Reptile Gardens, Mitchell, and home

The last tourist stop, made on the way out of the Hills and back toward Mitchell, was at Reptile Gardens. This is a gem of a place. It has both in abundance--gardens and reptiles...

Including a vast number of alligators, crocodiles, and caymans. Which frankly looked all about the same. Here's a pile of them in the gator show.

In the center of R.G. is a large building which houses a nice tropical room where various birds and amphibians and small lizards can roam free.

These decided to roam up to Sam and prostrate themselves at his feet.

They also have some larger reptiles, including this Komodo dragon. These are delightfully deadly guys, whose mouths are filled with powerful poisons, and who can run quickly (up to 15 mph according to the interweb). Fun to see up close.

Last time Susan and Katie and I were at R.G., they had a tortoise which was alive during the Civil War. This time the oldest was in its 40s, which made us feel old for being as old as their oldest tortoise, but made Susan feel great about her skin. :-) Here Katie confronts one of her personal revulsions by touching a tortoise. 

 The star attraction was the gator show. Here, Gunter shows how to wrastle a gator. It is a fun and interesting show. I especially appreciate that you can't leave that show with anything less than great faith in the smallness of the alligator's brain.

Sam, petting a baby gator after the show. 

In Mitchell we made a few trips to the Dakota Discovery Museum, where Aunt Ruth works. This is a real gem of a museum. Here is a piece from an exhibit by the current artist in residence, whose work makes use of his skills as a blacksmith. Behind the museum was a tractor and a small train hand-car which gave Josh endless entertainment. 

This isn't all we did in Mitchell, but most of our time was spent in that comfortable way of passing the time with family or walking to the local playground at Gertie Belle Rogers elementary school, down the street.

And finally, here's Josh on the flight home.