We found an interesting place while at Yellowstone. It was called “Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center.” This is not the kind of place where I would normally go, but it was recommended by “US News and World Report” as one of the top nine places to see at Yellowstone, so I put it on my list.
When we arrived, I found it was a non-profit wildlife rescue and education center. They care for animals who have been orphaned or became a threat to people due to gaining access to human food. Often such animals are killed because they left the wild and went into a neighborhood where bird feeders and garbage made an easy meal.
The Discovery Center had created a natural habitat as much as possible. Animals were on exhibit only for a brief period and only one bear at time was available to view. We saw Sam who is a Grizzly from Alaska. He came to the rescue center as an orphaned cub, and now weighs 1,000 pounds.
There were also wolves and bird raptors that had broken wings and could not fly enough to forage for food. In addition to live animals, the center has a variety of programs to educate people about wildlife preservation. We found that wolves had become extinct in Yellowstone, but were reintroduced and have had a positive effect on the environment and are helping control species that were becoming over-populated.
We were able to see animals there that are difficult to observe at Yellowstone. They are currently expanding to rescue more bears that would be euthanized as well as adding an area for reptiles.
The Discovery Center is funded by tax-deductible donations and entry admissions. Learn more at http://www.grizzlydiscoveryctr.org
Today was our last day at Yellowstone. It is sad to leave such an amazing place, but life goes on. We have seen so many geysers that they are beginning to all look the same. We decided to spend our last day back at the most famous landmark in Yellowstone, Old Faithful. We did not spend a lot of time there before as there was so much to see elsewhere.
Today we again are exploring the wonders of Yellowstone National Park. The other tourists never cease to amaze me. Many are older, retired people like us. There are few children as they have all returned to school. The children that you see are pre-school age with a sprinkling of others on the weekend.
It is the norm to offer to take pictures of couples or families together. Often people come home from a vacation and find they have pictures of each other and pictures of landmarks, but no pictures together. Tourist protocol says that if someone takes a picture of you, you should then offer to take one of them.
Yellowstone National Park is Mother Nature’s playground where she displays her beauty, power, and magnificence. We saw unbelievable sites yesterday: geysers gushing water and steam, deep springs in various colors of blue, green and red, hot boiling pools of water and bubbling mud, hot steam shooting from pits and caves. Seeing nature’s reality with your own eyes is a moving, almost frightening, experience.
In addition to the thermal features, there are other wonders to observe, deep canyons, powerful waterfalls, a pristine blue lake, high mountains, rushing streams with rapids where trout leap upstream like salmon. If that is not enough, add wild bison, deer, and other animals, all untamed and in their own habitat.
Custer State Park turned out to be more than expected. We wanted to see bison, also called American Buffalo. Custer State Park near Mt. Rushmore is home to free roaming wildlife, including bighorn sheep, antelope, prairie dogs and “begging” burros.
You will recall that there are four Presidents represented: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The four presidents carved on the mountain were selected because the sculptor thought they represented the most important events in the history of the United States. Most people wonder about Roosevelt, but he probably seemed more important in the sculptor’s time than he does now. Anyhow, its carved in stone and can’t be changed.
“Do you think we have time,” I asked. “I don’t know, what do you think?” Mo replied. After going back and forth a few times, we finally decided to squeeze it in. It is about 50 miles there and 50 miles back from where we spent the night in Sioux Falls, SD. We had already spent about an hour looking at the waterfall in Sioux Falls. Yes, there is actually a waterfall there. Who knew?
In Mitchell SD there is an oddity known as the “Corn Palace.” Since we were traveling almost right by it, I wanted to make the small detour to see it. On the Great Plains, cities built grain palaces in the olden days to promote themselves and their products. The original Mitchell palace was a wooden castle structure, but it was rebuilt several times. It has Russian onion domes and Moorish minarets.
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