Summer Vacation 2023 - The Badlands (Part 5)

Our plan for the day was to go on a hot air balloon ride for sunrise and then drive the hour and a half to Badlands National Park. Unfortunately, there was a big storm the night before and we got the call at 4:15am that the hot air balloon had been cancelled. We were so bummed, but decided to try and reschedule for the next morning. Michael and I both tried to go back to sleep since all of the kids were still sleeping.

Once the kids were up we drove to the Badlands. We saw about 500 signs for Wall Drug Store on the way. I had written it down as a maybe to visit, but the kids were so invested after seeing all the signs that we decided to stop before the Badlands. It is in the middle of nowhere and we were all wondering what in the world this place was going to be like. It reminded me of an old timey buc-ees.  We wandered around the kids play area and then indulged in their 5cent coffee and donuts. I am not a donut fan, but their plain (no icing) donut was served warm and was absolutely delicious!  We read the story about the family that started Wall Drug and it was such a sweet story. I am glad we made the stop!

Off to the Badlands. Our plan was to stop at some of the overlooks and hike the notch, door and window trails. Unfortunately, we were arriving at the hottest part of the day and there is no shade at this park! It was packed and HOT!

This little guy doesn't take many pictures any more, so I was thrilled he wanted to be in one with me. Although i'm pretty sure he only agreed to the photo because Caitie begged to take a picture of us. 

We made it to the top of the notch trail!

It looks like another planet at this park!

Time for our favorite part of the trail again. I didn't take any pictures going up since there was a long line, but we did take a few on the way down. It wasn't challenging for any of us, but it was fun!

After the notch hike we headed to the visitor center to cool off a little and learn some more about the park. The kids had a blast in the fossil room. We talked to the ranger for about 30 minutes and they became a junior paleontologist. Then we headed for lunch in town at the Badlands Saloon and Grill. 

We had high hopes of stopping at all 6 of the national park sites in South Dakota, but were so bummed to learn that Minuteman Missile was closed on Wednesdays.  It was one exit before the Badlands and would have been really interesting to learn about. 

We stayed for sunset. The Canada wildfires made it a little more smokey, but it was still gorgeous.

Can you see the haze from the fires? It was so strange that it stretched this far to South Dakota.

We headed back to Custer really late. It was a very hot, but fun filled day!