Wall, SD - With the sun setting in a water colour of mauves and oranges, we wove through Badlands National Park this evening. It was like driving over the molars of giants. Or on the moon.Though not my first time there, I had forgotten just how breathtaking its vistas are. Jagged rock, precipitous drops, a blue sky, hundreds of deer, bison and big horned sheep: what's not to love? This was truly one of my favourite road trip experiences of all.
In between, we visited the Corn Palace in Mitchell, which contains a basketball court (and hosted a Joan Jett concert recently, apparently) and is covered in folk art made from - you guessed it - corn. The design changes annually and was introduced as a response to Lewis & Clark's claim that nobody could make a living from the land here. It was first built in 1892.
South Dakota has been fun to drive through: flat, brown earth suddenly gives way to badlands and eccentric 'Wall Drug' signs pepper the landscape, lending it some colour.
Miles of sunflower crops stand, dried like disenfranchised youth out of a Tim Burton movie: once so full of colour, but now dark like running mascara, with heads bowed.
Vitals:
- Time: 12 hours
- Distance: 957 kilometres
- Weather: Sun, Moderate
- Provinces/States: Minnesota, South Dakota
- Wildlife: Pheasants, (hundreds of) Deer, Bison, Big-horned Sheep, Prairie Dog
No comments:
Post a Comment