day 12: badlands, lots of driving, and... oh yeah!...

we headed out... bright and early... ready for the badlands!

truth be told, i'm not a national park buff... however, i did marry one... and i will admit, this national park was pretty awesome. there are so many different types of nooks and crannies, pinnacles and yellow hills... i like to think that the badlands are exactly what the scenery from 'the lion king' looks like! we took several stops at the prime look-out locations, but all of those photos are on the big camera... one of these days, you'll be able to see them... or better yet... you should take a trip there to see the badlands in all of their glory!

after the badlands, we drove to the ever-so-famous wall drug in the small town of wall, south dakota. it was quite interesting, to say the least! the whole time we were there, i kept telling paul, 'i really feel like my dad would eat this up. i wish he was here with us!'... so, dad... if you haven't already, we need to get you to wall drug... oh, how you would love it!

we definitely took advantage of the well-known 'free ice water' at the wall drug...

... paul had to try one of the homemade donuts!...

... while livi waited patiently outside...

(please note, the following photo series should be considered livi dog photo(s) of the day!)

... and enjoyed some free ice water for herself!

with one of the photo-op signs... they were everywhere!

livi didn't know what to think about the jackalope...

... but she fit right in with the carriage!

one of the new attractions at the wall drug (or so they advertised)... the t-rex that 'attempts to eat' every 12 minutes.

poot loved his trip to wall drug, as well!

soon after we left wall drug, paul noticed the gps and thought 'hey, it's not often that you drive 541 miles before the next turn'... so we took a photo. it was just that kind of day.... we drove approximately 14 hours today... holla!

leading up to wall drug, we saw a bunch of crazy demonstrations and elaborate billboards... this was just one of them... a human skeleton walking a t-rex skeleton... muy interesante!

paul was uber excited to spot these wind turbine blades being transported on trucks...

more interesting meadow/field sculptures!

welcome to minnesota!

wind turbines in minnesota (again, paul was very intrigued)... storms brewing in the background!

we had planned to drive until we reached madison, wi... however, we tired quickly... and paul convinced me that it would be a good idea to stop driving just after crossing the minnesota/wisconsin border. so, we arrived in la crosse, wi around 9ish, grabbed some dinner at a local favorite downtown, and are about to hit the hay.

oh yeah! i almost forgot!...

we also bought a house today!!

that's right! we are the crazy ones who put an offer in on a house while traversing the united states and hopping from wifi spot to wifi spot in order to sign official offer documents (refer to yesterday's wifi-hopping events... this was the reason for the mid-trip mayhem). we are so incredibly blessed to have found an amazing home in north raleigh that we l-o-v-e and to have our offer accepted! paul and i could not be more excited about our first home, and we are looking forward to moving in sometime after august 17th!! details to come...

it's all starting to feel so real now... we are thrilled to start the next chapter of our lives in north carolina in just a little over a week!

paul managed to snap a shot of poot and the visual reference of our location when we got the news that we are going to be homeowners!!

yep, it was a pretty awesome day.

we hope y'all had a wonderful friday the 13th as well!

safe traveling and much love,

the mobleys