from wall, south dakota to rapid city, south dakota

goofy and random breakfast at the hotel and then we went in search of real coffee, a fools errand given our location, but we try. we find a lube and espresso shop on the way to the freeway, why the hell not? a natural combo! the old dude behind the counter was sweet and friendly, and the espresso was not too bad. with our espresso's in hand we were off to drive the scenic loop of the badlands national park.

a-freaking-mazing! really beautiful. i couldn't decide if the landscape looked prehistoric or futuristic, maybe both. it was absolutely incredible. i highly recommend it. it took us an hour or two to do the whole loop, complete with stopping and picture taking. we went for a little walk at the end. if we had more time it would have been really nice to go for a longer walk/hike, especially after sitting in the car for hours and hours at a stretch, i'm starting to feel a little like a cripple.

after the badlands we zoomed up to rapid city for lunch. we had burgers at the fire station brew pub that were pretty good and then we walked around town a little. there were lots of nice antique shops and josh found a really pretty pitchfork head for $4.50. we planned our day for scenic drives through the black hills and the obligatory visit to mount rushmore (i had to play rocky raccoon while we approached the black hills). we could have skipped mount rushmore, there are a few other spots that you see "the dudes" from the road, and for me i think that would have been enough.

the scenic loops were pretty and scenic, it was raining on and off and we saw quite a bit of wildlife. i was feeling completely exhausted by this point and we made the decision to just loop back to rapid city and spend the night there.

all the animals we saw today, wild and not so wild: wild turkey, bison, prairie dogs, prairie bunnies (just like the kind that would fit into your pocket where you could love him and squeeze him and call him george...), deer, horses, cows, longhorns, all kinds of birds, big and small, big horned sheep, antelope, donkeys (we think), raccoons & foxes (road kill).

we chose the radisson for our home for the night, which features the sleep number bed (i am not a fan). we did a little googling and found an actual nice restaurant with local organic food and such, right across the street from our hotel (thanks google!). it was a really nice meal and quite the contrast to the food we have been subsisting on. i had an actual real live leafy green salad, and my first quail (to the best of my recollection), to my shock and amazement jak did not order the steak, and instead chose the buffalo bolognese, which was very tasty, and then we topped the evening off with a butterscotch pot du creme, which i dubbed: the best butterscotch pudding i have ever had!

it was a very full day.