We drove around the country in a van for months. We had no address except for that van. We slept in it. We stopped places for a couple days, a week. We hiked, camped. We made stops at probably 10 national parks, along the way. The Badlands was my favorite. We were there in October. It was freezing and rainy and muddy. The National Parks are our inheritance as a country. They are ours.
I would love to do that someday! I love my life, but I don’t get nearly enough time outdoors in gorgeous places. And speaking of gorgeous, I absolutely love that top picture. You could not look more Irish or more beautiful. It is so striking!
That was in the Badlands. It was actually a very bad day – but also very memorable. It was pouring rain and freezing. October or November. We were hiking along these muddy trails – and it felt like we were the only ones there. As we moved through that prehistoric landscape, we started to hear these … almost indescribable howls. I had never heard anything like it. We came out onto a muddy ledge where you got this huge vista – and stuck on one of the ledges below – was a white cow. The cow must have slipped down there and couldn’t get back up. We didn’t know what to do. It was one of those moments where you just have to walk away and let the animal world and Mother Nature do what it has to do. Once we got back to the campsite, we did report it to the park ranger, that there was a cow stuck in the mud! I have no idea what ended up happening. It was a very memorable day.
The Badlands really are something to see. I highly recommend taking a trip there.
Few things unite people of all backgrounds and political affiliations as the national parks. I want to show so many to my girls (7 and 3)! Amazing pictures!
They are our inheritance! There are still so many – so many – I haven’t been to. But I am grateful I took that road trip cross-country so many years ago where we visited as many as we could squeeze in. Sleeping in our camper van, or in tents. It was amazing.
Sheila
“They are our inheritance!”
I love the pictures and that story.
I don’t want to get all political here, and don’t want to go on, probably everyone needs a break and I was freaked out by a million other things and I just freaked out reading The Gop drafted an amendment calling for the indiscriminate and immediate disposal of national public lands. They snuck this in.
That congress devaluing public lands first steps to selling them off and allowing mining in national parks.
Selling off what is public to corporations and the mega wealthy.
I’m not very articulate about all this. But it’s making me really angry and a deep sadness is right underneath that.
These pictures and your stories make me and others want to do stuff like this! Will we be not allowed to soon?
Regina – I am deeply angry and deeply sad. These people are wretched kleptocrats. Their vision is to ruin our world. They don’t care about anything but filling their pockets. They also want to get rid of the Endangered Species Act. It’s a DISGRACE. among all the other disgraces. I can’t keep up at this point.
It’s heartbreaking.