Saturday, August 22, 2009

Parks at Rapid City, SD

One of the nice things about our trip to Rapid City was that the town seemed to be made for family tourism. It had some unique and fun (and free) parks around town. Here are pictures of two of them: Storybook Island and Dinosour park. Storybook Island has lots of lifesized children storybook themed buildings, animals etc. To pay for it, businesses and individuals will "adopt" a certain storybook theme and build and maintain the display. All of them are made to play on. It was a very fun park and it brought back a few membories of books that I had forgotten.

These pictures of Landon and Ryan on the monkey bars are not storybook themed, but it shows how these two boys attack life. I am not sure the order, but apparently Landon was playing in the middle and Ryan wanted by - so just do it!






They had a little train ride available for a small fee.

Kalli fits right in!
Are these the "Flying Monkeys?"
Michone in a staring contest.

Ryan had gotten his feet dirty and tried to wash them off. Then he saw this mud puddle and he decided to make the most of it prior to washing.
two little Tom Sawyers. Ryan and Landon really looked like they wanted to be in a different time and place as they gazed at Huck and Tom.
The picture above shows a stork. That indicated that the display was available for adoption by a supporting business or person.



Winnie the Pooh and friends. Michone noticed there was a small (two feet off the ground and about 5 feet long) rope bridge on this display. She thought it was so funny how secure and safe it was compared to ours at home.

The big bad wolf getting ready to get the third little pig.
The wolf landing in the fireplace ready to get a piggie!

Tara and I were not familiar with the story behind this blue house, but it was a cool one and lots of fun.

Childhood is not complete without a story involving a bright red fire engine and dalmation dog.




The dinosaur park was built on a tall ridge that ran through part of town. You could see the dinosaurs from a long ways away.
Here is a picture (very cute I might add) of Tara and the children on top of the ridge.

There was about 4-5 dinosaurs. I think they were life sized, but I am not sure. The park was built in the 1930s.

Tyranosaurus Rex and Tricertops getting ready to square off.

Brontosaurus
Stegosaurus

4 comments:

atkernsfam said...

Looks like fun parks. It would be nice if all communities had money to do parks like this! But then again, maybe no one would ever go on vacations.

Justin said...

Nice parks. It seems like your boys are much different then my girls.

Polkowske Fam said...

I love the pictures...such energy and FUN!!! I would love to see more parks like that--fun and learning combined! I am tempted to make a trip to South Dakota now, and make all the fun stops!

Anonymous said...

Well done on the Blog update. I will repent and check more often. As always, cute pictures of the kids. I didn't see you much through?
later
Jas