Two Treasures of South Dakota

 Well I am not sure everyone would agree that the two places I am mentioning here would be considered treasures, because the Badlands in that state should get a higher rating from tourists passing thru South Dakota.  What I am going to tell you about here is what some people call "tourist traps.  I am referring here to Wall Drug, and the Corn Palace.  Each are located in a southern corner of the state, Wall Drug in the western and the Corn Palace in the eastern.

We have been to Wall Drug store several times.  This was one time we just did not have much desire to explore it as extensively as we did in the past,  primarily because there was a heavy crush of people.  Very few people were wearing masks.  In case you know nothing about this store, it did start out as the only drug store in Wall, South Dakota.  The owners, Dorothy and Ted Hustead, at first were getting very little business (there was the depression going on in 1931, and a drought).  Then Dorothy got the idea in the summer of 1936 to have the store give out glasses of cold water.  That brought the people in, and the store expanded with other stores, a Western art gallery and dining areas.  A big attraction for many people are the life-size statues of people sitting on benches outside of the stores.  One that many men especially seemed to like is the statue of show-girl- I did not get a picture of her because she was kept busy with men hugging her.  I did get a picture of a little old lady playing cards.  Looked like she was waiting for someone to play a card!

Strangely, while wandering around in the different stores, I found a chapel.

Imagine having a wedding at Wall drug store!  Well, I could not see that as a destination wedding.  We had lunch and I found a drug store in the complex to purchase some Advil.  We moved on east and made a stop at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota.  We have also visited that building several times in the past.  That place really is not a tourist trap, but just a fascinating stop.

                                                  

The Corn Palace is having its 100th anniversary this year!  Actually in the present building for that long- all total it has been 128 years.   The building has been redecorated every year with a different theme, this year it is "come and play". Thirteen different shades of corn are used to complete each picture.  About 325,00 ears of corn are sliced  lengthwise and carefully nailed into place.  Different grasses, as rye and sour dock, are used for the trim work.  In the picture below you can get a close up of the decorative mural celebrating the building's anniversary. 

                                        

We wandered around the inside of the building (munching popcorn of course) where there are many interpretive signs explaining the history of the building and the the process by which different artists through the years have been able to make the murals using corn.  The process is best described as "corn by number".  The city pays about one hundred thirty thousand dollars a year for different corn murals to be placed on the outside of the building.  The large hall on the main floor inside has been used for basketball games as well as stage shows.. So the building besides being decorative is quite useful!

Main Hall inside the Corn Palace

This concludes my postings of our trip out west, sometime the miles were long and a bit boring- but all in all it was a very enjoyable trip!

                                                           
 

Surprise in Sundance, Wyoming

When we drove into Sundance we were looking for a motel.  Strangely, most of the motels were full, but we were finally able to obtain a  room.

The streets of the town were empty.  We asked the motel clerk where all the towns people were.  He informed us that the Crook County Fair was going on at present and that almost everyone were there.  Next we needed supper, and there were not many restaurants in town open to choose from.  We lucked out again and found one.  We decided that after all the cattle we had been seeing, it was time for a steak meal..

Sign above John says: "The West Needs More Cowboys".   I don't think John would qualify.   After supper we felt in need of a good walk.  What a surprise when we came upon Sundance Square (just built in 2020), a lovely park with a bit of history to share with us.

Sundance Kid

 The Sundance Kid, Harry Longabaugh, served time in the local jail and took his name from the town.  He put in 18 months there for stealing a horse, the only time he was in any jail.  After leaving Sundance he became notorious for bank robberies and a train heist.  

 

Sundance Jail, circa 1800s

Besides the sculpture of the Kid, there were these large photographs in the town square.  We noticed that besides Harry Longabaugh, Butch Cassidy was also in the picture.  I was surprised, I thought the pictures would be of the town founders!    It was a Prussian-born immigrant who staked his claim in 1879 and named the town Sundance.   He gave that honor to the Native Americans and the sun dance they performed on both Sundance and Imyan Kara Mountains.  Before I end this posting I will share with you an interesting plant which I found in the square.  I don't think I have seen this plant ever, or at least if I did I did not know what it was!

catnip

Wyoming

"Welcome to Wyoming, don't do anything stupid".  I found that comment in my notes of our travels; it was a statement I saw on a road sign after we entered the state.  I did not notice whether that was an official state highway sign or not.  Maybe that rates right up on the top of my list with  the other strange sign which I saw: "celebrate freedom, get a gun".  That one was not in Wyoming

Devil's Tower

One of our goals while driving through Wyoming was to see this large rock formation again.  Maybe it was about the third time we have viewed it.  According to the park brochure it has the longest, largest rock columns in the world.  The columns range from four to seven sided.  Formed 50 to 60 million years ago, it grew by magmatic activity (meaning by molten rock pushing up through rock layers) and erosion.  Over time the Belle Fourche River carved away the older rock layers revealing the hard rock of the tower. The tower rises 867 feet from its base.  It is known as "Bear Lodge" by North Plains Tribes. It is important in their belief systems and sacred narratives,  and has a important place in their spiritual life.  Still today Native Americans make prayer offerings, seek visions and perform the annual Sun Dance.  For that reason, the Towers was eligible for  listing on the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property. 

The Bel Fourche River also carved away "red beds" which surround the tower.  Those red rocks are part of the Spearfish Formation- which can be seen in the Black Hills of South Dakota, also in North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.  They are oxide-rich layers of siltstone,shale and sandstone.

On our road trips out west we always look for pronghorn antelope, mule deer, and prairie dogs.  We did not see the pronghorn, saw one mule deer and a colony of prairie dogs.  A pull-out off the highway was provided and I snapped away until I finally got one to sit still!   These are not dogs, but a type of ground squirrel.  The black-tailed prairie dog has the widest range and is found throughout western United States, from Canada to Mexico.

Native Americans and Montana

Before leaving the topic of the Little Bighorn Memorial, I have one more necessary detail to add. The leader of the Native American warriors on June 25, 1876 was Chief Sitting Bull, warrior and statesman. He was the spiritual leader of the Lakota tribe who thought it important that his people keep their traditional way of life.  We found a quote from him on one of the interpretive signs at the memorial: "you are fools to make yourselves slave to a piece of fat bacon, some hard-tack, and a little sugar and coffee".  After the battle of Little Big Horn he continued for awhile to lead several bands of Sioux and Cheyenne in skirmishes against the United States. Another item which I want to mention here is that the theme adopted by the Native Indians for their memorial was:- "Peace through Unity". 

 

The rest of our journey through Montana took us through Native American reservations.  One town is named Lame Deer, located on the North Cheyenne Reservation.  We went slowly through the town, but along the main route through town we saw no park, or even the sight of any fast food places.  One gas station had food to offer- but that was only fried offerings.  We were carrying our own supplies for a picnic.  Before leaving Lame Deer we saw an interesting mural, however.

We also noticed a sign pointing the direction to Chief Dull Knife community college.  Interestingly enough, after we arrived home we saw an article in the paper mentioning that a forest fire had come near the town Lame Deer.  We just thought it so neat that a small town in Montana, mentioned in the paper, was a town which we had just traveled through- and we are quite happy for the town's people that the forest fire was stopped before reaching it!

So here was our lunch spot, just a picnic table by the side of the road in the town of Ashland-  located east of the of the North Cheyenne Reservation boundary, and not very far from Lame Deer.  How sad for these small reservation towns, lacking any shady type of parkland or even playgrounds.  But they are small towns- Lame Deer has a population of around 2,000 and Ashland 464.  Small shacks or trailers dot the land, this speaking to the apparent poverty found in these areas.  I also found the names of Lame Deer and Chief Dull Knife intriguing, but discovered later that those were the name of important Native Indian leaders.

Battle of Little Big Horn

 Traveling through Idaho, and then Montana, we encountered a few hazy days when we did not see much of the sun.  At one point we could smell the forest fires, which were some distance away.  And one morning we found ash on the hood of our car, which caused me to think that we were perhaps not as far away from the fires than I thought!  The picture below can give you an idea of how hazy the sky was.  After we got home and I looked at the pictures, I at first wondered why so many of my pictures of Montana looked so poor and a bit dark- I then realized that I had the forest fires to thank for that!

The Battle of Little Big Horn took place on June 25th, 1876.  Shortly after we arrived at the memorial site we encountered a group of tourists who were avidly listening to a park ranger tell of what has become known s "Custer's last stand".  The park ranger did a very dramatic recitation of the story, soon John and I also became mesmerized and listened to the details of that dreadful battle.  Later I picked up a park brochure which gave information on what events led to that confrontation.  In 1874 gold was discovered in the Black Hills, the heart of a new Indian reservation in eastern Wyoming.  The army tried to buy the Black Hills back from the Indians and failed.  The Lakota and Cheyenne left the reservation and began raiding parties on settlements and travelers.  In December 1875 the Indians were ordered to return to the reservation before Jan. 31, 1876, or be treated as hostiles by "military force".  The battle at Little Big Horn was the army's campaign against the Lakota and Cheyenne.  Some of what happened in June of that year has been told by Indians, as Kate Bighead.  The Lakota,Cheyenne and Arapaho (approximately 7,000 of whom 1,500 to 2000 were warriers) were camped by the river called Little Big Horn (in an area located in southeastern Montana).  Several women were digging wild turnips, while their children were seeking relief from the afternoon heat in the river.  Men were sitting and smoking.  In the distance a dust cloud was arising, and the shout arose that "Soldiers coming.Plenty white soldiers".  Soon women and children were screaming.  Old men were calling young men to battle.  It was the 7th Calvary of the army which had discovered the presence of the camp, led by General Custer.  He did not realize the size of the Indian presence and had divided his regiment into three battalions.  It was one of those battalions that raided the Indian village; they retreated when they saw that they were out numbered.

 

Site of Custer's Last Stand

There are many more details of the 7th Calvary movements on that fateful day, which I will not go into.  What happened during the course of that day is the stuff of legend and has become known as "Custer's Last Stand".  With 250 men under his command Custer was surrounded by the Indians and destroyed.  At the location of his last stand he and approximately 41 of his men shot their horses for breastworks, to no avail.  A total of 262 men were killed and 52 wounded.  The Indians lost no more than 100.  Red Feather, a Lakota Indian, commented that  "It was a terrible battle..a hard battle- both sides were brave warriors".

In 1988 two Native American groups pressured the National Park Service to give equal recognition to Native Indians who died at this battle site.  This prompted Congress to pass legislation authorizing a construction of a memorial for the Indians, which President G.Bush signed into law in 1991.  The theme of the memorial is "Peace through Unity".  It acknowledges the need for cooperation between Indian tribes and the federal government.

Public Law 102-201 redesignated Custer Battlefield National Monument as Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument and approved establishment of a memorial to recognized Native Americans who participated in the battle.

Our Trip thru Washington Continues

 The day after the reunion we were still in the state of Washington-  oh my.  However, we were enjoying our drive through Washington and as yet were in no rush to get home.  Saturday morning we drove through a rural area of the state with many signs directing us to produce stands to purchase cherries, peaches and blueberries it was tempting, but our little cooler was already full.  Our lunch stop was in Leavenworth, we had to make that stop.

 

We had visited this town while traveling in our home on wheels, maybe 10 years ago.  The town is about all things German.  It was packed with throngs of people when we arrived.  Not a good place to be during a pandemic.  We did find a restaurant which did not have a long line running down the street, and had a delightful lunch of beer and brats.

I would have loved wandering through the shops offering German goods of cuckoo clocks and wood carvings, but it was necessary to be on our way.  We drove from Leavenworth again by fields of crops and cattle- one kind farmer labeled his fields so we did not have to wonder what was growing in them.  So in his fields we learned were growing: alfalfa, sweet corn, wheat, potatoes and timothy hay.  They were just small signs which were readable from the highway.

 We drove through the town of Wenatchee, where there is a confluence of the river of the same name And the Columbia River.

It was late afternoon when we started thinking that we should find a motel for the night.  We started checking on line and making calls.  No luck, we should have started thinking about that earlier.  We drove into Coeur d' Alene and randomly stopped at a Super 8.  They had a room!  However, it was for $200.00, and the kicker was that there were no elevators in the building.  It was a place to stop and the odds of finding any room were slim to none.  We took the room and schlepped our luggage up several flights.  Well, the desk clerk offered to help us, but she did not look any physically better than us, we turned her down.  Coeur d' Alene is a popular tourist town, we were just unlucky to have ended up there when we were ready to stop for the night.

Coeur d'Alene Lake

Returning Home- a Long Day Traveling through Washington

 Our family reunion ended on Friday.  John had on his bucket list a drive through the Cascades.  We headed north toward Seattle, and lost precious time driving around that city.   Traffic was pretty much at a standstill; what would have taken us about 3 hours took 5 hours to reach the Cascade scenic highway 70.  I must say what kept my sanity was reading the bumper stickers on the car in front of me:  "I brake for little libraries" ( I have done that)," childhood is not a race but a journey", "a life outdoors is a life well spent", "make art not trash", "relish today and ketchup tomorrow".  Hmm, I would have liked to have met the driver of that car- my kind of person!

What we saw of the North Cascades Park was beautiful...but forest fires were in the area and after about 70 miles in there were warning signs that the road was blocked off .

John kept driving, determined to see as much as he could until the very point where we had to turn around.  When we did turn back it seemed that we saw a bit more interesting scenery than we we came in. For anyone not familiar with the Cascades, it is an alpine- like wilderness area.  It has ancient forests, glaciers and pristine mountain lakes.  Tourists coming to this area are usually hikers and backpackers.  It would have been nice to have completed our drive through the park, but that was not possible.  We did however, see a small part of it, and I counted about four cascading waterfalls down the mountain sides on our way out.  We made one stop, to view Gorge Creek, before heading out and finding another highway to continue our trek through Washington.

So our aborted trip through the Cascades park took us about 200 miles out of our way.  It was late before we started looking for a motel.  We were driving through some forested area with little roadside amenities offered when I saw a sign which said "Eatery".  As we stopped in front of it we noticed that it was closing for the day (we had not stopped for supper).  Then I noticed a sign that indicated cabins were available.  We signed up for a cabin costing higher than what we usually pay, but it was a bed!  We then inquired about supper and were told that there was a bar below the motel office where we could get food.  The bar keeper informed us that he only cooked what he could put in his fry basket.  We had chicken nuggets and beer for our repast at 9:30 PM.  What a day, but still all good.  The cabin was comfortable, and the motel/bar/drive in complex  had a cafe where we had a good breakfast.  We also discovered that the business had a winery on the grounds- so if you are ever on the North Cascades Highway, look for the Glacial Peak Resort and Winery.  

Our sweet cabin in the woods

Mount Rainer

 Ont Thursday of our reunion week the majority of our family chose to go to a water park for the day.  John and I, as well as my brother Wayne, opted for a visit to Mount Rainer.  Our son Daniel and his wife had already been there, and had enjoyed a few of its trails.  Their excitement about what they had seen whetted our appetite to also visit the mountain.  Unfortunately the trip there involved a several hours drive, and our day was cut a bit short by a flat tire which needed repairing.   The other sad news was that the mountain was a bit covered by a cloud when we arrived there.

At the visitor's center we looked over the variety of trails which we could take around or up the mountain, all of which were called "Paradise Trails".   Given our time constraint, we chose to take the Myrtle Falls trail.  That was a wonderful choice!  It included wildflower meadows, and many of the large patches of flowers had small signs identifying them.

 Bear grass lily

Avalanche Lily

Wayne walked as far as Myrtle Falls with us, and as the path was getting steeper, chose to sit and rest while John and I continued on.  Notice that we had jackets on in the picture below.  How that sounds wonderful during the hot days we are now experiencing in St.Louis!

Myrtle Falls

Along our trail we also passed by large fields of white and pink heather.

On the trail information at the visitor's center we were informed that we would "have close encounters with glaciers and snowfields and be able to enter the world of the upper mountain".  We did not climb up that far, but still enjoyed some beautiful vistas of snow patches on the mountain.

Despite our time constraints, we did not regret that trip to Mount Rainer at all!
 

Mount St.Helens

 On May 18, 1980 this mountain exploded in a blast that was over 500-times greater than the bomb that dropped on Hiroshima, Japan during World War 11.  Before that date Mount St.Helens in southwestern Washington was considered to be one of the most beautiful mountains in the world.  It was judged to be a young and active volcano with a nearly perfect cone. That information I obtained from a very beautiful book distributed by Impact printing, the title of which is Volcano Mount St. Helens.  Also another interesting piece of information is that before the eruption the mountain stood at 9,677 feet and currently its height is 8,365 feet. There were rumblings coming from the mountain prior to its eruption, which may explain why a vulcanologist, David Johnston, was standing on the north ridge in front of of the mountain before it blew. He was one  of the 57 people killed in that initial blast from the mountain.

This is how the mountain looks today.  Our family group stood for awhile at the Johnston Ridge Observatory (named for the vulcanologist who died at this ridge).  It was impressive looking at the valley below, as well as the lakes in the distance- trying to imagine how it all looked before the mountain blew.  John and I have visited this area several times since 1980.  The first time (several months after the initial blast) I remember seeing a burned out car still sitting by the side of the road, as well as large swaths of burned forests with only a few tree trunks still standing.  Within three minutes the landslide from the blast scorched 230 square miles of forest, toppling and removing many trees.  Parts of Eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana were covered with layers of ash.  Day turned into night in the affected areas.

The stumps pictured above are all that is left of many of the 150-foot- tall trees, some of which were quite ancient.

The burned trees are still lying around,  but the scene of desolation now has the promise of new life with the forest growing back.

One of the first wildflowers to appear after a fire is the fireweed- that red flower pictured above.

Standing on the north ridge we were able to view the Toutle River Valley.  On that fateful day hundreds of feet of rock and debris filled its north fork, burying 14 miles of the river and its tributaries.  Rain, snow melt, and a mud flow from an eruption in 1982 carved new channels in the valley.  Part of the initial landslide surged into Spirit Lake, raising it about 200 feet.  Coldwater, Spirit, Silver, and Castle lakes were all changed or formed that day in 1980 from the eruption of the mountain.

                                          

There were a selection of trails we could have taken from the observatory, John and I chose the lake path.  Others of our group took a more challenging one- the hummock trail.  Hummocks are intact pieces of the mountain which were carried off in the landslide and still litter the valley floor today.  Along our lake path I noticed an interpretive sign which said that  "these lakes show that life quickly responds to natural changes on the earth's surface".  Mount Saint Helens was changed a lot in 1980, but natural beauty still can be found in the hillsides, lakes and valley surrounding it.

Lohrmann Reunion

 Our reunion this year took place at Silver Cove resort, which is located about 134 miles south of Seattle, Washington.  To be more precise, it is near Silver Lake and the town of Castle Rock.  Our family had plans to meet last year (we meet every three years) but the pandemic toppled those plans.  Our last reunion was in Colorado in 2017, and we had a wonderful turnout for that of about 80 plus family members.  Keep in mind that I have 9 siblings, and that can be rapidly multiplied when marriages happen and babies enter the bigger picture!

My husband John (pictured above in the foreground) has adapted well into family over the years, and that is remarkable given he has only one sibling and four nieces!  The picture above gives you an idea of the cabins which most of us stayed in during the reunion.  

We always come up with some tee shirt to commemorate our reunions, they are a great reference as to what state we were in and when for each reunion.  By the way, our reunions over the years have taken place in Maine, Missouri, Minnesota, Kentucky, Michigan, Oregon and Washington twice.  This year our niece Cheryl and daughter-in-law Amanda worked on tie-dye shirts for everyone to wear.  Blue hands marked those working on that project!

Devotion time is important to our family group.  We even tote around a couple boxes of song books to aid us in that worship time.  As children family devotions were held frequently after supper, we have kept that tradition alive during our reunions over the years. Fellowship time usually follows after that time into the wee hours of the morning (for only a smaller number of us).  And generally there is a blazing fire and s'mores to add to the fun.

Some of our group took a hike around Silver Lake, the largest natural lake within a radius of hundreds of miles (according to an interpretive sign).  It also supports at least 70 species of plants which thrive in the shallow waters.

The nearest town to our resort is the town of Castle Rock.  It was named for a large rock towering above the Cowlitz River at 900 feet.  It was a landmark in the early 1800s for the Cowlitz Indians as well as for the Hudson Bay fur traders.  John and I spent some time walking around the town while one of our flat tire was getting repaired.  I was amazed at all the pots of flowering plants which literally covered the town, in front of many homes as well as businesses.  As I was snapping pictures a man came up to me and introduced himself as a member of the Chamber of Commerce.  He was wondering about what I liked about the town.  After I informed him that I was thrilled with the presence of all the flowers in the town he replied that they were a "Bloom" city.  The town received that honor because of its many flowers, benches and murals.  The town of Castle Rock calls itself the "Gateway to St.Helens".  Our family group planned that as an outing which we could do as a group together on the second day of our reunion week.  More on that in my next posting.

Rose Spire wildflower