Wall Drug and stone walls

After a restful pit stop in Rapid City, SD, my sister and I traveled east on our way to Badlands National Park.  But, before we went there, we made a little side trip to Wall Drug to get donuts.

Why donuts you say?  Well, on a previous road trip, I spent the night in Wall and heard the donuts at the drugstore were pretty good.  Turns out, they were GREAT!  So, I told myself next time I was in the area, I would get those tasty donuts again. And, we did!  We sat in the car and ate our donuts...boy, they were as good as I remembered.

After our donut treat, it was just a short drive to Badlands north park entrance.  We spent the morning taking in the awesome views and also taking a lot of photos.  I'll let them speak for themselves.

It would have been nicer if it had been more sunny, but the scenery was still breathtaking.  At one viewpoint, there was a park ranger stationed there to provide assistance to visitors.  We asked her where we could see bighorn sheep.  She suggested a couple of possible places to see them.  The ranger also mentioned there were pronghorn antelope sighted just down the road.  Sure enough, they were there!

At lunch time, it was a bit windy, so we just ate in the car.  Afterward, we took in a couple of short hikes.  First, we did the picturesque Door Trail, which meandered through weathered gullies and canyons.  As you can see, the sun finally came out! 

The other trail we hiked was the Cliff Shelf Nature Trail.  The views were not as impressive, but the walk was peaceful and relaxing.  The trail also has the most trees found in the entire park!

Tomorrow, we leave the state of South Dakota and travel south for a bit more history...and hopefully another visit to Culver's!