Day 20: Chaska > Badlands

Blue Earth Giant

This was going to be another seven plus hour drive. I'd come to learn that Adler’s tolerance level was for a six hour drive max so I planned to break this up more than normal so that we'd both arrive sane. We made our first stop two hours south from Chaska in Blue Earth to see the Jolly Green Giant statue. It’s a 55 foot tall fiberglass replica of the cartoon character found on cans of vegetables in your cupboard. In case you’re wondering…

• His smile is 4 feet across
• His shoe size is a 78
• He weighs 8,000 lbs
• He only cost $48 K (1978 dollars)

Then it was due east on highway 90 to Badlands. Larry had advised us that we’d face incremental weather on the drive. I really didn’t care. I had already checked the weather at our destination in Badlands and it said partly cloudy. The drive was WAY much wetter than expected. And it seems like most of these states reserve road construction for the summer months. There have been miles and miles of single lane traffic. It sucks when you’re trying to get somewhere fast. I skipped the drive-thru so that we could make our second stop of the day for lunch at a DQ. Adler had seen commercials for the Blizzard before we left on the trip and kept asking for one. Today seemed no better day given that it was a long drive to reward him. He chose the s’more blizzard (of course) and criticized me for ordering the mini instead of the small. “You know I can eat a small, Dad.”

Posing with prairie dogs

The rain finally slowed down about 80 miles from Badlands. Our third stop was technically already in the Badlands but allowed us both to stretch a bit and play around with prairie dogs. The other people warned us when we arrived that they were full and not eating anything so we didn't buy any peanuts for them--just posed for photos.

I was getting worried that we’d not only be camping in the rain but that the prime star viewing location would be under cloud cover. I believe this area of the country has had a lot of rain this year because most of the farming land that we drove through was submerged in water. You’d see two feet of corn stock jutting out of small ponds along the drive. When we got to the campground my hear sank when I saw this site only to realize that we were site 47 across the road with no residual water. Whew!

Not our campsite.

Adler and I got the tent setup, played frisbee and catch with a baseball. Around sunset we jumped in the car to explore the Badlands and take advantage of the great sunlight and happened upon a rabbit. The Badlands are inexplicable. During the loooong drive here I was thinking it would just be a replica of Bryce Canyon just placed in the middle of prairie. I was having second thoughts about the wisdom of seeing the same thing again. It is not the same. Far from it. The Badlands got its name because it was almost impassible back in the day of horse and carriage. The place resembles a cross between a desert moonscape and sand castle. The buttes jut up from the prairie floor in magnificent fashion against the carpet of green prairie grass. Upon closer inspection the buttes appear to be assembled out of mud. You wonder if a heavy rainstorm could wash away this natural brilliance. I was wrong. This place is cool. I look forward to driving around and viewing more tomorrow.

Moonrise at Badlands

Our day wrapped up at the amphitheater for a ranger presentation about bats. Seriously?!? Don’t the rangers at parks have any other topics to talk about? I thought Adler and I had learned everything about bats during the trivia at Carslbad Cavern. Once again, I was wrong. Ranger Brad put together one of the most impressive Powerpoint presentations that I’ve ever seen. This park ranger was compelling and riveting to listen to. There was almost no redundant material. Kudos to Ranger Brad. But the real reason we were at the amphitheater was because at 8:45 when the ranger finished his presentation they opened it up to star gazing. Volunteers brought large, sophisticated telescopes to aid in viewing. We’d also crossed back into the mountain time zone during the day so this mean that it was closer to 10 o’clock and poor Adler’s internal clock just couldn’t stay up. We did get to view the moon and Jupiter through a telescope before he retired to bed complaining that he wasn’t seeing any stars because the moon was too bright. Tomorrow will be a day filled with short drives and several destinations...