Badlands.

We are freshly back from a quick trip through the west: Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota. When you add in the handful of Midwestern states we hit en route it works out to seven states in six days. While a stop in Colorado was our main objective, I was reminded that South Dakota doesn't always get the credit it deserves.

If ever a landscape cried out for the wide angle lens it is the South Dakota Badlands. Of the more than 2,500 miles we covered on this trip, the 30 or so on Highway 240 through Badlands National Park were easily the most striking and filled with wildlife. Bison, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs (and for some reason all my wildlife photos look like museum dioramas, why is that?). A close second was the drive through Custer State Park in the Black Hills just west of the Badlands. Absolutely amazing.

If you've never been, go. It's worth it. Skip Colorado. Skip Wyoming. For God's sake, if there's any possible way, skip Nebraska (My formal apologies to the people of Nebraska. I'm sure your state holds some wonderful things. I just didn't see them. Clearly, you have done a masterful job of hiding them among that blank expanse of cornfields. Well done.) Go to South Dakota. It's pretty great.

Highway 240- Badlands National Park, South Dakota.

South Rim- Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Bison- Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Bighorn Sheep- Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Pronghorn Antelope-Custer State Park, South Dakota