Archive for August, 2011

Deadwood to Medora via Belle Fourche, Buffalo, and Bowman

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

Just north of Deadwood is Belle Fourche, the geographical center of America. In my quest for these geographic places I was surprised since I thought the geographic center was in Kansas. The sign explains that the geographical center of the 48 states is in Kansas and after Hawaii and Alaska were admitted, a recalculation by NOAA designated the geographic center of the US 20 miles north of Belle Fourche, SD.

We stopped in Buffalo (not the one in NY) a tiny, tiny town of 364 people that has Centennial Park, which includes statues of ND animals (buffalo, horses, bald eagle, wolf, snake) and an oil pump and wind mill. There was one other guy in the park and I struck up a conversation with him. He was making his way from Washington State to Washington DC and reported witnessing the oil boom in western ND – lots of oil trucks, construction, lack of housing. He had trouble finding a hotel room for the night and thought he might have to drive all the way to SD to find lodging.

We stopped at Jabbrs in Bowman, ND, population 1509, that serves lunch on Fiestaware. Bowman reminds me of Rugby, ND – small, simple, friendly, surrounded by nothing. Like most places in ND it really does seem like you are in the middle of nowhere.

Deadwood – Reflections

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

As we left Deadwood we made a list of our reflections – one word, phrases, or general impressions.
Liked it better as time went on – first impression was “tacky”
Loved the old buildings
Public library needs a new microfilm reader
Friendly
Steeped in history
Pedestrian friendly
Safe
Biker friendly (no helmet law in SD)

Deadwood City Tour and Boot Hill

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Mom and I took the one-hour bus tour of Deadwood and the Mount Moriah Cemetery. We learned about the history of Deadwood from the tour guide/bus driver, beginning with the broken treaty between the US government and the Native Americans and chronicaling the wild and lawlessness of Deadwood. When gold was discovered the town exploded with prospectors, saloons, outlaws and no law authority.

We heard about Wild Bill Hickok’s life and his demise here in Deadwood. He was only in Deadwood for a couple of months when he was shot in the head by Jack McCall. Hickok is buried in the Mount Moriah Cemetery. There’s quite a nice bust of Wild Bill and at the base people have left coins and someone has left five cards, the poker hand that Wild Bill was playing when he was shot, a pair of 8’s and a pair of aces, which is to this day called the Deadman’s hand.

Calamity Jane is buried next to to Wild Bill, her dying wish. She was independent, aggressive, and determined to do a man’s job. She was self sufficient, learning the skills traditionally only taught and done by men. She dressed like a man and, in fact, passed herself off as a man to get work.

The Mount Moriah Cemetery also has a Jewish section and a section where Chinese were buried. Many of the buisnessmen in Deadwood were Jewish and many workers were Chinese.

We saw several photos of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill in the Adam’s Museum, our next stop. The museum is full of history, artifacts and documents about Deadwood. Both the bus tour and the Adams Museum were worth the time spent today.

Custer, SD

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Custer is a tiny little town with about 2,000 people. In the days of the gold rush, Custer had as many as 10,000 people. The downtown is just three or four blocks long with two Trading Posts, a few tourist shops, grocery store, a Frontier photo place, and a fabulous pie place called The Purple Pie Place. I had a piece of Bumbleberry pie (a mix of berries and rhubarb) with a scoop of birthday cake ice cream.

Custer is named for Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer who led an expedition from Fort Abraham Lincoln in North Dakota to the Black Hills of South Dakota. The expedition found that gold had been discovered and that discovery brought miners to the Black Hills breaking the treaty that the US made with the Indians, granting them the Black Hills. The broken treaty led to the battle at Little Big Horn in Montana two years later which resulted in the death of Custer.

Crazy Horse Memorial is just 11 miles north of Custer, and is one of the main attractions Custer, SD has to offer.

Crazy Horse

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

About 17 miles from Mount Rushmore is the Crazy Horse Memorial. It claims to be the World’s Largest Mountain Carving. When (if) finished Crazy Horse will stand 641 feet long and 563 high. Currently, the face is finished and what will be his arm is roughed out. The native American Education and Cultural Center is large and includes a 20 minute film about Crazy Horse and the sculptor, Koraczak Ziolkowski.

Ziolkowski caught the attention of Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear after Korczak’s sculpture won first prize at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Standing Bear wrote to Korczak, “My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes, also” and invited him to create something in honor of all native Americans.

The project doesn’t get any federal funding. The entry fee is $10 per person or $27 per car. Since Ziolkowski’s death in 1982, seven of his ten children and widow have taken over the project. While we were there we witnessed a ten ton blast carving away a small part under what will be the horses eye. Visually it wasn’t very stunning but the sound was quite loud. I suspect it will never be finished. A model of what it would look like if ever done is on view in the educational and cultural center, which is quite extensive.

Crazy Horse defended his people and their way of life. He died at a fairly young age (they guess he was 35) after getting stabbed in the back by an American soldier in 1877. The white man signed a treaty (signed by the President of the United States) “giving” the Sioux Indians the Black Hills. The US subsequently broke it once gold was found and the rest, as they say, is history. It’s pretty obvious that this is white man land.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

We made our way through the gorgeous windy Ponderosa lined roads to Mount Rushmore. The faces are visable as soon as you come around a bend and my first thought was “Huh. They are whiter than the surrounding rock”. Then, “they seem smaller than I thought they would be”. As we got closer and closer the magnitude of this project, the faces, and the place came more into focus.

All four faces are quite exquisite. They seem perfectly sculpted, which seems like an amazing task. Mom and I walked the whole loop, seeing them from all of the observation spots. At one point, a guy with a group of people lied on the deck of an observation point to get just the right angle to shoot a couple from his group. When he was done I said “Hey, since you’re down there would you mind taking my photo?” So, he did, and as I walked away, another person asked him “Hey, since you’re down there…” I suspect he could be there all day!

The artist’s studio along the route has a sculpture of the original idea, which includes shoulders and torso of the presidents in period clothing. I took a photo of it and when I showed it to Barb, I said “Not to take away from what we saw today … ” and when she saw the photo she said, “Ya, it kinda does.” The age old question of “when does the artist know the work of art is done” comes to mind?

Random Thoughts

Sunday, August 21st, 2011

Driving the windy road from Spearfish Canyon to Deadwood we had an opportunity to site see from the car. We passed a restaurant called “Pizza Lab” and Mom said “That doesn’t sound good at all! Is their pizza an experiment”?

We drove through Lead which is home of the Lead-Deadwood High School who are The Diggers! How perfect!

Spearfish Canyon

Sunday, August 21st, 2011

We took a couple of very short hikes in Spearfish Canyon today to a couple of waterfalls. The canyon reminds me of the Rocky Mountains, only quite a bit smaller. It’s quite lovely. The drive is windy, scenic and gorgeous. The water in the creek cooled us on a hot day and was visually appealing. The trails were accessible and not very long – and neither of the places we were had crowds. My cousin Robb calls this place Paradise and it’s easy to see why.

Devils Tower

Sunday, August 21st, 2011

We ventured into Wyoming today, a state I had previously not been in, to see Devils Tower. Almost immediately after the entrance is a Prairie Dog Town, where the black-tailed prairie dogs live and play. These communal animals have always been one of my favorites, although, like groundhogs, cause damage in fields and aren’t favorites of farmers.

Once at the Visitor Center, we took the Tower Trail, a 1.3 hike around the Tower. It looks different from each angle and at least in three places we spotted climbers working their way up the 867 feet. The tower stands 5,112 feet above sea level and the area of its teardrop-shaped top is 1.5 acres. The diameter of the base is 1,000 feet.

About 50 million years ago underground molten magma was forced into sedimentary rocks above it and cooled underground. As it cooled, it contracted and fractured into columns. Over millions of years, erosion of the sedimentary rock exposed Devils Tower.

In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower the first national monument, making Wyoming the home of both the first national park (Yellowstone) and our first monument. It’s claim to fame, though, might be its role in the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.

Some words that came to mind when describing Devils Tower were: ominous, mysterious, multi-dimentional, spooky, other worldly, and awe inspiring.

Yoga on the road

Sunday, August 21st, 2011

I left all my yoga props at home so for my practice this morning I used a stack of books (two novels, one guide book and a book of sudoku puzzles) instead of a block for virasana (hero pose). Supta padangustasana (supine hand to big toe pose) was against the door jam, followed by dead bug (no props necessary). To open my chest I lied over the stack of books again before standing on my head. A five minute sirsasana (head stand) was just what I was looking for today. I really needed to get upside down. I used one of the chairs in the room for chair sarvanagasana (shoulderstand) and ended with a couple of twists before savasana. Ready for the day!