A Corney day

Well, the long days seem to be the norm, I guess. (duh)
This morning, we ate a lovely breakfast outside, then wandered into town to mail mom's postcards. They've such a neat, tidy downtown.
As we left the town of Canistota, we took a bunch of farming photos; mom had remembered that this month's Firehouse gallary show has to do with farming.

Then, we went towards Mitchell, SD. There, we visited the corn palace (everything it promises to be!). Lunch was next door at the Stadium. The waitress there was in the peace corps in some eastern European country I'd never heard of, but then she returned. After lunch, we wandered a couple doors down for a cup of joe and some internet time. Again, I ended up talking to the people in there about Alaska and volcanoes. In exchange, I was let in on a sad story about a child, a rock, and a goldfish. Meanwhile, the internet wasn't working, and they couldn't get it to work. Roughing it :)

The badlands were calling, so we bade Mitchell goodbye and headed back onto the interstate to continue our westerning. Just before the Missouri river, we checked out a visitor center/overlook. They had a great display of Louis and Clark stuff. Loved their spellings. What a cool scientist, too. We'd finally reached, by the appearances of vegetation, some juniper land. We're definitely getting further west!

We arrived in the badlands in the early evening, with plenty of time to do a small hike to the window overview. Pretty! We found a nearby campground, then zipped down the park road to get some more sunset photos in.

Camp was a nice affair with my humongous tent finally winning my approval. The thing is BIG, 6 people big, and not meant for wind. Original misgivings were tossed aside as I got used to the luxury of not stepping on anyone, or anything, and being able to stand up inside.

Dinner was almost at the nearby trading post. Then almost at the park entrance. Then almost in the nearby town of interior. In the end, it turned out to be a Turkey Tetrazzini backpacker dinner. Tasty!

BTW, Not sure if I mentioned it in my previous post. I'm still beating myself up for not pulling over and taking a photo of the 60' Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, MN that we passed on I-90.