September 15, 2017 Badlands National Park, South Dakota

We had a very busy day sight seeing.

It has been raining and it has really brought out the colors in the Badlands.

Juniper berries that look like snow. We hiked the Cliff nature trail, the Door and Window trails today. They were mostly boardwalks. We wanted to hike more, but the rain turns the soil into sticky slick mud-like the sign says it is popcorn rock -when wet it expands 20 times it's size creating an extremely slick surface. Also there are rattlesnakes. This albino prairie dog was at the Prairie Homestead. Flowers and colors.

                                                                     More colors.

We stopped at the Prairie Homestead historic site.  It is an original sod house built in 1909. This is the first sod house I have ever seen. They dig into the hillside, then put sod walls up and a wood ceiling with dirt on top. They used boards later to shore up the insides when the sod walls sagged. They had to take their horse and wagon 15 miles to get boards. It was cool in the summer and warm in the winter in these.

A little closer look at the actual sod in the walls. This is the roof, I love that is says do not step on the roof. The wooded square goes into one of the windows.

John found this rifle on the wall. The chickens followed us around.

I about had a heart attack when I was checking out the outhouse and saw someone in it. It was a mannequin. This 'agricultural boiler' was typically shared by the neighbors to render hogs, scald chickens or wash heavy bedding etc.

The barn and garage is the last building they built after a 'cave' to keep the vegetables fresh and shelter from occasional severe storms and the chicken house. After the sod house we went to see the 12 foot, 6 ton cement prairie dog. Prairie dog towns are big tourist attractions in this area. It is at the Ranch Store, which has a huge picture of a prairie dog biker by the entrance. Inside are many prairie dog curios stuffed ones, magnet ones, t-shirts  etc. They also sold peanuts to feed the dogs. You could even get a souvenir koozie with complimentary peanuts in it.

We then stopped at the Minuteman missile national historic site visitors center. There is also a decommissioned missile silo and command center you can tour, but the tours are full. We visited one in North Dakota when we went through there-so we have seen one before. The visitors center was about the missiles, the cold war and nuclear weapons. It was very depressing.  On the way back we checked out the other eating establishment and bar in Interior, the Horseshoe. I left John to have a beer and walked to the grocery store. He came and got me pretty fast. He said the place was so sleazy he was afraid he would catch something.

My newest masterpiece basket is being made around an old antique potato masher. We'll see how it comes out.