May 25, 2022
What a plan we have for today! The main goal is to go to the Badlands National Park. It’s about a 2 hour drive from here so we decided to hit a few places on the way. The first stop was the South Dakota Air and Space Museum. It is right outside of Ellsworth Air Force Base. It has 20 to 30 various aircraft outside. There are a few more inside but the indoor portion of the museum does not open until 5/27/22. We are a couple of days early. Will have to return. The weather was beautiful. Sunny, breezy, and mild temperatures. Just right to get sunburned if you didn’t bring a hat or sunscreen. Really need to put those items in the truck. Some very awesome aircraft. At each plane they had facts about the aircraft and/or about how it was used or who flew it. I learned a lot more history by reading these. One of the most interesting planes there was the C-54D Spymaster. It was a bomber but during the Berlin Airlift, it actually dropped candy to the children of West Berlin. Another one I thought was very interesting was the F-101 Voodoo. The actual plane on site was flown by Indiana’s Gus Grissom, one of the original Mercury astronauts. All astronauts had to keep their flying skills. This is on our list to go back. We also saw a jack rabbit at this exhibit.
After we walked around for a couple of hours we headed a little further east. It worked out that the Minuteman National Historic Site is the same exit as the eastern entrance to the Badlands National Park. First stop, Minuteman. Nancy did not want to go in but I did for about a half hour. It is a very small but interesting site. They had some great items on display as well as a lot of video. The thing is I grew up during this “Cold War” Era. There are two other sites associated with this one, Delta 01 and Delta 09. I want to go to each of these. Delta 01 is a guided tour into an actual missile silo to see Launch Control Facility. On the list.
Next stop is the Badlands! It is quite the contrast. You first pull into the park and you see flat grassland. Then all of a sudden you see beautiful rock formations in multiple shapes and sizes. The views are beautiful. They have several trails available to hike. Nancy actually hiked about halfway on the Door Trail. You can see the big smile on her face on her selfie. A lot of the trails start with a boardwalk but then you go off road. There are several lookout points along the Badlands Loop. We did not stop at all of them but a lot of them. It was interesting to see the warning sign at the beginning of each trail we stopped. We did get to see some wildlife, all four-legged. There is another leg through The Badlands, Sage Creek Road, which will be the next time also. Wonderful drive.
When we left the park we opted to go to Wall, SD. The big attraction there is Wall Drug. It is an interesting place but we were in the mood for ice cream and the ice cream section just closed. Bad timing. There is a Harley dealer there, which will be on my radar for the next trip. We spent all day on the road, hiking, etc. and it was around 7:30PM by the time we got back to Custer. We opted to dine out at the Mount Rushmore Brewing Company. Nancy had prime rib sliders and I had chicken tenders. Both were very good! And of course, I had to try their beers. I had 3 that I would get again. A couple that were so-so and a couple that I did not care for. A good ending to a great day!
