The photos from the previous post were taken in Millenium Park, a part of Grant Park, on the lake shore in Chicago. I arrived around 3pm on Wednesday (9/24), and wandered around the city, mostly around Northwestern University's campus, until around 7, when I met up with Kathryn, my mom and my friend who is living in Chicago at the moment. We went to a restaurant called Nacional 27, a latin cuisine place, and had delicious food, including ceviche. It was fun to hang out in Chicago with a local, but I didn't feel like I fit in when I was wandering.... in my hiking shorts and no bra... People kept looking at me, and at first I thought they were flirting and I thought it was the strangest city ever, but then I realized that EVERYONE around me was wearing a suit, and I realized that their staring wasn't due to interest, but confusion as to why I would be wearing hiking clothes in the middle of the city at the end of a workday.
After waking up and going to Grant Park, where the bean is located (the previous post photos), I drove from Chicago to Ames, Iowa, where Leslie Lepeltak, a friend from Peru, goes to school. We hung out around her campus for a bit, and then went to a Brazilian cafe, where we had the most dangerously delicious alcoholic beverages I have ever tasted.... Passionfruit Batida. I recommend it.
I headed out around 9:30 or 1o the next morning, and had a long day of driving, to the point that I started to get sick of it (which was the first time it had happened so far, so that is pretty good). The one exciting thing on the way through Iowa and Minnesota was the unusual amount of wind turbines/wind farms. I passed no less than 15 wind farms of varying sizes.
As soon as I got close to the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands (which surround Badlands National Park), the scenery went from mediocre to gorgeous! And I sensed the dramatic cliffs of badlands, the reverse canyons, just beyond the prairies.
When I got to the entrance and could see the beginnings of the crazy "white hills" (or "Mako Sica" as they are known by the Lakota Native Americans, who were once promised eternal ownership of these lands and the black hills), I couldn't contain my excitement, and I started screaming and laughing at the top of my lungs. It felt amazing to have that kind of emotion bubbling over, inspired by, finally, true wilderness in my own country!
I got to the park just in time for sunset, and took my time getting to the campsite, so that I could soak in the amazing landscape, saturated in setting-sun-red light. The night sleeping there was pretty chilly (low 40s), and VERY windy, but it was great to wake up and see the sun rising above the rugged cliffs.
Today was my tour of the park. I drove the Badlands Loop Road, stopping at every viewpoint, and taking a 2 hour hike up a cliff and onto the upper grassland and back. I took 900+ pictures in 24 hours. Obviously I can't share even a decent fraction of the images that I captured, but maybe the few that I show you will inspire you all to travel here too... It is an other-worldly kind of place, and definitely evokes many emotions. Here are my favorite photos from the day.
It would not be fair to put more photos up, but it is not fair to leave the rest of them out, so I will put them in my web gallery. If you want to see more (though not all of the photos that I took), it is
http://gallery.me.com/caseys_travels/100052
http://gallery.me.com/caseys_travels/100052
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