Today we woke up to a chilly, wet morning.  Thanks be to God, we and our beds were dry.  The tent was wet outside and inside with condensation and we had to pack it up because we were going to head on our way back. So, we packed up our wet, muddy tent and made a few stops on our way out.

First we went back to Mount Rushmore.  We hadn’t gotten a family picture in front of it so wanted to go back and I’m so glad we did.  When we got there and looked at it again. It looked like there were men on it.  If you’ve been there before you know that’s unusual.  We talked to a ranger and she told us that those were indeed men and they were up there doing their annual inspection.  It was neat to see because it gave us a great perspective of how big those faces really are.

Next we went to Bear Country USA.  The best explanation is a drive through zoo with no cages but big fences.

Before we drove through they gave us a caution slip stating something like this: It is mating season for some of the animals, so the males are extra irritable. Keep windows closed all the way. Stay inside the vehicle at all times. If there are any problems honk your horn and turn on your hazard lights until help can come. Enter at your own risk.

We saw elk, reindeer, arctic wolves, big horn sheep, dall sheep, rocky mt. goats, mountain lions, then the most exciting part, the bears.  There were A LOT of them.  And they just roamed wherever they pleased. It was fun and a little scary watching them roam around the cars.  

Then we saw timberwolves, donkeys and buffalos at the end of the drive.  Then we got to park and walk around the baby animal cages. The little bears and foxes were the favorites.

We grabbed a bite to eat and then we were off to the South Dakota Air and Space Museum by Ellsworth AFB.   They had a bunch of planes outside to look at and exhibits to browse inside.  Jonathan was thrilled to see a B-1 flying around while we were there.

We left from there to go to the KOA in Kennebec.  We had decided that since our tent was so wet we would stay in a kabin that night and try and get it dried out.  It dried out pretty fast with how windy it gets there.  

The kids had fun at the playground while we got stuff unpacked.  Then we started a fire and roasted some pizza pockets and s’mores. Abby was so proud of her first brown, not black, marshmallow.

As the kids and I got into our beds Jonathan decided to try and kill all the flies in the kabin.  It was quite the olympic sport.  Then he settled in and read “The Hobbit”.

The cheap mattresses were a step up to our air mattresses and a blessing to our sore backs.