Last Day in Rapid City

Last night we tried to get some sunset pictures at Badlands NP, however the clouds cover was just too thick.  The sun could not break through the clouds, thus there were no colors in the sky. So I do not have any good sunset photos.

Today was our last day in South Dakota, we fly home tomorrow. Since today was our last day, we took it easy and did not do much.

We attempted to walk the petrified forest trail in one of Rapid City’s park, but there was no map, so we couldn’t tell where the trail was.  So we went to the Reptile Garden, established in 1937. The Reptile Garden is a garden and wildlife park that specializes in reptiles. We got there right before the crocodile and alligator show, where they tell you a bit about crocodiles and alligators and how to wrestle one.  It was interesting. We also saw their prairie dog exhibit and pet some giant tortoises. The jungle dome was interesting. In the middle of the lower level you walk along a path in an enclosed a jungle like setting as lizards, birds, frogs, and a snake roam about free. I saw several small lizards. Then on the upper level you can see all the venomous snakes, behind glass. Then around the outside of the jungle path on the lower level you can see all the types of alligators and crocodiles including an 18 foot long saltwater crocodile.  That basically covers the whole garden, we didn’t watch the bird or snake show. The Reptile Garden is nice, and I would recommend it for people with kids. On a side note the Reptile Garden does allow you to bring your dog.

From the Reptile Garden we went next door to the Founding Fathers Exhibit.  It is a recreation of the signing of the Declaration of Independence based on the famous John Trumbull painting.  What they did was take the painting, and make sculptures of all the people and placed them in the proper setting. Basically they made the painting three dimensional, which provided an interesting perspective, since you could walk all the way around the life size model.   The exhibit is nice, and would be great if you are really into American History, but overall not something I would need to do again.

We ate lunch at ¿Que Pasa?, which had decent Mexican food. From there we stopped at Rocky Mountain Chocolates and then Landstrom’s which makes jewelry out of gold from the black hills. This basically concluded our day. The rest of the day was spent packing up all our stuff so it is ready to go tomorrow for the flight home.