South Dakota - Day 6

Whew - almost done!  So Sunday we got up and drove over to Devils Tower in Wyoming.  Now we realize that this is slightly cheating with our trip because this is NOT in South Dakota, but South Dakota links it with the Black Hills and plus, I am POSITIVE that Northeastern Wyoming will not be on the itinerary when we do our Wyoming trip :) 

Devils Tower was pretty cool though.  It does look pretty daunting all by itself, that you can understand how it got it's name.  This was actually the best day weather wise we had which was also nice.  We walked up to the base of the tower and then I sat and waited on a bench (doing some more exciting people watching) while Mark walked about a mile and half around the base of the tower. 

Lots of climbers going up - GOOD LUCK!

We were definitely grateful we had no action with the baby.  We just kept laughing at the different places that we were going to and how awful the names were and if we were to have the baby there.  I mean - "Badlands," "Devils Tower" - these are not the most appealing names.  Haha, but luckily, it looks like we will be safe in Denver.  

After this we started to make our trek back to Denver.  It was about a six and a half hour drive back and we were grateful to get back home - even if it was to the chaos of our crazy apartment that is still mostly in boxes.

We also did draw our trip for next year.  We had to remind ourselves of the "rules" and with only one veto happening, we drew OHIO for next year.  We had fun planning different things that we would like to see there.  This might have to change because Mark's parents are planning on leaving on a mission this fall and we will want to go visit them, so we will see what happens.  But we are thinking this is a sign that they will be called to serve in Kirtland, Ohio!  :)

We are so grateful that we had the opportunity to go on this trip.  It is crazy to think that this will be the last Berning Vaca just the two of us - but that is fun to think about too.  Little kiddos make everything better.  Now we just need to get in FULL BABY MODE and get things settled for our little one to get here!

South Dakota - Day 5

Saturday was a REALLY laid back day.  We packed up our stuff again and started to make our way out of Rapid City.  We made a stop at the Chapel In The Hills which is nestled in the Black Hills.  It is a Lutheran Chapel that was built in the 1960s and is an exact replica of a famous Norwegian Chapel build in 1150.  It is definitely a beautiful place and it was relaxing just to walk around and enjoy the beauty of it. 

They had a "Prayer Walk" behind the Chapel that was also just beautiful.  They had eight or so statues with different quotes and it just led up the mountain.  Beautiful place. 

We then drove a little ways further to go to the Thunderhead Underground Falls.  This was actually the oldest mine in the Black Hills but is definitely not in operation anymore.  During the twenty years it was open, they only found one ounce of gold.  I don't know about you, but I might have stopped looking after awhile! 

Anyway, as they were digging, a sink hole was created and they had a 30 foot waterfall coming through their mine!  Pretty crazy.  Now you can just walk down the path of the mine and see the underground waterfall. 

View from the tunnel looking out - about halfway in

View of the tunnel from the end - 600 feet inside

The underground falls - definitely would have been surprising to see this all of a sudden :)

The waterfall that goes outside of the mine - beautiful area

After this, we started our drive to Sundance, Wyoming.  It got really foggy on our way over and the thought even crossed our minds whether or not we should even stay if we were going to be able to see anything the next day.  

But we stayed at our little hotel in the middle of nowhere.  It was quite funny though that night, we found a little family diner to eat dinner at and, wow...is pretty much all I have to say.  We walked in and we were definitely the talk of the place for awhile.  And let me tell you, they were not at all discreet about this.  It was pretty funny.  Oh the joys of traveling!

South Dakota - Day 4 - Badlands National Park

After we left Bear Country, USA, we drove over to Badlands National Park.  This was actually a pretty small park, but we decided it reminded us a little bit of the Grand Canyon on a MUCH SMALLER scale.  I could definitely see how "Badlands" got it's name.  It really is kind of a barren land where you wonder how anything really lives there. 

They pretty much have either one long trail (10 miles or so) across the whole park or a bunch of just itty bitty trails you can do to look out points.  We did a couple of the little trails and I will admit, it was kind of pretty in it's own way.

The rock is really interesting - it just feels like it is going to crumble around you.  We learned that the rock is eroding at 1 inch a year - that is REALLY fast!

 

We did see some Rocky Mountain Sheep playing around though - so I guess things CAN live here!

South Dakota - Day 4 - Bear Country USA

Day 4 was yet another cold and rainy day.  But we carried on!  We went to Bear Country, USA and we LOVED it!  I guess you could say it is a zoo of sorts, but how zoos should be!  The first half you are in your car, which worked out perfect with the rain.  You just drive through this path at your own pace and they have different sections where animals just roam around.  Obviously, (since the animals are wandering around you) you are not supposed to get out of your car or roll down your windows.  But I secretly would roll down our window to take pictures - I didn't want raindrops in all of my pictures!  Mark was a little worried about this - but we were fine :)

Arctic Wolves

Bears!  There were SO MANY BEARS!  At least 50!

Big Horn Sheep

These little kiddos were too cute running around!

Buffalo

Elk

Mountain Lions

Mule Deer

Reindeer

Rocky Mountain Goat

Wolves

 

 

 

 

They did keep the Grizzly Bears in their own blocked off section.  Their names were Tank and Cheyenne.  Take a guess as to who was who? :)

 We were MOST excited though to walk through the Babyland.  They keep the little kiddos separate from the big kids.  This was really the only thing that was kind of ruined by the weather.  It was raining pretty good and all of the little kiddos were hiding in their little caves and logs so it made it hard to see.  We were kind of sad, but we did see some and they were so cute.  We wanted to take all of them home with us. 

Arctic Foxes

Badgers

Black Bears - I PROMISE they were in there! :)

Coyotes

Lynx

Porcupine

Red Fox - we felt really bad for this little guy, he was just shivering out by himself while the rest of the group was in the log :(

River Otters

Skunks

 

South Dakota - Day 3

Day 3 of our trip, we woke up to a snowy/cold day.  Luckily, we had just happened to plan on more indoor activities.  We drove about an hour south to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs.  It is essentially a museum of sorts, but was really cool actually. 

Apparently, this man bought a bunch of land to begin a housing development, and only ended up digging about ten feet when they hit bone.  He got someone to come out and it turned out to be a mammoth.  Can you imagine?!  Anyway, they have already found 59 mammoths and expect there is still LOTS to go. 

It was really interesting actually to learn more about them.  One thing that was interesting was ALL of the mammoths they have found are male.  They believe that this site was a watering hole of sorts back in the day.  And they would go to get a little drink and some of them fell in and then were unable to get themselves back up. 

Anyway, it was really interesting.  They take you on a little short tour of the excavation site and then pretty much let you wander around as long as you want.  They let anyone come and help dig - no experience needed - even kiddos!  That would be pretty darn fun!

Part of the excavation site - AMAZING

This is "Murray Antoinette"

Just to give you a little size comparison - to sum it up - THEY ARE HUGE!

56 of the 59 mammoths they have found are American Columbians that looked like this - the other three they have found are Woolly Mammoths.

They have also found these beasts - GIANT SHORT-FACED BEARS!  They are MASSIVE!  They stand twelve feet tall on their hind legs.  They were described as taller, leaner and meaner then today's bears - geez!

There's that little cutie in the exhibit part of the site :)

After we left the Mammoth Site we decided to change our plans a little bit.  It was still rainy and so we decided to take a drive through Custer State Park.  This was another thing we hadn't initially planned on doing but we are glad we did.  We didn't get to see too much wildlife because of the rain, but we did see some buffalo. 

I will tell you what though, the Black Hills are BEAUTIFUL!  I don't really know what I was expecting, but I was very pleasantly surprised.  I seriously LOVED it there!  And Custer State Park was beautiful too.  It was especially exciting when we went on the Needles Highway.  It is beautiful there.  The road was a little sketchy for me at times - sudden drop offs of death and the sort - but it was still beautiful. 

We went through three tunnels that were pretty crazy too.  VERY SMALL!  Glad Lola (our little Corolla) is a small little gal. 

We took our time and drove up to Rapid City which is where we were going to be staying for the next couple of days.  Wet - but another GREAT day!