Western Vacation Recap:: Days Nine and Ten

Day Nine was our last day in South Dakota.  In the morning we drove out to The Badlands, about an hour outside of Rapid City.  The Wimmers came with us, and I got to ride with Maria and chat the whole time which was so nice.  We are definitely kindred spirits!  Once we arrived, we stopped at a scenic turn-out to take in the rugged beauty of the area.  The Badlands were amazing.  So desolate, yet when closely examined, so full of color and interesting geologic patterns.  I haven't been to the Grand Canyon, but I assume it has the same "wow" factor. 

We saw signs for both rattlesnakes and rabid prairie dogs.  Thankfully we didn't encounter either!

So pretty!

Hannah

Our crew:  Leah, Papa, Hannah, Mike, Lucas, Me

Lucas and Cordelia got to know each other a little better! :)

Me and the beautiful Maria

We followed up our trip to the Badlands with a stop at Wall Drug.  Wall Drug started out as a drug store in the 1930's, but had a very slow start.  Once they advertised "free ice water for thirsty travelers" the business grew tremendously.  Now Wall Drug is a western store/park of supersized proportions.  We strolled around, played outside, ate lunch and enjoyed some of the free ice water.

Trying on some cowboy boots

Maria, Cordelia and I enjoying some free water, but not the "ice cold" water.  That, we discovered, was inside. 

After lunch, we had to say good-bye to our friends and to the State of South Dakota.  It was time to start heading south again.  We drove six hours until we were just too tired of being in the car which landed us in North Platte, Nebraska.  We found a Holiday Inn, ate dinner, visited the pool, then fell into our beds completely exhausted.  Day Ten was a ten hour day of driving through Nebraska, Kansas and into Oklahoma.  We passed cows and cornfields and not much else.  We did stumble upon a fantastic Mexican restaurant in the town of Anthony, Kansas, just a few miles from the Oklahoma border.  It was very authentic, not Tex-Mex, and after all the fast food we'd been eating on the road, it was a very welcome change.  We arrived home by 10:00 Sunday evening.

We feel so blessed to have been able to take such a fun, extended vacation, but the best part of it all was coming home to our cozy, comfortable house-- full of memories and stories to tell for years to come. 

I guess Dorothy got it right, "There's no place like home."