Cross Country 2009 Day 5

This is a long post, but we had a great day with so much to share! We started out today with beautiful rolling hills in brilliant shades of green. So nice to see a change from yesterday's miles and miles of flatness! The gorgeous weather continues...haze burned off to bright blue skies without a cloud in sight and temps in the high 80's. Perfect!

All of a sudden we were back to the flat plains, with no trees in sight anywhere! In some places the prairie grass looks like a desert...and on the other side of the road it would be green. There are lots and lots of hay bales in the fields waiting to be picked up...huge rolls that are lined up in some places like cigars and others that are large single rolls.

Out of nowhere there would be a field of yellow plants that we finally realized were sunflowers. They reminded us of the poppy scene in the Wizard of Oz...seemed to go on forever. So pretty! There are also lots of billboards! The road will go on for miles and all of a sudden there will be dozens of huge billboards on both sides. At times it seems like they shouldn't be out there amongst all the beautiful surroundings, but they do give you something to look and break up the monotony.

We kept seeing billboards for 1880 Town, and it was about time for a pit stop, so we couldn't resist pulling in. We thought it might be a hokey tourist stop...and it was...but it actually turned out to be a lot of fun. There is a whole town full of buildings that have been moved here and set up as it would have been back in 1880...chock full of the most incredible collection of antiques and artifacts. It was definitely worth a stop! We spent a pleasant hour or so looking around...pleasantly surprised to enjoy it!

The best part of the whole experience by far was a wagon ride through town with the most hysterical "old codger" ever! He looked like he really was alive in 1880! He stayed in character the whole time and told the most amazing stories and jokes that had us in stitches the whole way.

Then it was on to the best part of the whole day - Badlands National Park! I'm speechless! Rising out of the prairie are the most incredible rock formations! It's like nothing we've ever seen before, and I'm not sure there are words to really describe it. Barren, desolate, magnificent...all of those and more. It looks like another planet in places...in fact it's been said it's as close to being on the moon as you can get without actually going there! In some places it looks like the world's largest collection of sandcastles, but there's no sand here...it's all rock! At times it seems like you're standing at the edge of the world and then it looks like sand dunes...but, again, no sand here! We went for a half-mile walk on a trail that started out on a boardwalk and then lead down to the floor of the formations. Amazing! We saw Big Horn Sheep both climbing among the cliffs and in the road, a deer, there are prairie dogs everywhere, and buffalo grazing on the plains.

After we left the park we drove just a short way down the road to Wall, the town we're staying in tonight. It's a small town that has really cashed in on the tourist trade...lots of hotels and Wall Drug...the most insane tourist attraction I've ever seen. It started, and still is, a drug store but has grown to a whole collection of shops with every trinket known to man and some crazy amusements. Very weird!