Reptile Gardens

The last place we visited on our trip was Reptile Gardens. It was like a mini zoo.

Here are the prairie dogs (don't ask me what they have to do with reptiles). They are super cute, but apparently they bite.

The crocodile and alligator show was definitely the most entertaining.

I hope this guy gets paid a lot. He is demonstrating that alligators don't have strong muscles to open their jaws, the power comes in when they close their jaws down.

This frog is so vibrant and beautiful, but it is extremely poisonous.

This is an actual skeleton of a sea turtle. It's giant!

Here I am standing next to a boa constrictor, thankfully there is glass separating us.

The Reptile Gardens also has a number of birds and they perform. Here is a dove doing her tricks.

This guy is trained to get your money, make sure you keep your wallet closed.

These two turtles are about 50-60 years old, but they are still really young because these turtles could live up to 150 years.

This was a great little diversion from all the historical sites and I really enjoyed all the animals.

Big Thunder Gold Mine

The Black Hills are of course known for gold so we toured an old gold mine as part of our vacation. We learned that miners have very dangerous jobs and must be very short.

What I can't believe is how much work miners had to do in order to get ounces of gold. At the time of this mine, gold was 20 dollars an ounce which was a lot back then, but still the amount of intense work that was required I don't know if it was worth it.

The kids in our tour group especially enjoyed panning for gold. This company actually lets you keep what you pan, which for the most part is just flakes of gold, but they did have some rubies and a huge emerald discovered earlier this year. Talk about a lucky strike!

Mount Rushmore and The Black Hills

Of course going to South Dakota we took time to visit Mount Rushmore and The Black Hills. The Black Hills seem to be more like the charcoal hills because that is the color of the granite formations found all over.

Check out this lumber bridge, you don't see these too often anymore.

Look proof we were there.

Here is a sculpture of the sculptor of Mount Rushmore.

Presidential Wax Museum

In Keystone, South Dakota they have presidential wax museum with all the presidents depicted. It also has this great little audio tour telling about each president. I loved it being the history buff, but it isn't too kid friendly.

Here are some of my favorite figures:

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse is a monument to the Native Americans in honor of the people and what they suffered during the American expansion west.

This is a painting of the original sculptor. He spent about 50 years of his life working on this monument and today his wife and kids continue the work.
This site also offers a museum of Native American artifacts. I'm pretty glad I don't sleep here at night.

This might be a better sleeping option.

This exhibit features all different colors of beads and I just thought it was beautiful to look at.

Here is how the monument looks today.

Here is the scale sculpture of what it is supposed to look like when finished. This isn't a national monument so the money all comes from donations and I think that slows them down a bit. I wonder when this will actually get finished.

Vacation South Dakota-Jewel Cave

Our first stop in South Dakota was the Jewel Cave. Here are some of the formations that can be found in the cave.
This quartz really sparkles and it gave the jewel cave its name.

I couldn't believe the size of the openings in the cave.

Check out this formation.

This is a stalactite and stalagmite that have grown together like a huge straw.

This formation looks just like a piece of bacon.

We really enjoyed going on this tour and our guide was really great. It was a great way to start off the vacation.