8/29/2011 Devils Tower & Deadwood

Our plan was to get up early this morning, get ready, and hit the road, early.

Wanna guess if that happened or not? We didn’t count on a dark, rainy day! We were so disappointed because this is one trip that we all wanted to make. We were making a trip so that we could each have OUR own close encounter with a really big rock.

Bob came in from outside and said, “Let’s go, it isn’t raining where we’re going.” I have to be honest, I really had my doubts about that because I too had looked at the weather radar but obviously Bob has a super duper site that he looks at.

So at eleven we take off, three hours later than we planned. We had a two and half hour drive and we even crossed another state line.

Not too far into the state we passed through this and I was only hoping that this isn’t what we were going to see after traveling over a hundred miles.

Luckily, we were in and out of it in no time.

We were thrilled at our first glimpse of it.

The scenery was just beautiful.

Our first really good look at Devil’s Tower National Monument. This climber’s challenge is surrounded by Indian legend. The tower, a stump-shaped granite formation stands 1,267 feet above the Belle Fourche River Valley. In 1906 President Theordore Roosevelt proclaimed that this be the first national monument of the USA.

This is like seeing Mount Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty or the Grand Canyon for the first time. Your skin turns to gooseflesh and you have a smile you can’t wipe off your face and your eyes just can’t look anywhere else.

The stone pillar is about 1,000 feet in diameter at the bottom and 275 feet at the top and that makes it the premier rock climbing challenge in this area.

Who doesn’t think of the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” when they look at this geological wonder?

First stop was the gift shop. Take notice, it isn’t raining, the sun is trying to poke through and there is even small patches of blue here and there.

When we pulled into the gift shop parking lot we couldn’t help but notice that people were taking a picture of a car rather than Devil’s Tower. Granted, it was a nice car and then I thought, “Oh heck, join the crowd and take some too.”

I wonder if Dianne knows what’s over her head?

The nice fella behind the counter suggested he take our picture together under the big guy.

We walked out to the other side of the gift shop and took yet more pictures of the Tower.

You have no idea how many pictures I now have of Devil’s Tower. It was like I possessed and couldn’t stop!

As with so many things Devil’s Tower has its legends. One of the most popular is as follows:

According to the Kiowas, who at one time are reported to have lived in the region, their tribe once camped by a stream where there were many bears. One day seven little girls were playing at a distance from the village and were chased by some bears. The girls ran toward the village and when the bears were about to catch them, they jumped to a low rock about three feet in height. One of them prayed to the rock, “Rock, please take pity on us.” The rock heard them and began to elongate itself upwards, pushing the children higher and higher out of reach of the bears. When the bears jumped at them, they scratched the rock, broke their claws and fell back upon the ground. The rock continued to push the children upward into the sky while the bears jumped at them. The children are still in the sky, seven little stars in a group. (the pliades) According to the legend, the marks of the bears claws could be seen on the side of the rock.

I could have sat and looked at this rock all day long. Dianne and I were just mesmerized by it. Bob, eh, not so much.

It was finally time to say we came, we saw, we photographed.

On the way out we passed this steer (???) with some really crooked horns!

We decided to take a ride through Sundance to see if we could find Robert Redford. We didn’t but the scenery was nice on the way.

So we get to Sundance, weren’t all that impressed…..

No signs of Redford, no film festival going on, so we said the heck with it and headed back to South Dakota.

Once again, the scenery was beautiful.

Back to South Dakota….

…..and the scenery got even more breathtaking!

We were in the Black Hills, can you tell?

We decided to stop in Deadwood so that Dianne could at least say she was there.

Di taking in a display at the old train station.

Dianne met this guy on the street and just had to have her picture taken with him. I think she was really smitten.

By now tummies are really rumbling and we decided it was time to eat! Our first choice of restaurants wasn’t open so we settled for the next on our list. I wish we had kept on looking.

The flies were terrible! My meal was terrible! Bob and Di seemed to like theirs but mine left a lot to be desired. Bob ordered chicken fried steak, Dianne had the shrimp and I ordered the worst thing on the menu,,,,pot roast! Nuff said.

I did take notice of this section of flooring hung on the wall.

Of course there is a story to go with it and it is as follows:

FACE ON THE BARROOM FLOOR

Twas a balmy summer evening and a goodly crowd was there

Which well nigh filled Cy’s barroom on the corner of the square

As songs and witty stories came through the open the door

A vagabond crept slowly in and posed upon the floor

“Give me a drink – that’s what I want – I’m out of funds you know

When I had the funds to treat the crowd this hand was never slow

You laugh as though this pocket never held a sou

I once was fixed as well, my boys, as any of you

I was a painter – not one that daubed on brick and wood

But an artist and for my age was rated as pretty good

And then I met a woman – now comes the funny part -

With eyes that petrified my brain and sank into my heart

I was working on a portrait one afternoon in May

Of a fair haired boy, a friend of mine, who lived across the way

And Madeline admired it and much to my surprise

Said she liked to meet the man that had such dreamy eyes

It took not long to know him and before the month had flown

My friend – he stole my darling and I was left alone

Give me that piece of chalk that marks the baseball score

And you’ll see the lovely Madeline upon the barroom floor

Another drink – with chalk in hand, the vagabond began

To sketch a face that might well buy the soul of any man

Then as he placed another lock upon the shapely head

With a fearful shriek, he leaped and fell across the picture

-----DEAD!

H. ANTOINE D’ARCY

AND WITH THAT I’LL CLOSE WITH A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL TODAY!