#epicroadtrip Day 5

We left Custer around 8:00 in the morning, heading towards the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park, then to the Badlands, and finally, Wall Drug. We wanted to be in the Wildlife Loop pretty early, as it was forecast to be a warm day and the chances of seeing wildlife are much better in the cool of the morning.

We saw a few deer that morning, though they were elusive when we tried to take pictures...

The prairie dogs, however, quite liked the camera...

Prairie Dog Town

We saw quite a few of those Pronghorns during the day...

But these 2 were the only bison we saw the entire trip. I loved watching that little baby bison. 

And then we were off to the Badlands! It's a desolate and fascinating place, and beautiful in its own way. 

I wasn't too keen on those rattlesnake signs everywhere...thankfully we did not see any.

If you go to the Badlands, the Door, Window, & Notch hikes are not too hard, and give you some great views in a short period of time. But the best part of the Badlands was when we were driving the Badlands Loop west from the Ben Reifel Visitor Center towards Wall, SD. Amazing views along this road, beautiful overlooks, changing colors. Just so unique.

As we left the Badlands, we got to see these creatures. I'm not even sure what they are...but I was happy to see them!

And then we got to see a few of the famous Wall Drug signs. Since we did not spend miles on I-90 heading west into Wall, because we were down farther south for the day, the signs didn't start until we were about 3 miles south of Wall. In that 3 miles we counted 17 signs. 

Wall Drug is such a ridiculous tourist trap.

But I'm really glad we went. 

And why wouldn't you see your best friend from Lynden while you're at Wall Drug? It *was* the season for taking road trips to bring siblings to college, after all..

We had a nice evening in our hotel in Wall, and the next morning I watched these girls all get ready for our day in the hotel bathroom...

Bethany looks so tired...and not quite ready for the day ahead! We had pretty nice hotels the whole trip, and this one had a large bathroom between two bedrooms, so it was an easy morning for getting ready.