From Huge Carvings to Little Critters

The pictures are as follows: (This is for those of you who only want to look at the pictures and not waste time reading all about our adventure! Don't know how you will pass the test at the end though!)

1. GGG at Mt. Rushmore

2. In all its glory

3. New friends, Gayle and Diane

4. Needles Highway, notice tunnel

5. Judi's wild turkeys

Where to start!!!! Today was warm but pleasant. We started out at the Gutzon Borglum museum in Keystone to learn about the construction of Mt. Rushmore and the life of this incredible sculptor. Mind blowing how those huge faces could be carved out of the granite. Then on for lots more information at the Memorial. I never realized how much dynamite was used in the sculpting of the mountain. It is really awe inspiring and the Mt. Rushmore Museum is excellent. Walked a short trail out to the base of the mountain and met a couple of gals from near home in California. We ooohed and aaahed over our small world and thanks, Diane and Gayle, for taking my picture. Yours turned out pretty good too. Diane lives here in South Dakota now and had great suggestions about Custer State Park. More on that later.

The Gotta Go Girls met back at the very nice cafeteria for lunch. Had to have one more of those bison burgers. The shopping was also pretty good in the gift store also but can't talk about that as we are picking up lots of nice surprises! Shhhhh! We then drove almost 20 miles to the Crazy Horse Memorial to see that sculpture celebrating the lives of all native Americans. It is a very ambitious project and no federal money is being used. When completed the entire complex will be grand and the sculpture which is continually worked on will rival Mt. Rushmore.

From there we drove back the very slow and scenic route through Custer State Park. This was the first chance we had to see quite a bit of wildlife. A number of huge bison! Lots of mule and white tailed deer, antelopes (we think), silly little chipmunks begging for food and playing chicken with the car, and my favorite--wild turkeys. My preference may have had something to do with the fact that Judi attempted to attract their attention by gobbling at them and I laughed so hard I thought I would wet my pants. They wouldn't even look at us as they were intent on eating up some little hopping insects.

Riding back to Keystone through the pine woods was quiet and peaceful. We stopped in town for dinner and Judi and I had walleye (sp?), a very mild lake fish. Yummy! Lee's ribs were excellent and their martinis were ice cold and the best they have had in ages. We came back here to the Holiday Inn Express and planned our adventures for tomorrow. We are heading east on I90 to Chamberlain. On the way we are stopping at the Badlands National Park. Our NPS Senior passes continue to save us a bit of change. Take note, all you oldsters out there! We agreed that today was a superior day in the midst of all those other superior days. We pinch ourselves often and marvel at where we are and what we are doing. Lee isn't coughing so much today and I think I am on the downhill side of the cold. The jury is still out on poor Judi.

Hope all is well with everyone. Love, the Gotta Go Girls

From Dickinson to Mt. Rushmore

It has been a great day with lots of new sights and sounds. We continue to be a bit on overload. Left Dickinson,ND this morning and headed south. That was pretty much a straight line with just a couple of curves. Check out the picture of me with the road sign. We got out of the car, stretched our legs, talked to the cows in the field, and changed drivers. Must have been alongside the road for over 10 minutes and only one car went by.

Can't say the same for the area we are in tonight. Stopped in Deadwood, South Dakota and went to Kevin Costner's bison gallery which is called Tatanka. It was beautiful. He comissioned the bronze statues and has built an interperative center and installed these magnificent "creatures" simulating a buffalo hunt by the Lakota Sioux. It is so quiet and peaceful and what a wonderful place to think about how we harm the earth but we can also make it better, perhaps not on the scale Costner has done but we can all certainly do our part. I wish I had looked at his movie, "Dances With Wolves" again before I came. Will certainly do that when I get home.

The elevation of Deadwood is 4,000 feet and I was huffing and puffing as we walked around town. We had lunch in another of Costner's establishments, Diamond Lil's, and for the first time had a buffalo burger. It was quite tasty. Deadwood is full of gambling casinos, curio shops, candy stores, and there is even a shootout on the main street. After the buffalo burgers we felt the need for a little sweet so found the ice cream shop. Strangers are very willing to take your picture if you ask, and sometimes even if you don't. Gave us a chance to chat with a couple from Alberta, Canada. We took the tour up to the cemetary to see Wild Bill Hickok's grave, but the entire Deadwood experience was a little toooooo commercial. We had a moment of panic when we got ready to leave and couldn't find our car in the parking garage! We are going to have to do better than that when we hit the big city.

The trip from Deadwood to Keystone which is 2 miles from Mt. Rushmore is through pine covered mountains and takes less than an hour. We are staying at another Holiday Inn Express and it is very nice. It is a suite which means it is a larger room with a little half divider and a couch. Lots of room for us to move around and worth it since we will be here two nights.

This evening we went to Mt. Rushmore to see the lighting of the statues. It was very impressive and inspiring. We're going back tomorrow to see it in the day time and then a car tour around the area, Crazy Horse Monument, and Custer State Park.

I'm calling it a night. Lee and Judi are asleep and I'm not far behind. Lee's cold (my old one) is awful and Judi feels she is a sitting duck! Hope all is well with everyone.

With love, Gerry

Pictures (again)

From top left to right to bottom. I really have to figure out how to arrange these pictures!

1. The entrance to the Sherman Inn. Wolf Point

2. Main street of Wolf Point. Monday morning, Sept 3.

3. The grain elevator where we were busted

4. The Badlands. Pictures don't do it justice

5. Teddy Roosevelt's Montana cabin built for him before he was president.

6. Montana Historical markers. We pull over and read most of the them.

7. Judi and some of the miles of farm machinery we have seen.

8. The lake formed by the Ft. Peck Dam. Missouri R. flows into this.

9. Dinosaur exhibit at Ft. Peck Visitor Center

10. Some animals we haven't seen but are on the plains.

Pictures

Wolf Point, Montana to Dickinson, North Dakota

After a beautiful drive through the wheat fields of Northern Montana we found the quaint brick Sherman Hotel in Wolf Point had burned to the ground and been replaced by a squat rather ugly building. We were sure things had turned sour. Wrong! Initial impressions were soon overcome by the lovely warm welcome by the large number of Indian employees at the hotel. Our room was clean and large, and a steak dinner in the hotel dining room was superb! The internet connection was down (oh, darn) so I had to read. (sigh)

Had an equally good breakfast this morning and then wandered all over the little town of Wolf Point where Lee's husband was born and lived until he was about 13. It is on an Indian reservation so the standard of living of many people is very low. But there is a beautiful new High School and city services seem to be up to par. In fact, Police Officer Combs who stopped us was very friendly and his police cruiser was a very new model with really pretty blue and white lights on the top! Seems as we were driving all around taking pictures we had been noticed. Judi pulled to the left side of the street so Lee could take a picture of the Wolf Point Grain elevator and Officer Combs didn't think that was a good idea. The fact that we had met fewer than a dozen cars as we drove around town this Labor Day morning made us feel parking on the opposite side of the "traffic" would be ok. We all three looked very contrite and he did say we had attracted a bit of attention. He gave us a warning, said he had a sister who lived in Porterville, California, and declined to have his picture taken for the blog. He waved us on our way and said to drive carefully. Yes, sir, Officer Combs! On that exciting note we got the "hell out of Dodge", or rather Wolf Point.

A high point of the drive from Havre to Wolf Point the day before had been a stop at the Ft. Peck Dam. The dam is on the Missouri River and was a WPA project started in 1935. It did give a huge shot in the arm to the local economy, controlled the Missouri River, and brought a lot of hydroelectic power to the area. Like Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery we marveled at the beautiful country and endless vistas from this site on the Big Muddy. The Visitor's center was full of wonderful dinosaur exhibits as well as lots of other animals who still live on the plains. The tour of the dam was very interesting and Lee told us about a couple of Leo's relatives who had worked there in the 1930's. If you are ever in northern Montana be sure to stop. We were there on Sunday and the last day of the touring season was today, Labor Day. There is a security concern that may eliminate the dam tours next year. I hope not! Everyone should see what a lot of determination and hard work can accomplish.

This morning after Officer Combs kicked us out of Wolf Point (just kidding) we headed south to North Dakota. We sympathized with anyone who was stuck in Labor Day traffic as we hardly met any cars on the road. We drove south to Interstate 94 where we headed east to Dickinson ND. Roads were straight as a string and it is hard to keep the Avalon under 90! I set the cruise control as I didn't want another run in with the law!

And then we were in the Badlands! The mountains, buttes, mesas, coulees, hummocks, ridges, valleys, are amazing! We stopped at the visitor's center in Teddy Roosevelt National Park. The visitor center was well done and the cabin in the pictures was built for TR in the 1880's. It has been moved to the park from a few miles south but you almost can see him sitting in the rocking chair next to the pot bellied stove. The little town of Medora made me think of a cowboy version of Carmel. We could have spent much more time there, but on to Dickinson, ND before we head into the Badlands in earnest tomorrow. First stop--Deadwood! No more is it like the Deadwood of HBO, Wild Bill Hickok, or Calamity Jane fame! It is a gambling resort but we are going to poke around and see if we can find a bit of history. Staying very close to Mt. Rushmore for the next 2 nights. Will be looking up George Washington's nose to see if I can find Cary Grant. Will post some pictures after this is published. I live in fear I will hit the wrong key and have to write everything all over again like I did the other night.

Love to all, The Gotta Go Girls

Oh, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that my cold is much better. The bad news? Lee's got it. Guess poor Judi will be next.

TWO Fabulous Days!

Have covered a bit of territory since last we wrote. Yesterday in Kalispell and Polson, Montana was a gem of a day. The Toyota's little radio was fixed in about an hour Friday morning and I don't believe it has been on since, but it is nice to see the MPG, temperature outside and some other little goodies on the dash.

Donnie and Em Bogut picked us up at the motel and we drove about an hour south along the west shore of Flathead Lake to Polson at the southern tip. There we all spent the day with Marilyn and Loren Frazier. Marilyn had prepared a wonderful brunch and we ate until we groaned. Before we left around 5:00 we had to have a bit more to eat, so instead of dinner we had dessert. We're sending Marilyn to the Betty Crocker Bake-off for her wonderful peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. But that was just the warm-up. Dessert was a mouth-watering brownie with vanilla ice cream and freshly made to die for chocolate sauce. She even loaded us up with a take out box and we gobbled cookies as we rolled along the prairie today.

Donnie drove north along the east shore of the lake where we saw cherry orchards and truck farms. Stopped at a fruit stand and loaded up on cherries, apples, pears, and peaches. They drove us around Kalispell and we stopped by their home where we had a few little pear tomatoes out of their garden to polish off the day. The produce around here is fabulous!

It was a wonderful day of renewing old acquaintances, sharing family stories, and making new friends. We have been invited back and would love to take them up on their wonderful hospitality. Actually, Donnie and Em will be in Yuma, Arizona in October so we could see them there!!

Had planned to work on the computer last night but a lightning storm came up and knocked out the wireless connection. So much for that plan. But the rain really cleared the air of all the smoke from the forest fires, and when we woke up this morning it was sparkling! We headed east up over the pass to the south of Glacier National Park and encountered some wispy patches of clearing fog. The road was grand and the soaring mountains were some more of that breathtaking stuff! We stopped at a goat lick but didn't see any mountain goats but encountered a very nice young Mennonite couple who were headed to see the big cities of California. He was a train spotter and we encouraged them to visit the train museum in Sacramento. At the top of Marias Pass which was named by the Lewis and Clark expedition we crossed the continental divide. If you are ever passing along that road it is worth a stop. Almost was blown away by the wind, but the geology and the history of this one little spot is amazing.

Not long after we came out of the mountains and then we were in the plains. There wasn't much warning. The two pictures of the road were taken in the same place looking in opposite directions. Wow!

We stopped in Browning at the Museum of the Plains Indian, which is on the Blackfoot Reservation. It was a marvelous exhibit but there is concern that the new Native American Museum in Washington DC will close the museum in Browning and transfer all their beautiful artifacts there. That would be a shame.

Had lunch at a Subway as there was not much to choose from. It is a very depressed area and not much going on there. Breaking that cycle of poverty is a hard one.

Encountered a few little towns along Hwy 2 and lots of grain elevators. Did see a few antelope grazing, scattered horses, a few cows, and more grain elevators. We are here at the Super8 Motel and will be dining in on cheese, crackers, grapes, apples,cookies and brownies. Will get that laundry folded and we are off in the morning to Wolf Point, Montana. Will probably see some more grain elevators!

Love, the Gotta Go Girls.

One More Picture

This picture was taken from the Cedar Street Bridge in Sandpoint, Idaho. It was a beautiful day! Gerry