South Dakota, Here I Come!

I'm leaving in the morning for three weeks with my Dad in South Dakota.  Woohoo!

Bear Country USA and President's Park

Since we were just in the Black Hills a year ago, Dad and I decided to visit some of the lesser known attractions this year — Bear Country USA and President's Park.

Bear Country is a drive-through wildlife park with plenty of opportunities to get up close and personal with the critters!  There are fences to keep the animals apart from each other, but they can come right up to the vehicles if they want to.

The bears were being fed while we were there and there were pieces of raw meat and slices of whole wheat bread scattered along the roadside.  Curiously enough, most of the bears seemed to be more interested in the bread than the meat.  One of the largest bears came right up to the car and we had to wait for him to amble across the road in front of us before we could move on.

We even caught a couple of bears in the act of doing "the naughty", though the little female didn't seem to be enjoying it that much.  Maybe bears aren't that different from humans?

We also saw reindeer, Artic wolves, timber wolves, mountain goats, Big Horn sheep, miniature mules and even a white buffalo!  For the kids, there is a baby animals petting zoo, too, but we didn't stop to see that this trip.

Since we had received a free pass to President's Park while in Mitchell, we headed there next.  This attraction is fairly new and doesn't seem to be well-known yet.  There are 20-foot-tall busts of each one of the presidents along a pleasant half-mile walk.  Each president also has his biography on a plaque nearby.  The bust of President Obama was in place, but not quite finalized.  Note the wet plaster at his neckline!

The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota

Well, after nearly two weeks with very little Internet access, I finally have time to post a few things.

On our way from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to Sheridan, Wyoming, we took a little sidetrip to Mitchell, South Dakota to see the famed Corn Palace.  The Corn Palace is entirely redecorated every year using over 275,000 ears of corn and other natural materials.  This year, the theme selected by the committee was "American Destinations."  The panels were decorated with famous monuments — like Mt Rushmore, the Space Needle and the Arch in St Louis — from all around the country.

A group of hunky young men were trimming the branches from some green material which looked like weeds to this untrained eye.  Bunches of it were being placed in the design by the artist.  The green will eventually mellow to a nice golden color like the rest of the decorations.

But, on this day, the big attraction was the bust of President Obama being transported by flatbed to the President's Park in the Black Hills.  It was kind of eerie seeing the president's head and shoulders in two separate pieces!