Badlands

 Yesterday we hiked two different trails at Badlands National Park.  It was a beautiful 80ish degree day with a light breeze.  The Spring was a bit wet and it hasn’t been super hot yet, so the Sweet Clover was abundant and beautiful.  

There were also various larger flowers that were just randomly among the sweet clover. 

After the hikes we went over to the Minuteman Missile Historical site.  There were 1,000 nuclear missiles over 5 states at the height of the cold war. All in the west as to not be near large populations since they were a target.   There are still several hundred.  We watched the movie they have about it and that was a bit scary.  The idea that stuck with me the most is that basically the only reason it didn’t happen is because there is no winner in nuclear war.  If one started, the other would retaliate and that would be the end.

Back at the Badlands, we happen to be here when they are having their annual Astronomy Festival (Astro Fest).  Each night they are having a special speaker.  Friday night was a NASA retiree who worked on the James Webb telescope.  Last night was a speaker talking about geology on Mars.  

Enjoy some more pics of the Badlands, starting with me in my happy place