On Saturday morning, we took a few pics before driving 15 miles to Watford City.

It was a little breezy that day which was a good thing as temperatures were in the mid 90s.

As luck would have it, the McKenzie County Fair was in full swing when we got to Watford City.  We enjoyed a great lunch west of town, then drove to the fairgrounds where, among other things, kids enjoyed a petting zoo where they could stroke a llama.

Again from the TRNP web site: "Lightning strikes and prairie fires can ignite coal beds, which then may burn for many years. When a coal bed burns, it bakes the overlying sediments into a hard, natural brick that geologists call porcelanite but is locally called clinker or scoria. The red color of the rock comes from the oxidation of iron released from the coal as it burns. The burning lends both color to the badlands and helps to shape them. These hardened rocks are more resistant to erosion than the unbaked rocks nearby. Over time, erosion has worn down the less resistant rocks, leaving behind a jumble of knobs, ridges, and buttes topped with durable red scoria caps."

Looking southeast across the Badlands of western North Dakota.

All of this photography-shooting in the hot sun made for a long day.  It was time to relax with a cool beverage.

On Sunday, we headed back to Bismarck but toured Grassy Butte before getting too far from the park.  In the foreground is the former post office.  The sign says, "A log building adobe covered, sod roofed built in 1914 and served the Grassy Butte populace as a post office for 50 years.  Mr. and Mrs. Donald McKenzie were the first owners and operators."

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