My excitement was beginning to reach a fever pitch when I pulled off of I-94 in Dickinson preparing to head north to Killdeer, North Dakota.  I have heard about this area of our great state but never had any reason to go there.  But this time, I had an invitation.  Partly from my curiosity but mostly from Donny (a field sales rep from Power Fuels).   He told me about all the amazing landscape shots where it looked like the rigs were dropped from the sky.  Now this I had to see!  After grabbing a snack at a convenience store in Killdeer, I set out to find Donny.  Right out of Killdeer along Hwy 22, the horizon was filled with amazing bluffs and dotted with drilling rigs everywhere.  Donny had two particular sites he wanted to take me to but then there it was…..Little Missouri State Park…aka “the Badlands.”  I gasped for air when I saw the deep valley that seemed to tell a story that my pea sized brain could never begin to comprehend.  We pulled over to get our bearings straight.  Donny came up to my car and said, “You should see the look on your face!!”  I could only imagine as I felt like a kid who opened the most awesome gift ever on Christmas morning.

My journey that day took me to the most incredible places, some new others familiar and finally to home…on the farm in Williston.  It was off to bed to get rested to photograph the American Petroleum Institutes annual Chili Cook-Off the next day, which no one could have ever prepared me for but we’ll save that one for another day. 😉  Along this journey, I gained a greater understanding of God’s creation, a new friendship with one of the nicest people that I’ve met in a long time and a collection of pictures that I will always treasure.