Blessings by God's design: Black Hills Vacation~Part 2

While in the Hills we also visited Bear Country USA~you ride through the "park" in your vehicle and surrounding you are different animals. Elk, Moose, Mountain Goats, Buffalo, and of course BEAR along with a few other animals that I can't remember! They are just out in the open so the one rule at Bear Country is keep your windows UP! :) As we're driving we notice a few cars in front of us there is a mini van parked next to a HUGE elk w/ big old antlers...don't worry, their windows are rolled up, but the sliding side door to their van is WIDE OPEN! Seriously. Kind of like saying "here Mr. Elk, are you hungry? Have my kid for lunch b/c if you charge our van or even turn your head with your huge antlers attached, there's no way I'll get that door to slide shut in time!" :)

Anyway, the kids loved seeing all the animals just roaming around...of course the favorite was the bear section. They had brown, black, and cinnamon bears (not the kind you eat of course) in the park. They literally walk right next to your vehicle...if I had rolled down my window (or opened the side door :)) I could've pet a bunch of them! One time Wade did roll down his window and C was NOT impressed! She was convinced that the bear would eat us! :)

Little Man got sick of sitting in his seat, so he got to help drive us through the park. The other 3 kiddos were NOT impressed that they didn't get to help and O would NOT let Wade help him drive the van! :) We might be in trouble once he gets his permit in about 11 years! ;)

One of the bears just hanging out on his log.

All that driving was hard work for O so he decided to come sit by me for awhile.

Watching the bears.

One of the employees feeding all the baby bears. The "babyland" section was definitely the kids' favorite. E thought it was so cool because there were 2 baby bears that kept wrestling...just like he & O do ALL the time at home! :)

Another thing we did on vaca was tour an abandoned Gold Mine. K&E thought this was pretty cool, C&O were only impressed for about 2 minutes because they got to wear a "miner's hat". So, now we know that touring gold mines is only fun if you are older than probably the age of 5! :)

checking out the way back of the mine....I could NOT imagine what it would have been like to be a miner back in the day. I'm thankful we didn't have to live through that! :)