As mentioned before, the proprietor of the Ingalls Homestead had a recommendation for our itinerary. At this point in the trip we were considering skipping North Dakota because folks had told us that it wasn’t worth the drive and there was nothing to see there. The proprietor was not of the same opinion. She told us that there was another set of badlands in Theodore Roosevelt National Park and that they were well worth seeing. She convinced us, and we were later very thankful that she did! For one thing, they were indeed worth seeing. Secondly, we would really have regretted that lonely, blank state on our USA map!
Although we were happy with our decision, it did create quite a squiggle in our path…it meant we would be making a long drive north to Teddy Roosevelt NP in North Dakota, followed shortly after with a drive back south to hit Badlands NP back in South Dakota.
We found out that the scientific name of the American buffalo is Bison bison. So it became our family joke to see a buffalo and cry out, “Bison bison!”
Beware…if you are queasy you might want to skip the next photo: dead Bison bison. Richard and Creed found it on a hike.