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?

Devil's Tower - Wyoming

Since Devil's Tower is "close" to the Black Hills, we spent a day trekking out there (2 1/2 hours one way) and hiking around the tower. This picture is taken right before the entrance into the park at the gift shop.

On our way to to the visitor's center, there was an area to check out the prairie dogs. Amaya enjoyed watching them "pop up" every so often. (Much better than any zoo!)

A few impressive pictures of the tower. Of note, this was the first National Monument declared in 1906.

The park was in the middle of paving the trail all around the tower, but unfortunately they were only half-way through the project. It was a nice break for Steve to be able to push Amaya in the stroller instead of carrying on her shoulders. Along the trail, we saw several groups of people climbing. It was fun to watch them manage their way up the steep tower - and from what we were told, this was the "easy" side.

Later that evening, we enjoyed another campfire roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.

Sylvan Lake

When planning our vacation, I didn't want us to be racing from one thing to the next, so I had only planned for us to do one thing a day so we could RELAX. What we found is that most of the things we wanted to do only took a few hours in the morning and we would relax in the evening back at the ranch, so our afternoons wound up being free. One afternoon, we ended up driving Needles Highway again but from the other direction and made an unexpected but totally worth it stop! This is Sylvan Lake (near the trailhead to Harney Peak - the highest point in South Dakota).

There were several hiking trails and also places where you can climb. We spotted a few braves souls rock climbing.

For those of you who have seen National Treasure 2 starring Nicholas Cage, parts of the movie were filmed here. We hiked for about an hour or so but would have liked to stay longer because there were so many interesting areas to explore behind the rocks.

Amaya loved riding on Steve's shoulders and had a great time exploring with us.

Once again, it was absolutely breathtaking!

Storybook Island

Once Amaya's fever broke, she was ready for some serious playing! We decided that Storybook Island in Rapid City would be the perfect way for her to run off some steam and it's FREE! The weather was great and we even had a chance to have a picnic in the park. Amaya enjoyed exploring all the houses, going down the slides, and running around. Here's a picture of her and Steve on the pirate ship.

Amaya has a few Dr. Suess books and she recognized the Cat in the Hat.

Amaya and I on Noah's Ark. She liked going around the boat and pointing out the animals she knew and tried to make the sounds of each animal. She can now growl like a bear!

Raggedy Ann and Andy - again, I think there is a picture of my parents in this!

No trip to Storybook Island would be complete without a picture of Yogi Bear!

Our friend, Jen grew up in Rapid City and recommended that we find Fjord's ice cream shop for the BEST ice cream. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it and when we asked at the gas station, we were told that it closed a month ago. Too bad... We settled for ice cream back at the ranch (which was pretty yummy!)

Restaurants in the Black Hills

We ate out more than I had originally planned on while in the Black Hills. My parents bought Steve a camp stove several years ago, so I've become somewhat proficient at using it. We brought it along "just in case" I had a strong desire to cook, but ended up going out most of the time.

The first restaurant we went to was in Hill City called, Desparados. It was a cowboy style restaurant with real live cowboys with spurs and guns! It was pretty neat to see them dressed up, however Amaya was a little scared by them. We enjoyed our supper - Steve had Fettucine Alfredo, I had ribs, and Amaya had a grilled cheese sandwich. What absolutely FLOORED us, was when I looked to the next table across from us and, I SAW MY OLD BIBLE STUDY LEADER FROM CHURCH! WHAT?!? What a small world! I wish I could have captured the expression on her face when I went over to say hi! She was flabbergasted! Steve and I run into people we know all the time in Rochester, but in the Black Hills?!? Amazing...

The second restaurant we tried in Hill City was called, "The Bumpin' Buffalo." We actually liked this restaurant so much, we went back twice. The food was incredible, the atmosphere was great, and it wasn't too expensive.

On our way back from the Black Hills, we stopped in Murdo, only to find that they didn't have much of a restaurant selection. We ended up going to a "mom and pop diner" called, "The Diner." The food was great and we met some interesting characters. You just never know who you're going to run into on vacation...

Needles Highway

Shortly after leaving Mount Rushmore, we decided since we had already eaten and it was close to Amaya's nap time, we'd take the scenic route back to our cabin and take Needles Highway. This was Steve's FAVORITE part of the vacation. We even did it twice (on separate days) - going both ways! Steve especially enjoyed the pigtail wooden bridges through Iron Mountain Road. We enjoyed taking the drive through Custer State Park - the scenery was awesome! Steve and I both kept saying, "Wow!" and Amaya would mimic us. We were really hoping to see at least one buffalo and we we in for a treat! There was a picnic area shortly after the entrance to Custer State Park and there were tons of buffalo everywhere! Amaya can now say "buffalo" very well and likes to look for them in Rochester.




I'm glad Steve was comfortable driving because there were many sharp curves, steep drop-offs, and very few guard rails. It wasn't the scariest driving Steve has done - the Smokies were a lot worse, but I was hanging on pretty tight. There were times Steve could only drive 5 miles per hour because the curves were so sharp. We snapped several pictures at the scenic overlooks and were absolutely astounded by God's creations! These next two pictures are taken in front of the Cathedral Spires.

These pictures were taken right by the "Needle" Rock Formation.

Very impressive scenery!

This tunnel was about 8 1/2 feet wide!

Happy Birthday Joshua!

Today is my oldest nephew, Joshua's birthday! Happy 12th Birthday! I remember the day he was born very well... I was a sophomore in college and my mom called me that morning and said Carol was going into labor. I called my the professors from my two classes that day and asked if I would be missing much if I stayed at the dorm to wait for my sister's call. They gave me the go ahead and I camped out ALL DAY waiting for the phone to ring. And of course, every time it rang, I'd get so excited and it would be one of my friends asking if the baby was here yet. The agony of waiting was beyond measure!! My friends brought me lunch from the cafeteria and then supper... UGH! When was my precious little niece or nephew going to get here?!? After pacing the halls, and playing a million rounds of Dutch Blitz with my friends, Dan FINALLY called later that evening. I remember him saying, "It's a baby!" A BABY WHAT?!? (Dan likes to tease me - and I try to handle it with grace, but come on Dan! Seriously... it's my first nephew!) Joshua Paul Springer was born that day 12 years ago. Unfortunately, because I was in Chicago and school had just started and they were in Nebraska, I had to wait until Thanksgiving break before I finally laid eyes on my precious little nephew with the most gorgeous red hair and cubby cheeks! It was love at first sight. We love you so much, Joshua! Have a great day!

Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center

Steve and I recently joined the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center (DAHLC) - aka Mayo's athletic club. I've wanted to join an athletic club for awhile, but figured it wouldn't be worth it to try to find a babysitter, try to figure out when to go around our busy schedule, etc. Steve checked into the DAHLC, and found that they had childcare available on site for up to two hours! We will have to do some creative scheduling when Steve goes back to school so we can go together, but it should work out. And, he found out that the more we go, the cheaper it is! PERFECT!

Yesterday, we took a Cable class. It's a combination of aerobics and strength training with weights. I was anticipating a good work-out, but I didn't expect to be sore the next day! Tonight, we going to take an Introducing to Studio Cycling (otherwise known as spinning). I'm not sure what to expect from tonight's class. I'm hoping we're a little more prepared for this one since we've been biking quite a bit this summer.

What shocked both of us was how much Amaya LOVES the nursery! When we pick her up, she is literally kicking and screaming when we have to go. This is quite a change from last year when I'd drop her off in the church nursery and get paged several times! This will make it really easy to go work out and will give us one less excuse to use.

Mount Rushmore

Is it possible to visit the Black Hills without making a stop at Mount Rushmore? Each time we've gone, it's been more and more impressive.

Can you tell Amaya is having a great time?

There's a small hike - maybe 1 mile or so that lets you get a closer view of "the faces", but because we didn't have a backpack to put Amaya in and the trail was only paved so far - Amaya walked for some of it and for the rest rode on Steve's shoulders.

A close up view of Mount Rushmore. We heard that they are working on a new project of creating more trails throughout the park. We'll be excited to see the changes when we go back.

We took my dad up on the suggestion to go back to watch the lighting of Mount Rushmore. One of the rangers gave a small talk, then we watched a movie about the history of the presidents, and then the ranger had all of the veterans come up on stage to retire the flag for the evening. There were about 100-125 veterans up on stage and the ranger said this was the most they've had all summer. The lighting of Mount Rushmore was awesome and we're glad we decided to go back. Thanks Dad for the suggestion!

Bear Country

After our bike ride on the George S. Mickelson Trail and Amaya's nap, our next stop was Bear Country. Since Amaya still wasn't quite feeling herself, we decided this might be the easiest thing to do. She could relax in her carseat and check out all the wildlife. We were instructed NOT to open our windows or get out of the car because the animals literally come right up to your car. Both the wolves and bears were right near our car on the road. The pictures are a little fuzzy because I took them through the window. This first picture is of the reindeer. We saw about 3-4 of them and Amaya learned how to say deer. (Throughout the remainder of our stay in South Dakota we told her to look for deer out her window - and she did see several!)

This is a picture of the wolves - there was a den very close to the road, so we caught a lot of action! This little guy walked right behind our car onto the road.

BEARS! Boy, there must have been 15-20 bears around! We were hoping just to be able to see ONE! Amaya was really excited about the bears.

At the end of the scenic drive through Bear Country, there is a small area to walk through to see other animals behind cages. We liked this "pile of bears" sleeping.

A great picture of Steve and Amaya right in front of the Bear Country Sign. They had a nice gift shop where I bought a wind-chime with bears on it and Amaya got a couple of the postcards. Amaya didn't want to take home any of the stuffed animals which surprised me. She would give them a kiss and then say, "no" and hand them back to Steve or me to put back. Guess I don't have to worry about her blowing our budget on stuffed animals.

Later that evening, we went back to our cabin and had an awesome fire. We roasted hot dogs for supper and smores for dessert. Relaxing by the campfire was probably Steve and my favorite thing to do and Amaya enjoyed it too. If you ask Amaya to say "fire", she says, "HOT!" She did very well around the fire and wasn't too curious about it. Soon enough, she'll be wanting her own fire stick to poke around in the fire like Steve does. :-)