Sunday, September 11, 2011

Day 5 - Devil's Tower





These shots were all taken at Devil's Tower. 

Today was sunny with blue skies.

On the way to Deadwood, we came into saloon country.  Billboards abounded with saloon names such as Mangy Moose, Silver Dollar, and Miss Kitty's.  Drove through Hill City.  Very nice town.  Lots of restaurants and shops.

Stopped in Deadwood.  Deadwood with its beautiful old buildings is on the National Historic Registry.  An honest to goodness Wild West Town, it began in response to the last goldrush in 1874.  It was known as the wickedest city in the world due to gambling, drinking, and prostitution.  Bill tried to pimp me out to pay for our hotel tonight but we couldn't find even one blind John!  Best two things (to us) about Deadwood are the architecture and the Adams Museum with lots of Deadwood memorabilia including a huge drawing of Wild Bill Hickok by NC Wyeth.

On to Spearfish, a logging town and hometown of our friend, Marty Garhart.  We drove the Spearfish Canyon road.  Two nice waterfalls and lots of impressive rock bluffs and formations.

Next stop Devil's Tower, for sure one of nature's greatest and most mysterious creations.   How this magnificent tower was created is beyond me.  There were two groups of climbers on the tower, one consisting of two women and four men and another group of two.  Brave souls!  We enjoyed the very nice asphalt trail of about a mile and a half around the tower.  

I love this Indian story about how the Tower was formed.  Eight children, 7 sisters and 1 brother, were playing in the area.  The little boy suddenly started running around on all fours, then started growing fur and turned into a bear.  He started chasing his sisters.  The sisters ran to a huge tree that talked to them, telling them to climb into its branches.  As they did so, the tree began to grow taller, just tall enough to be out of reach of the bear that was trying to kill them.  The bear's claws scratched the side of the tower, leaving the groves we see in it today.  The sisters were then lifted into the heavens and became the stars in the big dipper.

Signing off, Bill and Marsha, grateful to have the opportunity to travel this very beautiful part of our wonderful country.


4 comments:

  1. People have told me it is difficult to figure out how to post, so I am trying it out and will let you know if what I did works!

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  2. It worked! Go to the blog website: billandmarshasexcellentadventures.com. Go to sign-in. It will ask you to set up a google account. It will ask for your existing email address. I just used my yahoo address, made up a password and it worked! Went back to the website and was able to post. Good luck!

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  3. I always forget to add.blogspot.com to the name of our blog so it should read billandmarshasexcellentadventures.blogspot.com. Sorry!

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  4. These are amazing photos, Uncle Bill and Aunt Marsha! Thanks for keeping us all up-to-date with your travels! :)

    ~Beth

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