Bear Cubs

On our way to Mt Rushmore we saw a wildlife park called Bear Country USA and a bunch of Bear cubs, so today our mission was to check this out.  We went over the mountain road again to Rushmore and Sandy had read the book a little more on her new camera and got some great shots!  Today she learned about F Stops and ISO Speeds.

There are about four tunnels to go through on the back road to Rushmore.

Bear Country USA is a drive through wildlife park, Elk, Mountain Goats, Wolves, Deer, Mountain Lions, and of course Bears, all in their own natural habitat.

It was a nice park, well organized and clean.  After the drive through they have Zoo type exhibits that are very nice.  But today was all about the babies!

They have 29 babies in this exhibit, all born in November, and weaned from their mother after about 3 months.  This handler says they have SHARP teeth! 

This was noon time and they were very active, exploring, sparring, swimming, some napping.

Sandy took a hundred pictures of these guys.......

After 3 hours of Bears we made a run to Rapid City.  The city has carried over the Presidents theme to downtown with all of the presidents at street corners.  Pretty neat. 

We explored the city and saw lots of Sioux Indian Heritage.  On our way home we took our new favorite Wildlife Loop Road and saw our old friends the Burro's and Buffalo right at dusk when they were bedding down.  Yes, we had some apples for the Burro's.

Oh the Buffalo!

Day two at Custer State Park, South Dakota.  Sat around the campfire with our neighbors last night and got some tips on where to see the wildlife.  So we got up early and headed out on the wildlife road (imagine that) to see the sights.  Saw some turkey and deer, nothing special, until we ran into a big herd of Buffalo stretching across the road.  It was really something with all the calves.  There are about 1400 in the park scattered among large and small herds.  

We just parked in the road and let them flow around us.

Boys will be Boys.....

Damn kids, always butting heads with MOM!

I've got that  ITCH!

They are so cute!  You can take one home with you!  Each September they thin the herd and sell off about 700, full grown and calves.  Most go to ranches who raise them.  They have a 90% calf rate in the park among the heifers.   At the round-up they vaccinate each one before they let them go. 

We drove by one of the resorts in the park, and the stables were rounding up the horses.  They let them go at night to eat, then herd them in, in the morning.

And then there was the Prairie Dog Town.  

A real treat was coming across a herd of wild burro's.  They were real cute, and lovable.

This guy wanted a good scratch........on my mirror.

The car next to us was watching us and our new friends, and laughing, when a Burro came up from behind and stuck his head right in the ladies face!  Boy did she JUMP!  Sandy had a little warning, and I made her share her breakfast.  She still doesn't look to thrilled with the idea........

That was a good trip, might have to do that again!

Custer State Park, SD

We arrived at our destination for the next six days.  Custer State Park is about 15 miles south of the Mt Rushmore Memorial Monument.  There is no camping in Rushmore, but a lot of private campgrounds around it, we liked the reviews that Custer SP had.  There are several campgrounds and resorts in the SP, and it was going to be full this weekend.  Our first night we stumbled upon four Bulls, just down the road from our campground, our first Buffalo sighting!

So the next day we were off to Mt Rushmore.  Took the mountain road (paved) through the SP, over the hills and through the woods.  Nice drive, and what a view of Mt Rushmore!  Stunning views of the presidents!  Last time we visited Mt Rushmore (me 28 years ago, Sandy 2 years ago) it was hard to see the big picture, the heads are so large and you are so close, that you can only see one at a time.

 There were several of these one lane tunnels to drive through.

And out the other side......

We elected to not go in the Monument, we saw what we wanted from the outside.  Prices have gone up, free to get in but costs $11 to park.......  This was a profile shot from outside the park.  They sure did a nice job steam cleaning the faces a few years back.

On the way back home, had to stop in at a local winery.  Their special is Red Ass Rhubarb.  I wanted to get Kerby a bottle, 'cause he always has a case of the red ass, but it cost too much........