FTJ, Entry 116: The Wildest Town, the Biggest Heads

Another town, another Bill...Hickok, this time. We went from Buffalo Bill to Wild Bill. (Who's next? Mister Bill? Ooooooh noooooo!) And from Montana to South Dakota.

Seems Wild Bill -- born James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876) -- met his end in the notorious town of Deadwood, SD, our destination after our visit in Garryowen, MT. 

The town of Deadwood, which in its heyday had more than 50 bars and 30 some brothels, sprang up in 1876, when fortune seekers looking for gold in them thar Black Hills of South Dakota came upon a gulch full of dead trees. And a creek full of gold. Yeeeee ha. Deadwood was born. Everybody came a runnin' to find gold, gamble, and well, dally with loose women. 

Unfortunately, so did Wild Bill Hickok, the fastest gun in the West. Notorious for his fast draw, he was assassinated while playing poker in Deadwood's Saloon No.10 -- shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall...coward!!

Wild Bill.

These days, Deadwood survives off tourism and gambling. We spent about $5 and lost it. Typical.

The main drag of Deadwood.

The scene of the crime, not the criminal.

Cool tourist come-on for the town -- just a wooden facade emulating the old days.

We had lunch at Kevin Costner's restaurant, Diamond Lil's, in his Midnight Star Casino building. Memorabilia from his more than 40 movies line the walls.

Beau enjoys his first Moose Drool beer. Awful name, pretty good beer. Pitchman in the making???

Ah yes, Costner earns some more money from us....

During a tour we took (another Costner enterprise -- the guy practically owns the whole town), our crazy tour guide gave us some color commentary about Deadwood and Hickok, then drove us up to his gravesite. 

Hickok was good friends with Calamity Jane -- born Martha Jane Cannary Burke -- and she and Wild Bill are buried right next to one another up on Boot Hill (wherever cowboys are buried, the cemetery gets this nickname), otherwise known as Mt. Moriah Cemetery.

The bronze bust behind Beau is Wild Bill's grave. Lots of aces and eights playing cards litter the site. That's the hand Wild Bill had in the poker game he was playing the day he died. These cards are considered bad luck today -- good luck, I guess, if you put them on Bill's grave?

Calamity lies right alongside Bill.

Tatanka Tales

While in Deadwood, we were both intrigued by Kevin Costner's Tatanka, Story of the Bison Interpretive Center, and wanted to scope it out. I thought it was a nonprofit, but now realize it is not. No matter. It is a fascinating "museum" and educational experience. 

The introductory film was very moving -- all about Costner's fascination with the bison and the Lakota (Sioux), and his failed efforts to build a hotel in Deadwood that ultimately led to the creation of Tatanka, Story of the Bison. 

Much like he did with his award-winning film, Dances With Wolves, Costner tries to tell an important story with Tatanka (which means "bison" in the Lakota language) -- a story that is often overlooked by most people, and is certainly not taught in schools. Costner used his own money ($6 million by some reports) to develop Tatanka and to commission a highly dramatic and huge bronze depiction of a buffalo jump as its centerpiece. The work shows14 bison and three Indians on horseback driving those bison off a cliff (thus, the "jump"). It is simply awe inspiring. Moreover, it is the second or third largest bronze in the world.

Lakota guide Melissa Two Trees, in traditional doeskin garb, gave a terrific presentation that explained her people's history, customs, relationship with the bison, and the purpose of the Tatanka center.  She's about 4'10". We went in the teepee -- quite liveable, but we prefer luxury camping.

The buffalo jump bronze is AMAZING and powerful.

The film we saw showed Costner's speech at the grand opening -- he was surprisingly nervous, but his words were moving and heartfelt. I was a bit skeptical about his motivation in the beginning, but he won me over big time. Yeah, yeah, and he's cute. 

But think about this: As many as 30- 60 million bison once roamed the Great Plains of North America. After the whites came, this number dwindled to less than 1,000. Wanton, thoughtless greed spurred the invaders to slaughter bison by the thousands, skinning them, and leaving their carcasses to rot in the sun. And by annihilating the bison, they also helped destroy the Plains Indians. We even read a quote from General Sheridan advocating such buffalo slaughters, in hopes it would solve the "Indian problem." Yet another despicable chapter in our history.

The Big Heads

From Deadwood, we were easily able to visit one of the most distinctive and famous U.S. landmarks: Mount Rushmore. Stirring -- one of those "pinch-me" moments: Are we really seeing this?

I know Beau wants to point out that Rushmore was created by Gutzon Borglum, who lived in Stamford, CT, for 10 years. Notice also his blatant promotion of the New York Giants.

Note Teddy's glasses - you can even see the nosepiece.

Buddy at a cafe in Keystone, SD, outside of the Rushmore memorial. If dogs could blog...

On to the Badlands.

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 112: Geyser Gawking: The Yellowstone Experience

First, we want to send our love and concern to our friends and family who are in the path of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene. We are thinking of you and wish we could be there to help or provide support. It is a helpless feeling hearing about the storm from across the country. So we are crossing fingers and toes and whatever else. Keep in touch and PLEASE let us know how you are. All our best.

(Compared to what you are all experiencing or about to experience, I am a bit sheepish about this blog -- it seems so trivial. But maybe it can be an after-the-storm diversion.)

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We just left West Yellowstone, Montana and Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was immense, fascinating, wonderful -- and oddly disappointing. The geyser fields and scenery were mind blowing, but we wanted more fauna, dammit. You have seen those photos and videos of cars stopped on the roads in Yellowstone, to allow herds of bison or bears or deer or moose across? Well, we didn't see any of that. We swore we kept seeing one bison -- we named him Barry/Bob/Bill (whatever moved us at the time) -- five different times. He was always right alongside the road. We figured that maybe he just makes appearances throughout the park, like a roving entertainer. 

Eventually, as we left the park and headed east, we discovered where the buffalo roam -- we saw big herds in a grand expanse of yellow rolling meadow toward the east entrance of the park.

The best sight, and the first wildlife we encountered during our visit, was a coyote hunting in a meadow. Very exciting for us, in that neither of us had ever seen a coyote in the wild before. The next-best experience was a moose (again, the first ever for both of us), but it was about a half mile away. We could only see him with the binoculars. He was a young bull, antlers just blooming and still in velvet.

Coyote cutie. Probably hunting mice.

A bald eagle from afar. This is the best I could do with our zoom.

Barry/Bill/Bob the bison, along the road, moving on to his next appearance in the park.

Found the rest of the herd, finally.

Is bison poop in a geyser field an oddity? I think so.

Beyond these sightings, we saw only small herds of elk, one deer, and two chipmunks. No bears, no wolves, no nuttin else. Bummer.

But the geysers and fumaroles and other geologic wonders were just that...wonders. Yellowstone, basically a collapsed caldera, sitting on one of the largest supervolcanoes in the world, has more geysers than anywhere else on earth. On earth, my friends. And we saw a lot of them, including, of course, Old Faithful. (For email readers, please go to our blog for a video of a geyser hissing and bubbling.)

 

We almost decided to skip Old Faithful, but then figured we had to see it. It was impressive, but surprisingly, not that much more so than the Old Faithful geyser we witnessed in Calistoga, CA.

 Below, photos of various other sights of Yellowstone:

I think this was Midway Geyser Basin.

 

There are geysers below and above the surface of Yellowstone Lake. The lake is huge -- and gorgeous.

 

Typical sight as you drive through the park -- steam.

One view of Mammoth Hot Springs. Amazing.

The colors in the geyser fields ranged from brilliant cerulean blue to rich orange and copper. Stunning.

 

Mammoth Hot Springs walkway.

One view of The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

 

Too many photos of me in this blog. Behind me, the incredible Lower Falls.

Upper Falls in the Grand Canyon.

Beau had to try his hand at fly fishing in one of the park rivers, the Gibbon. He caught only a small creek chubb, whatever the hell that is. He did have several bites from trout, but none landed.

The park, most of which is in Wyoming, averages 8,000 feet in altitude. The Continental Divide snakes through it. We must have crossed the Divide, in various places, at least seven times. Had to commemorate it.

OMG - We Actually Went Whitewater Rafting

I stole these photos of our rafting experience on the Gallatin River from the Geyser Whitewater Expedition site (thus the "proof" labels). We took a trip with them out of Big Sky, Montana. I still cannot believe I did this. I am terrified of drowning. But I have to say, it was a BLAST for both of us, and I would do it again in a minute. These were only Class II and III rapids, but for our first time, they were perfect.

They put the old hefty folks (us) up front for ballast, I guess. We got drenched. Thank god for wetsuits.

The water was 50 degrees.

We are crazy old loons.

A Baby Rodeo 

(Again, for email readers, please go to our blog for a video of the rodeo we attended in West Yellowstone -- pretty cool.)

A few blurry photos of the rodeo experience:

The little dog beside the horse is a bull wrangler. He makes sure the gigantic bulls return to the stalls after throwing and stomping the cowboys. It was scary watching him work, right under the bulls' hooves.

Next posting we will include photos of the towering Grand Tetons in Teton National Park. Yet another awesome spectacle we have been privileged to enjoy.

Tanks, Panky