Day 3: Reptiles, the Heads, and Meltdowns

Day 3 of our Black Hills adventure started quite well. Although I’m having some issues adjusting to the new time zone: I was awake at 5:55 AM Mt time (which is 6:55 AM CST). After lying in bed for an hour, listening to the rest of the family sleep, I decide to get up and take a shower. By the time I’m out, Trina and Connor are awake. We venture down for a hardy breakfast compliments of Holiday Inn Express. Sausage patties and pastries are the big hit for the kids. As you can see, good nutrition is non-existent on this trip! After packing up, we head to our first destination for the day – Reptile Gardens. (Betty, our trust GPS, thinks that Reptile Gardens should be at the Ranger Headquarters for the Black Hills National Forest. We decide to ignore Betty.)

Reptile Gardens is a hit. The kids love the alligators, exotic birds, prairie dogs, but most of all, the giant tortoises. We’ve decided Connor is a bit of a reptile-whisperer having charmed a black mamba (from behind glass) and making friends with one of the giant tortoises. Maybe he would be placed in Slytherin at Hogwarts? Katrina loved the bird show, but was disappointed because she was not chosen to be one of the volunteers. However, both kids got to hand a bird a dollar bill. Katrina was also underwhelmed at the Komodo Dragon. I think she was expecting more than a giant lizard.

Reptile Gardens was also the site of our first meltdown of the day. Katrina decided she was thirsty, but did not want to drink out of the water fountains because the water was warm. Finally, after much whining, she and I went to the car to grab her water bottle. Mom lesson learned – bring the water bottle right away.

Travel Hint for Reptile Gardens – you can get a season pass for the same price as your daily pass (thanks for that tip Mary!). We may go back!

Since it was so close to lunch when we finished at Reptile Gardens, we decided to venture back to Rapid City for lunch. We choose that great Black Hills specialty restaurant, Arby’s, for lunch. Katrina had just curly fries. After a stop to get some drinks for the kids, we head off to Mt Rushmore. (Surprisingly, Betty the GPS did not know where Mt Rushmore was located, but certainly would have been able to direct to us one of many Mt Rushmore t-shirt shops).

Of course, I’m loving the scenery on the way to Mt. Rushmore. Katrina is more interested in playing her game boy and Connor is trying out his teenager attitude: “Yeah Mom, look at those trees.” I spot “the Heads” and excitedly point them out to the kids. Connor believes it is not Mt Rushmore because he can only see two heads from the road. Ah. . . .gotta love the attitude.

As we enter the park, the kids are very impressed. They have heard tons of stories about Mt. Rushmore from their Grandparents (who yes, come to see it EVERY fall). We see “the Heads” from all the angles, visit the sculptors display seeing the model of what the finished monument was supposed to look like, and climb what seems like hundreds of stairs. Jon notes that Mt Rushmore is really a failure to finish a project (he’s joking of course). Connor decides he has seen enough. I want to look at the Lincoln Borglund museum. While there, we also watch one of the movies being shown. It turns out to be a 12-minute video on the wildlife at Mt Rushmore. I would give a neutral review, but it was nice to sit down for awhile. We then make the trek up to the gift shop to look at all the souvenirs. The kids both decide on some Mt Rushmore merchandise to remember their trip. We then decide to grab an ice cream cone. And here’s where we have another meltdown. Connor is not happy with the ice cream choice he makes – cookies and cream. We gently (OK, forcefully) point out that for $3.50, he can enjoy this ice cream. After some pouting, he proceeds to devour the cone. As we are leaving Mt. Rushmore, there is talk about going back for the lighting ceremony. We head to Hill City to our headquarters for the rest of our trip. Jon and I joke about the various road signs including warnings about big horned sheep and tipping semis. Jon hopes to see a tipping semi while I crack that we shouldn’t feed the semis as they will become dependent on human food and may become aggressive. (These signs are all over the parks.)

The hotel here in Hill City is not quite the hit the other ones have been, mostly because of the lack of wireless wi-fi in the room. This causes another meltdown because the iPod Touch will not be able to connect to the internet. (It must be because we aren’t in Rm 209 anymore). After some swimming in the pool, it was time to venture into downtown Hill City for dinner. I remember eating at the Alpine Inn when I was here about 20 years ago. They serve only filet mignon at a great price. As we are waiting for our table, we explore downtown Hill City. We run into the town marshall who tells us outlaws are taking over the town (we hear the gun shots). He predicts a gun fight/showdown at 7 PM right across the street from the Alpine Inn. I go to wait for our name to be called while Jon and the kids wait for the gunfight to start. They get to see about half the show before our name is called. It shows every night so we hope to catch the entire gunfight later this week.

While we were eating, a thunderstorm settled in. Our waitress tells us that in the Black Hills, weather can be different 5 minutes away so we decide to chance a trip to see the lighting ceremony at Mt. Rushmore. Unfortunately, the thunderstorm is raging at Mt. Rushmore as well. We do get a chance to see both a wet and lighted Mt. Rushmore, but we don’t stay for the ceremony. Maybe another night.

Tomorrow, the Mammoth Dig and Evan’s Plunge. There is also talk of a side trip to see Devil’s Tower in WY (yes, you read that right). One of Jon’s favorite movies is “Close Encounter of the Third Kind” so the draw is pretty strong.