Saturday June 28, 2014 (pictures below)
Hi Everyone,
Time to play catch up. Wednesday Jim went to play golf at Elkhorn Country Club. He said the course was really nice. It took advantage of some me time and walk/jog around the park 4 times and did some laundry. When Jim got home we went to dinner at Saloon no. 10. Meal was great and we had the best brochette.
Thursday we drove to Sturgis to walk around and have lunch. The town was pretty much dead (no motorcycles), but the town folks were pretty nice. Sturgis is now known because of the motorcycle rally they have every year in August, but back in the 1800 is was the home of Fort Meade. It was at this fort that the Star Spangled Banner was first played in an official capacity for evening retreat. It was also at Fort Meade that the only military survivor of the Battle of Little Big Horn, Comanche a Cavalry horse was officially retired with military honors. It is amazing how much history is concentrated in the Black Hills. That night we experience the worse thunder storm that we have had on this trip. The RV park we are in use to be a cattle ranch so it is open land, so to have winds in excess of 70 miles per hour in a 5th wheel with no buffer was a whole new ball game. It was pretty scary. On the news Friday morning we learned that there had been a tornado just 50 miles away by Devils Tower.
Friday morning we took a drive over to Leads. Leads use to be an old mining town. The main road through town is under construction so we did not get to see much, but we did happen to get a couple pictures of some old homes. Leads is so close to Deadwood that we stopped and did some more sightseeing in Deadwood.
Saturday was a cleaning day as we leave here tomorrow for Mitchell, SD. We did take a ride in the afternoon to see Bridle Veil Falls. We have really enjoyed South Dakota and will be back.
Love to all,
Jim and Debbie
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Tuesday June 24, 2014 See Pictures
Hi everyone,
Monday we spent the day touring the Crazy Horse Memorial. The first blast on the mountain carving took place on June 3, 1948. The sculptor Korczak Ziolowski died on October 20, 1982 but the work on the memorial is being continue by his wife and seven children. A strong believer free enterprise systhm, Mr. Ziolowski felt that the Memorial to Crazy Horse should be built by the public and not the taxpayer. Mr. Ziolowski even turned down 10 million dollars from the government as he felt they would not continue his work. Crazy Horse never signed a treaty or touched a pen. When asked by a white man where is his land now Crazy Horse replied "My lands are where my dead lie buried."
From the Memorial we went to Deadwood. Deadwood is famed in the public's mind as the place where Wild Bill Hickok was murdered while playing poker in Saloon No. 10 which is still standing. Wild Bill was holding what is now known as the "Dead Man's Hand" aces, eights and nine of diamonds. The man that killed Wild Bill was known as Jack McCall. Jack said that Wild Bill had killed his brother and in a miners court this was an acceptable defense and let him go. Deadwood at times was the home of Calamity Jane who was quite the character. Calamity Jane and Wild Bill are buried beside each other in the Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood. There are a lot of 1800 old buildings and homes still standing.
Today we went to Devils Tower the sight of the movie Close Encounters. Jim and I have wanted to visit this National Monument for some time. The only close encounter we had was with a prairie dog (they are so cute). Jim and I took the 1.3 mile tower trail around the mountain and were amazed at our countries 1st National Monument. This Monument is very sacred to the Lokota people to this day and today prayer bundles still appear in the trees. Devils tower was formed by an intrusion, the forcible entry of magma into or between other rock formations. The native American legend is that "One day an Indian tribe was camped beside the river and seven small girls were playing at a distance when a bear began chasing the girls. They ran back toward their village, but the bear was about to catch them. The girls jumped upon a rock about three feet high and began to pray to the rock " rock, take pity on us, rock save us." The rock heard the pleas of the young girls and began to elongate itself upwards pushing them higher and higher out of reach of the bear. The bear clawed and jumped at the sides of the rock, broke his claws and fell to the ground. The bear continued to jump at the rock until the girls were pushed up into the sky, where they are to this day in a group of seven little stars (the Pleiades). To Jim and I this legend is more believable than what Hillary and Joe Biden are dishing out about being broke. This is a magical place.
Until tomorrow,
Jim and Debbie
Hi everyone,
Monday we spent the day touring the Crazy Horse Memorial. The first blast on the mountain carving took place on June 3, 1948. The sculptor Korczak Ziolowski died on October 20, 1982 but the work on the memorial is being continue by his wife and seven children. A strong believer free enterprise systhm, Mr. Ziolowski felt that the Memorial to Crazy Horse should be built by the public and not the taxpayer. Mr. Ziolowski even turned down 10 million dollars from the government as he felt they would not continue his work. Crazy Horse never signed a treaty or touched a pen. When asked by a white man where is his land now Crazy Horse replied "My lands are where my dead lie buried."
From the Memorial we went to Deadwood. Deadwood is famed in the public's mind as the place where Wild Bill Hickok was murdered while playing poker in Saloon No. 10 which is still standing. Wild Bill was holding what is now known as the "Dead Man's Hand" aces, eights and nine of diamonds. The man that killed Wild Bill was known as Jack McCall. Jack said that Wild Bill had killed his brother and in a miners court this was an acceptable defense and let him go. Deadwood at times was the home of Calamity Jane who was quite the character. Calamity Jane and Wild Bill are buried beside each other in the Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood. There are a lot of 1800 old buildings and homes still standing.
Today we went to Devils Tower the sight of the movie Close Encounters. Jim and I have wanted to visit this National Monument for some time. The only close encounter we had was with a prairie dog (they are so cute). Jim and I took the 1.3 mile tower trail around the mountain and were amazed at our countries 1st National Monument. This Monument is very sacred to the Lokota people to this day and today prayer bundles still appear in the trees. Devils tower was formed by an intrusion, the forcible entry of magma into or between other rock formations. The native American legend is that "One day an Indian tribe was camped beside the river and seven small girls were playing at a distance when a bear began chasing the girls. They ran back toward their village, but the bear was about to catch them. The girls jumped upon a rock about three feet high and began to pray to the rock " rock, take pity on us, rock save us." The rock heard the pleas of the young girls and began to elongate itself upwards pushing them higher and higher out of reach of the bear. The bear clawed and jumped at the sides of the rock, broke his claws and fell to the ground. The bear continued to jump at the rock until the girls were pushed up into the sky, where they are to this day in a group of seven little stars (the Pleiades). To Jim and I this legend is more believable than what Hillary and Joe Biden are dishing out about being broke. This is a magical place.
Until tomorrow,
Jim and Debbie
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Sunday June 22, 2014 (see pictures below)
Hi Everyone,
Friday Jim and I went to the Upper Loop of Yellowstone on our own. We saw a wolf eating his prey, a lot more Bison, in fact Jim had to stop so one could cross the road. We saw a young elk walking in a river and more hot springs. We also took a 2 mile hike back on a trail to get a picture of Mystic Waterfalls and it was well worth the walk. We walked 5 miles today. We will definitely come back to Yellowstone.
Saturday was a travel day. We spent last the night in Garryown, Mt. We stayed at an RV park that is actually a working ranch.
We made it to Deadwood/Spearfish, SD. We start our sight seeing tomorrow. We will be here for a week as there is a lot of things to see and visit.
Enjoying our experiences,
Jim and Debbie
Hi Everyone,
Friday Jim and I went to the Upper Loop of Yellowstone on our own. We saw a wolf eating his prey, a lot more Bison, in fact Jim had to stop so one could cross the road. We saw a young elk walking in a river and more hot springs. We also took a 2 mile hike back on a trail to get a picture of Mystic Waterfalls and it was well worth the walk. We walked 5 miles today. We will definitely come back to Yellowstone.
Saturday was a travel day. We spent last the night in Garryown, Mt. We stayed at an RV park that is actually a working ranch.
We made it to Deadwood/Spearfish, SD. We start our sight seeing tomorrow. We will be here for a week as there is a lot of things to see and visit.
Enjoying our experiences,
Jim and Debbie
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Thursday July 19, 2014
Hi Everyone,
Time to play catch up. We have not stopped. Tuesday we went to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. This is a non for profit wildlife park and educational facility. We saw two bears feeding. The first one was Sam who was found wandering in a fishing village with his sister Illie in 1996 after their mother disappeared (Illie passed away in October). Sam is much larger than the Yellowstone grizzlies, he weighs about 1,000 pounds. We also saw Grant and Roosevelt, brothers from Yellowstone Park after their mother was euthanized out of concerns for public safety.
We also saw two packs of wolves. These animals are feed animal carcasses just like they would find in the wild. We got to experience the wolves howling after fire sirens were heard. Wolves ears are very sensitive. Jim was able to get a video of this experience.
Yesterday we spent touring the lower loop of Yellowstone. We had the best tour guide who was full of knowledge about the park and told the best jokes. I snowed off and on yesterday, at one point we walked a half of mile in the snow to look at Mammoth Hot Springs. The lower loops has many hot springs, mudpots, fumaroles and geyers. There are some hot springs where the ph level is 1. We then traveled to Old Faithful Geyers and we just got there in time. What a sight to see.
We had lunch at the Old Faithful Lodge which was built in 1908. My Dad helped build the new roads into this lodge in 1930. The old part of the lodge still has shared bathrooms (rooms are $150 a night). Rooms at the new part of the hotel are $350.
Are experience continued to visit more waterfalls and hot springs. We saw more bison and elk today. We actually saw a whole herd of bison who stay together to protect the young.
We did met a young man who works at the park and happens to be from Gainesville. He said that just a couple days ago (he did not have a camera or a phone) had a National Geographic moment in front of his dorm bedroom window when a grizzlie and a black bear had a fight over a baby elk. He said the park rangers where using sirens and plastic bullets to break up this fight. He said what was sad was to see the Mama Elk walk around the rest of the day bewildered at the lost of her baby. Such is nature beautiful at times and ugly others. Once a mother always a mother.
Jim and I are off to explore. No snow today so we are going back to the lower loop to do more exploring on our own.
Love to all,
Debbie and Jim
Hi Everyone,
Time to play catch up. We have not stopped. Tuesday we went to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. This is a non for profit wildlife park and educational facility. We saw two bears feeding. The first one was Sam who was found wandering in a fishing village with his sister Illie in 1996 after their mother disappeared (Illie passed away in October). Sam is much larger than the Yellowstone grizzlies, he weighs about 1,000 pounds. We also saw Grant and Roosevelt, brothers from Yellowstone Park after their mother was euthanized out of concerns for public safety.
We also saw two packs of wolves. These animals are feed animal carcasses just like they would find in the wild. We got to experience the wolves howling after fire sirens were heard. Wolves ears are very sensitive. Jim was able to get a video of this experience.
Yesterday we spent touring the lower loop of Yellowstone. We had the best tour guide who was full of knowledge about the park and told the best jokes. I snowed off and on yesterday, at one point we walked a half of mile in the snow to look at Mammoth Hot Springs. The lower loops has many hot springs, mudpots, fumaroles and geyers. There are some hot springs where the ph level is 1. We then traveled to Old Faithful Geyers and we just got there in time. What a sight to see.
We had lunch at the Old Faithful Lodge which was built in 1908. My Dad helped build the new roads into this lodge in 1930. The old part of the lodge still has shared bathrooms (rooms are $150 a night). Rooms at the new part of the hotel are $350.
Are experience continued to visit more waterfalls and hot springs. We saw more bison and elk today. We actually saw a whole herd of bison who stay together to protect the young.
We did met a young man who works at the park and happens to be from Gainesville. He said that just a couple days ago (he did not have a camera or a phone) had a National Geographic moment in front of his dorm bedroom window when a grizzlie and a black bear had a fight over a baby elk. He said the park rangers where using sirens and plastic bullets to break up this fight. He said what was sad was to see the Mama Elk walk around the rest of the day bewildered at the lost of her baby. Such is nature beautiful at times and ugly others. Once a mother always a mother.
Jim and I are off to explore. No snow today so we are going back to the lower loop to do more exploring on our own.
Love to all,
Debbie and Jim
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
June 17, 2014 Lots of Pictures
Hi everyone,
We are amazed at the beauty of Yellowstone. The last time I was here I was 6 years old and yes we were one of the cars that feed the bears. I remember my Mom would bake oatmeal cookies the night we took off to travel to North Dakota just for this reason.
We are staying at an RV park in the town of West Yellowstone, but there are trees all around and a open field next to us where you can go for walks as long as you take your bear spray with you.
Yesterday we took a tour to the Upper Loop of Yellowstone. This loop is the central part of the park and is actually a part of the park that collapsed when the volcano last erupted 630,000 years ago. The magma flow in Yellowstone is only 4 to 5 miles below the earth. This is the reason the rivers and creeks that flow through Yellowstone never freeze and the grass around the rivers and creeks stay green all year round. The magmatic heat powers the eruptions at the geysers, hot springs and mudpots. The animals thrive in this environment for this reason.
We were thrilled that we were able to see two sets of mama bears with babies, Elk, Bison and lots of bald eagles. Wednesday we will do the lower loop to see Old Faithful, Grant Village and West Thumb.
Have fun in Yellowstone,
Jim and Debbie
Sunday, June 15, 2014
June 14, 2014 Pictures below
We had a beautiful drive today from Deer Lodge, MT to West Yellowstone, MT. Jim and I are continually amazed at this beautiful America. We drove through mountains, saw many creeks and rivers where people were fly fishing, lots of ranches and cute, small, old western towns.
We traveled on a small road where there were falling rock signs and falling rocks in the road which was a little nerve racking when you have a 34ft fifth wheel behind you. What we didn't know was this little road is where most of the earthquakes occur in the Yellowstone area. We realized this when we came upon a lake that used to be solid ground until 1959 when an earthquake occurred in this area.
We saw many signs about animals in the road ahead but unfortunately we did not see any. The weather is very cold here, we had a freeze warning last night and actually had to unhook our water for the night. We plan to do some bike riding today around town. Tomorrow we will travel the upper loop of Yellowstone.
Happy Father's Day,
Jim and Debbie
We had a beautiful drive today from Deer Lodge, MT to West Yellowstone, MT. Jim and I are continually amazed at this beautiful America. We drove through mountains, saw many creeks and rivers where people were fly fishing, lots of ranches and cute, small, old western towns.
We traveled on a small road where there were falling rock signs and falling rocks in the road which was a little nerve racking when you have a 34ft fifth wheel behind you. What we didn't know was this little road is where most of the earthquakes occur in the Yellowstone area. We realized this when we came upon a lake that used to be solid ground until 1959 when an earthquake occurred in this area.
We saw many signs about animals in the road ahead but unfortunately we did not see any. The weather is very cold here, we had a freeze warning last night and actually had to unhook our water for the night. We plan to do some bike riding today around town. Tomorrow we will travel the upper loop of Yellowstone.
Happy Father's Day,
Jim and Debbie
Friday, June 13, 2014
June 13, 2014 (see pictures below, lots today)
Hi everyone,
Started out with rain today and temperatures in the 60's but we traveled on. We had the mind set that just because it is raining here it doesn't mean it is raining where you are going. We took the a 70 mile loop today that took us through the old mining towns of Drummond, Hall, Philipsburg and Anaconda. We took a two lane road that took us through some beautiful back country.
As you can see by the pictures the buildings in these towns date back to the early 1850. There was one store in particular that any one would enjoy, it was called the candy palace.
Jim and I also visited the Grant-Kohrs Ranch is a National Historic Site and is run by the National Park Service (Kohrs family gave the land and home to the National Park Service). In touring the ranch we learned that in this area they get a lot of snow fall on the mountains but not a lot of rain in the valley. The area depends on the snow fall in the mountains. The Deer Valley averages only 10 inches of rain a year. This is the reason that Mr. Kohr's cattle grazed over 10 million acres of land. This was free, public grazing and other ranchers had cattle on the same land at the same time. The worst land in the arid West requires 250 acres for a cow and calf. The National Park Service maintains 150 heads of cattle on this ranch. I did post a picture of a longhorn and a calf.
We got to tour the downstairs of the Kohrs home which had the original carpet, wallpaper and original furniture. Unfortunately they would not let us take pictures inside the home which is also still furnished with original china, silverware and cookware.
Outside we toured a working blacksmith shop, toured a bunk house, a barn filled with old carriages and bunkboards. There was an old chuck wagon which served hot coffee. At this point I would like to say what a great job that the people who work for the National Park Services do and we commend them for their service.
Also impressive was the 100 year old lilac bushes and 150 year old poppies that sprout every year.
Again we had a blast learning about the past. As I sit here writing this I am gazing at mountains that still have snow on the tops. As I am looking at Mount Powell (where the snow lies the longest) I am reminded what a lady told me yesterday. She said that in the distant pocket of this mountain they pray that the snow holds out until July 4th. At that point they breathe a sigh of relief and it means the streams will have enough water to keep water flowing for the year. Conservation is important and we must all do our part.
Tomorrow we travel to Yellowstone, we will be there for a week. Jim has never seen Old Faithful, he is in for a treat. Happy Fathers Day to all our Dad's, especially to my husband and our son Michael who are both incredible Dads.
Our love to all,
Jim and Debbie
Hi everyone,
Started out with rain today and temperatures in the 60's but we traveled on. We had the mind set that just because it is raining here it doesn't mean it is raining where you are going. We took the a 70 mile loop today that took us through the old mining towns of Drummond, Hall, Philipsburg and Anaconda. We took a two lane road that took us through some beautiful back country.
As you can see by the pictures the buildings in these towns date back to the early 1850. There was one store in particular that any one would enjoy, it was called the candy palace.
Jim and I also visited the Grant-Kohrs Ranch is a National Historic Site and is run by the National Park Service (Kohrs family gave the land and home to the National Park Service). In touring the ranch we learned that in this area they get a lot of snow fall on the mountains but not a lot of rain in the valley. The area depends on the snow fall in the mountains. The Deer Valley averages only 10 inches of rain a year. This is the reason that Mr. Kohr's cattle grazed over 10 million acres of land. This was free, public grazing and other ranchers had cattle on the same land at the same time. The worst land in the arid West requires 250 acres for a cow and calf. The National Park Service maintains 150 heads of cattle on this ranch. I did post a picture of a longhorn and a calf.
We got to tour the downstairs of the Kohrs home which had the original carpet, wallpaper and original furniture. Unfortunately they would not let us take pictures inside the home which is also still furnished with original china, silverware and cookware.
Outside we toured a working blacksmith shop, toured a bunk house, a barn filled with old carriages and bunkboards. There was an old chuck wagon which served hot coffee. At this point I would like to say what a great job that the people who work for the National Park Services do and we commend them for their service.
Also impressive was the 100 year old lilac bushes and 150 year old poppies that sprout every year.
Again we had a blast learning about the past. As I sit here writing this I am gazing at mountains that still have snow on the tops. As I am looking at Mount Powell (where the snow lies the longest) I am reminded what a lady told me yesterday. She said that in the distant pocket of this mountain they pray that the snow holds out until July 4th. At that point they breathe a sigh of relief and it means the streams will have enough water to keep water flowing for the year. Conservation is important and we must all do our part.
Tomorrow we travel to Yellowstone, we will be there for a week. Jim has never seen Old Faithful, he is in for a treat. Happy Fathers Day to all our Dad's, especially to my husband and our son Michael who are both incredible Dads.
Our love to all,
Jim and Debbie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)