FPC: Custer State Park

Finally! We're finally making some progress in our state parks passport challenge. After we went to the Flintstone Theme Park in Custer, we got our state park sticker and took a little drive through Custer State Park. We started at the Peter Norbeck Visitor Center so we could get our stamps and then we drove the Wildlife Loop. We ended with a stop at the Mt. Coolidge lookout and a drive past Sylvan Lake and Needles Highway. We can't wait to go back and spend even more time in the area next year!

 

It only took a couple of tries with the timer on the camera for us to get a picture with everyone in it. Of course, Leah's making some kind of face and Fletcher is struggling to get away from me, but hey, everybody's in it.

At first glance, you'd think, "Oh. That's neat. Kids can observe and touch different horns and antlers from wildlife that can be found in the park." Upon further inspection, however, you would think, "Wait. Is that a deer leg, complete with hoof and fur, near Leah's right hand?!" And you'd realize that, yes, as a matter of fact, it is the lower half of a deer leg and, "neat," would no longer be the word you were thinking of.

This is about as wild as the wildlife got on such a hot afternoon. I'm sure we could have seen more variety if we'd gone later in the evening. The donkeys were enough to satisfy our crew, though. They thought it was awesome.

 A couple of asses. 

(Is my blog still family-friendly if I put that caption on here?)

Apparently, donkeys don't count as the wildlife that you're not supposed to feed. This lady was giving them carrots and let Fletch try. The ranger that drove by while Fletch was skirtin' the law didn't seem too concerned.

The Mount Coolidge observatory was probably one of Bill's and my favorite things from the day. It was beautiful up there and a total surprise since it was just something where Bill saw the turnoff and thought, "Eh, let's try it and see what's up there."

This was at the Little Devil's tower trailhead, where we had to stop because we were under the impression that Fletcher was about to poop his pants. Turned out, he just needed to pee, so we did a little exploring while we were stopped.

Usually Bill isn't quite as excitable about all of my "adventures" that I think we should go on, but even he is excited to get back to Custer State Park to explore around Sylvan Lake, spend more time along Needles Highway, and maybe hike a trail or two.