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Badlands in South Dakota is a vast dead area consisting eroded buttes. No trees, no bushes but grass with a pinch of greenish. It's a wonderland which is worth seeing.

We didn't hike as we traveled with our baby but the scenic drive was more than enough to have fun. We stopped in few lookout points. It took about 1-2 hours for us for the drive. It depends on how much time you spend in lookouts and hiking.

The views were magnificent.

We left badlands heading west to Rapid city.
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Falls park (in Sioux Falls) is located near the Iowa, South Dakota border. The fall is fairly wide and has number of levels, covering a big area. There are shelters and picnic tables in the park. Nice place to relax or have a walk.

However there were the walking paths were dirty because of the geese. Otherwise it would have been a nice experience.

After visiting falls park we headed to our hotel in sioux falls. 
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We visited Grotto of the Redemption on our way to Mt. Rushmore. It was a 5 day trip. We started the trip from Bloomington, IN around 5 pm and spent the night in Iowa. We visited the Grotto in next morning.

It was an interesting creation to see. It has been built using different kinds of stones in attractive colors.

There is a small museum containing the stone samples that were used to build the grotto, with the information of their origins.

Our next destination was Sioux Falls, SD.
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Santa Claus is considered as a Christmas town, located in south Indiana. We visited there in Christmas, 2013. There are lots of Christmas events like parades, shows before Christmas but most of them were over when we visited.

Though the events were over, the most beautiful attraction "Land of Lights" was still on. It displays the story of Rudolph using thousands of LED lights. It was a really nice experience to drive through the land of lights.

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After visiting Gulf Shores, we were heading New Orleans. Our plan was to catch the ferry from Fort Morgan to cross the bay but we missed it. Therefore we had to turn back and drive around the bay. It was already dark around 6 pm since it was November.

We reached New Orleans around 10 pm. The city was full of crowd. Noisy with partying people. Later we got to know that there has been a foot ball match that they and the people were partying to celebrate it. The roads were closed and full of traffic. We just drove around the hotel for more than an hour because all entry points to the hotel were closed. We even had to avoid the hotel we had reserved and find another one near the Airport. It was not a pleasant experience at all.

New Orleans is not somewhere I want to revisit just because it looked so scary to me that night :)
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We visited Gulf Shores in Thanksgiving, 2013. There were very few tourists since it was the start of Winter but the sky was sunny and nice. The great thing about gulf shores is the really really fine white sand. It was silky and so comforting.

I wish if it was a summer day. We could have had a nice bath then.

If you visit Gulf shores, Fort Morgan is another attraction nearby. We couldn't reach there before the dusk. Therefore it was not possible to see it because the area was too dark.
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Noccalula falls is located in Gadsden, Alabama. It is a nice waterfall and easily accessible too.

The fall is really beautiful at night. There are flash lights in different colors.
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