Mary Beth Writes

5/16/2022

Yes, Len and I are back (a week ago) from a wonderful vacation in South Dakota. We stayed four nights in an Airbnb in Wasta, SD, which we picked it because it’s close to the west entrance of Badlands National Park. After we chose it, we discovered it was hugely inexpensive, so if you want to know more about the place, I assure you there is only one Airbnb in Wasta, SD (population 65). The house was tiny, clean, had adequate hot water, and a completely functional kitchen. When the TV wouldn’t work the evening after cable guys had been burying cables that morning, we called the owner who lives 18 miles north and she drove over immediately. Of course, by the time she arrived the cable had kicked back in because that’s how things work in the real world, right? Pam was super pleasant and helpful.

When Len and I dated we talked about how much we loved wide open plains. Here at this end of our long marriage, this trip felt a bit like time travelling backwards. We kidded about who we thought we were going to become and how that worked out. We recalled funny things from bringing our kids here when they were little.

Beng able to remember good times together is a luxury.

Castle Trail crosses the center of the northern unit of the park. We walked most of it; one day from the east end while wearing our parkas, two days later day from the west end wearing shorts while dripping sweat. The second hike we brought peanut butter and banana sandwiches and sat on the side of a formation and ate while gazing at the amazing lunar scenery all around us. Later we ate Fig Newtons at Saddle Pass, elevation 300’ - there were Dall sheep grazing while we did that.

Being in the Badlands is chilly mornings and then the hot sun. It's the wind blowing past one’s ears. It's hearing the mumbling of fellow hikers a half mile away. It's quartz rocks just lying there where nature dropped them a hundred floods ago. It fills your spirit. The wind drowns the chatter in your head. You get to walk around and be there and that is practice for how to live anywhere.

We saw those curved horn Dall sheep, bazillions of perky prairie dogs, bison with their babies, and one coyote trotting through a prairie too fast for Len to get a photo. Which is how you know it was a Wiley coyote.

We’ve been home a week and on-going life is packed. Trying to write some other projects. One kid just moved. A grand-boy is having a birthday party next week. A new grandchild had surgery and is fine. I can’t keep up but I am trying hard to hear the wind whooshing past my ears as I live my lucky life.

I have 200 pretty good photos and here we go with hardly any of them.

 

 

 

Comments

Leonard's picture

They were always so far away. Oh, and this just in, we just got a post card from the coyote that Mary Beth talked about, "Hey, saw you guys. Sorry I couldn't stay for pics. Had some business to attend to. By the way, if someone tells you that one of the prairie dogs is missing, I don't know anything about it. Also, you should get a better password on your phone because a lot of guys out here know how to hijack your Chewy account, but not me, for sure."

Loved hearing about your vacation. Len’s comment/postcard made me laugh!

Enjoyed reading about the trip, we texted as we all drove back from our trips (Lincoln Nebraska was not quiet the same)... The photos of the amazing landscape, and Len's comments made my day... Thanks

Glad you had a wonderful vacation! "Being able to remember good times together is a luxury," it is indeed, my friend. Thank you for sharing them with us. Be well! Patricia

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Y is for Yellowstone

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IRTNOG

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Tag Cloud

9/11 17 minutes 500 Words A-Z AARPtaxes AAUW abortion Acadia accident Accountable Advent aging Alaska anniversary antibiotics antlers apples appointments Arrows art Ashland August Augustine aunts baby Badlands balance Baldwin Barbara Barkskins Beauty Becky Becoming Esther Berry birthday bistro BLM Blue BookReport books boy scout Bread BrokenDays BuyAngry Cabeza de Vaca Cahokia calendars Canada canoe cat romance cats cello Chicago China Choosing Christmas cilantro Cinnabuns circus climate change clouds Clowns clutter Colonialism comet ComfortZone CommonSense community consumerism Cops Corvid-19 Courage Covid-19 Crazy creditreport creosote CrimeShows danger DarkRiver death Debate December DecisionFatigue decluttering democracy dentist depression Destination Today Detroit Didion disasterprep dogs dollhouse Dreams Duty Easter eBay Echoes Eclipse election EmilyDickinson eschatology Esquipulas exit polls eyes Fable FairTrade family farmer Fata Morgana ferns firealarm Fitness Five Flatbread Flexible flu Food Pantry Fort de Chartres frame Franc FrancGarcia friends frugal FrugalHacks Frugality frustration Ft.Ticonderoga fungi fusion Galena Gannets Garden GarfieldParkConservatory Gaspe genius geode GeorgeFloyd gerrymandering ghosts gifts girls GNTL gorgons goulash GovernorThompsonStatePark Graduation grandkids granola groceries Guatemala gum guns Hair happiness HaveYouEver? hawks healthcare Healthinsurance hearings heart heaven HelleKBerry heroes hike History home HomeRepair Honduras Hope HowCrowGotOutofJail humor hurricane Ice Cream idiosyncrasy igloos impeachment Innkeeper Instincts integrity InternetPrivacy Interview InviteMe2Speak James Baldwin Jan 6 Janus jewelry JoyceAndrews Judy JulianofNorwich Jump justice Karen kites ladder Lady Lamb LangstonHuges LaphamPeak laundry LeeLeeMcKnight lemming Len Light Lincoln Little Women LockedOut Loki loneliness LouisArmstrong Love Ludington Macaw macho Manitoulin MargaretFuller Maria Hamilton Marquette marriage Marsden Hartley masks Mayan MayaWorks meme Memories men Middlemarch MilesWallyDiego MindfulChickens Mistakes MLK moon Mother MothersDay mounds mouser movies museums must-haves Mustapha NAMI Nancy Drew Newfoundland New Mexico New York City Nomadland nope observation OBUUC Ocotillo OnaJudge ordinary OscarRomero osprey Outside oximeter Parade mayhem PastorBettyRendon Paul Hessert PDQ Penny persimmon photos Pi Pies pineapples poetry Preaching privacy procrastination Protest QE2 Quern quest Questions Rabbit holes racism reading recipe recipes recommendations Remember RepresentationMatters Reruns responsetoKapenga Retirement rhubarb Ricky rime RitesofPassage romance Rosemary Ruether Roses Roti Ruth SamaritanWoman Sanctuary Sandhillcranes Santuario de Chimayo SaraKurtz SaraRodriguez satellites ScottSimon sculpture Seasons Sermon ServantsoftheQuest sewing Shepherd Shontay ShortStory shoulder sick sickness Slower snow Social Security SofritoBandito solstice South Dakota SpaceShuttle spirituality spring square feet staining stars stele Stereotypes stories StoryStarts stream monitoring stress Survival swim Talent taxes teenager thankgsgiving Thanksgiving TheBridge TheMaid ThePerpetualYou therapy ThreeBillBoards Three Thing ThreeThings Three Things TidalBore TimeBeing toddler Tom tortillas Trains travel Traveler Tubing turtle Twilight Bark Tyrone Ukraine Ulysses Grant Umbrella UnrelatedObservations Up North urgency vacation vaccine Valentines vanilla Vietnam vision VivianWokeUpDrowning Vocabulary vole volunteer WalkingAndSeeing Wampanaog war WarsanShire weather weaving Webs wedding whines WhyAttendChurch Wiley Willa WillaCather Wisteria Won! Wonder words Xeriscape Yellowstone
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