Beauty in the Badlands and the men of Mount Rushmore

Beauty in the Badlands and the men of Mount Rushmore

I’ve visited many places I thought qualified as the middle of nowhere. As a teenager, I thought my college town in western Kentucky was remote. A recent visit to Great Basin National Park in Baker, Nevada took me six miles off the “Loneliest Road in America.” And Big Bend National Park was all the way in southern Texas, on the Rio Grande and the US border with Mexico.

But nothing feels as remote as the Badlands, especially when you’re still 35 miles from Wall, South Dakota, and your gas tank light comes on. That was my harrowing experience earlier this month.

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Going to the Sun in Glacier National Park

Going to the Sun in Glacier National Park

I recently spent a few days in Glacier National Park. I will definitely be back – and can imagine this park being amazing any time of the year.

Glacier is in Montana’s Rocky Mountains, northeast of Whitefish. I arrived, played, and left just as snow-filled clouds were rolling in. I needed to be moving fast at this point on the road trip, but I regret not being able to stay at least four days here earlier in the season.

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