Snakes on a Plane… NOT

I mean snakes on the Plains more specific at Reptile Gardens in Rapid City SD. This is where I ran away from a turtle, even though he is an animal that won’t eat me.

Orville

I will come back and discuss Orville in a few paragraphs. I don’t mean to get ahead of myself.

This was another morning Candi, Dave, Roy and I got up and out early. Good thing because there was a line out the door to get in when we were leaving and the parking lot was full at 11am. Who would have thunk creepy crawly things would be so popular.

On the drive over Candi and Dave kept saying we should have gone this way when we came over. It is way less curvy then the way they followed with the GPS. I’ve said GPS do not always give the best directions. We did convince them this is the way they should head back. Before we headed to our destination for the day we drove through Keystone and saw the other end of the 1880s train and depot.

On arrival we did what anyone else would do and decide where we want to go. We head towards the back and ended up near the turtles or desert tortoises Orville was just hanging out and was being petted by toddlers and adults, but not me.

I have not learned yet that you do not make eye contact with animals because they want to come visit you. (I think it is my animal magnetism.) Well, I caught Orville’s eye and he was headed straight towards me. I faired better then Roy because Orville got stuck between the wall and Roy’s scooter. I was long gone though. I guess they had to lift the back of his scooter off of Orville. It is all fun and games until you are getting run over by a giant tortoise. Orville has a right to be cranky or pushy he is over 125 years old.

After Roy got loose, we left our tortoise friends behind and headed over to the prairie dog town. This is where Candi decided to get up-close to a prairie dog. She popped up in an observation bubble and even had a dog come inspect her. I have never seen so many slow-moving prairie dogs. I think, in captivity they don’t have to worry much about predators. Candi caught a picture of four of them just being stationary on a piece of wood. I thought they were either dead or stuffed until one did move.

Travelling through the old west town Candi had to take a time out. Dave decided to try and break her out and they both got thrown behind bars. We however did not throw away the key. They were released on good behavior.

We decided to see the gator show but I thought it was going to be a croc. (I couldn’t resist).

It was fun and I learned that my husband is a reptile, because he has mastered the art of doing nothing. The most movement out of the gators and crocs was during feeding time. Check out this video.

The tamer jumped on the back of a gator to show us how to subdue one. I found out the only true man eating crocodile is the Nile crocodile. At the end of the show the trainer brought out a baby

After the show we stop for drinks. Then it was off to Mount Rushmore again. Ok, not the real Mount Rushmore – a replica.

From here it was off to the birds, I have gotten better about being fearful of birds. I still keep my distance though. They had the usual vultures, hawks, owls, and parrots. The red tail hawk was missing part of her wing. The most interesting bird of all was a king vulture Roy was interacting with it by making eye contact and having the bird follow his movements. I myself was just glad he was behind glass.

A stop at the Sky Dome had me a little jittery due to Roy pointing out the Boa Constrictor above my head. This is also where the giant saltwater croc Maniac lives.

We finished the morning up by a stop at the gift shop. I bought a bite me t-shirt. Quick lunch stop at Culvers. (had to get cheese curds). We finished our outings for the day with a tour of a Black Hills Gold factory.

On the way to dinner we talked about cows sometimes on the road and how animals can dart right out in front of you if you’re not careful. Dave thought we were going to experience an animal jumping out in front of us. He said oh no that’s a big elk and it’s going to jump. Wait, it’s fake. It sure got his heart jumping. On the way home Candi was convinced the deer she saw were fake until their heads moved all because of the elk.

Dinner was at Powder House in Keystone. They have great game meat, an amazing buffalo stew, which Dave will never get to try as they were out. He did try the buffalo meat loaf though and said it was good. This was a great way to finish off an awesome visit with family.

Space Force

No, I did not get on base. We did drive over to the base in Clear Alaska. Roy and I tried to talk our way on to the base, the best we could do was take a picture of the sign. The AP at the gate said they have a BX and they only have radar at the base. We did turn around and I did take a photo. Clear did have an airport and a heliport.

the airport Clear AK

This was an area that had a major wildfire move through earlier this summer, although we saw no evidence of the fire.

The locals did mention how a few weeks ago Anderson was full of firefighters and equipment. Speaking of Anderson. The town has seen better days, it was originally used to house civilians who were building the Air Base.

There is also a local campground, great for people who would like to be off the main road. Some sites have electric, they are also very level. The lions club maintains the campground. There is also a shooting range for the town. I have to say this is the first time I’ve seen a 5mph road sign.

At one point there was an annual music festival but unfortunately not anymore.

The whole town does seem to be well kept even though it doesn’t have many people living there. They do have a DMV which is interesting beats the alternative of having to drive into Fairbanks. I did not see a bank though.

The one thing I did see in Anderson that you won’t see in a big city is a guy chasing his cow. Yes, that is what I videotaped. Strange things happen in Alaska. It was comical to watch. I think the cow knew exactly what she was doing.

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE

After spending the day south of Nenana, we decided to go out to eat north of town and grab a sunset after 10:30pm. That I have to say was hard for me.

The Monderosa Restaurant we ate at is known for a 1lb burger. That is one thing I have noticed in Alaska they do not skimp on food. I’ve been working on composition and trying to catch the right light so that is what we did on the way home. I love this color purple, I’ve never seen anything like it.

The rest of the week we hung around town and explored the history of Nenana had some great food and met some interesting people. I will share more soon.

The Eagle has Landed

We have put our wings down for a month here in Ninilchik, Alaska. We are 40 miles from Homer and 6 miles from Eagle beach (actually, it is Deep Creek). This is the beach we could drive on before, not the case. They have put up a berm and charge for parking. It is all good because I can make parking pay for itself. In the enjoyment I’ve already experienced, I will cover that enjoyment soon.

So, what are we to do for a month, you ask? Get started looking for animals. This is after the sticker shock of $7 a shower. (I am so glad that we are self-contained.) I am also wondering how we will get along with no TV and very limited radio for a month. I know look for animals.

On the journey down from Anchorage we stopped at a turn out Beluga Point to look for Beluga Whales. You guess it no whales but I did capture a resting Lance trailer and a beautiful seascape.

The last time we had been on the Kenai Peninsula was prior to the fire of 2019. It was sad and a little devastating to see the damage done. There is a glimmer of hope as we saw a lot of fireweed growing which is great after a forest fire. There is a plan for a whole day in the area of the fire. I will be sure post some pictures. There is a lake called Tern lake which is right by the turn-off to head to Cooper Landing (hear me out memory at work). I mentioned to Roy I want to stop on the way in. That can’t be done, there is no pull off area coming from the north. That is for the return trip.

I understand we are a little early for some of the salmon run that did not stop one group of socially distanced combat fishing. It was interesting to see. At this point no animals still. That does change here soon. We got set up in the drizzle but that was ok Roy promised a good dinner in Homer and some animals he delivered on both.

We got distracted by shiny things on our way down to Homer so food wasn’t actually what we had planned on doing. It did however work out because I had leftover seafood mac n cheese for lunch. We tried to eat at The Fat Olive they have good food and good wine, this is where Roy discovered his rhubarb chardonnay. After a drive down the spit and back they were getting ready to close. We ended up at the Harbor Grill and had the seafood mac n cheese.

Speaking of the Homer Spit was surprised to see how not busy the RV parks were.

On the way home we saw a mom and baby moose walking along the side of the road towards our campground.