The Badlands

 

It's so hard to believe that just a month ago, the weather was in the 70s and 80s in South Dakota and I was having my first encounter with The Badlands National Park. It was honestly one of the most mind blowing experiences with nature that I have had. The pictures do not do it justice or capture its immensity. Even with the weakest imagination you can close your eyes and envision massive glaciers carving their paths through these rocks, or dinosaurs roaming the canyons, and more recently, Native American tribes crossing the Great Plains following the bison and fighting for their land. We bought the Annual National Parks pass for $80 because that would cover some of the other parks we were going to visit (not Mount Rushmore, though). Then we just started driving, stopping wherever there was a good photo opportunity and a chance to walk these rocks ourselves. There is always the chance of wildlife, like the flock (?) of bighorn sheep we saw, or the herd of goats that got a little too friendly with my car, or the bison basking in the sun. So amazing. 

We headed to our hotel in Spearfish and stopped in Deadwood, which according to some people is a must-see, and admittedly, I wanted to stop. By this time it was late afternoon on a Saturday, so the sun was going down and the crowds were out, 90% unmasked and my taste for the Old West quickly vanished. Can we please leave? We had to eat dinner, though, and we passed a lot of casino/restaurants, where you can smoke and there were no masks, so, nope. Just as I was reaching the point of despair, and no, I'm not being melodramatic, we came upon a restaurant called Jacobs Brewhouse and Grocer. We took advantage of outdoor seating and perused the menu. If you have read any of my posts about my relationship with food, you know it's a complicated affair, and this dinner was no different. The menu was heavy on the four-legged creatures I avoid. Why does everything have to be wrapped in bacon? We thought about leaving, but I wanted to ask if the server could recommend anything. My friend was practically rolling on the floor as I told the server that I didn't want to be one of those people, you know, that you talk about online for being weird and making demanding requests, and could she help me. She (I cannot remember her name) was awesome and handled by questions with a great attitude and recommended the fettucine and Brussel sprouts, hold the bacon. It was awesome, and I never thought I would say that about Brussel sprouts. My friend had the pork osso buco, which she enjoyed as well. Our evening was not a total loss and we headed to Spearfish for the night.