Minute Man Missile National Historic Site, Wall Drug, and Badlands National Park

Our trip to the Dakotas (and Wyoming) started with a visit to one of Jim's distributors in Rapid City, followed by an hour drive to the east to visit the Minute Man Missile National Historic Site visitor center. It was fascinating to learn the history of the ICBM developed during the Cold War and how the US maintained an arsenal of over 1000 missiles "hidden in plain sight" all across the Great Plains. We also stopped at the Delta-09 missile launch site where we were able to look down into the missile silo.

Looking down into the Delta-09 missile silo

Standing in front of the missile silo

The next stop was the iconic Wall Drug which was advertised on billboards the entire way from Rapid City as we drove east. Wall Drug was founded in 1931 and became famous when the owner's wife had the idea to advertise free ice water along the highway. Today it is a massive roadside tourist attraction that still offers free ice water and 5 cent coffee in a western themed complex.

The afternoon was spent visiting our 39th national park - Badlands National Park. We drove along the scenic loop drive stopping at most of the overlooks and took some time at the visitor center to plan our hikes for the next day. Then we drove back to our hotel in Rapid City and had dinner at The Firehouse Brewery.

The next day we were back in Badlands National Park to do some exploring on foot. The first hike of the day was the 1-mile Door Trail which is comprised of a boardwalk that leads to a break in the wall of the badlands known as The Door.

The Window Trail which leads to a natural window in the badlands wall was next.

Followed by the Notch Trail which contains a log ladder that eventually leads to a cliff edge view of the badlands.

Looking back on the log ladder

Our last hike for the day was the Cliff Shelf Trail after which we stopped back in at the visitor center before heading out of the park back to Rapid City.

There was a herd of buffalo alongside the road as we were exiting the national park.