Scotts Bluff, NE and Area

Yes, the Ballards are still alive and traveling but I have gotten a bit behind in my blogging so will catch up a bit here by posting our travel to Albuquerque on two different days.

Friday, August 26, 2016

Our summer travels are quickly ending.  We left Rapid City this morning and are spending the night in Gering, NE at a lovely city campground we discovered several years ago.  Having made the trip to and from ABQ to Rapid City numerous, numerous times, we are always open to going a different way to see some different countryside which is what we did today.

Traveling from Rapid City we headed south to Hot Springs, SD and then on to Chadron, NE and continuing south and then west to Gering which is located next to Scotts Bluff which is the home of Scotts Bluff National Monument.  We only stayed in Gering one night, but since we had pictures from a previous visit, I thought my readers might enjoy seeing what there is to see in the Scotts Bluff area. 

Scotts Bluff Monument

The Monument is a majestic landmark used by Anerican Indians, fur trappers, pioneers and modern travelers.   The bluffs are named for trapper Hiram Scott who reputedly died in the vicinity around 1828.  Early pioneers abandoned the riverbank and cut through Mitchell Pass to avoid the rough terrain. 

The Visitor Center gives you information about the human and natural history of the area and contains a collection of paintings by William Henry Jackson as well as a video about the Oregon Trail and the Monument.   Outside is a display of various wagons used by the pioneers to cross the country including this wagon made by Studebaker,

Made by Studebaker

this overland wagon which was the most common one used by the pioneers

Overland Wagon

as well as this Conestoga Wagon used by freight companies and the military.

Conestoga Wagon

Gering is also the home of the North Platte Museum which has a beautiful display of artifacts which explore the valley’s history from nomadic Indian villages to the Oregon Trail travel and early settlement.  One of the things I found interesting was this boat called a “Bull Boat” which was about 4 feet round and made from buffalo skins.

Just a short distance from Scotts Bluff is the town of Minitare where you find Lake Minitare and this one of seven inland lighthouses found in our country.  The lighthouse was built during the Depression to be “a point of light and hope” for Panhandle residents.  It is four stories high and has a 360 degree view from the top.

Further east from Scotts Bluff is Chimney Rock National Historic Site which a pioneer  called “the most remarkable thing I ever saw.”   The Rock was visible to the emigrants for several days before they actually arrived at the site.  The Rock has a 120 foot span and stands 325 feet from tip to base.

 

Chimney Rock

At another point along the highway you can see Jail House and Courthouse Rocks.   Courthouse Rock rises 340 feet above the valley floor and gets its name because of its blocky shape.  Oregon emigrants thought the rock looked like a courthouse so the smaller rock was therefore the jail.  There is a story told about a band of Skidi Pawnees who fled their enemies, the Sioux by climbing Courthouse Rock.  With cliffs on three sides and only one difficult path to the top, the Pawnees were trapped.  The Sioux camped at the bottom and waited for their enemies to give up from thirst and hunger.  Late one night, the Pawnees made a long rope from their pony lariats, quietly descended the cliff one by one and escaped.  

More travel news tomorrow.

The Black Hills of South Dakota

Thursday – Sunday, August 19- 21, 2016

Our first five days in Rapid City were spent relaxing and seeing family while enjoying the Elks Lodge RV accommodations and meeting and making some new RV friends.  Meeting new people is always enjoyable and learning where they have been in terms of campgrounds and places just adds to our own list of places and parks for the future. 

Today we came to the town of Custer for four days to do more relaxing away from the city. So far we have not left the RV due to the gusty winds and intermittent rain showers.   Also the temperature has dropped down considerably and as I write this at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, the temperature is only 53 degrees, 5 degrees lower than when we got up this morning.  Has fall arrived already? 

Our summer has been one of very different temperatures.  We really can’t complain as we have not had the hot, hot 90 degree temps for more than a few days since we left Albuquerque on

June 1.   I know when we arrive back in ABQ on August 30 that the temps will still be very hot compared to our summer on the road.

Saturday under warmer temperatures and some sunshine we take a drive through Custer, Keystone and Hill City, all little mountain communities here in the Black Hills.  It is quite busy today though not as busy as I have seen it on previous visits to the area.  It is also the end of the season and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is over. 

Ron has taken me through these areas and Custer State Park many times in the past, but today we visit several places I have not been before.  Keystone is one of those.  The 1888 Narrow Gauge Railroad from Hill City has just arrived so you can see the engineers filling the water tank for their return to Hill City and people anxiously awaiting their boarding of the train. 

From Keystone we do a lengthy drive through Custer State Park where we take in the Needles and find the eye of the needle which I have not seen previously.  From the point where this is, you must pass through a one way very narrow and low tunnel made through rock.  This is just one of many in the Park.

Earlier in the day while driving on this same road in a different location, we found a 35 foot motorhome who had not seen the sign saying 10 feet wide and 10 feet 7 inches tall for a tunnel.   This poor fellow had traveled up a very narrow two way, hairpin curve road with no barriers one and ½ miles from where the last place to turn around could be found.  He was attempting to back down.  Not sure how if he made it down or who helped him, but we know that there are at least several people who do this every year here.  The secret to safe travels is to not trust your  GPS completely unless specifically made for motorhomes since it does not take into account your RV height, width or weight restrictions, be extra vigilant in observing signs that tell you widths and heights in an area and most importantly know what the height, width and weight of your RV is.  It can keep you out of this kind of trouble.    

Our next stop was at Sylvan Lake (one of many lakes in the Park and area) which has a general store, gift shop, and boat rental facility.  There is a path around the lake and numerous places to have picnics and fish in the lake. 

Further along and through another one way tunnel, we stop at the cathedral spires for a couple of pictures.  At this point we spot a climber who has reached the top of one of the narrow needle rocks.  I zoomed in, but you can hardly make him out.  From another angle, we saw there was another climber with him and yet another still trying to make the top.  It gave me the shivers just looking at them up there.

Part of the drive takes us through what is called the "Pigtails" which is several corkscrew type bridges which make a 440 degree turn as you climb next to the mountain.

The rest of the day we spend driving through various roads in the Park and lastly in the Wildlife Loop where late in the afternoon we come upon a very large herd of buffalo grazing off a short distance away.  It always excites me to see buffalo in the wild. 

This pronghorn up on a hill and lone buffalo enjoying the sunshine were about the only other wildlife we saw.  Several deer were spotted but most were where we could not safely photograph them as we drive by.

While most people know about Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse

when contemplating a visit to this area, there really is a whole lot more to see.   Rapid City attractions include the Norwegian Stavkirk Church,

Dinosaur Mountain, bronze sculptures of the Presidents on city streets, Story Book Island (an amusement area for young children with different sets of buildings depicting various story book stories), numerous lovely parks, The Journey Museum (a beautiful museum definitely worth the visit), historic old buildings and of course shopping.  Within a 50 miles radius of town is the Black Hills with sites I mentioned above, Wall Drug, the Badlands, the famous motorcycle rally city of Sturgis, Spearfish (they do a Passion Play each summer here which is very nice), 30 miles from spearfish is Devils Tower which is quite impressive, the old cowboy/mining towns of Deadwood and Lead and lots and lots of beautiful countryside and other museums and attractions.  The Black Hills is full of resorts, campgrounds, and state parks so there is something for every kind of tourist. 

While Rapid City is Ron’s hometown so he is prejudice, it is also one of my favorite places to visit in the summer to relax and enjoy the peace and beauty of the Black Hills of South Dakota. Monday we return to Rapid City for a few more days before heading toward Albuquerque.

Traveling Down the Road to Rapid City

Thursday, August 11, 2016

We have a leisurely travel day today from Butte to Big Timber.  We stayed at this campground in Big Timber back in 2011 and are happy to be returning here again.  The campground is out of town about 3 miles and set along the Yellowstone River.  Our site is a pull thru right next to the river and under some large trees giving us some shade and privacy.  We pull out our chairs and spend the afternoon listening to the river as it flows by.  Wish we could stay for a week and just relax in our chaise lounges with a nice glass of wine. 

Friday, August 12, 2016

Another day of driving and a restful evening.  We arrive in Buffalo, WY just about 30 miles south of Sheridan to stay at Deer Park RV where we have stayed twice before when in this area. On past visits we have seen deer and wild turkeys. 

Buffalo is a cute little town with some old buildings including an old hotel which once was a brothel and still run as a hotel.  There is a lovely museum here as well.

Ron drives me into town to a quilt shop where I purchase another license plate block.  I have started to collect these (one in each state we visit) to make a quilt some time down the road.  In Montana I found a panel of a map of the United States and will use it as the center for a quilt with the state blocks around it.  For those not quilters, each quilt shop now carries a different designed block each year with the name of their shop on it and a cute short word or words much like when people have individualized license plates made.  Wish I had known about this last year so I could have collected them while we were in so many states.  Oh, well, there is always another chance for those states as we RV around America.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

We arrive in Rapid City as the Motorcycle Rally is ending in Sturgis (about 32 miles west of Rapid City).  Thank goodness!  Last year was the 75th anniversary of the Rally so the numbers of bikers was way, way up (over 800,000).   Yes, that is the right number. This year everyone keeps saying the numbers are way, way down (maybe around 300,000).  What a crowd no matter the number! 

For those who may not know about this, bikers from all over the U.S. and Canada come each year to Sturgis for this week long event.  They participate in competitions, police escorted or impromptu tours of the Black Hills and party, hardy.  Dress codes go from biker casual to topless in the case of some women.  Parking in Sturgis is bike to bike and camping is in open fields or campgrounds and sometimes in someone’s front yard or field.  Quite a rowdy event, I am told. 

As we begin our drive this morning the number of bikers, RVs with enclosed and open trailers,  toy haulers (motorhomes and fifth wheels with back ends that will carry ATV’s, motorcycles, bikes, etc.) and  pickups with trailers carrying bikes (mostly heading west at this point) begin increasing the nearer we draw to Rapid City. 

We will remain here at the Elks Lodge visiting family and relaxing, then head up to Custer in the Black Hills for a few days before returning again to the Elks and beginning our journey toward Albuquerque for the month of September.  I will try to post a few pictures of places here in Rapid City and in the Black Hills along the way.

Butte, MT

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

We have been in Butte since Monday and have had a more relaxing time here after our busy sightseeing in Kalispell and Helena. 

 Though gold and silver were found here in Butte, it was copper which gave Butte the reputation as the “richest hill on Earth” with over 11 billion pounds of the metal.  Copper kings fought for control of Butte’s wealth and eventually Marcus Daly’s Anaconda Company gained control and became the dominant power.   By 1955 the high grade copper had about played out and an open pit mine called Berkeley Pit began to extract low grade ore.

The historic district of Butte contains many, many large and small homes dating to the late 19th and early 20th century as well as lots of commercial buildings of the same time period.  There did not appear to be a lot of empty buildings or homes either downtown or in outer areas.  Butte reminded me very much of San

Francisco as the streets are very hilly and many of the homes on the hills and the commercial buildings had bay windows which are so common in the older buildings and homes in San Francisco. 

There are a number of what are called steel “headframes” doting the city (used to lower miners to a network of more than 2,000 miles of tunnels under “the hill”). 

Mine Entrance

A friend suggested that we make a visit to the World Museum of Mining which is located on the Montana Tech campus and on the grounds of what was the Orphan Girl mine which was a silver mine in operation from 1875-1956.  

This is as far as I would want to go.

The grounds contain a number of original structures as well as a reconstructed 1890’s mining town which they call Hell Gate Gulch.   I always knew that mining was and is still a very hazardous occupation and after listening to a video and hearing the tales of how many widows and children were left behind after all the accidents which occurred here in Butte as well as in other locations throughout the country, I wonder why anyone would want to be a miner.  Scary!

 The “Gulch” had many, many buildings and most were set up inside with artifacts, etc. of the various types of commercial businesses they were at the time.  Lots to see and very interesting.

Being someone who has always enjoyed dolls

and collecting them since I was very young, I was quite interested in the many elaborate doll houses which had been donated to the museum.  They were really something to see. Pictures below do not really show them well since they were behind glass and lit up.

Later in the day, Ron and I took the tour of the Copper King Mansion which was once the home of W.A. Clark, a U.S. Senator and “copper king.”   The home is a restored historic landmark and bed and breakfast which was built in 1884-88 and cost at the time $250,000.  Today it would cost over $6 million.  Wow!  

The house has beautiful woodwork, ornate fireplaces, original light fixtures, ornate wall décor, beautiful main staircase with carved wood pieces below the railings and has been furnished in period items as well as housing numerous collections which the present owner has added to the home décor.  While the house is beautiful and tastefully decorated, I was overwhelmed by the too many collections in the cabinets, on the walls, etc. 

Parlor

Once the Billard Room

One of many painted ceilings

Dining Room

Master Bedroom

 

Large mirror in bedroom hallway

Each bedroom had a different transom similar to this one.

Transom between Dining Room and Kitchen

Looking up the staircase to stained glass windows

Stairway with carved wood inserts below railing, each different

Stained Glass Windows at top of Stairs

Signing off for now.  Next few stops will only be for overnight until we reach Rapid City, SD.