Skydiving

We ended up starting 3 hours late because we had to wait for the clouds to clear, but man, totally worth it! The instructor harnessed us to him so that we couldn't move or screw anything up. Then we took a 30min plane ride up to 12,000 ft. Probably the scariest part was when he lifted the hatch on the plane and the wind is screaming in your face. Then you're supposed to stick your leg out and lean halfway out. He says GO and you fall out. I don't know how long freefall lasted, but maybe about 30 seconds and then he pulled the parachute and we floated to the ground. Actually, we were probably hurtling down, but we were so high it felt slow.

Crossover into Wyoming

Devil's tower - a lava tube that bubbled up from the ground but cooled before it reached the surface. Millions of years since then, the earth that once completely covered it has been weathered away, but igneous rock being harder, Devil's Tower stayed put.

Beautiful sunsets across the prairie

Trip across South Dakota

The Badlands are massive soft rock geological formations that were apparently named because they were "bad lands to cross." It extended for miles and miles, but there was a road that we could drive through and see the whole thing.

Dan on the "Black Hills"

Dan's sister and brother-in-law Sarah and Tony on "Needles highway," where all the rocks jutted out like needles. 

The actual badlands; seriously high and precipitous.

Dan's parents Bob and Leslie in front of Mount Rushmore.

 

Dy and Pranay are engaged

OMG. Very pretty bling. Nice job Pranay!