George Washington
After having visited two very pretty areas of my state of Colorado, diaried
here and
here, my wife and I headed north and a little east to an area that also captures beauty, history and some fun. You're invited to join me on the other side of the spaghetti squash.
The Black Hills of South Dakota form a roughly circular area in the southwest of South Dakota and the eastern side of Wyoming. There are many areas that the Lakota (Sioux) as well as other tribes of Native Americans considered sacred. I won't try and recapture their religious beliefs, but a brief history of the area can be found here.
When we arrived in the Black Hills, we first stopped at Mount Rushmore.
The weather was warm, mostly sunny, and it was easy to be very impressed with the skill, creativity and dedication of those who created the memorial. We recently saw North by Northwest again and we saw a sign where they had filmed some of National Treasure: Book of Secrets. I see the monument, while very patriotic, as an affront to the native Lakota who had been pushed off their sacred land barely forty years before only to have permanent monuments to the white leaders of their conquerors created out of their sacred mountains. Yes, I have some white guilt - I admit it and I don't know really what to do about it. And no, we didn't stop at the Crazy Horse memorial, which is set up as the Lakota answer to Mount Rushmore but doesn't look to have advanced since I was last here about 20 years ago.
From there we went on to our hotel in Rapid City. More presidents could be found on the street corners downtown. Statues of every US President, as well as some other notable figures, including some Native American subjects, were spaced around the downtown. On our corner, we had George Washington, Jimmy Carter, who was permanently waving kitty corner across the intersection at Ronald Reagan, and Andrew Johnson.
Our evening was spent in Deadwood, helping the economy by sinking money in a series of casinos. The road there had deer, a flock of turkeys crossing the road and even a mountain goat on the roadside. I don't have any photos, but I did want to note that on Deadwood's main gambling street a store owner with Native American pottery had a sign above his entrance door for Romney and Ryan. I had seen far more Republican posters in South Dakota than I see in metro Denver as you would expect, but the idea of turning off approximately half (47%?) of your potential customers just boggles my mind. This guy probably eats at Chick Fil A and buys only Northern and Brawny.
The next day we visited Custer State Park to see the wildlife on their loop road. We saw several herds of antelope, mules, elk, deer and of course, buffalo.
Antelope at a water/mud hole
super friendly wild mules
This guy wasn't impressed
Beneath these prairies, two of the largest cave systems in the world can be found. Wind Cave is now touted as the second longest in the world and it's preserved as a National Park. It's known for the boxwork formations, shown here. It's also known as the place where the Lakota came up out of the earth at the opening that ultimately was enlarged, allowing for entry to Wind Cave.
Boxwork formations in Wind Cave National Park
Large room with boxwork visible
Monday we visited a museum in Rapid City and then went and saw a "haunted goldmine" which was set up for this coming weekend. We were the only ones there for the regular tour, but we had some fun seeing the decorations.
Haunted gold mine
Dinner at gold mine
An uninvited guest
Our final day was spent driving back to Denver. We drove through Sturgis to pick up some souvenirs for friends with motorcycles and then back to Denver to retrieve my dogs from the boarding kennel and Mrs. Colotim was able to placate the cat who had been left with enough food and water but an empty house. We enjoyed the trip and I found Rapid City a rather pleasant city and we may visit again. Lots of places to visit, though, so perhaps I'll have another photo diary coming for you.
On a side note, it was a rather momentous time in South Dakota. While there, two very important people in South Dakota's history passed away - Senator George McGovern, followed the next day by Russell Means. Our sympathies to their family, friends and followers.