South Dakota Vacation

If you have noticed that I have been missing in action for couple of days, that was because we went to a little family vacation to South Dakota. We took a spontaneous four days three nights trip to South Dakota. I literally only had two days to plan this trip, as I am a planner while my hubby is the spontaneous kind of person. Luckily with the help of the Internet, anything is feasible and I managed to find the lodging and places to visit in time. I will guide you through our visit to South Dakota with short illustration.


We first arrived at Mouth Rushmore National Memorial in the afternoon. Just nice to have a quick lunch at the cafeteria and walked around the area.


Bright sunny sky after our lunch, nice for photo shoot.


Evy enjoyed her chocolate chips mint ice-cream after lunch.


Edda loving her strawberry shortcake ice-cream.


Then, we took a stroll at the 1/2 mile loop Presidential Trail. The last 1/4 mile was stairs.


We stayed at Palmer Gulch Resort in Black Hills National Forest, 10 minutes from Mt. Rushmore. No cellphone signal here.


Enjoying the free continental breakfast.


Cosmos Mystery Area- unusual happening happen in this area where water flow uphill and ball rolls uphill. We couldn't stand straight in this room as well, some unexplained forces at work here. The tour guide was trying to show us his Matrix move here. Haha...


The ground is level and yet one seem to be taller standing on one side, how is that possible? Definitely blow our mind! $9.50 for adult and kids free.


Bear Country U.S.A. - A place fulled of black and brown bears, I think at least hundred. I never seen so many bears in my life before. The animals roam freely in this 200 acres natural Black Hills habitat.


This black bear just enjoying himself walking back and forth at the entrance and blocking our car from entering.


Timber wolves and bears run wild here. They have Elks, Big Horn Sheeps, Mountain Goats, Arctic wolves, mountain lions, reindeer, Dall Sheep, miniature donkey, buffalo, Grizzly bears, lots of small animals and baby bear cubs too.


Cool up close and personal experience with wild animals.


We even got a bear bite souvenir here, look at our bumper. Luckily my hubby didn't drive his favorite car.


One of the many tunnels at Custer State Park.


Sylvan Lake Area at Custer State Park.


Peter Norbeck Visitor Center at Custer State Park.


Wildlife spotting along Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park.


Wildlife Loop.


Bison herd at Wildlife Loop.


Casually walking by our car.


Rocky Mountain Goat spotted at Mt. Rushmore area.


Second longest cave in the world. Named for the jewel-like Nailhead and Dog-tooth Spar crystals which line over 143 mile of passages.


234 feet under the surface. Temperature in cave is 49'F. Evy didn't enjoy the cave, too dark and scary for her.


Walking up and down 723 stair steps along a 1/2 mile loop in 1.5 hour tour. I was sweating at the end of the tour because I had to carry Edda. What an exercise!


Storybook Island- home of fairy tale and storybook characters for kids.


Storybook Island train ride ($1/ride). My girls loved this place but we couldn't stay long because we had a long drive home.


And back to Colorado!

The trip was enjoyable. The taxes and prices were cheaper than Colorado and we got to see lots of wildlife. If you loved nature, wildlife, hunting, fishing, horse trail riding and camping, you will like South Dakota. But be warn, this place is pretty rural, certain places have no cellphone signal and Chinese restaurants are only found in Rapid City.

Trip to Pikes Peak

We took our parents (my in-laws) to Pikes Peak recently. I really experienced shortness of breath while at the summit. The oxygen here was less and I could really felt it. And my father in-law had painful ears (because of the air pressure). Thus, we didn't spend a lot of time at the summit.


View from the Summit. It was very windy and COLD! We wore an extra fleece and a winter jacket and still felt the chill because of the strong wind.


My in-laws with Evy. This was taken on the way up to the summit. We also spotted two skiers ski down the thinly snow packed slope at the side of the mountain. See, no jacket here because it was not as cold yet.


On the way down, we stopped by the reservoir. Beautiful isn't it? A lot of people fishing here. They caught a lot of Trouts.


Evy posting for daddy by the reservoir!


Edda took a little snack at the reservoir rest booth.

Sharing Some Random Pictures

AFormosa Safari near the entrance. Frankly I was quite disappointed in this. Pretty small and the western show suck, couldn't understand a word came out of their mouths.


This must be her favorite thing to do in the Safari: Pony ride. By the way, only cost $4 for a round.


Waiting for the multi-talented animal show to start. Look at her rosy cheeks, you know how hot it was.


Edda happily smiling for the camera in a Thai restaurant. Usually she would look down or side way to avoid looking at the camera.


Their favorite ride in Genting resort while waiting for the grandparents who were playing slot machines inside the casino. Edda was sitting alone in the third car. Lost count of how many rounds they were in it.

A Day at the Zoo

Look how I crammed two of them in one stroller. LOL!


This is Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, the only mountain zoo in the United States at an elevation of 6,800 feet. It has herd of Giraffes and now total at 19, and the fun part for kids are they get to hand-feed the giraffes "giraffe crackers".


Look at this Orangutan and the amount of carrots he can stuff inside his mouth!



This is the baby orangutan that has been abandoned by his mother. Thus the caretaker has been taking care of him and we can view him from 12-4pm each day. This caretaker even sleep with the baby orangutan in that viewing window!!

Edda zoned out at the end of the day and fell asleep in the stroller.