“Would you girls like a fact-filled activity book about South Dakota?” The friendly woman at the visitor’s information counter offered.
Our girls were eager for the activity book after hours of being cooped up in a mini-van. I walked over to the counter with the girls and asked the cheerful lady, “We’re traveling through SD to Seattle, Washington, and intend to see Mt. Rushmore, but are there other things that are ‘must see’ on our route?”
She got a map out, and with a smile and a cheerfulness in her voice, circled a section of it. “This area here is called Badlands. You’ll enjoy going through there.”
“How long do you think it will take?”
“It will be about 40 minutes to 2 hours, depending on what you want to do.”
“What do you mean?” I asked wanting to get some clarity.
“Well, it depends on whether or not you want to stop and get out to experience things.”
“Could you be more specific?”
“Just do it. You won’t regret it.” She said with a twinkle in her eyes.
We took several hours in amazement gawking at the landscape of the Badlands National Park. The wonders made our girls say, “God is so creative! He’s like an artist.”
We praised God all throughout our time going through the Badlands.
A few days later, while we were at Yellowstone, our girls were writing postcards to family and friends. Our youngest, Phoebe, wrote this in her post card to her friend – “The Badlands are called badlands because the soil is bad. You can’t plant things there.” This was from a six year old girl. I just had to smile…
If you are ever on your way to Mt. Rushmore, we recommend that you go visit the Badlands National Park. It is truly a wonder to see. And don’t forget to look carefully for wild life as you drive through this wonderful landscape – we saw a big horn ram and many prairie dogs.
James
AKorDian 