Vacation Pt. 2.....
Jul. 28th, 2007 12:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
disneydream06Day four and I was on my own for sight seeing. I decided to head down towards Rapid City to revisit some old sites. I decided to stop at Mount Rushmore (http://www.nps.gov/moru) first though. You have to stop there when you are in the Hills. My next stop was Bear Country USA (http://www.bearcountryusa.com/). It's kind of a drive through zoo. You get to see many of the animals you might find in the Western states. Elk, wolves, mountain sheep, moutain lions, bears of course, buffalos way down in the corner of their fenced in area (see I think they are hiding), minature burros, and then they have a walk through area of open pens with baby bears and smaller woodland creatures. All the baby bears were catching some zzz's. Then I drove down the road and stopped at Reptile Gardens (http://www.reptile-gardens.com/). Thankfully most of the creepy crawlies are behind glass. They have practically every snake you can think of. They have alligator shows and bird shows. They do have this one walk through "garden" area that does have birds and small lizards roaming free. It also has lots of beautiful orchids. Then I headed down into Rapid City and out another direction and stopped at the Chapel in the Hills (http://www.chapel-in-the-hills.org/). It's a beautiful church styled from old churches in Norway. The first time I visited it, it kind of sat in a field on the edge of town. Sadly, now it is surrounded by houses and townhouses. Then I drove down the road to see the Thunderhead Underground Falls (http://www.blackhillsattractions.com/pages/attractions/thunderheadfalls.html). It's an old gold mine that the ground above it broke through and river water caused a waterfall to form. Then it was back to the hotel, supper and a relaxing evening.
Day five was another day on my own. I headed back down towards Rapid City. I had seen some billboards for a museum called The Journey (http://www.journeymuseum.org/english/) and thought I would check it out. It's really an interesting museum. It's suppose to be a journey through time in the Rapid City area. In their gift shop I bought a book that is really cool. It takes old photographs from the Black Hills and Eastern Wyoming area and then the author recreated the same photo in present time. Some areas haven't changed drastically, but others you wouldn't recognize the area. One was a photo of a part of Lead, SD I think and the modern photo of the same area is a huge open pit mine. When I got in my car I drove a couple of blocks and looked down at the thermometer that reads the outside temp and it was reading 115F. Granted some of that comes from the car sitting in the sun for awhile. It everntually dropped down to 102F. So much cooler. LoL... After the museum I stopped at the Cosmos Mystery Area (http://www.hiddenvacations.com/li/South_Dakota-Rapid_City-Tours-Cosmos_Mystery_Area_Tour.html). It's this weird area that supposedly has these weird super natural forces going on there. I have been there two or three times, and I guess I am still a little sceptical of the whole thing. Lol… From there I drove over to Keystone, SD. I stopped in to see the Borglum Museum (http://www.rushmoreborglum.com/) again. Mr. Borglum is the man you carved Mt. Rushmore. Then I did a little walk through of the main street of Keystone. Lots of fun little touristy shops. Then I drove back up to Mount Rushmore. I figured I was that close and the parking ticket is good for the rest of the year. And it was my excuse to go back and buy a couple of things I had looked at the day before. I bought a cool necklace and the National Parks version of Monopoly. Then I headed back to the hotel. We had supper packed a few of the things we could and relaxed for the evening.
Day six started with packing the car up to head back towards home. We drove as far as Mitchell, SD. and spent the night there. Mitchell is the home of the world famous Corn Palace (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/SDMITcorn.html). It's a really cool building that every year is decorated with murals, on different themes, made out of corn cobs and grasses. This years theme was the rodeo. Kind of boring compared with other years, but still very cool. There is also a prehistoric Indian museum (http://www.cornpalace.org/newpages/prehistoric.html) in Mitchell, but I ran out of time to go out and see it. :( I went back to the hotel and we ordered supper delivered from Ruby Tuesdays. Yummy. :) Another quiet evening watching some TV.
Day seven we packed the car and headed for home. Why does it seem to take so much longer to unpack a car after vacation than it takes to pack it up? :p
Day five was another day on my own. I headed back down towards Rapid City. I had seen some billboards for a museum called The Journey (http://www.journeymuseum.org/english/) and thought I would check it out. It's really an interesting museum. It's suppose to be a journey through time in the Rapid City area. In their gift shop I bought a book that is really cool. It takes old photographs from the Black Hills and Eastern Wyoming area and then the author recreated the same photo in present time. Some areas haven't changed drastically, but others you wouldn't recognize the area. One was a photo of a part of Lead, SD I think and the modern photo of the same area is a huge open pit mine. When I got in my car I drove a couple of blocks and looked down at the thermometer that reads the outside temp and it was reading 115F. Granted some of that comes from the car sitting in the sun for awhile. It everntually dropped down to 102F. So much cooler. LoL... After the museum I stopped at the Cosmos Mystery Area (http://www.hiddenvacations.com/li/South_Dakota-Rapid_City-Tours-Cosmos_Mystery_Area_Tour.html). It's this weird area that supposedly has these weird super natural forces going on there. I have been there two or three times, and I guess I am still a little sceptical of the whole thing. Lol… From there I drove over to Keystone, SD. I stopped in to see the Borglum Museum (http://www.rushmoreborglum.com/) again. Mr. Borglum is the man you carved Mt. Rushmore. Then I did a little walk through of the main street of Keystone. Lots of fun little touristy shops. Then I drove back up to Mount Rushmore. I figured I was that close and the parking ticket is good for the rest of the year. And it was my excuse to go back and buy a couple of things I had looked at the day before. I bought a cool necklace and the National Parks version of Monopoly. Then I headed back to the hotel. We had supper packed a few of the things we could and relaxed for the evening.
Day six started with packing the car up to head back towards home. We drove as far as Mitchell, SD. and spent the night there. Mitchell is the home of the world famous Corn Palace (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/SDMITcorn.html). It's a really cool building that every year is decorated with murals, on different themes, made out of corn cobs and grasses. This years theme was the rodeo. Kind of boring compared with other years, but still very cool. There is also a prehistoric Indian museum (http://www.cornpalace.org/newpages/prehistoric.html) in Mitchell, but I ran out of time to go out and see it. :( I went back to the hotel and we ordered supper delivered from Ruby Tuesdays. Yummy. :) Another quiet evening watching some TV.
Day seven we packed the car and headed for home. Why does it seem to take so much longer to unpack a car after vacation than it takes to pack it up? :p
