From MI to WA Part 1: the badlands

In July of 2010, my husband, Edward, and I moved from Allendale, Michigan to Spokane, Washington so he could take a job at Gonzaga University. This was an epic trip for both of us, as we had never seen most of the states we would be driving through, nor had we ever been to the Pacific Northwest. This would be an adventure and we were both excited about the things we were going to see, places we planned to visit and the unexpected sights along the way. This is part one of a series, so I can share scads of photos with you.

 We left Michigan on Wednesday, July 28- my husband's 35th birthday. Our first stop, which is not pictured, was Madison, WI. We have several friends who live there and we wanted to see them one last time before leaving the Midwest indefinitely. There happened to be a concert on the lawn of the capitol building by the symphony orchestra and the ballet. It was beautiful and so was the weather. We picnicked with friends and then went back to their apartment to have tea and pie. I always make my husband a peach pie for his birthday, so my dear friend Alexis made one.

The next morning I had breakfast with other friends in the same building and then we left for the real adventure- leaving all known states behind and heading toward Iowa and South Dakota. Here is a list of things we saw along the way:

• The world's largest bull head in wood
• White cows
• A six ton gopher
• A dinosaur on a leash
• A sign for "Dick's 24 hr Toe Service"
• Two more incorrect signs: "The Corn Palace- Bushel's of Fun" and "Whoa n' Go" (why doesn't anyone know how to use apostrophes?)
• Corn
• Wind turbines (as pictured above)
• Construction

 We stopped at several rest areas because I drink a lot of coffee. At one we found the above cute chapel. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere in Iowa (note the fields of flatness in the background). Inside we found a small pulpit, a few benches, some books and several tracks- including one that was printed in Grand Rapids, MI! This really shouldn't have surprised us, as we have several Christian publishing houses and ministries centered in West Michigan. But we were leaving home behind and were happy to find that it reached at least that far West.

We spent a little extra time at this stop, walking the paths and praying/reading in the chapel. We wondered how it came to be there and who had used it over the years. It was a nice, quiet stop, especially since change is a form of chaos, and we were in for a lot of change.

 Then we hit the badlands!

This is the first thing we saw after more than an entire state of flat corn fields.

It was breathtaking. It left me speechless. Edward and I wandered around the park entrance each alone and just looked in silence, coming together for a quick photo and then moving on to another pull out area to wander in silence again.

I took over 100 photos of the badlands and it was very difficult to choose which ones to post. Below are a few that I couldn't resist posting. The rest are on facebook or in my personal photo library. Feel free to check the facebook photos out if you don't get enough beauty here.

Edward set up our new tent, purchased for this trip, at sunset. I wandered around the campsite and snapped the beauty. The sun was setting in a clear sky to the West while a storm was brewing to the South. It came close, but never over us. I watched the dark, ominous clouds as they gave a light show and then a rainbow.

We ate dinner, some camp food we brought along, and watched the rest of the show together. It was peaceful and amazing.

Edward found a friend on the trunk of our car. We both like bugs, so I took a few pictures of him.

This is what we went to bed to.

And this is what we woke up to.

That isn't exactly right. I woke up before the sun, which is saying something in July! I work for Starbucks, so I am used to being up early. We had also crossed two time zones and the ground was rather hard.

The sky was clear when I woke up. I got out of the tent, used the nicer than expected restroom facilities, ate some breakfast and journal-ed (that should really be a word) while the sun started to rise. As I ate my granola bar, I watched the grey dawn light begin to peek over the mountains at the edge of our campground and then watched it become completely obscured by a wall of mist! It traveled so fast that there was hardly time to be alarmed. It was beautiful and scary at the same time, a true definition of awesome! Then the light broke through.

The sun rose in a magnificent splendor of mountain and mist. We wanted to watch it for hours, but as the mist passed over us an on to the West, we realized that we were going to have to drive through it! We quickly packed up the car and headed out, chasing a cloud and yet in the midst of it.

Parts of the road were horrifying. It swerved and switched back with two narrow lanes, no guard rails, and steep drops off on each side. We even missed the prairie dog village due to the dim.

And then we began to drive down hill and this is what we saw! I have never seen a sky so blue before. The rocks looked less red and orange in this light and there was more vegetation than before. We pulled out at almost every pull off parking area to gaze at the amazing views. God paints the most incredible pictures. My eyes almost hurt from the loveliness of His creation.

We saw some wildlife up close, as well; mostly deer and gopher-like creatures. It was an amazing day.

We went from mist and fear to beautiful blue sky to more mist with less fear to more beautiful blue sky as we descended from the high shelf of the badlands to the valleys below the Black Hills. We were on our way to see Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. They would be impressive works of man's hand. But this was more amazing by far and a life changing beauty. We would see more of God's wonders in Yellowstone National Park on the fourth day of our journey. But that is a future post. For now, enjoy a bit of what we saw and wonder.

So long for now.