Here are some favorites from our 1st day activities.
As soon as we made it to Rapid City, we headed for Reptile Gardens.
We were just in time for the Alligator Show.
The trainer offered Kaitlin a chance to hop in and wrestle the gator....
She respectfully declined.
They were very hungry gators, after all.
Then we had to go find ourselves some more reptiles...
As well as some very colorful flowers...
and birds.
This is the largest sea turtle fossil found in the entire world to date.
It was found in South Dakota.
These giant tortoises have given up trying to get away from their adoring fans.
Then, after checking into our hotel, we headed back out and visited The Cosmos...the place where you can hang of walls and water runs uphill. What a strange place!!
We had to finish off our 1st day right and so we made the iconic Mount Rushmore our final stop for the evening.
Kaitlin wanted to get a closer look.
While they have a brand new overlook, the old one is still there...now called the 'historic overlook'. So, since Justin and I are sure we have pictures of us around her age on this overlook, we had to get one of her there, too.
We stayed for the lighting ceremony and called it a night.
Photos from days 2-4 still to come...
