Not Quite Montana...

The boys decided to watch Live Free or Die Hard with surround sound in the car while they were on break from the wheel.


We finally made it to the badlands of North Dakota! Just in time to get the low angle of the sun against all of the layers of sediment and erosion in the Painted Canyon. It was breathtaking. We could only imagine what it must have been before...underwater mountains, perhaps?


One of the most incredible things about the badlands was how they came out of nowhere. One minute we were driving along the plains, wondering if maybe the badlands didn't come north of the n dakota/s dakota border, the next we went over a ridge and were in the middle of them!


...And they stretch on as far as you can see.


We needed a break from our cramped carride anyways, so when we found a hiking trail into the canyon we were happy to take advantage of the time on our feet. The trail was a loop so we split up and met in the middle. The following few shots are from our walk:









Eventually we had to get back on the road. We still had quite a way to go, but we reached our goal of badlands before sundown! Go us!


The rooftop carrier had a few issues along the way, most of which were easily taken care of with a quick tightening of the material that was flapping against the roof. This time, though, it had just started to rain (again) AND the noise sounded like it was going to cause a dent in the car! So we stopped and lo and behold there was an opening in the sky jsut above the first signs of mountains! It was really intriguing how the clouds formed a ring around the snow-covered mountains and allowed the sun to come through. I took pictures and let the guys figure out the carrier!

On the road again, the sunset was quite beautiful once the clouds cleared. We got tired before we reached our destination in Livingston, Montana and made a stop at a restaurant where we played trivia games (BWW anyone?!), got some grub, and headed down the road a few miles before our first camping experience of the trip at a KOA site a few hours short. We figure that it will work out ok since we don't really need to be there until lunchtime...Keith's been telling us about the steaks there since January. Sooo...here goes my first camping experience ever.

PS--the guys thought it was hilarious that we almost ran out of gas in the middle of the thruway on the way to dinner...they are special.