When Alec (my oldest son) was little, he went to Casper, Wyoming to visit his grandmother. When he came home, he had pictures of himself at Bear Country USA and also Mount Rushmore. I figured they couldn't be too far apart.

I was right! Bear Country USA was less than an hour away from The Mammoth Site and only 16 miles from Mount Rushmore. Awesome! How could we pass up the chance to see bears?

At 11:35, we arrived and paid the admission fee of 16.00 per adult.  Bear Country USA is a drive through wildlife park located in the Black Hills of South Dakota. A road winds through the natural exhibits of twenty species of mammals. Here are pictures of a few.

This reindeer looked a little rough around the edges, but in his defense it was super hot outside.

Check out that smile! The Arctic Wolf was happy resting in the shade. 

The highlight of the tour: BLACK BEARS!

At one point, we were stuck because a black bear was sitting in the road and the cars could not pass. Eventually, he got up and went on his way.

The bear pictured to the right was also sitting on the road. Fortunately, there was plenty of room to pass him. He didn't seem phased by all the cars going by.

With the exception of a few animals, most of them were resting. Just like every other zoo, they were hiding in the shade or inside their homes.

After we finished the driving tour, we got out of the car at the visitors center along with a ton of other people. Everyone was heading to Babyland. We started the walking tour, but decided that we'd rather not be in a huge crowd.

Before leaving, we took our picture at the Bear Country Sign.

Next stop...Mount Rushmore!