July 11th: Back in the Badlands

We were off for a morning hike up (definitely up) one of the trails in the Badlands.  Didn’t quite make it to the top of the trail but still had magnificent views.  With the formations, the colors, and the severity of the landscape, the Badlands just doesn’t get old.  I suspect it won’t be our last trip. 

Since our original idea for this vacation was a Great Lakes tour we decided to head back in the direction of Minnesota and Wisconsin to spend some time prior to my having to be in Chicago the end of next week for the Chicago Mackinac Race, so much of today was a long and windy drive across South Dakota.  Stopped in Sioux Falls to see (what else) the Falls on the Sioux River.  That was nice but hot. 

We are spending the night at Newton Falls State Park just southeast of Sioux Falls and near the Iowa border and we took Eddie swimming in the lake with us.  He’s still not convinced he’s a water dog but he’s tolerating it better each time.  We’re thinking tomorrow we’ll head through Iowa into Minnesota to see what we can discover beyond the Mall of America.