After Spearfish Canyon, we went to the Termesphere Gallery in Spearfish. The artist, Dick Termes, makes spheres with artwork on them. It was interesting to look around a bit.
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| U really liked this one with its fantasy theme. |
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| Matthew enjoyed playing with the magnetic sticks and balls. |
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| A 36 inch sphere sits atop the clock on the Main Street in Spearfish. |
We then went to the DC Booth Fish Hatchery. The grounds were beautiful! We enjoyed doing a scavenger hunt (prize: free fish food) and feeding the many fish.
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| Megan shows off one of the ponds where the fish live. |
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| Megan, Sarah, Matthew and Me in front of a box car that used to transport 15,000 fish at a time. |
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| A few of the holding tanks with a bed on top. |
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| The kitchen |
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| Another photo of the exterior. |
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| Sarah was chatting with a local fisherman. |
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| Matthew went over to meet the girl. |
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| There was an area we could see the fish underwater. |
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| A mama duck with her 7 ducklings. |
Some photos from feeding the fish. We discovered that if you put the food on the rocks in the shallow water that the fish would get up there to eat the food. All of the fish in these photos willingly got to where you see them and they wriggled to get back into deeper water. Pretty incredible!
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| Open up! |
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| This one is pretty much out of the water but managed to get to deeper water without much issue. |
Our next stop was Belle Fourche, the geographical center of the United States. (Thank you Alaska!)
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| U, Me, Matthew, Megan and Sarah with the sign explaining that it is the geographic center of the United States. |
Each of us had our picture taken on the marker on the map.
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| The marker we each stood on. |
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| Me and U (courtesy of Matthew and filters) |
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| They had the flags of all the states. |
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| Matthew and Megan explore the states. |
They had a fun little museum that we explored for a bit at Sarah's request. It was a bit of a mishmash of stuff--cowboys, dinosaurs, rodeo, sugar, military...
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| Cowboy U and Cowgirl Megan |
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| Cowboy U and Cowgirl Me |
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| Megan on a side saddle. |
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| Matthew all dressed up. |
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| Pioneer girl Megan. |
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| Cowboy Matthew on the saddle. |
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| Pioneer girl Megan on the saddle. |
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| Sarah with a fancy dress. |
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| Me being eaten by a T Rex. |
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| Sarah and Megan made each other bracelets. |
Matthew and Megan enjoyed playing on the tractor.
We left Belle Fourche and headed across the plains to North Dakota.
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| This was the landscape for most of the drive. Lots of yellow clover flowers. |
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| Look! Some variation in the landscape! |
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| Welcome to North Dakota! |
Our next stop was Regent to drive the Enchanted Highway. We had planned on eating in Regent. Only problem was it appeared that everything had shut down. Then we saw a sign for the Enchanted Castle. It was an interesting hotel and restaurant. It appears that it was the old high school, with classrooms being the hotel rooms and the restaurant being in one of the big common rooms. We were just happy to find somewhere to eat!
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| Front of the Enchanted Castle |
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| Old gym |
Some of the decorations.
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| Matthew and Megan attempt to remove Excalibur. |
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| U's meal |
The Enchanted Highway is a collection of giant metal sculptures that start at I-94 and go down to the Enchanted Castle in Regent. (We saw them "backwards.") At the hotel is a knight and dragon that are not yet fully assembled.
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| Body of the knight |
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| Head of the knight |
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| Tin Family |
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| Hello Teddy! |
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| Teddy Roosevelt Rides Again |
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| Pheasants on the Prairie |
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| Fisherman's Dream |
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| Grasshoppers |
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| Deer Crossing |
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| Geese leading the way to the final (or first) sculpture. |
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| Geese in Flight |
Wow! More places I have not heard of before. Glad you were able to find a place to eat.
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