Black Hills Trip - Day 8

Thursday, July 1:  Custer State Park to Rapid City, SD

This was our final day in "the Hills" and it was a busy one!  Strap on a seatbelt (or your helmet so you don't "thump your melon") and let's go!

Nathan REALLY wanted to go horseback riding (it was on his list of top 3 things to do on vacation), but earlier in the week, we didn't think we would have enough time to do it (and he was very disappointed).  Later during the trip, we had shifted some things around and had a couple open spots so we tried to squeeze it in, but didn't tell him.  Blue Bell Lodge had 2 openings for 11:30 this morning that worked perfect.  It was in the opposite direction of where we were headed, but we decided to go for it.  Diane decided not to attempt to get on a horse and Karen had ridden one before, so that left Dustin as the token adult to go along!  OH BOY!  When we pulled into the stable, Nathan was a little more hesitant than surprised, although Dustin drove a little faster than normal around the curves to get there on time - which probably wasn't helping.  We checked in and waited to saddle up.

Since we had been playing the license plate game, we were checking as many license plates as we could.    While we were waiting to ride, I happened to turn around to see a car drive up.  There it was...  The Holy Grail of license plates - HAWAII!!!!  Needless to say, we were all very excited and it promptly got written down on the list.  I'll give you the results of the game on tomorrow's post, so stop back!

Soon it was time to "saddle up".  Our hour long ride didn't go faster than a walk and took us on paths that crossed a stream, went up and down some rather steep hills and through dense woods and open canyons.  It was a really beautiful ride and it was so peaceful - you couldn't hear anything but nature.

Waiting to "Saddle Up"

Nathan ready to ride!

Dustin ready to go.  I waived the helmet recommendation, although they came around to check the saddle and had to sinch mine up "so I didn't see the trail from underneath the horse" 

On the trail

Another picture from the trail.  I would have taken more, but have you ever tried to retrieve your camera from your pocket, take a picture and put it back in your pocket while riding a horse (and make sure to not give the horse an inadvertant signal to, like, take off or turn around and go the other way)?  I would have needed at least 1 more hand.

After getting used to not having to walk bow-legged, we were off to our next stop - Reptile Gardens.  From aligators, crocs, birds, prairie dogs, snakes and tortoise to flowers, this place had everything reptile and more.  There were inside exhibits and outdoor shows.  Check it out:

At the Crocodilian Show.  He was demonstrating how to approach a croc and not get hurt -you know, in case you come across one...

This tortoise was over 120 years old!

A Macaw Parrot at the Bird Show

A Bald Eagle

Albino Burmese Python at the Snake Show

Prairiedog

Diane would have to tell you what this flower is!

Time was running short to get our last two things in, so we found the first restaurant we could find in the area - the Gas Light Restaurant in the ghost town of Rockerville.  Great food and quick service!

Our next stop was Putz 'n Glo Mini Golfing!

That's right - mini-golfing under black light!  We don't have any pictures of this event and there doesn't appear to be much on their website.  The walls inside had been airbrushed with images and icons of the 70s, 80s and 90s.  The airbrushing was actually really amazing - it was very well done and there was a lot of it - it would have taken someone a long time to do.  Blacklight mini-golf is a great concept, but the course was a pretty simple and a couple of the challenges on the holes were repeated.  I suppose for liability reasons, you wouldn't want to build too difficult a course when it's quite dark inside- you'd have people falling over stairs & obstacles. Still worth the price of admission, though and we'd recommend it.  It took the four of us about 45 minutes to do 18 holes, but we moved fairly quickly through the course.  Karen and I each got a Hole-in-One.

Our last stop was actually the hotel we were staying at for the night.  We booked this night way in advance since we wanted someplace nice to stay to end the vacation and before a long drive home.  The Grand Gateway Hotel in Rapid City ended up to be, by far, the best value of the hotels we stayed in.  It was only about $10 more expensive than the Super 8 in Wall, SD.  And this one had an indoor pool with a 130 foot waterslide and was very well decorated.  

We had not told Nathan about the waterslide because he probably wouldn't have slept the entire trip!  By the time we got checked in, we only had about 1hour and 15 minutes to use the pool before it closed.  We all had a blast in the pool - Nathan went down the slide 51 times!  Dustin went down quite a few times (but not 51) and Karen went down just a few.  Diane watched from the pool.

Nathan coming down the waterslide.

We all slept well after 8 days of fun.  Tomorrow it's back to Minnesota!