amazing geological formations...I was doing and seeing what I'd only dreamed of prior to today. We traveled around the area for most of the day, saw a bunch of buffalo in one spot and a TON of prairie dogs everywhere, and I added about three new birds to my personal list...not that you cared about that part, haha.

Tonight we're staying in Keystone, South Dakota, which is in the Black Hills, right next to Mount Rushmore. I'm pretty impressed with the amount of geological variation I've seen within just one state, and even within one day. We started in eastern SD with cornfields and a generally flat landscape, made it to west-central SD with the rocky and barren Badlands, and now we're in western SD in the middle of a mountainous pine forest. Fantastic. Tomorrow we're traveling around Custer State Park, which will be the full Black Hills experience.

We're working on a new itinerary as well, looking something more like this:

Custer SP
Travel west through Wyoming
Grand Teton National Park
Yellowstone NP
Travel northwest through Montana
Glacier NP for two full days
Leave for home through eastern Montana
Theodore Roosevelt NP in North Dakota
Head back through central Minnesota and Wisconsin
Take the ferry across Lake Michigan to Ludington, and home

We were considering doing the whole Porcupine Mountains and Upper Peninsula loop, but we just don't have the time, and my mom and I have never been on the ferry, so we opted for that instead.

Here's a sample picture of the Badlands:

Peace.