Day 3

Michelle's husband made us breakfast and then we headed to the Winters Quarter Temple. Michelle and her daughter Emi were our tour guides. Unfortunately the Mormon Trail Center wasn't open but we were able to wander around the grounds.

We stopped in at the Pioneer Mormon Cemetery where 600 pioneers are buried.

A beautiful memorial placed over the graves of an unknown child as well as seven other pioneers.

President Hinckley dedicated the Winters Quarter temple on April 22, 2001.

Savannah and I were both so grateful we put it on our itinerary!

We said our goodbyes to my sweet friend and headed back out on the road. Even though it was completely out of our way, Savannah and I had decided to add a few northern attractions to our route so today we headed north and into South Dakota!

As we drove all I could think about was the movie Dances With Wolves. I absolutely fell in love with the prairie.

Around 4:00 we finally made it to the Badlands!!

Time for a photo dump because it was stunning!! Savannah and I could not get over how amazing it was!

Our first wildlife sighting - a bighorn sheep!

Just chillin'.

The prairie dogs!! One of my favorite memories from this trip is Savannah and I running down the grassy hill to get a closer look at these little guys. They saw us coming and went into high alert, talking to each other and scrambling for their dens. They were the cutest!

Savannah and I got out to take pictures and the wind was whipping around so strong that we just had to laugh!

And finally, just as we were about to leave the park, there they were - American bison! They were magnificent!!

What an amazing day!!