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Bear Country USA

Thursday, June 25th, 2009 by Alyice

As I mentioned before, I am a big fan of zoos and an even bigger fan of wildlife parks—for the “safe” picture taking opportunities they present. That being said, I commend Bear Country USA on preserving the natural habitat of bears, but have to admit that I found the park lacking in entertainment for patrons.

Upon arriving at the park, we were greeted with a toll booth and a window cleaning gentleman. “Nice touch,” I thought. “With the bugs cleaned off our windows, we’re sure to get a good view!”

Upon entering the park, I was excited. I couldn’t wait to see the wildlife. Now keep in mind, I understood that with its namesake the focus would be on bears, however, being a wildlife park, I had hoped to see more than a few dozen bears and I had hoped to be in the park longer than 30 minutes!

Upon entering the gate, we were greeted by these guys.

I believe they’re rams. They spent most of their time huddled up close to the fence that was only a few feet away, munching on some grass. Every so often, they’d look up at us, then return to crazing. This guy, however, decided he wanted a closer look and began walking towards our van.

Turning the corner, we were greeted by two goats. One that appeared to be sleeping with his eyes open—and whom my children thought were dead. And this guy…doesn’t he remind you of Billy Goat Gruff?

As we rounded the corner, we saw them. Bears! Lots and lots of glorious bears. This guy was probably the most interesting of the bunch. He seemed to get a kick out of walking right in front of the cars, then walking right along side them until the next car appeared. And in a zig-zag motion, he’d walk up and down the same road.

After leaving the bear encampment, we saw a buffalo huddled on the ground in the distant thicket and three donkeys grazing in really tall grass. Then we were out of the park.

As we left the wildlife enclosure, we were welcomed by a snack shack, a gift shop, and a short walking zoo where we were able to observe baby raccoons, skunks, porcupines, wolfs, and yes, bear cubs. At first, the bear cubs didn’t want to come out and play—they stayed huddled in their cave—but along came a zookeeper and everything changed. The minute they saw her, they took off running; scattering in all directions.

Some right up her leg, some around the cave, and others for the nearby tree, as you see here.

Overall, it was a nice park—very clean and the animals were very well-cared for. However, I wanted to leave the park feeling as though I got my money’s worth. I suppose after such a short run in the wildlife park, I expected a little more out of the ending arena—a bear act, a picture opp area, or a presentation where we learned more about the bears—what they eat, why they hibernate, how to protect one’s self when encountering a bear in the wild, etc.

I’m not sure I’d go back in the near future as the picture taking opportunities were very limited and that’s the main reason I go these places; however it’s definitely a place I’d recommend anyone visiting Rapid City or the nearby area to visit—at least once.

Until next time…

Disclosure: I paid for this attraction. This is “my opinion”. I was not paid to give a positive review.

Posted in SD Transplant | 1 Comment »

Wall Drug, South Dakota

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 by Alyice

Ever since we moved to South Dakota, I have seen painted, wood-like highway signs with a short caption followed by the words, “Wall Drug”. Captions like: “5 cents coffee”, “T-rex”, “homemade donuts”, “6 foot rabbit”, “as seen is…”, “hooked on”, “have you dug”. No real explanation. No directions. No contact information. Boy was I curious! I had to know what “Wall Drug” was and where it was. I asked the locals who told me, “Oh it’s the largest drug store in the United States.”

“Okay,” I thought, “Doesn’t sound all that impressive.” And yet, every day I passed by one of those highway signs my curiosity was peaked until finally, on the way to Rapid City, I just had to stop and see what all the “hype” was about.

Turns out that Wall Drug was purchased by a couple, back in 1931, who honestly believed that their drug store, in a town in the middle of nowhere, had a chance to succeed—especially once Mount Rushmore was complete. They gave the store five years to make a profit and prove itself. Upon nearing the five year mark, the store was still in dire need of customers and a profit.

Then the wife got a brilliant idea. She talked her husband into putting up signs that read, “Free Ice Water” on the nearby highway. No sooner did the signs get put into the ground, did travelers stop by their humble establishment for a nice, cold glass of water. Today, Wall Drug has over 250 simple, yet intriguing, signs along the highway; boasts of 77,000 square feet; and serves 2 million visitors a year.

For shop-a-holics, it’s the perfect destination. The place is filled to the brim with clothing, home décor, knick-knacks, and souvenirs of the old west. There are even several places to order food, snacks, and drinks—including homecooked meals and freshly fried donuts.

I, however, detest shopping and was disappointed to learn that their “backyard” area didn’t include a single amusement park-style ride. Hey, I would have paid to take the kids on an “old-fashioned” hay ride around town or to sit in an air-conditioned wagon as it took us through the old west (like that Star Wars ride in Disneyland or Back To The Future ride in Universal Studios). I wasn’t asking for anything fancy, just something more than shopping.

Luckily, my daughter got a kick out of “panning for fossils” and my son enjoyed watching the little kids freak out when T-rex smoked and roared every 12 minutes.

As for my husband, he made the best of the situation and got me to take a snapshot on the oversized jackalope—which is no small feat considering I absolutely hate taking photos now that I weigh 183 pounds.

Until next time…

Disclosure: I paid for this attraction. This is “my opinion”. I was not paid to give a positive review.

Posted in SD Transplant | 2 Comments »

Reptile Gardens, SD

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 by Alyice

Last week, we took our son to a parent-student college orientation in Rapid City, South Dakota. During one of the breaks we stopped by Reptile Gardens. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect and really wasn’t looking forward to seeing every snake known to man. To my surprise, there weren’t that many snakes in captivity, but there were enough to entertain the kids and give me the creeps. Aside from snakes, we saw alligators, crocodiles, birds of prey, frogs, lizards, spiders, and yes…roaches.

Now you have to see the set up they had for roaches.

It really grossed my son out, who later said he was so glad to be living in South Dakota where those ugly creatures were sparse—if non-existent. My husband, of course, had to retell the story of living in Georgia for a spell, going to the kitchen sink for a glass of water and watching a slew of gigantic roaches climb their way out of the drain and into his living quarters—something he hopes to avoid by never stepping foot in that part of Georgia again.

After spending some time in the snake exhibit, we ventured on over to the snake show where we learned some interesting facts about snakes, including the fact that King Cobras kill 20,000 people a year, making them one of he deadliest snakes. We also saw a snake, which I cannot recall the name of, that lives in very remote parts of the world—parts that are rarely traveled by man. This snake is literally the deadliest snake in the world. To illustrate the point, the snake trainer said, “If you take one single M&M and crush it into a hundred pieces, then take just one piece; that is all the venom it would take to kill on adult-sized male.”

I have to admit that I actually enjoyed the snake show. The trainer handled each snake—all of whom were still venomous—with great care as he filled our heads with facts upon facts about each snake and joked with the audience.

Then, as he was putting the King Cobra back into his cage, the little bugger didn’t want to go back so we enjoyed a humorous game of “cat and mouse” between the trainer and the snake. It sort of reminded me of the old cartoon, Tom & Jerry. Finally, the trainer said, “Are you all getting a good shot of my backside? I bet this is what you wanted to see, a trainer who can’t control his snake.”

After the show, we stopped by the wild prairie dog exhibit where we got to see this little guy playing with his bowl. I have no idea what he wanted to do with this bowl as he wasn’t attempting to get anything out of it and made no attempt to flip it or drag it down a hole—and yet, he amused us as he went around the bowl, grabbing it with his teeth and pulling it to and fro, moving it from one spot to another, then putting it back in the original spot. We kept waiting for him to “get a clue” or at least complete his task, but it appeared that he simply had a case of “attention deficit disorder” and liked keeping himself busy.

After our short visit with the prairie dogs, we stopped by the giant turtles in hopes of getting a shot next to one of these magnificent creatures. Unfortunately, they were a little busy. I know it looks as if they are “mating” but the truth-of-the-matter is that the one on top didn’t want to walk around the other turtle so he decided to climb up and over and got stuck! The bottom turtle wasn’t too happy, as you can expect, so he slowly moved towards the wall and attempted to squish the top turtle’s side until he chose to get off. It was truly quite comical. The cool part about this experience is that we actually got to hear them talk to each other—or perhaps it was a little cursing and yelling.

Next, we made our way to the Gator show. There were at least 20 reptiles in the outdoor showroom, mostly alligators with a few crocodiles. We passed them on several occasions as we walked the park and all I could think was, “What kind of show could they possibly have with these guys? First, they are extremely ‘lazy’ and second, there are a lot of them in one area!” Once again, I found myself surprised. The snake trainer was also the gator wrestler and he truly knew how to take an otherwise boring act and turn it into something entertaining.

We wanted to stop by the bird show, but the weather was getting unpredictable and we were getting hungry, so knowing that our pass was good for another visit, we called it a day and left. Will we return? Yep! Every chance we get—which will be a few times a year since our son will be attending college in the area. And who knows, maybe I’ll learn to take better photos through glass so I can show you some of the snakes they have on exhibit.

Until next time…

Disclosure: I paid for this attraction. This is “my opinion”. I was not paid to give a positive review.

Posted in SD Transplant | 2 Comments »

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