Thursday, September 10, 2009

Reptile Gardens and the Badlands

I'm anxious to blog about the other things going on in our life, so this is going to be a rather long post full of pictures of the rest of our trip to South Dakota.


I've been to Reptile Gardens several times, but this time I was a little disappointed because I thought there were more exhibits. Don't get me wrong, the crocodile "wrestling" was still impressive and made it worth the trip, I was just expecting more reptiles in the flesh. :-)


The gardens are absolutely beautiful. Amaya and I both enjoyed smelling the flowers and there were some that I have never seen before!



The crocodiles were amazing! At first, it looked like they were all sleeping, but from what we were told, unless there's eating to be done, the crocodiles lay around and don't expend much energy. I like this guy - he looks like he's smiling!


The crocodile wrestler asked if there was anyone in the audience that expected to see him chased by the crocs and wanted to see him get bit. We were all expecting a lot of action! He also asked if we wanted him to wrestle a big garor or a small one - a mean one or a nice one! He tried to find the biggest and meanest one for us. He carried around the large metal pole to poke the gators to find a feisty one.




Amaya was a little restless during the show, but really liked when the crocodiles got active!


Feeding time!


We couldn't leave Reptile Gardens without touching a snake! Amaya wasn't scared, but I certainly was.


A picture in front of a REALLY big snake - a cobra (I think...)


Aside from the crocodiles, this was my favorite part - the tortoises! The were very friendly and didn't move an inch. Amaya liked touching his shell.


The Badlands: On our way back home, we made a "quick" stop on the scenic highway through the Badlands. A mere 20 miles, took us over an hour and half or so. The scenery was awesome and we were fascinated at the different colored rock and deep valleys. You're right in the middle of flat land and all of a sudden there are huge rocks and valleys! Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the trip!


More snakes?