Badlands! Bad! Bad!

You know, it's really hard not to be able to do everything.

Lest you fear that I'm waxing philosophical ... I'm not. Not a bit. I'm just kvetching about all the wonderful things there are in South Dakota that are just a little bit too far away for me to see them.

Sure, I'd like to see Mount Rushmore. And Deadwood. And the Badlands - especially the Badlands. However, all of these are at least a 5+ hour drive from De Smet. I suppose that I could have structured the trip in another way that would allow for westward movement, but I was afraid that I'd end up trying to jam waaaay to much sightseeing into a one-week visit. And, to be honest, that instinct is probably spot-on. I planned this trip to check out a few of the Little House sites, and I deliberately tried to give myself time to really explore each thing. I like to think that I'll be glad I did.

But .... the Badlands. The goddam Badlands. The more I read about them, the more I really want to go. The pictures I've seen are amazing, and the descriptions I've read are compelling. I just don't know what to do. Even if I were to set aside a day ... well, it's a five-hour drive there and a five-hour drive back to De Smet. That leaves precious little time for actual, well, Badlanding, you know? It's really the sort of thing that would require quite a bit of time to adequately see. Days. Maybe even a week. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to back-burner the Badlands.

Too bad. It's sad. But to try to squeeze it in? I'd have to be mad.

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Days until trip: 40
Money Saved: $485.00