Yellowstone Trip May 2019 - Part 1

Day 1 & 2

Yellowstone. Probably the most diverse scenery I've seen in the span of 2 weeks.

I had planned on going to Yellowstone in 2018 with Samantha, on the way back from California, but ended up coming straight home from San Francisco. So, of course, I started planning for a trip specifically to see Yellowstone. I threw out the suggestion to my family that we should all go, and most of them agreed! Having 9 of us go introduced some difficulties but ultimately we got it all worked out and started planning what all we wanted to see along the way.

The first day was just driving, we headed to Sioux Falls, SD.

Day 2 was jam packed full of sights! The first stop being the Corn Palace.
About half of us had been there before, but it never ceases to a-maize! (See what I did there? Eh? No? Too corny? Ahem...moving on.)












Next was a ghost town in Okaton. Abandoned places isn't everybody's thing, I know, but since it was right off the highway, we stopped and snooped around a bit. They even had a false storefront set up, marketing itself as a ghost town!

Might just be my favorite pic at Okaton!

Moving on pretty quick (it was rather cold), we journeyed on to Badlands National Park.
But, right before we entered we had to stop at the prairie dog town! Back when Samantha and I were little, we had come to the badlands with Mom and Dad and the prairie dog town was the highlight of the trip.

Emma was so adept at getting the prairie dogs to come close that we dubbed her the "prairie dog whisperer".







Next we wandered through the Badlands. I only briefly remember the park the first time we drove through, I don't know if we even got out and walked around.

It was an overcast day and a bit chillier than we expected but we were happy to explore a little and the kids enjoyed climbing around. Samantha and I even found 5 dollars!

I would love to return soon and explore even more.

Such a beautiful and surreal landscape!

Next up was Wall Drug, a large collection of stores and attractions. We didn't stay here too long, by this point in the day most of us were pretty worn out and ready for food and some relaxation.

This dinosaur was the main event for me when I was a kid. I was (and still am a bit) a dinosaur nerd.