Craft Beer tours of the Black Hills

Posted on October 19, 2014 by liv2rv

Craft Breweries are increasing in popularity, and the Black Hills of South Dakota has several good brew pubs to stop in for a sample or two. All the brew pubs have flight tastings so you can try small samples of several different styles of beer, from wheat to pale ales to stouts. They all offer growlers, where you can fill up a 64 ounce container of beer to take home with you. But such a giant container does not fit so well in the small, shallow refrigerators in an RV. So we just opted to stop in for samples (but not all in the same day!)

The Buglin’ Bull Restaurant and Sports Bar in downtown Custer, SD has a full service restaurant on one half, and a bar on the other half. They also have a rooftop deck as well. With just 4 different selections of craft beers, they offered the least variety, but still had some good flavors. We both enjoyed the Elk Poop Stout the best.

Buglin Bull

4 tasty samples

The Firehouse Brewing Company, in downtown Rapid City, is housed in Rapid City’s first firehouse, built in 1915. It has a full service restaurant, with a wide variety of food, and reasonable prices. The have a rotation of nine craft beers on tap, including seasonal brews.

Firehouse Brewing Company

These were the beers on tap on the day we did some sampling. Lot’s of different types of ales, from pale ales, brown ales, Scottish ales as well as wheat beers, stouts, and a very good cider beer called Teachers Pet. Normally we don’t care for the cider beers, but this one had more of a beer flavor than the sour apple flavor.

Brews on tap

It took some doing, but we managed to get through the long line of beers to sample!!!

9 tasty samples

Crow Peak Brewery in Spearfish, SD was established in 2007,and is the only brewery that offers cans and bottles of their flavorful beer (Although they have a very limited selection).

Crow’s Peak Brewery

They have a large variety of beers, including seasonal selections. When the menu is on a chalkboard, you can expect a constantly changing variety of fresh beers.

The “menu”

They have tasting flights of 4 beers. Our favorite beer was the Pagan Stout, which they unfortunately do not (yet) bottle.

our samples

Miner Brewing Company in Hill City, SD is a brand new, opening in the fall of 2013. The owner/brewmaster is part of the family that owns the Prairie Berry Winery that is located next door. We stopped in several times for tasting, as they also rotate the beers on tap.

Miner Brewery

When our friends Forest and Mary stopped in for a visit, we stopped off for some sampling after a day of playing tourist.

Cheers Forest & Mary

They have a wide variety of beers, and we all enjoyed their oatmeal stout.

Miner’s sampler

Bitter Esters Brewhouse is right in the heart of downtown Custer. They pride themselves on using locally grown ingredients whenever possible. They also consider themselves to be a Nano brewery, which is a very small craft brewer. They offer a limited menu of food.

downtown Custer, SD

They have a variety of beers, brewed in small batches.

colorful brews

The Sick-n-Twisted Brewery shares space with the Naked Winery in Hill City, SD.

Sick n Twisted

They had the largest variety of beers, but we were not too impressed with the ones we were able to sample. They did have some creative names for their beers.

a creative lineup

If you do enjoy beer, and you are in the area, stop in for a sample or two. Our favorites were Crow Peak, Miner Brewery and Firehouse Brewery.

We did sample several glasses of wine at three of the wineries just north of Hill City: The Naked Winery, Prairie Berry, and Stone Faces. We did enjoy several of the selections at Stone Faces, but we did not care for most of the samples we tried at the other two.

Quote for the day: Well ya see, Norm, it’s like this… A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That’s why you always feel smarter after a few beers.

– Cliff Clavin, of Cheers

Amazon, our 12 week fitness program

Posted on October 14, 2014 by liv2rv

We started our fall work camping job, at Amazon, in Campbellsville, KY on September 30. This is our 2nd year at Amazon (you can search through our September – December 2013 blogs if you want to read more on our first year, or on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail). This year they changed the first week format a little, as we started on a Tuesday, with orientation and safety school. We worked 5 hour shifts Wednesday thru Friday, in your assigned department. Saturday was an off day for everyone that started that week. Week two you go to your regular work days, but only 5 hour shifts again, for “work hardening”.

We are group number 6 (they start a new group each week, until November 14th) and had about 35 people in our group, only 3 of us assigned to first shift picking. Here is a photo of our group:

Group #6

We asked for, and received, the same shift/department as last year. “A” shift, which is Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, from 6:30am – 5:00pm, with a 30 minute lunch break. We will be Pickers again.

A little history about Amazon and Campbellsville, KY

The warehouse, or Fulfillment Facility as Amazon calls the building, is one of the 5 oldest facilities. It was originally a Fruit of the Loom factory, and when they relocated to another country, it caused massive unemployment in this small community. Amazon bought the facility in 1999, and just celebrated 15 years in this location. Many of the employees that started with them, are still here.

And if you think back to 1999, how many of you were ordering items from Amazon? They were mostly selling books back then, and now they sell just about everything. As Amazon has grown, they have used all the space in this building, which makes for some challenges when picking items. Things do not go in alphabetical or numeric order, like they would in a newer facility. And even this year, they have added even more shelves in some areas.

Work camper positions at Amazon

Amazon divides up their positions into Inbound and Outbound areas. Inbound is Receiving and Stowing, outbound is Picking and Packing. There is also ICQA, which is the quality control department. There are other jobs in these areas that they may transfer you to when needed. Dan and I both did ICQA a few days last year (very hard on the knees), and Dan was in transship in the mornings a few times, which he enjoyed. I was in gift wrap for one afternoon, which was horrible! Amazon has very high standards for how a package should be wrapped, and no matter how hard I tried, my packages looked rumpled. No matter where you are, the jobs are physical. They run two shifts, 10 hours each.

In simple terms, Receiving unloads trucks and puts the merchandise on carts. Stowers take the carts of merchandise and put it on the shelves. There is no pattern to where the items go.

Pickers have a cart and a scanner, and go pick the items off the shelf, put them in a tote, and on to a conveyor belt. The totes go to the various Packing departments, where they are sorted, boxed up, and sent on to be loaded on to the trucks. Everything is bar-coded, and no customer information is ever displayed.

When you interview with Amazon, they make no secret of how strenuous the positions are. Many workcampers have said this is the hardest job they have ever done. We both agree with that, and add that Picking is also the most boring job we have ever had. But here we are for our 2nd year! Why?

As the title of our blog implies, this is our 12 week fitness program. Last year Dan lost 28 pounds and I lost 8 pounds, in 12 weeks, even with greatly increasing the amount of food we consumed. Some people pay to join a gym, we have Amazon pay us to walk, and walk, and walk.

We enjoy Picking because you are left on your own to work. It’s just you and your scanner (which we occasionally yell at!). On average, you can walk about 10 miles plus a day in Picking. There are 4 floors (Pick mods) in three buildings so you will be walking up and down the stairs as well. Items are in bins, and your scanner will tell you where to go, what item is needed, and the quantity. Some days you will spend an hour or two in the same area (pick mod), and other times you will be moving all over between the buildings.

All workcampers have to meet production standards. They expect the workcampers to perform at 85% of what the regular full time employees do. In Picking, this means if an employee should be picking 100 items per hour, we need to be picking 85 items. All workcampers are expected to be at 100% for quality. If a customer orders a red, medium shirt, you need to pick a red, medium shirt. If you don’t, your scanner will beep at you. Quality is very important, as every customer service is very important to Amazon.

Quote of the day: “There’ll always be serendipity involved in discovery.” – Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon.com)

Chapel in the Hills

Posted on October 9, 2014 by liv2rv

Rapid City, SD is home to the Chapel in the Hills, an exact replica of the Borgund Stavkirke built around 1150 in Laerdal, Norway. A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building, named because the load-bearing posts are called stav in Norwegian. The Chapel, completed in July of 1969, was originally built as the home for the “Lutheran Vespers” radio program. When that program moved to Minnesota in 1975, it left no support for the Chapel, and a non-profit organization was formed. The Chapel is now an ELCA church, although it has no congregation, and receives no funding from the organization. Private donations, gift shop sales and wedding fees support the Chapel. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

front view

The front door of the Chapel is known as the “men’s door”, as men stood on one side of the church, women and children on the other side, in early times of the church. Women and children entered through the side door, known as the women’s door.

side view

inside facing altar

In the photo below, Dan is looking though the leper’s window. A person with leprosy, an infectious skin disease, was not permitted to enter the main church, but could receive communion through this window.

the leper’s window

A prayer walkway has been added to the grounds behind the Chapel.

view back on prayer path

There are sculptures along the path with inspirational messages.

never lose faith

The gift shop has a grass roof and displays the flag of Norway.

gift shop

There is also a small museum, in an original Norwegians settler’s log cabin, that was relocated from Keystone, SD. The museum has many items used by the early immigrants. And of course, they have statues of Ole and Lena in front!

Ole and Lena

inside their cabin

We were surprised at how tiny the Chapel was, but enjoyed the visit. It would be a nice place to have a small wedding at.

Quote for the day: (well it’s more of a Norwegian joke of the day) “One Sunday morning, the Lutheran pastor noticed Ole standing in the foyer of church staring up at a large plaque. It was covered with names and small American flags mounted on either side of it. The old Norwegian had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up, stood beside Ole, and said quietly, ‘Good morning Ole.’

‘Good morning Pastor,’ he replied, still focused on the plaque. ‘Pastor, vat is dis?’ The pastor said, ‘Well, it is a memorial to all the men and women who died in the service.’ Soberly, they just stood together staring at the large plaque.

Finally, Ole’s voice, barely audible and trembling with fear asked, ‘Vich service, da 8:30 or da 10:45?’

A day of Geology and Geography

Posted on October 5, 2014 by liv2rv

We are currently in Kentucky, but I will be posting a few more blogs from South Dakota.

With a dog sitter in place for Makena (thanks Dick and Cheryl), we took a day trip over to Devils Tower, Wyoming, about 120 miles from Custer, SD. In 1906, Devils Tower became the nations first national monument. It plays a prominent part in the classic “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” movie from 1978.

a view from afar

There are two theories about how the tower formed, one from geologists, and the other from Native Americans. Geologists agree that the tower is an intrusion, formed by magma, and has been exposed by erosion. There are multiple theories on how this occurred, but in simple terms, as the rock cooled, it contracted and formed hexagonal columns. (Todays math lesson: a hexagon has 6 sides)

The Native American legend is several girls were playing and a bear began chasing them. As they tried to get back to their tribe, they jumped on a rock and began praying to the rock to save them. The rock, only several feet in height, began rising out of the ground, out of reach of the bear. The bear attempted to claw its way to the top, forming the “claw” marks on the tower, but was unable to do so. Devils Tower remains sacred to many tribes today.

getting closer

Devils Tower, WY

There is a relatively easy 1.3 mile walking trail encircling the tower, affording many different views of the columns. The base of the tower has a large rock pile, from the rock believed to have fallen off after the magna had cooled. The rocks at the base have been slowly eroding away, further exposing more of the columns of the tower.

Close Encounters

Devils Tower, at a height of 867 feet, is a very popular park for rock climbing. There is a voluntary closure during the month of June, as many Native American Tribes hold ceremonies during this month. We were able to watch 3 climbers for a while. If you look closely at the photo below, you can see the three, one at the top center, middle left, and bottom center. (you may need to click on the photo to enlarge it)

3 hikers

In 2008, Japanese sculptor Junkyu Muto installed a sculpture on the property, “Circle of Sacred Smoke”. The sculpture represents the first puff of smoke from the pipe used by Native Americans during their ceremonies. The two granite boulders beneath the sculpture are blast fragments from Crazy Horse Memorial.

sculpture

view thru sculpture

After soaking up all the geology, we heading over to Belle Fourche, SD to finish up with some Geography and History. Belle Fourche (pronounced Bell Fuush), is the geographic center of the United States of America.

Belle Fourche, SD

There is a large monument, with a geographic marker that I am standing on. Been there, done that!

standing in the middle

All fifty state flags surround the monument.

the monument

Also at the monument is the Tri-State Museum (free admission, donations welcome) which has some interesting items on display. For the ladies that wanted curls, they could go down to the beauty parlor and sit under this machine, that looks like something found in a Frankenstein movie!

high-tech perm machine

The museum had a photograph showing a women getting her hair done. It did not state how long this process took.

getting a perm

Vacuum cleaners have come a long was as well. This is the Great Northern Vacuum Cleaner, made in Chicago, Illinois. It is not electric, but a suction plunger model.

vacuum cleaner

This is the Ironrite Mangle, a 1940’s model ironing machine. You would feed your clothes into the heated roller.

ironing machine

Below is the Hodge Bootery X-Ray Shoe Fitting Machine, which was popular in the late 1940s and early 1950’s. The shoe salesperson would take an x-ray of your feet to determine your proper shoe size. In 1950, they realized the hazards from the radiation, and by 1970, 33 states had banned the machines.

shoe x-ray machine

The museum was also selling a poster of ‘Crazy Horse’, with a disclaimer that it is “believed” to be the only known photograph taken of him, in 1877. In reality, no known photograph of Crazy Horse exists.

Crazy Horse??

It was an interesting day, and the museum was a nice little find. We would recommend a trip out to Devils Tower if you are staying in the Black Hills, or as a stopover on the way out West.

Quote for the Day: “You will enrich your life immeasurably if you approach it with a sense of wonder and discovery, and always challenge yourself to try new things.” – Nate Berkus

Unplugging for 3 weeks

Posted on September 29, 2014 by liv2rv

We packed up and left Custer, SD the morning of September 10 and made it back to Dan’s sister’s house around 1:30am. Originally, we did not plan on driving all day, but the weather was perfect, traffic was light, and Dan felt good, so we just kept on going, and going, and going! We would have made better time, but encountered a bridge that was out, and had to drive 17 miles south to get across on the next bridge, along with 17 miles north to get back to where we were. Then Bambi and her friends kept darting across the roads, so we going pretty slow for the last 2 hours.

We woke up the next morning to multiple text messages and photos from our fellow Crazy Horse co-workers of the big snowstorm that started the night we left!! We were very thankful to get out before the snow.

Before we left, we did manage a final outing with Phil and Rudee. Dan went golfing with Phil, and Rudee and I checked out Bear Country again, to see how much the little bear cubs have grown. They have tripled in size, in just 2 months since we were last there. One of the employees was trying to scoop up poop, but the cubs were more interested in getting the rake and shovel from her. She spent some time talking with the crowd that was watching, Wouldn’t this be a fun workcamping job?

“momma” and kids

It was mating season for the Elks. Upon seeing this beautiful Elk, Rudee rolled down her window and whistled at him….

come here Mr. Elk!

Apparently that was a “mating call” whistle, because he came charging down the hill and checked us out! So if you ever go Elk hunting, Rudee knows how to get their attention.

too close for comfort

The last several weeks have been busy getting together with family and friends, although we were unable to see everyone that we wanted. We simply ran out of time, and could have used a few more weeks. We have not finalized any plans after mid-April, so we may be back to Wisconsin for a week or two at that time. We are still looking into our options for working next summer.

We did make it to the Packers home opener, against the Jets. This will be the only game we can attend this year, and still have our tickets available for the New England and Atlanta Falcons games. If you’re interested, let us know. We met up with some friends before the game for tailgating.

pre-game tailgating!

Only in Green Bay would you run into characters dressed as cheese spreads!

only in Green Bay!

We have nice seats in the North end zone, which gets the sun (important for those December games!)

Lambeau Field

all smiles after a victory

It was fun getting together with those that we did see (and we forgot to take photos of all the get-togethers).

Jonell, Madge and Pudge

partners in crime

We also took full advantage of having fast, unlimited Wi-Fi at Dan’s parents, to get all the updates on our computers and iPad done. After that, we decided to “unplug” and get away from our devices. Which is why I haven’t posted a blog in a while.

Now it’s off to Campbellsville, KY for our 2^nd year working at Amazon. We requested the same shift and department as last year. We will have our orientation day on Tuesday 9/30, so we will find out for sure what we will be doing. And I still need to finish up a few more South Dakota blogs!

Quote for the day: “How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then to relax afterward.” – Spanish Proverb

Getting ready to go

Posted on September 7, 2014 by liv2rv

With just 3 more days left at Crazy Horse, we have been busy packing up our stuff, checking the roof for debris, putting Makena’s kennel back in the truck (she was very excited to see this) and inflating the tires. Saturday (9/6) we had a huge crowd at work for the night blast to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Crazy Horse and the birth of Korczak, the sculpture of Crazy Horse Memorial.

Wednesday morning we will be leaving for Wisconsin, and if all goes well, we should arrive Thursday night at “Camp Meyer”, which is Makena’s favorite
“campground” (Dan’s sister and brother-in-law, Linda and Doug). We will be parked there for 2 weeks, and then head down to Campbellsville, Kentucky, for another season at Amazon. We have a start date of September 30.

We will not be online for a few days, as we will be returning the Wilson 3G cellular booster that Phil and Rudee have so graciously allowed us to use this summer. Without it, we would not have had any cellular telephone service or internet at all. We will be looking into purchasing a booster, but have been waiting as the 4G boosters are just coming on to the market.

I still have several more blog posts to do, and will try to get all caught up with South Dakota stuff before we leave for Kentucky.

Quote for the day: “A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” – George A. Moore

4 other spelunking tours

Posted on September 2, 2014 by liv2rv

The Black Hills area offers six different cave sites for your spelunking pleasure. We were fortunate to have enough time to visit all six. If you have limited time, we would recommend Wind Cave and Jewel Cave, both operated by the National Park Service. We have previously blogged on those caves. Now we will catch up on the other four.

Wonderland Cave

Of the four privately owned caves, we enjoyed Wonderland Cave the most. The cave is located near Nemo.

we found Nemo!!

The cave was discovered in 1929 when two brothers were searching for their lost dog. They could hear the dog barking, and followed the sound into a hole and discovered the cave. The cave is on land owned by the U.S. Forest Service, and in the 1930’s, the Civilian Conservation Corps worked on exploring and mapping the cave, along with constructing the steps and paths in the cave. It is surrounded by beautiful scenery.

Wonderland Cave

The cave has only had two owners, which run the cave tours through a special use permit from the USFS. As such, the cave is fairly well-preserved. This cave is a “wet” cave, and has the only living Helictites formation in the area.

Helictites

We have never seen this type of formation before. Helictites are found in limestone caves and are believed to have a capillary system. The formation starts out as a stalactite, but over time the growth may twist and turn, defying gravity. The one we saw was growing out and up. Our tour guide stated the dark spot was “the spine”.

stalactites, stalagmites and columns

The cave also has examples of Boxwork, dog tooth spar crystals, flowstone, and many stalagmites and stalactites, along with the columns that occur when they reach each other. We also saw an example of frost work, which can be seen in some of the other park service caves, but not on the basic tours. They do not have a light on it, to keep it preserved, but our tour guide did point it out with a flashlight. We did this tour at the end of August, as we were more “ho-hum” after seeing the other privately owned caves. This cave is certainly worth a visit (cost $14.50, and yes Madge, it was free with VIP pass). Our tour was about 90 minutes, but we are not sure if this is a typical length of time. There was a newspaper reporter with us, and the manager was giving the tour, so we felt we lucked into getting a more detailed tour. And it was just the four of us, which made for an even better experience.

Black Hills Caverns

The brochure for the Black Hills Caverns, discovered in 1882 by gold miners, and established as a tourist attraction in 1939, advertises itself as having the most complete formations of any cave in the Black Hills. However, we did not see any frost crystals or helictites on our tour (but they do have samples on display in their gift shop area).

here they are!

Black Hills Caverns ($12.50 for adults, free with VIP pass) has very large rooms, a lot of flowstone, narrow passages and lots of stairs to go up and down. The tour lasts 60 minutes.

large rooms

narrow passages on stairs

Flowstone “river”

Rushmore Cave

Rushmore Cave was discovered in 1876 when the Black Hills Mining Company was working nearby, and built a flume for their water on the hillside, for their mining operations. The flume leaked, but the water did not run down the hill, but disappeared into it. The miners went in search of the water, and discovered the entrance to the cave. It opened to the public in 1927, and was named Rushmore Cave during the time Mount Rushmore was under construction. In the 1950’s, under new ownership, tours were given 24 hours a day. The wear and tear from all the public visits is evident in this cave, as it has so many broken stalactites.

broken stalactites

The cave has a lot of stairs to go up and down, amongst the smooth limestone walls.

smooth limestone walls

The cave has now been turned into a bigger amusement type attraction, with the addition of the Soaring Eagle Zipline Ride and the Gunslinger 7-D interactive theater. The zipline is more of a chairlift that goes down the hill and back up again. The ride lasts 90 seconds.

Zip line chair

The gunslinger attraction is more like something you would find at Disneyworld, as you sit in a chair with 3D glasses and shoot at the animation on the screen. We had fun doing this, but mainly it was because we were the only 2 people in the theater at the time (we did this in Mid-May, before the tourists arrived). The cost for all three activities (cave tour, zipline and Gunslinger Theater is $28.00, free with VIP pass). The cave tour itself is $12.00. The cave tour is the best of the three attractions.

Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns

Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns was the most disappointing of all the caves we have visited, as well as the most physically challenging of the cave tours. We would not recommend this tour. The cave was discovered in 1929 by a couple exploring the above ground cave on their property. It is believed that Sitting Bull camped in the above ground cave. Nearby is the entrance to the below ground cave. It is a very challenging, very steep descent to get down into the cave. And it is even more challenging to climb back up these same steep stairs when exiting the cave after a short 45 minute tour.

very steep stairs

They do have a nice display of dog-spar crystals.

dog-spar crystals

During the great flood of 1972 in Rapid City, this cave was flooded and the owners have not cleaned out the debris that remains. So there isn’t too much to see on this tour. Cost for adults is $12.00 (free with VIP pass). Our advice: save your money!

We enjoy visiting caves, and are looking forward to visiting Mammoth Cave in Kentucky this fall. So stay tuned for our review on that!

Quote for the day: “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek.” – Joseph Campbell

Crocidiles, Snakes and Lizards….oh my!

Posted on August 29, 2014 by liv2rv

If you love snakes, spiders, alligators, crocodiles and birds (and who doesn’t?!!), then Reptile Gardens, located just South of Rapid City, is a perfect place to spend an afternoon.

Hello!

Good to know

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Reptile Gardens has more species and sub-species of reptiles than any other zoo or park in the world. They offer several informative programs every day, on snakes, birds and a popular alligator/crocodile show. One of the more popular residents of Reptile Gardens is the giant tortoise. There are two species, Galapagos (which is endangered) and Aldabra (which is a threatened species). They average 500 pounds in weight, and 4 to 5 1/2 feet depending on the species. They are very gentle creatures, and it was fun getting to pet them.

making new friends!

These little ones seemed to be having some fun!

just playing around

The Sky Dome contains a tropical jungle with birds, lizards, and small turtles roaming around. It also has a beautiful display of tropical plants and flowers.

Reptile Gardens

They have several different species of Amazon and Macaw birds on display, that seemed quite happy with their surroundings, and were oblivious to us humans.

Macaw’s

The Alligator/Crocodile show is very popular, and educational as well. The handler discusses the difference between the two species, and will show you how to wrangle them, if you so desire!

don’t try this at home!

During the show, the handler comes out with a bucket of raw chicken legs, which they seem to enjoy and swallow whole.

yummy chicken!

At the end of the show, the handler goes around with Fluffy, their baby crocodile. Who can resist petting her?

petting a baby crocodile

They do have an exhibit of a Komodo Dragon, which is the largest lizard in the world. Males can reach up to 10 feet long. The Dragons will eat snakes, pigs and pesky tourists, according to the sign at the display.

Komodo Dragon

But the highlight of Reptile Gardens is their impressive display of snakes. What is the worlds most deadliest snake? According to Reptile Gardens, it is the Inland Taipan, as it has the most toxic venom of any snake known on the planet. However, because of its limited range of living in remote Australia, there are no known deaths from this snake. This snake was hiding out in the back of the display, so I was unable to get a good picture of it.

Inland Taipan

The Rough-Scaled Python, is considered to be the rarest snake in the world. It is non-venomous. The species were first found in 1976, but a second one was not located until 1983. They were found in Northern Australia, and Reptile Gardens was the first place to have, and to breed them, outside of Australia. They live in sandstone crevices and usually come out after dark to warm up on heat stored in the rocks.

Rough-scaled Python

The Boomslang, found in Tropical Africa south of the Sahara, is the most venomous rear-fanged snake in the world. The snake is able to open its mouth a full 180 degrees, to display its potent fangs.

Boomslang

The Black Mamba, found in Central and South Africa, is the second longest venomous snake in the world, growing up to 14 feet in length. If left untreated, 100% of Black Mamba snake bites are fatal. Just 2 drops of their venom is lethal, and a bite will usually deposit 15 drops. This snake just shed it’s skin, which was left in the cage on the left. The snake is sprawled out on the right side.

Black Mamba

The Australian Scrub Python, a non-venomous snake, is the largest species native to Australia. They can get up to 28 feet, although 16 feet is the norm. There are two snakes in the photo below, all wrapped up together. They are the only 2 in the United States.

Australian Scrub Python

The Anaconda, a non-venomous snake, is the largest, heaviest and second longest snake in existence. (the longest snake is the Reticulated Python) They can weigh up to 300 pounds, and grow 22 feet in length. The females have been known to eat smaller males!

Anaconda

The very large, non-venomous Burmese Python can lay up to 100 six-inch eggs. They are unusual in the reptile world in that they will incubate their eggs by coiling up around them, and raising their body temperature about 7 degrees.

Burmese Python

This is the skeleton of a Burmese Python, which contains 328 pairs of ribs and 400 vertebrae. It is estimated this snake weighed 150 pounds and was 19 feet in length.

Burmese Python Skeleton

The cost for Reptile Gardens is $16.50, which includes a pass allowing you to return all season.

Quote of the day: “Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river.” – Chinese Proverb

Yabba Dabba Doo!

Posted on August 22, 2014 by liv2rv

Custer, SD

We both grew up watching The Flintstones, which originally aired from 1960 – 1966, and then many years after in reruns on Saturday mornings. Custer, South Dakota has the Flintstones Camping and Theme Park and we were always curious about it, driving past it many times in town. Since we could receive free admission with our VIP passes (normally $10.00 per adult), we decided to check it out. This went into our “glad it was free” list, although we managed to have a ‘Yabba dabba doo, gay ole time’! It took us about 30 minutes to see everything in the park, so it is pretty overpriced for what you get (in our opinion).

We started out taking the train ride around the property.

all aboard!

And then entered Bedrock City, which is a re-creation of the buildings from the television series, along with a few new “attractions” found only in the Black Hills, such as “Barney Peak” (a play on Harney Peak)

Barney Peak

And Mount Rockmore (we still haven’t figured out who the person is on the far right, next to Dino)

Mount Rockmore

The park has Fred and Wilma’s house.

The Flinstones house

Dan was trying to take Fred’s car for a spin.

no keys, just foot pedals

Next door was The Rubble household of Barney and Betty.

The Rubbles

Barney has quite the aerodynamic sportster.

Dan decided to hang out with the girls.

Betty and Wilma

They have a downtown area, complete with movie theater, fire department, beauty parlor…

Downtown Bedrock

and the jail

Bedrock PD

After the buildings, there is a children’s playground area with swings, slides and stuff. I was talking with a few mothers that wished they would put this cartoon back on the air, and take off Sponge Bob. Their children had no idea who any of the characters are on The Flintstones. We agreed that their kids are missing out on a classic cartoon series.

a great tv show!

We did not see any of the camping section of the park, as it is well secluded from the road and the park.

Quote for the day: “Make it good Fred, I gotta tell Betty the same story.” – Barney Rubble

South Dakota Air and Space Museum

Posted on August 19, 2014 by liv2rv

Next door to Ellsworth Air Force Base in Box Elder, SD is the excellent South Dakota Air and Space Museum (free to everyone, donations happily accepted), which contains dozens of airplanes, helicopters and missiles both indoors and outdoors.

B-1B Lancer from the front

The exhibit includes planes that were flown out of the AFB, such as the B-52 Stratofortress, EC-135 Looking Glass, B-29 Superfortress, and the B-1B Lancer, which is currently in use at the base. There is an optional tour available of the base ($8, free with VIP pass). It was the first time we had been on an active military base, and we were happy to venture out with our friends Forrest and Mary for the tour. Our tour guide stated they normally do not put a “current model” out on display, but this plane had been heavily damaged, so they scraped it for parts, and placed it prominently on display in front of the museum.

B-1B Lancer

We were impressed by the massive size of the B-52 plane.

B-52 Stratofortress

It’s predecessor, the B-29 Superfortress, was also a great looking plane.

B-29 Superfortress

The EC-135 Looking Glass was another plane used at the base.

EC-135 Looking Glass

The photo below has the Nike-Ajax Missile in the center, the F-101 Voodoo on the far left, the C-47 Gooney Bird and the C-131 Samaritan on the far right.

Nike-Ajax Missile

More planes on display

various planes

The photo below has the T-38 Talon on the left, and the A-7 Corsair – II on the right.

The tour of the base was approximately one hour, with a stop at the Minuteman Missile Silo right on the base. Currently, there are over 3,000 people living on the base. At its peak, during the Cold War era, over 7,000 members were assigned to the base.

The AFB used to contain the 44th Missile Wing, which was in charge of the Minuteman Missile Sites. The base contains a silo that was used for training on all facets of the program. The first silo was installed in 1963 near Wall, SD. By the end of 1963, over 150 missile silos were dispersed across South Dakota. All training for the personnel was done at the AFB. The end of the cold war was reached in 1991, and the missiles were deactivated. The 44th Missile Wing was disbanded in 1994. You can read more on the history of the 44th and the Minuteman missiles here.

The missiles were brought to the sites using the maintenance vehicle below. The back-end of the vehicle would raise up and over the missile site in the ground, and they could lower the missile down into the silo.

maintenance vehicle

The next vehicle to arrive would contain the actual nuclear warhead and would also sit over the site. They would put covers down over the hole, and would complete work on the installation.

2nd maintenance vehicle

The entrance into the silo required a secure, double entry system.

double entry

Since this was a training facility, the officers grew tired of having to go down the hatches every day, so stairs were built at this silo.

We were able to look down into the silo at the missile.

maintenance opening

deactivated warhead

There are electrical components surrounding the silo.

electrical components

The museum also contained a display of the launch control center, which were capsules buried underground throughout South Dakota. Each center was in charge of 10 missile silos.

launch control center

The museum and tour of the base was an excellent and informative lesson in our military history. It is definitely a “must see” item if you come out to this area. There is also a Minuteman Missile Site and Launch Control Facility operated by the National Park Service about 60 miles East of the base. We have not yet visited that facility, but hope to do so before we leave this area in a few weeks. You are not able to go down into the missile silo at the park service facility, as they do not have stairs like the AFB had put in their training silo. But they do offer tours of the launch control facility on a first come-first served basis. And they are only able to take 6 people down at a time in the control center. So if you are interested in the missile site, it would be a good idea to tour the museum and Ellsworth Air Force Base as an alternative.

Quote for the day: “If you can walk away from a landing, it’s a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it’s an outstanding landing.” – Chuck Yeager

Liv2RV

Living and working around the country in a RV

Yearly Archives: 2014