Setting up the Badlands shot.

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, July 1966. Dad sets up a shot while we visit the Badlands.

Our Brief Visit

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, July 1966. There's little relief from the heat.

We are leaving now.

My Parents took a month-long vacation each summer. Who takes off four consecutive weeks from work these days? My Mom and her medical partner made an arrangement for the annual holiday when they started working together. Extended vacations were more common where my Dad worked because things at the lab moved slowly in the summer.

I can't imagine being away from home for a month; after all, I start to anticipate the return almost as soon as I reach a destination. I don't recall whether my Parents paid bills in advance or what steps they took to secure the house. I do remember how Dad and I picked up the pile of mail that the Post Office had held during the interval. Oh: our dog, Gigi, spent the month with the woman who had given her to us.

We often stayed in places that had no phone service, so if something had happened back home, we were be difficult to reach. There were no televisions, and many of our (mountainous) destinations had spotty radio reception. As a result, we infrequently caught the news. We were in the Badlands, for example, when Dad saw a headline about the Richard Speck murders. I was glad we weren't in Chicago because I reasoned that if Speck hadn't been caught, then I would be hiding under my bed. We were in Austria in 1971 when we saw a German-language edition of TIME Magazine announcing "Satchmo is Dead."

My Best Friend and my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, sent letters to me. I anxiously checked the mail at our lodgings each day. By the time the vacation ended, I was ready to go home.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 1963. The best part of a vacation is its end.

Badlands Reunion

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, July 1966. It's as hot as it looks.

Black Hills

After our stop at the Badlands, we visited Mount Rushmore National Memorial and the Black Hills.

Black Hills, South Dakota, July 1966. Why did my Parents think this was a good idea? Mules spit.
 

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Black Hills, South Dakota, July 1966. We did not get out of the car for these fellows. Ha ha.
 

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Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, July 1966. "Shrine of Democracy."

Badlands

When we made our first family drive to Glacier National Park, we took a slower route and stopped at famous landmarks along the way. We spent an afternoon, for example, touring the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. We ate lunch ate Wall Drug, where my Dad barred the staff from afixing a "Wall Drug" bumper sticker on the car. We also made it to the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, and Yellowstone National Park.

We spent one afternoon and early evening Badlands National Park. The stop was memorable because it was very hot, and I was parched. We did not have a cooler in the gold, Buick LeSabre. Instead, we had a pitcher with warm lemonade. My Mom had made the lemonade from a frozen concentrate in the morning, thinking it would stay cool throughout the day in the air-conditioned car. By the time we got to the Badlands, the mixture had turned into a swill of sour, pulpy, hot juice. It did nothing to quench my thirst.

What I remember most about the Badlands is feeling quite "green" in the afternoon sun.

Badlands National Park, South Dakota, July 1966. I don't seem very enthusiastic about exploring the park.

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Badlands National Park, South Dakota, July 1966. Mom checks out the view while I stay close to the car.
 

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Badlands National Park, South Dakota, July 1966. The view is spectacular.