Monday, June 25, 2012

Family Day, Day Two

Hello!  We are so glad you are able to come along with us on our second day of touring the Black Hills.  We have a big day planned and hope you are up for the journey.
 Our first stop is to Thunderhead Underground Falls.  You should take a few minutes and visit their website. They have a history page that is fascinating!
 Hope you don't mind, but we want to stop for a picture here with the train.
 Ok, that's nice...let's go home.

 It looks kinda dark in there.




 Yup, its dark in here.
 We are getting closer now.  WHAT?  You can't hear me?  I said "WE ARE GETTING CLOSER NOW!" Its pretty loud in here!  WHAT?  I said "ITS PRETTY LOUD IN HERE!"

 Hurry up, take that picture and let's get back outside.
I SAID, OH NEVER MIND, JUST SMILE!
 (You actually get fairly close to the waterfall.)
 This is a shot looking out towards the entrance.
 This is looking back towards the waterfall.  It was cold enough in the tunnel that you could see your breathe.  The younger boys were quite worried about the noise.  Gianna had her daddy so she was all good.

We drove by Pactola Lake after our visit to Thunderhead. 
Interesting story - there was/is a town at the bottom of Pactola.  My dad tells a story about one of our relatives had a house in that town.  I remember thinking as a child that there must be fish down there swimming around, cooking in the kitchen, sleeping in the bedrooms, living life as we live up here.  It may have made a good cartoon.  Either way, I still think its neat to say our family had a house at the bottom of the  lake. 

 We are almost there....DUCK!
 We have arrived!  Roll up your windows, get out the camera!
 This guy charges a steep price to get in.  Each of these pictures are priceless...or pricey.

 Cute baby and its mommy!!

 Arctic wolf, overheating. 
 reindeer, again overheating

 There is a baby on the right.


 I think Brech sleeps like this.

 Ummm, haircut anyone?


 Goin' for a swim.
 I wish I had gotten a picture of the bear trails.  Normally a trail is just one path, correct?  Well, with the bears there are two paths, one for each side of their body.  It was actually quite adorable watching him or her walk along the path.
 This is a baby bison and his/her mommy.
 Would you like to stop and watch the baby bears??
 You want a piece of me???
 I may be little, but I'll fight ya.
 Tired already, huh??
 (These bear cubs were watching the other two fight.)
 Kid, you just don't know when to give up.
 GIVE UP?  SERIOUSLY!  I'm just getting started!!!

 This is on the other side of the pen.
 This is a good pole.
 Mine, all mine.
 BACK OFF, BETSY!
 Its MY pole!
 (Yet another fight over yet another pole!)
 I WON.  HA HA HA

These bear cubs were worse than a bunch of rotten boys.  I don't think I saw one of them sit for more than 3 seconds.  I know every bear cub picked a fight or was in the middle of someone else's fight.  The boys got a kick out of it.  We watched them for a good 15 minutes.
 I jumped when it moved.  I kid you not!  I wasn't expecting it to be real as still as it was standing.
 I was really glad there was a fence between me and those eyes!
 Bear Country was a success!  

One recommendation though - don't wear a dark green shirt and tan pants when you visit next time.  Some guy thought I worked there and was asking me questions.  I didn't mind and explained that my parents owned a sod farm, thus the green shirt.  That man's poor son was embarrassed though.  All he said was "I knew this would happen."  Parents anyway!

 We made a quick run to the top of Dinosaur Park hill only to be rained on.  This picture could have been very cool, but I missed the lightning strike in the distance by a second.
We ran, literally, over to the next dinosaur and posed.  Then Dad came up the hill and said "TIME TO GO!"  We will have to continue our Dinosaur Park adventure on the next Family Day in South Dakota.

That was our day.  Thanks for coming along.  If you have few minutes we are headed to Cabela's for some shirts, fudge, and gun browsing.  After that we are going to Aunt Courtney's for stir-fry and pizza.  See ya soon!

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