We were at Wall Drug a few years ago.

by MattG, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 18:14 (140 days ago) @ IrishGuard

Big road trip with my family and the in-laws, leaving Des Moines in a sweet rented suburban and headed for Yellowstone

Day 1 - looked at the corn palace for 20 minutes. Boo. rented cabins at the badlands, HELL YES. Go on an astronomy night and the rangers let you use these huge telescopes to see Saturn and the moons of Jupiter and we all saw the space station.

Day 2 - badlands hikes all morning, left badlands national park and had lunch at Wall Drug. Come on, this is not a thing. I guess you can buy cowboy boots there?. Short drive to Custer State park, stayed at the state game lodge, really liked the whole sylvan lake area, looked at mt Rushmore, etc. Sturgis was happening so that was a mixed bag

Day 3 - stopped at Devils Tower, drove all the way to Cody WY. Stayed at Cody Cowboy village bc there was a music show buffet - honestly highly recommend. Then the NIGHT RODEO 10/10 recommend. I saw a 12 year old girl ride a bull while wearing Hurt Locker armor.

Day 4 - finished the drive to Yellowstone. Stayed in the old rooms at Old Faithful, you have to use a communal bathroom like it’s a college dorm; it rules.

Day 5-7 still in Yellowstone, lots to see, you all know it :) Do the wagon train steak thing that leaves from RooseveltZ

Day 8 - left Yellowstone. Drove south to Grand Tetons NP, had lunch at the Wort in Jackson. Probably could have stayed here bc the drive after Jackson and across WY is unfathomably empty. Ultimately found a hotel in Laramie bc we could not push any farther. (It was the Hampton inn. It’s nice! Later we saw the stadium Josh Allen played at.)

Day 9 - drove across Nebraska and back to Des Moines. At this point we were kind of cursing our failure to plan things for the second half of the drive. Nebraska is empty until you reach Omaha. We did get a Runza.

I realize this is a departure from the original intent of this thread, but if anyone is planning a similar trip they can build on our successes and learn from our failures.

We did NOT stop at the vertigo mystery spot, and I think Flintstones World closed when all the concrete houses and characters crumbled to dust, but both were more or less on this path.