Today on the blog it's Monday...in real life it's Friday.  Today we have part one that highlights the first half of the day, the second...well...the second half...duh!
We have now left the farmlands of the upper midwest and progressed to the plains.  A very special part of the country as it represents the areas where the final battles with Native Americans  took place, primarily because the European settlers now pushed into this area destroying the habitat of the Buffalos and infringing on lands that were considered sacred by the Native Americans.
This is a picture of ,what I to believe to be wild Honeysuckle...the only thing that I can base this wild ass guess on is that the fragrance absolutly filled the area with an overpowering fragrance..it was akin to the fragrance given off by jasmine...very sweet, very beautiful!

I just thought that this was a really nice picture displaying how thick the wild Honeysuckle are and I can only leave it to your imaginaton to think of the powerful fragrance that filled the air!

Again, another photo that I liked!
Hopefully this gives you a feel for the great "nothingness" that comprises this area..I found it to be quiet and peaceful...offering a peace and tranquility that I wasn't expecting! 

You can't see it in this shot but the prairie grass was doing a beautiful undulating dance with the light wind that we had in the area that day.
This is the source of food that the Buffalo grazed on...ergo the Native Americans fed on the Buffalo, so when this began to be plowed under to create corn and the soybean fields that help to sustain our modern way of life, the Buffalo lost their food source and by the logic of pure deduction so did the Native Americans.

This is one of the few remaining "mud houses" that our forefathers lived in as they initially settled the area...kind of like the homes in West Newport!

And I thought all the "BIG" annimals lived in the midwest!
This prarie dog was at a tourist trap..another duh..right before the entrance to the Badlands National Park.

I also found this shop on the way into Badlands...of the many states that sell fireworks Linda (the owner of the shop) claimed that South Dakota's fireworks were the most extensive and diverse of any state in the country...I bought the BIG fireworks that go about 200 feet in the air before exploding...kinda like the ones shot off the piers on the 4th of July.  I don't know what I'm going to do with them...if I shot more than one off I would probably end up in the Newport jail along with all of the 4th of July partiers.
Is this another thing that is considered a misdemeanor in the States but a felony in Canada?
I can deal with one but 2 reasons to keep me out of Canada...come on!

The initial view of the Badlands National Park.
It was stunning from the standpoint that you travel for hundreds of miles of flat, organized farmland only to stumble onto this piece of earth...this stop was a big deal for me because I finally broke even on my National Parks Annual Pass (purchased what seems like eons ago) at the Grand Canyon)...it's about time that I got into the governments pants for a change...and they don't get into mine!

A hot dog!
She was in her element...lots of new smells and German tourists to tell her (in German) what a beautiful dog she was...I guess like all women she never gets tired of hearing that!

One of the prettier views of the Badlands.
Many people in Minneapolis suggested that I stop here because it was really cool!  Almost looking like a section of the moon!
Personally I found it boring and uninspiring...it wasn't any more spectacular than the cliffs along the beach at San Onofre...and at San Onofre there is an ocean!

Probably the nicest view of the Badlands that I saw...it was at the end!
Next the Black Hills and all the attendant attractions that go along with it!