Reptile Gardens

Ryker played with this snake for quite some time because it would follow his finger.

The gator show was good, but they don't wrestle them anymore like they did the last time I was there.  Now they give you a lot of stats about them and show you how they lay on them to check their teeth and health.

Baby gator!

These turtles have always been my favorite part of Reptile Gardens.  This big guy was named Tank and around 70 years old, I think they said.

This one was between 55 and 60 years old and named Quazi.

 

Ryker was disappointed that you can't sit on them anymore because he's heard our "riding tortoises" stories, but he understood why.

 

Kara and Ty back in the day.

Cam in his fashion forward flat bill.....it all comes back.

I asked one of the gals about Methuselah.  That was their old tortoise when I was a kid.  Apparenly, he died in 2011 at the age of 130!  They now just have the 2 big ones and some much younger ones that will take a long time to get big.  I was very curious what they did with his shell as it is probably worth a lot of money.  Luckily, they kept it and it's on display.  They also made an exact replica bronze (I think) statue of him for display.  I think that is a fitting tribute for an old tortoise that spent 57 years giving piggyback rides to delighted children. 

This ugly guy was part of the bird show that was pretty funny.

Ryker giving the parrot a donation.

Waiting to touch the snake after the snake show.  Kya's observation:  "He looks like he's made of corn kernels when you get close to him."

What a trip!  The kids were so disappointed that Keaton couldn't join us.  They forget that he still needs naps and doesn't really want to sit in the bleachers and watch shows.  I told them in a couple years we'll go back with the little man and they can show him all the cool stuff!  In the mean time, blame your Aunt Kara and Uncle Ty for waiting so long to have kids.  I tried to wait for them, but they just drug their feet too long!  On the bright side though, you'll get to be the cool, older cousins.

Who are the Flintstones?

There are so many things to do in the Black Hills that I was trying to decide what to take the kids to and what to skip this trip.  They both have seen enough bears apparently and weren't interested in Bear Country so that was crossed off our itinerary and when I asked about Flintstone Land, they both yelled, "yes!" Only later did they ask, who are the Flintstones? 

What!?  Who are the Flintstones?!  We definitely had to go after that nonsense question!  These kids needed a lesson on good cartoons!

They loved the train ride to Deadrock.

 

 

 

We sat in the theatre for a while and caught up on some episodes.

Now Ryker understands why Clayton called him Bam Bam.

 

In the air, below the ground, and somewhere just plain weird!

This is the Crazy Horse carving.  We just stopped along the road and didn't actually go in.  It isn't done and may never be as it is privately funded via donations slowly coming in. 

Kya and Grandma taking the ski lift to ride the concrete slide down.

Ryker is wishing he had gone with Grandma, because I didn't pull the bar down in front of us until I looked back and them.  He's not exactly trusting me as far as his safety is concerned right now.

There's the track!

 

  Loving the ride now that the bar is down.

We probably should have switched partners because Kya was telling Grandma to go faster and Ryker was yelling at me to slow down!  Haha....he hasn't seen anything yet.  Just wait until he's old enough to ride the big rides at the fair.  Just ask your Aunt Kara kids.  I hope you have strong stomachs!

 I would have never have gone on this mine tour, but Ryker wanted to.  I went into a mine shaft in Nevada with Seth and Clayton and I think we all came out of there thinking we could go the rest of our lives without going into another underground shaft.  I wasn't scared or claustrophobic, but I have to say, I didn't LOVE it.  Ryker wanted to go the moment he saw it and he hadn't changed his mind by the next day, so into Big Thunder we went.

Mostly amazed the entire trip.

 

Ryker came home wanting a gold mine birthday cake.  It didn't work out this year, but I'm ready for next if he still wants it.

Panning for gold

We loved cruising around Keystone.  We found an out of the way business called the Rock Shed with $5 grab bags.  They were the best!  Polished rocks, unpolished rocks, necklaces, arrowheads.....the list goes on, there was a lot of stuff in those bags.  For those of you that didn't know me in my younger years, I was a bit of a rock nerd....polisher and jewelry maker even.  I can totally relate to the excitement they felt pulling out each rock/gemstone and figuring out what it was and what part of the world it came from.  As soon as we got home, we borrowed Grandma Mary's rock tumbler and got to work shining up all our new treasures.

Next stop:  Cosmos of the Black Hills.  The kids were amazed and amused by this place.  The strange gravitational pull here makes balls appear to roll uphill, allow a chair to sit on a wall, make it feel like you are walking on uneven ground, and much more.  Here our great tour guide, Tori, shows us some tricks.

 

It's best just to hang on to something....

We were in a really small group so my hand raising, always volunteering kids got lots of opportunity to participate.

Ryker wasn't so sure about this one....

The chair of truth.  If he didn't answer her questions honestly, the chair would fall.

 

He didn't fall, but he also had to admit to her that he didn't brush his teeth that morning. That was my fault though.  I packed his stuff up and put it in the car before he had the chance.  She also asked him if he had a girlfriend which he didn't really understand.  All the questions and the demonstration was pretty funny with him up there.

Kya's turn to volunteer.  They needed a shorty!