Loveland or Bust

Cousin Erick graduates from high school this Saturday and we are driving down to Loveland, Colorado for the big day! This will be our longest car-trip ever with Lilly. We left yesterday (Wednesday afternoon) and stopped in Bismarck, ND for the evening. It was a quick 3 hour drive. We passed Tim McGraw's tour bus on the way out of town. (He had a concert in GF Tuesday night. 1st celebrity sighting for this trip!) What was not quick was the service from the late teens/early 20's sandwich makers at the Subway in Valley City, ND. A Tupac cd was cranking from the sound system and everyone was stoned. It took 2 whole minutes for the kid to put the meat on my spicy Italian sub. Then there was the cashier who talked about his lawyer's recent advice, "If it doesn't get brought up soon, people will just forget about the case." Um, really? He was also told by his friend in front of us that "(some boy's name) is still ignoring you" to which he replied, "well, his girlfriend isn't!". seriously. this happened.

7 am and ready to ride

This morning we got up bright and early to leave the hills of Bismarck for South Dakota. We had to do a quick turnaround right before leaving Bismarck, bc we forgot "Lambie", Lilly's pink lamb blanket in the hotel bed. The drive was ...rural. but pretty. but pretty rural. For those of you who have been to the eastern side of ND, it is pretty flat, but the western side is all hills. We saw lots of pheasants, a wild turkey crossing the road and cows grazing (on ranch land). Lilly was a champ during the car-ride.

Our final destination for tonight was Keystone, South Dakota - home of Mount Rushmore. Unfortunately, it's been raining all day since entering South Dakota. We made a stop in Sturgis, SD (home of the famous Harley-Davidson Rally - happens every summer) and at Weimer's Diner. Sturgis is a ghost town during most of the year. There are these huge saloons everywhere you turn, but they are owned by out-of-state vendors and opened only during the rally in the summer. BTW - Weimer's Diner was OK - GREAT homemade donuts, ice cream floats and milkshakes, but the diners in Grand Forks are better.

From Sturgis we headed to Keystone but not before making two awesome stops. The first: Reptile Gardens ($11/adult). We weren't sure how Lilly would do here since she's deathly afraid of ladybugs, but she was awesome. Reptile Gardens is home to many endangered species and one of kind animals (in the US and the Western Hemisphere!) We saw the endangered Cuban crocodile (the only one in the US), the Alligator Snapping Turtle, one of the largest crocodiles in the world (Maniac from Australia), TONS of snakes, various forms of teeny tiny poison dart frogs, even a celebrity crocodile! (Gus - he was in James Bond movie - 2nd celebrity sighting!). Lilly came face to face with a komodo dragon and tried to kiss it through the window. Afterwards we spent quite a bit of time in the gift shop (which many people in GF recommended us going to) and Lilly picked out some snakes for her buddies and an alligator claw for herself.

face to face with the komodo dragon



a bit frightened of Maniac - one of the largest crocodiles ever

4 bears stuck in a tree



We then drove a bit further and entered (at $16/adult) Bear Country USA. Aunt Denise recommended that we drive there. It's a driving zoo- in your own car - you accept all damage to your car and enter at your own risk. Why all the legalities? Because it's open road along the sanctuary for bears, rocky mountain elk, reindeer, arctic wolves, timber wolves, bison, pumas, rocky mountain big-horned sheep and goats. It was pretty cool. We saw four bears on a tree - bears were everywhere. Apparently they like the rain! The pumas did not, they were huddled together in their sheds.The Arctic wolves looked like wet sad dogs. But, back to the bears. We realized that Lilly couldn't see a thing bc she was in her car seat - so just this once she got to sit on my lap to view the animals. As we got to the bear section we slowed down because two bears were ambling across the road.... RIGHT TO THE PASSENGER SIDE OF OUR CAR!! Lilly and I got a very up close and personal look at the black bears...snout to nose - through the car window. Brian was a bit apprehensive of not one, but two bears sniffing the door handles and standing themselves up against the car. We also watched a bear scratch his back against a signpost - Disney's Jungle Book style - where Baloo is singing Bear Necessities and scratching his back on the coconut tree. All in all a cool experience. Worth it if you like animals.



hm...so this is a Japanese car?



Lilly, open the door! We can smell all the cookies you have in there!

trying to reach that itchy spot

We then settled in at the Mt. Rushmore White House Resort in Keystone. It's on the Main St. Tinaves fam - we were here back in summer 2008. We've seen bigger rooms but for $50/night, a microwave, fridge and an indoor pool - pretty great. It's quiet around here, most of the tourists we've seen are from Europe or senior citizens. However, this weekend is the start of tourism season so it'll pick up soon. Brian was very excited to buy the first beer ever sold at The Fat Frog, an ice cream parlor that opened up right next to the hotel. Tomorrow morning we hope the rain lets up so we can run over to Mt. Rushmore, see Crazy Horse and then head on to Loveland!