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Our next major stop would be in Missouri but to get there from the Badlands, we worked in two nights, one in Mitchell South Dakota and one in Omaha, Nebraska. Nebraska is one of three states I hadn't been in before. So now I only have Wisconsin and North Dakota left! Probably won't make those two but that is okay!
In Omaha, we decided to visit Lauritzen Gardens which is Omaha's botanical gardens and also the site of several of the Union Pacific iconic railroad cars. Omaha was the headquarters for this railroad and the money to found this garden. It was really a very nice garden with a guided tour in an open bus which was lovely. The weather was a little iffey though we didn't get any rain.
Lovely water lily ponds to greet you.
View from the ride.
These twig elephants greeted you inside the visitor center which is attached to the large greenhouse.
This is a Bat Flower which was new to me. It was in the greenhouse as were all of these others.
Creeping Fig.
Lantana.
Natal Lily.
There were lots of orchids which are among my favorites!
Nothing can beat the orchid show in NYC in the spring of each year though.
After the tour through the gardens, we headed for our hotel which ended as real test of endurance. We couldn't blame it on the GPS this time. We ended up going around in circles on and off a major many many lane expressway for a good half hour. Finally Vicki basically said she was going to take the first road she saw which was into a small shopping center. Well, the motel was indeed there but you had to go through the shopping center and by the Social Security Administration Bldg to get to it. There was no other entrance -- we looked. They had a map with a figure 8 on it in the motel to explain how to get back to the expressway! Yes, you had to do a figure 8 to even get to this shopping center. We were not happy campers! The next day our agenda was to head to the Missouri Star Quilt Company and then visit with Vicki's brother who lives just outside Kansas City, Missouri. We would stay in KC and then head on to St. Louis where we would be for two nights.
The Badlands are the last of the National Parks we will be visiting. I had been there many years ago and it didn't disappoint. It doesn't take long to visit as you basically just drive through if you are not an intrepid hiker! It takes no longer than half a day to see everything.
There were two types of views basically in the Badlands -- those looking up at the stone monoliths and then looking out over the rocks. The layers are pretty distinct and each layer signifies a different time in the prehistory of the area.
We found a nice picnic area (all covered to block out the hot sun) and this gave me a chance to look for some birds and flowers.
This is a Lark Sparrow which is a new bird for me.
This is Bindweed which is a type of morning glory.
This is a Western Kingbird which is another first for me. Evidently the small red crest on his head is very unusual to see. It was not mentioned in either of my bird books but a birder on the FB Bird ID site mentioned it. I later found mention of it on the Cornel Ornithology site as well. Evidently they hide it until they are going after hawks or kestrels. I didn't find one picture of it on the net. The crest was what had fooled me as I just couldn't find it on any of the birds I was looking at.
My favorite part of the park is of course the Prairie Dog town.
This Prairie Dog has a backdrop of all those Bindweeds!
Decided to show the destination first in today's blog!! This is of course the famous Mt. Rushmore. To get the view now, you have to first park in the designated parking garage and then walk along a walkway with a visitor's center, vendors and then a boulevard with flags on either side. It is a beautiful view though and certainly iconic! My fellow travelers opted to come back in the evening for a patriotic lighting ceremony. As my body resisted the mountain daylight time, I sat this one out. They reported that it was a really lovely event.
The ride across Montana was really quite beautiful which surprised me. There were lots and lots of cattle ranches. You can still see some mountains in this photo but as the day wore on, we were seeing why it was called Big Sky Country; There were stark plains with intense blue sky - very few trees to block the view. It changed somewhat again as we neared South Dakota and we started seeing the rocks and trees again.
All of these photos were taken through the windows of the car while we were driving. As the scenery was pretty consistent, didn't seem much point in stopping to take photos!
If you look really closely at the above picture, the the lower right hand quadrant, there is a lone deer.
Our next stop will be the Badlands, then onto Mitchell, South Dakota for the night. We are officially on our way back home now. Our only remaining planned stops are Kansas City Missouri, Missouri Star Quilt Company, St. Louis, Missouri and Albertsville, Alabama.
My oldest daughter Lisa thought that I wouldn't see anything more impressive than what I had already seen on this journey when I talked to her right before leaving Yellowstone. I am happy to say she was wrong! Vicki discovered what is described as "#1 Scenic Highway" according to Chas. Kuralt. We set out through the northeast entrance to Yellowstone to meet up with this highway -- Hwy 212 or the Beartooth Highway. We planned on our next stop being Billings Montana and then onto Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands the next day.
We again drove through the park to get to the other side and one of two roads in Yellowstone I hadn't been on. It follows along the Lamar River pictured here.
Heading out from that Northeast Entrance, we finally saw the huge herds of bison!!
More interesting rock formations and of course another beautiful day.
We started seeing some of the mountains off in the distance.
Each scene was more beautiful than the last as we headed up through the mountains. It was truly breathtaking. We started checking our altitude and got up to about 11,500 feet and there was plenty of snow.
I had to include these two GPS pictures to give you an idea of the ride. I sincerely thought it made the Switzerland mountaains we drove through 25 years ago look like a piece of cake!! Notice that the GPS suggested a speed of 70 mph. It must have been a straightaway as I noted Vicki was doing 42 mph here. Often it was 15 mph.
As we headed downhill, Vicki was a bit nervous about overheating her brakes, so we found a nice peaceful place by the side of the road to have lunch. This gave me the opportunity to take pictures of many of the wildflowers that I had been seeing. I have identified some but not all.
This is a Shrubby Cinquefoil I believe.
Wild Strawberry
Yellow Columbine
This is a variaation of the Yellow Columbine.
Rydberg's Arnica I think.
Mountain Bluebell.
Harebells
There were a couple of other flowers I couldn't identify as well.
I believe this is a Violet-Green Swallow. I saw him by our hotel in West Yellowstone just as we were leaving.
We stopped at a botanical garden in Billings but it was more commercial wedding venue than anything so we walked around about five minutes before we left! You can't win them all! On to Mt. Rushmore!!
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