The Black Hills, Part VI: The Badlands
by tdaxp ~ September 24th, 2006
There’s not much to say about The Badlands. They are beautiful. They are hard to describe. They are empty of life, except for the odd and visiting tourist.
The Badlands of South Dakota
We drove through the National Park. We saw what was to see, which sadly didn’t include Bigfoot.
The Badlands are quietly beautiful, so I will let these last photos of our Black Hills vacation speak as The Badlands themselves speak: silently.
Driving Past on I-90
A Beautiful Day
The Relics of Lakes and Streams
Life Amidst the Ages
Colored Rocks
The Black Hills, a tdaxp series
0. Pierre
1. Crazy Horse
2. Custer State Game Lodge
3. Blue Bell Lodge
4. Mount Rushmore
5. Goofy Custer
6. The Badlands
September 24th, 2006 at 12:00 am
sometimes lifeless = beautiful
‘it’s a beautiful day…’ were you evoking U2?
September 24th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Sean,
Normally I reference songs on purpose, but this time it wasn’t intentional.
I think of U2 when I travel by plane [1], though….
Every since I read it, lifeless beauty made me think of one of the best passages of C.S. Lewis’ “That Hideous Strength” (a book composed almost entirely of best passages!):
“‘Hygiene. Why should they have their world all crawling with organisms?’ And specially, they would banish one organism. Her surface is not all you see. There are still surface-dwellers—savages. One great dirty patch on the far side of her where there is still water and air and forests—yes, and germs and death. They are slowly spreading their hygiene over their whole globe. Disinfecting her… This Institute—Dio meo, it is for something better than housing and vaccinations and faster trains and curing people of cancer. It is for the conquest of death: or for the conquest of organic life, if you prefer. They are the same thing… Nature is the ladder we have climbed up by, now we kick her away.” [2]
[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shUG57MFPTs
[2] http://highlands.gospelcom.net/ETC/Volume_Seven/Issue_Three/CultureMatters.php