Reptile Gardens

September 17, 2025

I am not excited about reptiles. Hence this is the first time we have gone to Reptile Gardens, a reptile zoo in Rapid City. I consoled myself that with gardens in the name. The grounds were probably going to be amazing. The grounds overall were not as expansive as we somehow thought they'd be, but there was still a lot to see. 

There were more snakes than I ever care to see again. Thankfully, they were all safely behind glass, as were the tarantulas, lizards, and poisonous frogs. The giant tortoises were impressive, and I never knew there were so many different species of crocodiles. 

The grounds were beautiful and artfully landscaped. I certainly appreciated something besides reptiles on which to focus!

Prairie Dog

Eurasian Eagle Owl

Maniac is 15 ft 5 in. long

East African Green Mambas

Time to escape!

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Chile Pepper Festival - In South Dakota?

September 12, 2025

We were watching the news one morning, and the roving reporter was at Jolly Lane Greenhouse in Rapid City. They were promoting the Chile Pepper Festival. Wait? A chile pepper festival in Rapid City? Yes! Jolly Lane imports over 800 pounds of Hatch green chiles and roasts them using four commercial roasters during the weekend. Green chile cheeseburgers were on the menu for us. 

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Dinosaur Skyline

 August 19, 2025

We skipped Dinosaur Park last year. The park was undergoing renovation as they added handicap ramp access to the top. Built in 1936, steps, and a number of steps at that, were the only way to the top prior to the access ramp. The view from the top is impressive. Well worth the effort to make it to the top. 

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Badlands Loop

August 16, 2025 

Each year we make it a point to visit Badlands National Park. This year we went the day after our arrival. The sunflowers were in bloom, and I was hoping to catch some good photos of a field that I remembered near the Wall entrance. The field was not there anymore. Our photos taken on the drive from Mitchell to Box Elder would have to suffice. Even so, we enjoyed our drive through the Badlands. 

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Pioneer Auto Museum

August 15, 2025

Pioneer Auto Museum is one of those places we kept saying that we'd stop there someday. Since we had a fairly easy travel day from Mitchell to Box Elder and a time zone change was working in our favor, we decided to stop on this trip.

The place is a hodge podge of buildings housing a single family's collection of cars along with some motorcycles and tractors and a few other things such as toys, lunch boxes, pinball machines and other assorted items. The buildings are loosely labeled to indicate what is housed within. 

It's somewhat dusty and some of the autos look like they haven't been run in years. Even so, to our surprise, we saw a couple of unexpected and rather unique vehicles. If you like old cars and need a stretch break, you'd probably enjoy walking around for an hour or so. 

The billboard car

Screen used General Lee

My dad had a '78 Lil Red Express

Early motorhome

Sliding doors on a car

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Corn-by-Number

August 14, 2025 

It had been a couple of years since we stopped in Mitchell, SD. The Corn Palace, which admittedly sounds a bit, well, corny, is actually kind of interesting to see. Each year students from Dakota Wesleyan University submit their drawings for the murals. The winning designs are formulated into a paint-by-number art, only the "paint" is corn cobs. Somewhere around 325,000 especially grown corn in twelve different colors are used for the giant murals. Different grains are used to frame the murals. It's worth a stop if you're traveling through the area.

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