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About 25 miles west of Sioux Falls, SD, along the interstate
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The "park" is full of thee-dimensional "cartoons"
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Many are quite large
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Most are quite weird
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The sculptor is also quite weird
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Most of his work is quite extraordinary
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But some of it is just weird
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Couples like to get engaged under the Magic Dragon
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The dead dragon is pushing up a daisy
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You've heard of killer bees? This one's an assassin
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A version of American Gothic plus Judy
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Over 60 ft high, this is what grabs you from the highway
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You don't see these smaller works until you get into the park
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Judy wonders why the purse? Al says, "To carry change".
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Now THAT'S a tool!
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It's supposed to be Cinderella
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Jack has an attitude
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Gotta be some psychosis going around
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Reminds one of Calvin and Hobbes
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We like the idea of a T-Rex gathering flowers
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This is neat - and about 30ft tall
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Lots of whimsey.
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This is what Mitchell, SD is famous for - corn murals change each year
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A Sacagawea portrait in an Iowa welcome center
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From South Dakota thru Iowa into another new (for us) state
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Near Ashland, NE was Wildlife Safari. Deja vu Oregon!
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You drive thru and look at folks like these
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A new resident checks us out
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It's not easy being green . . .
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The drive-thru park is operated by the Omaha Zoo.
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Birds were caged
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Butterflies weren't
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Owls are fascinating birds
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So are the little raptors
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One black bear, to the delight of all the kids
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There were at least a hundred Sandhill cranes
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A great pose
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A couple of swans
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Swans are very graceful, but very nasty tempered
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The bison herd. Don't ever call them buffalo.
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Whadda you lookin' at?
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Pronghorn even look graceful when resting
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Best we could do capturing these three turtles on this log
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We like creative vanity plates. This one's for Linda
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Interesting combination of signs
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More birds in the aviary
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That's a Prairie Chicken
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Good camouflage!
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The world's largest bronze bison herd. Maybe the only . . .
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Bald eagles are always impressive
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The SAC used to be based at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha
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Naturally, they have an Air & Space Museum
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We like air museums - each one is different
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This one focused on the SAC mission, so lots of bombers
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Launching this from a bomb bay was easy. Recovery was much trickier
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Full-size planes being displayed like models . . .
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This from the Apollo moon program
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Some missile nose cones
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Most of the aircraft were on loan from the Air Force Museum in Ohio
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Pride & Joy - a B1-A bomber, one of two ever built
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Each square made by area school kids and seniors on "What America Means to Me" theme
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This one had nothing to do with air defense, but it's pretty!
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Don't often see a U2 spy plane in a museum
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There are two hangars filled with cold war history
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The most popular thing was the flight simulator - that cost extra
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A curious sculpture
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A pilotless aircraft
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The SR7 blackbird - still the world's fasted aircraft
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Beautiful building . . . .
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Omaha's zoo is very close to the Missouri River, almost downtown
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We spent part of one day at the zoo. Saw this moth
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And also some other creatures
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Many of their exotic animals are inside controlled environments
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Most of the monkeys looked very bored
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These guys were having bad hair days
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Well, we bet Mama Tapir thinks they're cute
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Baby takes a peek around mama
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Homo Sapiens Minorus
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Macaws are gorgeous parrots
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See what bored looks like?
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And then there's the two-toed Sloth
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Okapi
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It was over 90 and the penguins were out of the water
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We wanted to get in the water, even if they didn't
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Ostriches and giraffes shared a compund
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There's something special about a giraffe
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Every pattern is unique, somebody said
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The African Crested Crane is very dramatic
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One anxious emu, pacing the fence.
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Some folks rode the tram around the zoo. We walked
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Hog heaven?
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He was amorous. She was leaving.
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Most outside animals were in the shade. Not this one
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Cheetahs are just plain lovely
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Some antelope are also nice to watch
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A bronze rhino - too hot to touch
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Great colors
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How nice - a drink for the bronze orang
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Awww . . .
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Must have been thousands of koi - people fed them from the bridge
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And a couple of moneys to tease them
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Inside a huge aviary, trees full of nesting birds
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Egrets of all sizes
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Spoonbills with nests of young
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Blue herons
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And these guys . . .
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A spoonbill with a nest of young (trust us, we saw them)
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Flamingos are interesting birds
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And they do look a little like croquet mallets . . .
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Some Asian deer in the aviary
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Hard to believe how dangerous these guys are
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And how bored this guy was
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Wonder what he's thinking?
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Who's watching whom?
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Can you do this? Would you?
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And then we went to Amana and found . . .
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The Amana Colonies were one of the longest surviving communal societies
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They finally abandoned the communal life in 1932
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The products of the Amana Woolen Mill are world-famous
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This store sells old-timey and hand made items - we bought some soap
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Other communal societies included Oneida, NY and Aurora, OR
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The 13-striped ground squirrel thrived at our RV park.
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And then another state line crossed - we hung out near Bloomington
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Instead of painted cows or bison, they have painted corn cobs
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Corn is very big business in this part of the country
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The road we used to get to our RV park - no kidding!