This Beautiful Place - The Sierra Valley

Do you know what the perfect time of day is? When the sun dips low enough to let the blanket of twilight sweep relief through every fiber of your body. Do you know what the most beautiful part of the day is? When soft light bathes even the smallest pebble and bud in glow, yes glow, the glow you feel radiating through your smile because everything is alive and happy - for these few brief hours each night the world feels relaxed and at peace. For me, that is the happiest time of day because no matter where you are it is beautiful.

But this summer has been particularly great because we've had quite a few amazing thunder and hail storms! I was super pumped to experience a Southern thunderstorm, but we just have a different type over here - both are great, both still fascinate me (I've actually taken a few meterology classes and loved them, I toyed with the idea of become a storm chaser, ha!)! I love the smell of rain, especially in the summer because everything seems to steam off, feeling refreshed in the heat. But thunderstorms, now they leave the air charged and static and exciting! Add all of the above together and you have basically my elixir of life. Long story short, we took to the cruisers and set off to soak up this elixir and watch the sunset (Although separate, another pleasant thing that follows the best part of the day, sunset). 

The bikes certainly caught their attention!

Part of the storm, moving North (to the left)

The classic bird on a wire, thunderstorm clouds overhead

After we visited the cows, we ended up here, and decided to watch the sunset from the stacks. Pictured above is the other half of the thunderstorm moving on South, much less sinister as a cotton candy sky.  

Panorama before the sunset, just a portion of the valley.

Bad Lands

A lot of driving, a lot of flat space. Even after we entered the Bandlands National Park, the plains sprawled out for miles, beautiful and grassy. Suddenly out of nowhere the plains look as if they are falling away as you stare at them to reveal layers of history. Standing here, the Earth feels as if at any moment it will slip away into these strangely eroded crevasses. Erosion is King here, creating these gorgeous formations, deep canyons, pinnacles and spires, and revealing one of the worlds richest fossil beds. Evidence of the sea that once covered the area, the Yellow Mounds' paleosols contrast beautifully with the greys of the surrounding cliffs.

 

I have to admit, I was unsure about camping here, but once I saw the campground I was totally in love!  Maybe it was just because evening had began and a light warm breeze tickled the wildflowers surrounding the tent. It was probably because each site had a wooden wind breaker covering the picnic tables, I want one of my own! Pictures are: The campsite, the campground, mountain view over an empty site, sunset view, and the sun illuminating my tent - dome light! Also, say hey to the camping trunk, heyyy! That trunk has been through a lot!

There are hikes in the Badlands, the boardwalks with informational plaques are especially nice, but there also seems to be an open space policy. If you can be smart and respectful you can sorta walk around wherever you like...you want to go walk down that canyon over there, ok yeah, keep an eye out! I definitely would love to come back and continue exploring this place - there is a hike-in campsite that you could see from one of the points and I think I'll have to check it out next time!

After leaving the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, we saw a very interesting billboard advertising a place called "Wall Drug." Some miles later we saw another billboard, "The Free Ice Store!" Then another, then another. For nearly 900 miles (yes, I calculated it), yes, 900 miles..this "Wall Drug" advertised with billboard after billboard (in hindsight I really should have taken more pictures of the signs!), each unique and advertising something different. Upon leaving Badlands you are basically fed right into Wall Drug and after 900 miles of dedicated advertising how could we not check it out?! The sign on the door cracked me up, I felt like it should say "Glad you finally made it!" Let me just give a tip of the hat to Wall Drug, it was pretty amazing. I proudly put a "Where the heck is Wall Drug??" bumper sticker on my trunk. What is it? I'll leave it for you to discover one day!