DAY TWO – Fargo, North Dakota to Keystone, South Dakota
HIGHLIGHT: Badlands National Park
DRIVE TIME: Fargo, ND to Badlands NP – 7 hours, Badlands to Keystone, SD – 1.5 hours
This is the second post in a series of posts about our week-long western road trip. Each post will break down what we did, where we went and what we saw each day. Most excitingly (that’s totally a word, guys) I’m posting my favorite pictures from the trip. Start from the beginning and check out Day One.
On day two of our cross-country road trip, we left Fargo before the sun was up. We intended to end the day near Mount Rushmore and hoped we’d have time to visit Badlands National Park as well. It was a 7 hour drive from Fargo to the Badlands through wide open nothing-ness. (Yaaaay!) We drove south from Fargo to Sioux Falls, SD where we had a brief pit stop to stretch our legs. We found a little park which held what we believed to be THE Sioux Falls. Obviously…
Driving through the Dakotas is not the most exciting drive to be perfectly honest. However, we were lucky to catch the most amazing sunrise in North Dakota. The photo below is actually pretty true to how it looked in real life. It was like the sun was exploding over the horizon. It was amazing!
We were driving west through flat South Dakota and it happened to be the windiest day ever!!! We had a terrifying experience with some tumbleweeds blowing wildly across the highway. I wish I had a picture or video of these tumbleweeds, but we were too scared to look away from the road. These balls of grass and straw (and whatever else is in those things) ranged in size from a basketball to a boulder. AHHH!
The wind threw the tumbleweeds over the highway like giant fast-pitch softballs. Our first instinct was to dodge the flying balls of hay, but obviously as we were travelling highway speeds that was not an option. At one point, sitting in the front passenger seat, I helplessly watched a tumbleweed sommersault straight toward the front of our car, bouncing off the hood and then the windshield. Both of my sisters and I screamed in terror. We survived. And it was hilarious!
After traversing the tumbleweed minefield of Highway 90, we made it to Badlands National Park in the mid-afternoon. To say we were excited is an understatement. This was our first major destination in unknown territory. We were super familiar with all our destinations on day one. But day two, with pure adventure ahead of us, reaching this first landmark was pretty exhilarating.
We found the iconic National Park welcome sign at the entrance and braved the tornado like winds for our first big photo op. Please note our awesomely wind-blown hair.
You can tell by the picture just how windy it was that day! I love this photo. We were so genuinely happy to be there.
We spent a few hours driving through the park and exploring the wild scenery. If you’d never been, I HIGHLY recommend spending some time in the Badlands. The landscape is totally out of this world. It felt like we drove 7 hours through flat Dakota farmlands and ended up on the moon.
We photo-oped HARD all over this National Park. Can you tell??
The Badlands were one of the many hidden treasures we found on this road trip. Everyone we talked to while planning the trip said the Badlands were a must-see. I have to admit, before actually seeing it myself, I didn’t “get it”. I pictured a place you’d visit on an ultra boring family vacation as a kid. Long car rides though nothing-ness only to end up in the middle of no where. Maybe we were just here at the right time, and I happened to be with the right people. But, my afternoon cruising through the Badlands will be a happy memory forever.
As we left the park, we saw a rainstorm roll in over the horizon (MAGICAL!) we encountered some fearless wildlife just hanging out on the side of the road.
We encountered some fearless wildlife just hanging out on the side of the road.
After a few hours of exploration, we headed towards the Black Hills of western South Dakota. We literally chased the sunset. This was our first night in unchartered territory and we wanted to find a hotel (or at least civilization) before it got too dark. We also wanted to get as close to Mount Rushmore as possible as this was our next destination on the list.
We made it to Keystone, South Dakota on what seemed to be the last night of tourist season. We found a room at an Econolodge for about $60. Great for the budget, slightly scary on the cleanliness scale. The guy at the front desk said this was the last night the hotel would be open until spring. He said only the local Holiday Inn keeps a few rooms available through the winter. Most of the local restaurants had already closed down for the season too. (This was late October.) We felt super lucky we had made it here, even though we had to ask for clean sheets for the beds.
Looking back, this hotel was a hilarious experience. Megan and I have both worked in hotels at one point in life and so we have, shall I say, a more critical eye that the average hotel guest. It was pretty obvious they did not expect many rooms to be filled on the last night of the season. We suspected housekeeping didn’t change the bedding and cleaned just the bare minimum. We put a fresh fitted sheet over the whole bed – sheets, pillows and all, and used our travel blankets to cover up. We couldn’t figure out the heater in the room and in our exhaustion, we just let the unit freeze us while we slept. None of us slept well. It was pretty miserable in the moment. At one point, around 3 am when we were all awake just staring at the ceiling, I considered just starting the day. Frozen and super tired, we finally woke up around 5am to begin another day of adventure.
Check back soon for Day Three when we explore Mt Rushmore, the Rocky Mountains, and downtown Denver…
Did you miss Day One of our road trip? Read it now! OR plan your own road trip and check out my Top 6 Road Trip Essentials.
Have you been to the Badlands? What was your experience?
Comment below!