2003

This summer, Cheryl & I decided to get away for a few days & just go somewhere. We hadn't really gone anywhere just to GO there, that wasn't somehow associated with work since we came back to America in 1991 (we don't count Japan, Europe, California, New York, Florida or any of the two dozen or so other places we have recently visited because either one or both of us were working). We decided to go to the Black Hills in western South Dakota and then head east through southern Minnesota to visit Laurel and John at Red Sage Farm near Baraboo, Wisconsin and Cheryl's cousin Cindy in Chicago before heading back to St. Louis. We left a week before Labor Day which proved to be a good idea as most schools have already started back or are about to, and most of the summer tourists have gone home.

Just north of Alliance, Nebraska we came across Carhenge, a reproduction of Stonehenge in automobiles. It was a cool, breezy day and we had a picnic there. Up on a hill above Carhenge is another "sculpture" entitled "The Ford Seasons". We took their word that these pastel colored vehicles were actually Fords. The pun was just too lame to justify a hike up the hill. Laurel called us while we were there. We took that as a good sign as she is the only one in the family who has actually seen the REAL Stonehenge. But then, WE are now the only ones to have seen the real CARhenge!

A Buffalo in Custer State Park. We had wait while this guy stood right in the middle of the road. We talked to him and told him how cool he looked and eventually he came around and posed for this photo. He didn't have a really friendly look to him so we quickly moved on.

The rest of the herd. In the park we also saw Big Horn Sheep, deer and Prong-horned Antelope, who grazed around us as we ate our picnic lunch. We drove the wildlife loop and were not disappointed. It gave us a teeny glimpse of what things might have been like here two centuries ago. 

The Crazy Horse Monument. The museum there is quite extensive and very interesting. There were many pipes there including pipes which belonged to many important people. Almost all of the pipes were made of beautiful red Pipestone. I found it amazing that Indians living many days travel away from the Minnesota Pipestone quarries ALL seemed to have Pipestone pipes. They are very sacred, as Pipestone is a sacred place and they are all very beautiful.

A model of the monument. At the Crazy Horse Museum we saw A. C. Ross (Ehanamani), author of several books on Sioux traditions, history and philosophy. He was selling his books and chatting with the tourists. His son was with him and he was selling little turtle carvings. When people came up to the son he would say, "That's my Dad over there. He wrote all these books." It was so cool to see how proud he was of his father. When nobody else was there, I went over to him and spoke with him briefly and bought one of his books. He told me that his great-grandfather (not an Indian) was from St. Louis. What I didn't learn till later was that he had spent time in Flandreau as a child. He (and his mother before him) went to the same elementary school as I did! I wish I could have talked to him about THAT. Maybe I'll see him again sometime.

Cheryl at Crazy Horse. This was, I think, Cheryl's favorite place to visit. She liked that it was the Indians idea to build this monument. She liked that tax dollars are not used in favor of private funding and she left some money to help buy new equipment to continue work on the monument. She bought some little beaded butterfly earrings from an Indian craftswoman and some sweetgrass soap from another vendor for the staff at Cheryl's Herbs.

The Bullock Hotel in Deadwood, built in 1895 by Seth Bullock, the first sheriff of Deadwood and buddy of Teddy Roosevelt. It is said that he haunts the place to this day. With guys like Jack McCall (who was hanged long ago) wandering about the streets and killing Wild Bill Hickok every night, it's hard to tell how anyone would notice.

The dastard Jack McCall, who, just down the street from our hotel shoot Wild Bill Hickok - IN THE BACK - right in front of our very eyes! As witnesses to the cowardly act we promptly marched down the street to the Town Hall and participated in the weasel's Trial. Unfortunately, we were not able to agree on a guilty verdict and the SOB went free. I recently heard, however, the the Feds eventually caught up with him and took care of him. We can all rest a little easier now!

This program is exactly the same as the one I got - and still have! - when I saw this very same production in 1961 while on a tour with the Flandreau (South Dakota) High School Band to the Black Hills. It seemed to me then that the actors were very professional and accomplished. It seemed to me this time that the actors were just local folk havin' a good time. I don't think anything has really changed, though.

The Badlands through the front window of the car. We stopped at Wall Drug to get some "Cowboy Bubble Bath" (They're pinto beans - directions say cook and eat 1 hour before bathing) for our neighbor, Bob, and picked up some takeout food which we ate at a picnic spot in the badlands. You know? This stuff is just mud - layers of mud. Seems like one good rain and it would all just melt away. I hope that never happens.

Every time we stopped to take a picture, we found that wherever we pointed the camera was a beautiful shot. We realize the trip is starting to become a geological expedition.

After visiting the Badlands we determined that we could easily make it to Mitchell in time to see the Corn Palace before dark. We called ahead to reserve a room and pulled into Mitchell about 7 pm. On the main street of Mitchell in front of the Corn Palace we discovered the Corn Palace Festival in full swing. This event is 112 years old. The entire main street was blocked off and a carnival spread out as far as we could see. Everybody within 100 miles was there, I'll bet. For dinner we ate - corn. The Corn Palace is an auditorium which is decorated each year with corn and grain. Every year is different. Along the inner walls of the building are photos of all the preceding years. I checked out 1975, the last year I visited.

This is the house I lived in in Sioux Falls from, I think, 1956-59. The house looks exactly the same as it did then. Sioux Falls is still a very beautiful city with lots of trees. After Sioux Falls we drove to see Flandreau. The house we lived in there looked exactly the same too! I showed Cheryl all the local hot spots: the hospital where dad was the administrator, the schools I went to, the movie theater, our church, the court house, the spot near the dam where we used to fish & goof around, and the little city park outside of town (where we had a little picnic). Except for the strangely bland casino now on the edge of town and some improvements to the schools, Flandreau is amazingly the same as it was when I left in 1962.

Then we drove to Pipestone. Here is Cheryl along the Sioux Quartzite ledge which overlays the softer, smoother pipestone. When I lived in Flandreau, I went to the Pipestone National Monument many times. At the time I didn't understand the importance of the pipe in the ceremonial life of the American Indians, but I could FEEL that the place was very special and sacred. I loved going there. I later learned that all tribes revere the pipestone and many legends surround its mythical origins. It is generally believed among all tribes that the stone was formed from the flesh and blood of their ancestors.

Jeff looks up to the great stone face. 

The Oracle at Pipestone told me I should get a pipe while I was there and it told me I should have one of the speckled ones from the spotted quarry and that it should be crafted by a man named Whirlwind and I should carry it in a bag with the sage I got in the Black Hills, so I did.

The Three Maidens at Pipestone. Originally one giant granite boulder 50 - 60 feet in diameter and completely different from any of the other rock in the area, the maidens act as a guardian of the quarry.

After spending a wonderful afternoon at Pipestone we were determined to drive as far as Albert Lea before resting. The next morning we drove the short distance to Austin, Minnesota to visit The Spam Museum. In this place one can learn all about the wonders of Spam. We learned how Spam won World War II, even! We asked ourselves, where would we be without Spam?

The famous wall of Spam at the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota. Wonderful Spam!

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