Sunday, September 30, 2012

Hard to believe we have only been here a week. Seems like a lot longer than that, and I think it's because we have seen so much. Saturation. Overload. Trying to take it all in, taking pictures to jog our memory. It's been a trip of a lifetime, and so much more.

Started the day heading east to Wall, SD. Wall is a small western town that made it's mark on the map because of a pharmacist that wanted life in a small town. He built Wall Drug, from nothing, to a small amusement park like atmosphere. 

We noticed a great deal of bill boards along the highways. There were 7 of them in about 1/4 mile here. I am so glad Maine does not have them anymore. 

 We immediately noticed a change in the geology, going from the granites of Mt.Rushmore, and the Black Hills, to the soft sandstones of the Badlands.

 These next few signs are just a small portion of the Wall Drug signs that inform you all along the road as to what they have to offer. 

 We did take advantage of this while we were there.

 Huge rolling grassy prairies  that go on for miles and miles. Some had been hayed recently, others were grass with herds of free range cattle on them.

 We think this might be a natural snow/wind fence. There were 5 rows of different trees and shrubs planted along the sides of the highway. Further down we saw some that were much taller, a natural way to slow down the snow.

 The other side of the road, a bit hillier, not grassy. The most interesting scenery is in the west. You just never know what is around the next turn.

 We made it to wall drug. The town has a 2 way, 4 lane Main Street with parking on both sides in each direction, almost 8 lanes wide!! 

 And this is what it looked like inside the door. A strip mall of sorts with every souvenir you could imagine.

 Inside the actual pharmacy, were lots of old apothecary products and supplies. Really neat stuff. Here I am signing a visitors book, for pharmacists. I looked back through, and didn't see any other names from Maine. Am I the only crazy one out there?

 Ken and his friend......fun time,not at all what I expected. But a good stop!

 Into the Badlands.......

 Our first stop, and the scenery was like nothing I had every seen. It didn't look real. And you could see for hundreds of miles.

 Trying to get a picture of the layers, so interesting.

 ...didn't see any, thank goodness.....

 ...it just went on and on, the valley off in the distance...

 Here you can really see the sandstone, and it is eroded by heavy rains and winds. Looks like something a mud wasp might make back home...

 This was at Yellow Mounds overlook. Hmmmm, wonder how they came up with that name?

 Conata Basin overlook, looking back towards yellow mounds.

 And right across the road from that view, long stretches of grassy lands. 

 When we stopped at Homestead Overlook, I saw the one animal I had hoped we would see, the long horned sheep. I was surprised that it didn't really look like a sheep, as far as it's coat was concerned, but more like a deer. 

Just look at the different types of rock here. There were 5 visible layers, and then the grassy land above. Just amazing.

If you look closely, you can see 2 more sheep atop that "mountain" of sandstone. I don't know how they got there.

I think this is one of my favorite pictures. It has 2 long horned sheep in it, some green grass, and miles and miles of the ridges of rock formations. It was unbelievable to see. 

...good one to show the colors of the layers....

...and this one looked like it had adobe bricks in the mountains....

What a day. Two hundred miles, through the badlands, the Indians named them land sickly. I can see why. If anyone tried to cross them, they would face many obstacles. Rattle snakes, prairie dogs, big horn sheep, bison, extreme drought, and I'm sure, many other things. I also read about Wounded Knee. How sad, depressing. We also visited the Minuteman Missal site. Kind of creepy and eerie, too. 
We have pretty much finished the sight seeing part of our trip. Whew! Not sure I could take in much more. Tomorrow we head west to Casper WY, about 4 hours away. It's also laundry day..yippee! Guess I better do my research on Casper to find out what we will be doing tomorrow.