from Chicago to South Dakota

I had a wonderful time being able to catch up with Red and see her new place in Chicago (I am sad I missed Jenna by a day though). After we left Red’s, we drove straight through the night to get to the Badlands. We drove through a lot of storms and saw lightning light up the sky in the distance.

Badlands, South Dakota
We arrived at the Badlands around 7 on Monday morning and took an hour and a half nap inside the park. We took a couple hours to drive through the Badlands. It was amazing to what wind and rain can create.

Mount Rushmore, South Dakota
After the Badlands we headed to Mount Rushmore. We decided to just drive by it a couple times instead of walking up to it in order to save time. It was incredible to see in person instead of on a postcard or picture.

Black Hills, South Dakota
On our way to the Black Hills we saw a sheep and its baby on the side of the road. We took the Spearfish Canyon scenic byway through Black Hills and hiked up to 3 different falls.

We found camp at around 5 pm and hiked up to the top of one of the mountains nearby. I did not think that I was going to be able to hike what we did, but the view from the top was amazing! That night used our new grill to cook pasta and ate dinner by the side of a river on a log.

If you look on the left side of the picture on the top you can see my car from the cliff we are standing on!