Friday

Friday, April 16

Happy Birthday to me! : ) And I had a new little cousin born today. Welcome to the world Ella!

Today dawned at 730am. Seems to be the normal time we have been getting up. Up, out the door, breakfast eaten by 930a. Destination, Mt Rushmore! Waaahoooo!!! Neither of us have been there. Excited to go. We are also planning on visiting Reptile Gardens, and wanted to visit Bear Country, but they do not open until May.

On our way, we drove through (literally, we did not leave the highway), Sturgis, SD. Hello bikers! Just on the east side of Sturgis is a little area called "No Named City". I am still trying to determine if that is actually a city (?) or .. an area of Sturgis...... Outside of Sturgis, we see two state troopers. Check of the speed, only a couple miles per hour over. He pulls out behind us. Does not speed like crazy to catch up with us, but does. He pulls along side us and we thought he was going to pass us. Nope. He was pacing us and got behind us and pulled us over. Twice in less than 12 hours! Eeeeps. He tells us he pulled us over because we were going a couple miles per hour over the speed limit and because the license plate frame obscurs the state. Gets Chris' drivers license and tells him to join him in his cruiser. Chris comes back and says he was only given a warning. Trooper asked a bunch of questions, and tells Chris they are sticklers for the 75 mph. Chris was going 77. Guess we will keep that in mind!

We get to Mt Rushmore and do our viewing. The weather was very nice. Only a teeny bit of snow on the main observation deck and very people. Chris asked me if I wanted to hike up the stairs ... uh, no. lol If you want to, have a ball, Ill meet you at the car. He didnt. On the grass right outside the entrance as we were walking in, there were some mountain goats grazing. They are tagged and number so their movements can be tracked. They are used to humans so do not move when you get close. I stood about a foot away from one! Wow! Ive never been that close to a wild animal (and not been protected). The Game Farm in Washington doesnt count, we were in our car. lol

We head to Reptile Gardens. We get there right as they were starting a new snake demonstration. The guy is showing different kinds of snakes. We saw a albino burmese python, a viper, a rattlesnake, a king cobra and a mangrove snake. The king cobra was in a locked enclosure (check out the video of him!). We walked around and saw some amazing snakes, crocs, gators, lizards, and birds. One snake had just been fed. Its just amazing how wide they can get their jaws when they unhinge them.

We skip Bear Country :( and head to our last destination for the day, Wall Drug in Wall, SD. They have free ice water and 5 cent coffee! Wall Drug was the only place that gave out free ice water during the '30s. And originally, it was just a gimmick to get travelers to come to their store! An awesome idea that still works, more than 70 years later. Very interesting to walk around and see the shops that are included inside Wall Drug. You can even do some "mining"! Unfortunately, we did not find it until we left. If we go back, I am definately doing that! If youre interested in the history of the area and the country, it is a must see.

On the road to somewhere for the night. We see a billboard for an Auto Museum. Chris loves muscle cars (all cars, really, but muscle cars the most), so we decided to stop in the town where it is located, Murdo, SD. The only restaurant in the town is a little diner called GTO Cafe. We have dinner there. Good food! We will probably have breakfast there too. Hmm, no McD's. What will we do? lol Museum doesnt open until 10a on Saturday so we take the "extra" time to relax and watch some TV. And I have time to catch up on my blog! : )

No rain!