Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Another Lewis & Clark Museum

We were told that this fall is over 50' in height.
Believe it or not ... we visited our 3rd L&C Museum ... I must say that it was by far the very best.

L&C found Great Falls, Montana, when they passed by this area. The Indians had told them that they would know they were going the correct direction when they found the falls. They thought it would take them 1/2 a day to go through the area ... well ... they found 5 falls and it took them a month. Those falls today have been damned for electrical plants.

Did you know that each man worked so hard everyday that they required 8 pounds of meat to keep going and that they worked themselves to exhaustion ... they would fall asleep while standing ... they figured that the 4 men pulled the 'loaded' dugout canoes each weighing 2k pounds. They had put wheels on them and at one point put a sail on them ... they even built harnesses for the 4 men to pull.
Tomorrow we take off for Waterton, Canada ... Glacier

Monday ... Day of Rest - 8/27

Yes, we really did take a day down ... it was wonderful! No driving. Carolyn went to Barns & Noble Book Store ... I worked out for 1 1/2 hours cardio, played solitaire and read ... it felt really good to not drive.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

CM Russell Museum

The Man...
The Studio ... made from cedar telephone poles ... located right next to his home.

His home ...

Bronzes of some of his works ... just outside the doors of the museum.

Flowers right outside the door of the museum, between the studio & house.

Great Falls is the home of Charlie Russell, the famous western painter. I wasn't very excited about seeing this ... but as usual ... Carolyn is right on ... we happened on a docent tour and she was marvelous ... she kept our interest for almost an hour and made everything so meaningful ... it was great!

Rooms ... Rooms ... Rooms

For those of you who have been following our adventure ... you will remember our first night out ... we went to 4 different rooms before finding one where we could rest our weary heads ...

Well ... today we tried to beat the number 4 ... yes ... we had a nice suite on the Missouri River ... it had a patio, kitchen, picnic tables ... when we first checked out the room ... Carolyn got an insect bite (she is extremely sensitive and we've been in 3 rooms in 3 cities where she was bitten), at any rate, we decided to try this room ... we sat on the patio for about 3 minutes ... went inside ... tried to lock the door and guess what ... it would not lock. After many tries I finally got it locked, gave the sliding door a tug and the whole lock & socket came out of the frame ... no more rooms at the hotel ... we moved on ... we went to a Holiday Inn ... checked the room prior to signing up, the room was on the first floor ... we checked the window ... the lock was broken and the window opened freely ... we moved on ... at least this time we only changed rooms ... everything appears to be fine ...

I told Carolyn that from now on when we check into a place ... I'm going to tell the clerk that they have met their worst nightmare ... us!

You see, I haven't shared that in Rapids City the dead bolt wouldn't work ... in Sheridan Carolyn was bitten by bugs, she did ok as long as she stayed in her bed ... in Chattanooga, in the 4th room, the first 30 minutes in her bed she was bitten, it finally stopped ... bedbugs? Don't forget the rooms with mildew and Mexican men. Yes ... we are having an adventure of another sort.

So, between my mildew problems and her bug problems ... we make one mess of trying to get rooms that will do ... now if we were staying at podunk places some of this would be understandable ... but believe me ... we're staying in really nice places that just don't have it together.

So, sweet dreams to all of you in your on beds ...
love,
Carolyn & Beth

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Horses at the "Last Stand"

Custer's soldiers were trained to shoot their horses and use them for protection when they were in an indefensible position.

I find this area to be a very sorry connentation on mankind ...

Custer Last Stand - Plant Life

Sun Flowers
Sage Brush
Yesterday, we drove through Northeastern Wyoming and today through southeastern Montana. The landscape has been a lot different that one might think ... it is very open, the vista's are vast. One can see for miles and miles. You very quickly understand why they call it "Big Sky Country". The area is also very arid ... we didn't expect to see cactus this far north.

The "Big Horn Mountain Range" has been to our west ... some of the peaks are over 12K feet ... we are anywhere from 4600 to 3500 feet currently.




Custer's Last Stand - Montana - 8/25

This is looking up towards the 'mass' grave for the soldiers. The markers are where some of the soldiers fell ... there are many markers throughout the park.
Looking down ... Custer's marker is the darker one in the middle.

This is an example of those markers outside the fenced area.

The markers for the Indian's that fell are made of red granite. The park service has been marking Indian sites since 1999 and they have marked 18 to date. They are continuing to do research ... there is no account for how many Indians died.
There were multiple tribes that fought ... if you look, you'll see that each Indian marker denotes the specific trip.
This is Carolyn's favorite place so far on the trip. It has given her a more objective understanding and the ranger talk was really interesting. He talked for 45 minutes and he really demonstrated his passion for the area. He really kept our attention.
I agree with Carolyn's take, however; I find this place very disturbing. White man so mistreated the Indians ... I have a hard time enjoying this area.

Sheridan, WY - 8/25 - Real Cowboy Town






We spent last night in this town ... we walked Main Street and it was really neat. There were all kinds of nice shops, Pam, Robin & I would have had a great time here!! Fred, you can relax, it was Friday night and everything was closed.
There were flower baskets on all the light posts ... the above is a sampling ... they were really nice and obviously well maintained.

These are for Jay ... Sheridan, Wyoming



In Sheridan, they had different sculptures on each corner on Main Street. When I saw this one, I thought of you ... hope you enjoy!

Friday, August 24, 2007

Devil's Tower - Wyoming















When we first arrived it was rainy & cloudy ... upon the end of our stay ... the sun shown and those are the pictures at the top. We took the Tower Trail 1.3 miles. The vista shown above is from that walk. The tower was created by igneous rock and was upthrust through sedimentary rock and later eroded.

As you approach the Tower, it dwarfs all the other landscape. Initially the was tower scaled in 1893, the tower now has 225 cracked climbing routes and is second most difficult crack climbing in the U.S. after Moab, UT. We went to a ranger's talk and he was one of the two 'climbing' rangers working at the tower. He was asked about the rescue off the top and he shared one that occurred in 1941, when a fellow parachuted onto the top. The plane that dropped him was supposed to have dropped a 10k rope ... the up drafts from the tower were too great and the pilot missed. The man was stuck at the top for 7 days.

Twenty-three Indian tribes believe this place to be sacred even today. As shown in one of the pictures, you see a yellow clothe ... they are prayer clothes placed on trees by Indians throughout the park.

I thought I would try to push a column of the rock back into place ... it didn't work ... go figure ... the ranger shared that none of the pillars have fallen in over 10k years ... we all laughed as how would anyone really know that ... oh well ... they're educated in that area and I'm not!


love to all from,
Carolyn & Beth






Crazy Horse - 8/23 - South Dakota


This was really a fun spot as Carolyn visited the spot in 1954 when she was only 14 years old. At that point only Crazy Horses nose was completed. We learned that the family has chosen to keep control of the project ... even turning down $10m on several occasion from the government. There were 10 kids of which 7 are dedicated to completing the project. One that was interviewed in the movie still goes to the top and carves / jackhammers the figure. This figure is the largest monument in the world. There is no target date for completion ... the family relies on donations to complete the work.
The last picture is what it should look like upon completion. They are also going to establish/build an Indian University and open a Medical training center dedicated to the Indians.

Sylvan Lake - 8/23 - South Dakota





Sylvan Lake is at the end of the Needles Hwy ... the pictures do not do it justice. The boulders are huge and come right out of the water ... I've never seen anything exactly like this ... it was absolutely stunning ... what a beautiful place.


Needles Highway - 8/23 - South Dakota











Needles Hwy was so cool to drive and the vistas were unending. The temperature remained in the low 50's all day ... it has been great. The tunnels were rather harrowing ... talk about narrow ... trust me ... they meant it! I'm really glad we didn't bring the 'topper' for the car ... I'm don't think we would have made it through some of these ...