Badlands National Park

Our family extended our trip a couple of days after the tour ended so that we could fully explore South Dakota. We started by booking an open top van tour of the Badlands National Park.

The rugged beauty of the Badlands draws visitors from around the world. These striking geologic deposits contain one of the world’s richest fossil beds. Ancient mammals such as the rhino, horse, and saber-toothed cat once roamed here. The park’s 244,000 acres protect an expanse of mixed-grass prairie where bison, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, and black-footed ferrets live today.

We drove along the Badlands Highway 240 Loop Road and got perfect views of the beautiful vistas from our open top vans. We made several stops where we would get out and soak in some of the highlighted view points.

We had fun trying to spot the adorable prairie dogs that live in the park, they are all over!

We made sure to stay on the paths ...

Half way through our tour, we stopped to have a picnic lunch provided by our open top tour company. It's  hard to tell by the photos, but this was one of the hottest days EVER. We were all sweating buckets, and since our vans were open tops, we didn't have any air conditioning. We made sure to find a place to eat in the shade, but then all the kids wanted to go out and explore some of the nearby formations. I don't know how they didn't die from the heat!

We also made a stop at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. Ricky was especially excited about this stop because he had worked on the Minuteman when he worked at Thiokol, which is when he started dating Karin.

The Minuteman was - and still is today - a technological wonder. The first solid fuelled Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) the U.S. Air Force would deploy, the Minuteman could stand dormant and unmanned for days, weeks, months and decades on end, needing only limited maintenance and upkeep.

Remotely controlled from underground launch control centers miles away from the silos, it offered a hair trigger launch response. From the time keys were turned to execute a positive launch command, until the missile left the silo, only took about a minute. Hence the name Minuteman. 

After a day in the blazing sun and extreme heat, we were excited to visit the famous Wall Drug Store for the free water, unusual merchandise and AIR CONDITIONING. Coverage of that experience coming in the next post.