On Monday morning, the kids were up bright and early to start the day off with fishing. Jeff and the older boys got the poles and bait all ready to go, and we headed off to the small river that ran not too far from our cabin.
I had to pick up my fishing license and get a couple other things from the local market so Emily and I walked up and joined everyone a bit later at the designated spot.
The boys had caught quite a few fish, but most were disappointingly small. I think the area gets fished pretty frequently. The boys still had fun catching fish even if they were small.
Emily was a crackup with the fish. She insisted on 'holding' every single fish the boys caught. She loved them and I had to convince her that kissing them wasn't a good idea. I also like this photo because you can see our new friend Forrest. We met him on Sunday in the campground. He lives up in the Black Hills in his family cabin all summer long. He was quite the character but super nice and gave us all sorts of tips on where to fish, what bait to use, places worth visiting, etc. The kids loved seeing some of the fish he had caught and had stuffed including some giant trout and pike.
Before too long, Emily and Matthew had had enough fishing and were disturbing the water by throwing rocks, so I took them back to camp with me while Jeff and the older boys stayed to fish for a while longer. Matthew and Emily helped me make lunch for everyone and then enjoyed making castles out of pine needles.
Later that afternoon we headed into town and made a visit to the Reptile Gardens. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, but this place was amazing! I think it was definitely one of our favorite stops during the week. I have never seen so many different varieties of snakes, lizards, spiders, alligators, crocodiles etc. The place was started by an avid scientist/biologist with an intense fascination with reptiles. As a result, many of the species at the Gardens were the only ones in the entire United States, and some of the rarest in the world. We went late in the afternoon and because of the overcast weather, we practically had the place to ourselves. It was awesome!
This huge crocodile from Australia was almost 20 feet long! These creatures were amazing!
Emily wasn't too thrilled when we saw exactly what Jeff was giving her an up close and personal encounter with.
I could have spent a couple hours just looking at all the different snakes. They had all sorts of information on the rarity of each species, location to be found, speed, diet, and most important-exactly how poisonous each was. Some of these snakes can kill a full grown person with just a tiny drop of their venom. The kids loved the giant boa constrictors, pythons, and anacondas.
All the spiders, lizards, frogs, scorpions, and other crazy creatures were pretty intersting as well. One thing I definitely learned is that I don't want to be exploring through a ton of areas in Australia. Many of the crazy poisonous snakes & lizards are found ONLY in Australia. They have tons of dangerous animals. I guess that's why it's called the outback.
The kids loved this giant tortoise exhibit. They had two of these amazing creatures and allowed everyone to come in and pet them. I wasn't so sure at first, but they really are gentle animals and the kids loved feeling their rough skin and smooth shells. It was so funny to watch them walk around.
They also got quite a kick out of the prarie dog exhibit that allowed them to be right up in the cage. We saw millions of these guys during our week long vacation, but they were sill pretty fun to watch.
We had to make a quick stop at the 'park' as well, Matthew thought this dinosaur ride was the coolest thing ever.
We finished off our visit with the alligator and crocodile show. It was so funny, at first when we walked up to the exhibit, we were convinced they were all fake because after 10 minutes of watching, not a single animal had even moved. We soon learned that they are just very good at holding perfectly still. The animal keeper came out soon after and put on a pretty good show. I was actually covering my eyes during a good part because I was convinced he was going to get himself killed! He'd push them and prod them around. He gave a demonstration of how to hold their jaws, and lastly came out with a big bucket of chicken to feed them. You should have seen those animals moved when they saw it was feeding time! I have a hard time watching when I think someone is doing something crazy! Luckily he didn't die or get attacked, and he finished off the show by letting the kids pet a baby alligator.
We decided to just have dinner in Rapid City that night, since it was pretty late. Jeff decided to introduce the kids to the world of buffets and we took them to Golden Corral. I have some issues with buffets, but three boys with big appetites thought it was just about the coolest thing in the entire world. Unlimited foot and desserts? They were in heaven! At least they had a great selection of fruit and salad bar options. Everyone was pretty dead by the time we got back that night. The boys have to be super tired to fall asleep like this! I would definitely call that a successful, busy, fun day!
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