Devil's Tower and Deadwood

We got a bit of a late start Monday - this Griswold method of vacationing is exhausting! We drove up to Wyoming to see Devil's Tower, a national monument just over the border. It was a beautiful drive out of the Black Hills and into Wyoming. The landscape just kept expanding. Apparently this is a big ranching area, not many houses but lots of rolling land.

This way into Wyoming - off I-90 has a great welcome center. I know it sounds odd, but this welcome center was state of the art. Flat screen video panels with special video presentations, interactive displays, photo ops, coffee, a very friendly and informative staff, a and I believe, every brochure ever produced in the great state of Wyoming.

We asked where to go to lunch and they sent us to "Cindy's" in the fine town of Aladdin, population 15. Apparently, their population is their claim to fame. The town consisted of Cindy's, a motel, (owned by Cindy), and the General Store and Post Office which are more than 120 years old. Maddie even got a pin for her lanyard with the town and its population proudly proclaimed.

Our lunches were delicious. BLT's, potato soup and peach pie were on our menus. I even had some huckleberry ice cream, (alas, no huckleberry pie). The lunch "crowd" was interesting. Half seemed local, and half must have gone to the same welcome center as we did. The best was when some German tourists asked the men in cowboy hats if they could take their pictures because they thought they were cowboys. The old guys didn't quite know what to do, but they finally said yes and smiled for their picture. We went through the General Store after lunch and it was just a hodge podge of stuff but a fun stop. Definitely a great lunch stop all the way around.

Devil's Tower was very cool. It is a huge rock formation that was formed by a volcano million's of years ago. It is a sacred site to many Native American tribes, (most people out here use the term Indian instead of Native American, I don't know if that's ok or not.) But it's now part of

the National Park system, so it was packed and Maddie got to do another Jr. Ranger program.

We heard a talk on "Climbing Devil's Tower." The fastest it had ever been climbed was 18 minutes. In contrast, we met some climbers just coming, "off the rock" during our hike at about 2 p.m. and they had started at 6 a.m. It was their first time climbing it and they had "summited." We saw several groups of climbers at different points of their climb as we walked around the base. It was a 1.3 mile loop, just around the base! We were very happy we added this to our trip.

We came back to Deadwood through Spearfish Canyon. Alpine Coffee in downtown Spearfish provided an afternoon treat for us and the frappes and scones were delicious, (beware the late day coffee though.) I was really looking forward to Spearfish Canyon. I had just read that Frank Lloyd Wright said it rivaled the Grand Canyon in it's majesty. Mr. Wright may have had a better tour guide than my guide book but it wasn't even close to the Grand Canyon. It was a very

scenic drive through the canyon, with lookout stops along the way. The one place I thought we would take a hike was closed to hikers and I wasn't up to figuring out a new place. So, we enjoyed the drive, John took some incredible pictures and we made it to Deadwood in time for a little dastardly deed and dinner.

The dastardly deed was, of course, the reenactment of Jack McCall shooting Wild Bill Hickok in the #10 Saloon. For a death scene it was very cute. "Wild Bill" was an actor from California who had been playing various western characters for years and knew all about the history of Bill Hickok, Deadwood and the other characters of the town. He explained it all before the play and then he, with a group of audience members acted out the last fatal moments of Wild Bill's life. He sat, for the first time, with his back to the door and in walked the drifter Jack McCall and shot him in the back. Wild Bill was holding 2 black aces and 2 black 8's when he died, thus known as The Dead Man's Hand. Maddie asked exactly what kind of pistols he liked to use. John was so proud. "Wild Bill" went through what kind they were, how they were loaded and how to shoot them. Maddie or John can tell you all about it, I don't have a clue, but I liked the show.

After we went upstairs to the #10 Social Club and had dinner. It was a little nicer place than most of Deadwood. I had a chicken and tortellini pasta and John had a pork dish that he really liked. We ate outside and it was a perfect night.

Wednesday we check out of The Lodge at Deadwood and head for The Lodge at Palmer Gulch in Hill City, SD close to Mount Rushmore.