Wednesday, August 20, 2008

LiveBlogging: Badlands and Trip Summary

The Vegas Trail: Day 3, 4 and 5 Summary

Made it to Rapid City, SD. Who knew that South Dakota was filled with roadside attractions such as Wall Drug (advertised for over 200 miles on I-90 - basically, a giant souvenir store), 1880 town, and the movie props from Dances with Wolves?

South Dakota is incredibly flat. The prairie stretches forever. I think I might have agoraphobia - the fear of wide, open spaces. There were times I thought I would drop off the edge of the world.

The highlight of South Dakota was the Badlands, sort of a mini Grand Canyon. Very scenic. We arrived late to Rapid City and had a hearty dinner at Olive Garden. Or as The Onion puts it, the 3 time winner of Minnesota's best Italian restaurant.

Random Roadtrip Tidbits
-Mount Rushmore is advertised as the place where they filmed the end of National Treasure 2
-South Dakota's nickname is "The Mount Rushmore State." Very creative
-It's very windy out here


In Chicago


Hustled by Trung at poker


It's been a long trip


Morale improves in MN


Exciting Twins game


Preview of the future


Hearty breakfast at McD. Notice the amusement park in the background


Unitentional comedy


Unitentional? Probably inappropriate


Wide open spaces


The Badlands


What's that?

Dusk at the Badlands

Sunset at the Badlands


Ending the day at Olive Garden


Trip Summary
Monday: Chicago to Minneapolis
Tuesday: Minneapolis to Rapid City, South Dakota
Over 2000 miles traveled so far.

Tomorrow's Itinerary
To Mount Rushmore in the morning. Then to Denver.

Morale
Improved after the Badlands. However, dreading the realization that the trip is almost halfway done.

Rations
300 bullets. Spare yoke. Nutrigrain bars. Out of Fruit Gushers though. Half a bottle of Pinot Noir purchased from Target.


Day 5 Trip

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Day 4 Trip

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Day 3 Trip

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