Badlands of the Dakotas

We left South Dakota yesterday and headed south...but before we left we had to visit the "Badlands". We missed this in 2002 when we came through...it is just south of I-90...east of Rapid City. It reminded us of Death Valley a little bit. About 75 million years ago, this area was a shallow sea. Over time, the area became cooler and dryer...the sea disappeared and left this moon scape area. Even though it looks like nothing lives here, there are Coyote, porcupine, bighorn sheep, bobcats, magpies, bison, rattlesnakes, prairie dogs, black-footed ferrets and fox. Around the area is lots of prairie grass to feed these animals. This is a cool place to visit.