What a trip! God does great work.
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God does great work.
God does great work, doesn’t he?
We just got back from a two week. 3,000 + miles, road trip to the Western US. We’d been to South Dakota before and loved it. This time we found some new places to see and some surprises. Then we moved on to North Dakota.
It was a big decision with gas prices and inflation being what they are. But we decided we could justify it because we hadn’t taken a trip in a few years.
We had never been to the badlands in South Dakota, so that was on our list. I don’t have words to describe it. It was surreal. I think the moon’s surface probably looks like it.
There was this narrow rock bridge I had to cross. I was scared. But I sucked it up, and, yea, I did it. I had reason to fear, having had five foot surgeries, but I had my walking stick and hiking boots. It’s good to conquer one’s fears. The rock bridge was only about six feet high but had I fallen could have been seriously hurt.
Here is the South Dakota badlands.
South Dakota, Badlandsz
The first picture in the second row shows the rock bridge. It doesn’t look like much, but I was truly scared. That same picture shows the terrain we hiked on that day. Seriously, I couldn’t help but think this must be what the moon’s surface looks like. It was eerie.
Then we moved on to North Dakota. The typography on the way is as flat as South Dakota is mountainous. it’s very interesting, we drove for a long, long time and what do we see? In the middle of nowhere?
A coffee kiosk. I kid you not. It was called Kava Gypsies. Of course, we stopped.
Then on to the badlands. Wait. Didn’t I already tell I about that?
More of God’s greatness
Nope. Because there are badlands in North Dakota as well. Who knew? But they are very different. These are not only rock but have vegetation on them. Most of them are mounded. There are two sections, the south unit and the north unit. We preferred the north unit and hiked a couple of great trails, looking out for buffalo. After that, we drove a little further, decided the landscape wasn’t as interesting, and almost turned around. I am so glad we didn’t.
We came to a scenic lookout and were astonished at the view when we got to the viewing area. We could see for miles and miles. At the bottom of the badlands was a lush valley with the Missouri river meandering through it. I couldn’t help but think if this was the kind of view L.ot had when he decided he take the Jordan valley area when Abraham gave him a choice. (Bad choice, by the way.)
We took pictures, but they don’t come close to capturing the beauty of it. Here are the North Dakota badlands.
God’s final great works.
We finished our trip by coming home via Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Here God’s majesty and power were on full display.
So what did I learn?
Nothing profound. But does it always have to be? Sometimes the best lessons are the simplest like having fun is good. God wants us to enjoy our lives while we can. There will be plenty of times we can’t. Right?
So if you need someone to tell you to have fun, let me be that person.
Have some fun.
Plan for it.
Enjoy it.
Don’t regret it.
God bless and have a good day.
