Icon of the Wild West

Remember, we are still in the Bad Lands of South Dakota...an amazing place to visit.  We were totally blown away by the beauty of this state.  Of course, there was Mt. Rushmore to visit and we thought we were prepared for the wonder of the geography in the are...but we were not!  As I said before, our poor little camera could not capture the scope of the vision, but we tried.  We had heard a bit about the Wall Drug signs along the way...again....we were not prepared!  Our first Wall Drug Sign!  Just 150 miles to go....

 

We definately were going to "do" lunch at Wall Drug

 

 

'Course, there was some scenery to be seen....

 

 

 

Can you tell Paul is enjoying himself?

 

Cowboy stuff oh boy!

 

 

Wall Drug is famous for it's coffee

 

 

We are almost there!

 

 

 

The "Magnificent Seven"

We found a parking spot...there are lots of them....notice, Paul's hands in his pockets?  He was not going to buy anything!

 

But....we had a fabulous lunch...

 

 

 

And he got the best blueberry pie I have ever tasted (he generously gave me a bite!)

 

A pioneer at heart

 

 

 

And he is in touch with his American Indian heritage

Sorry to say, I have not a drop of American Indian, but I will stick my face in all kinds of painted boards!

 

 

I just love these two, aren't they too sweet?  We took hundreds of photos of these little guys

 

 

So, on our way back to camp we also got more photos of long horn sheep

 

 

And that is about it for our trip to the famous Wall Drug...Five Stars folks, you gotta go....

 

Tally ho,

Cathy

Bad to the bone

Disclaimer:  the pictures we took in no way capture the awesome grandeur we wittnessed...no way.  But this is our effort to create a semblance of our experience in the Bad Lands.  We stayed in the Bad Lands KOA which was pretty much empty this time of year....great location tho for touring the area.

 

 

We were just at the "edge" with the view below....

 

This is the "wall" that you see as you approach the Bad Lands...an early indication of the landscape to follow

 

 

 

OK, so this photo is pretty darn awesome, huh?  Gives you a bit of an idea...so come see for yourself, you will not be the same person afterwards!

 

Paul got this great shot of a big horn sheep, there were several just laying around on some incredible out croppings.

The prarrie dogs had huge towns along the road and they really weren't particularly interested in us so they ignored our car and we got lots of photos which don't worry, we won't share...but they sure were cute!

Lots of great areas to pull off and have a look at the view!

 

We picked a great time of year to be in the area as there were lots less folks and we were able to get out and see the sights with ease, parking could be a hassle if there were big crowds...

 

I have a few more photos to share and a whole blog post about Wall Drug, so just hold on, there's more "Bad" ahead!

Tally ho,

Cathy

We left North Carolina June 10, 2012.  As of today, we have been on the road a bit over 4 months!  We have put a lot of miles on MiniPearl.  I will not take up your time with statistics, suffice to say...we have seen a lot and done alot and are still having the best time ever.  We left Michigan taking the Scenic Highway 2 around Lake Michigan and the Upper Peninsula heading toward Minnesota.  Our goal was to be in the Minneapolis area by Sunday in order to attend Redeemer Bible Church in Minnetonka.  We have been listening to their pastor for several years now, and were really looking forward to hearing him in person...not to mention seeing The Mall of America and visiting Ikea and of course Minneapolis is the home of Target....oh boy....

 

 

 

Paul is standing with Pastor R.W.Glenn who is one gifted Bible teacher.  www.solidfoodmedia.com

 

 

 

 

Down the road just a bit from church is the Mall of America.  Four floors of stores, restaurants and even a huge amusement park inside!  I took this picture of Paul to remember where we parked our car! 

 

 

We had the best time watching everyone ride the rides, they were really cool.  The had a water ride and also a putt putt golf course.  We walked and walked, had some lunch and walked some more.  Didn't buy anything, but was fun to see it.

 

Mackinaw/Mackinac

Kinda like "you say potato and I say potata"  but Mackinac/naw is pronounced as naw....so now you know!  However you say it, Mackinac Island is out of this world lovely with sights to see, history galore and photo ops everywhere....

 

You get to the island by boat, of course....

 

 

View of the harbor on the island

 

 

Horse-drawn carriages all over the place.  We took a carriage tour of parts of the island.

 

 

This was one stop on the tour...can't remember the name of the stone formation, but it was beautiful and great view of the beach way below.

 

 

Can you see the Olympic Symbol and 2012 in the sand?

 

 

We left the carriage tour to visit Fort Mackinac

 

 

Don't know this lady....

 

 

We had a nice lunch of soup and sandwich with spectacular views of boats and water and green green grass and lovely flowers.

 

 

Lots of great info by knowledgable interpreter in great uniform...

 

 

 

They shot some rifles...

 

 

They shot a cannon...

 

 

Paul was having a good time!  Then we left and walked the half mile to the Grand Hotel

 

 

This is one GRAND HOTEL!

 

We actually paid $20 to get inside just to walk around...it was worth it, but we were on awesome overload by that time....

 

 

Geranium is the signature flower for the hotel...see the carpet?

 

Afternoon tea is served here in the parlor....

 

A perfect view of the Lake....

 

The famous front porch...

 

The dress code is posted!

 

We left the hotel and walked back to the harbor....passing the Little Stone Church

 

 

Below is the house of my dreams....

 

 

 

Isn't it too wonderful? 

 

 

 Farewell...until next time!

Tally-ho

Cathy