Category: USA

Devils Tower

Devils Tower WY – September 2021

Devils Tower was featured in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It is 1,267 feet high. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower America’s first national monument in 1906. The original Indian name was Bear Lodge, but Devils Tower is an apparent mistranslation.

The columns of Devils Tower are its most striking feature. This appearance, known as columnar jointing, is not unique to the Tower. However, the size of the Tower’s columns is unmatched. Soaring hundreds of feet into the air and stretching to 10 feet in width, the columns at Devils Tower are spectacular.

Devils Tower has attracted people since prehistoric times. It holds many meanings for people including American Indians, local ranchers, rock climbers, and thousands of visitors. For explanations about the theories about how the tower formed, go to https://www.nps.gov/deto/learn/nature/tower-formation.htm.

Our first view of Devils Tower.
Getting closer.
And closer.
And closer.
And we are here.
So I decided to walk the 1.6 mile trail around the base of Devils Tower and take pictures from all the different angles. The trail has some semi-steep walking, some leveling off, and then a little downhill.
I was happy to see this sign.
This is the closest I got to the tower itself. Looking straight up.
If you look closely, you can see a couple climbers working their way up the tower.
Proves I was here!
View as we left.
This was the view from near the top of the trail I walked.

Geographic Center of the US

Belle Fourche SD – September 2021

Belle Fourche (pronounced bell foosh) is the actual geographic center of the US. It became the center when Alaska and Hawaii were added as states in 1959.
We are standing at the geographic center of the US.
Buckskin Johnny Cabin was the first built in this area, in 1876.
Inside of the cabin.
Inside the cabin.
This is a 1928 International Harvester 10-20 tractor.

Sturgis SD

September 2021

The huge biker rally was here in August. They estimated about 500,000 bikers in this small town for the weeklong rally. It was very quiet when we came through.
The the famous Iron Horse Saloon

City of Presidents Walk

Rapid City SD – September 2021

Rapid City SD bills itself the “City of Presidents”, and there are statues of all the presidents (President Trump is not there yet) on different street corners in the middle of downtown. It’s a neat idea. So I took about an hour and a half to walk all over downtown and take pictures of all of them. Here are my favorites:

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
Andrew Jackson
Abraham Lincoln
Ulysses Grant
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt close-up
William Taft. This one is cool. President Taft was a huge (literally!) baseball fan, and he was the first president to throw out the first pitch at a major league baseball game. In this statue, he is bent over ready to throw. There is a baseball behind his back in his right hand!
Calvin Coolidge
Franklin Roosevelt
Dwight Eisenhower
Ronald Reagan

Rushmore Plaza Civic Center

Mary Jean, her daughter Melissa and her friend Pat saw Elvis Presley in concert at this venue in June 1977, just a few weeks before he died.

Mary Jean and Pat revisited the place this week.
The entrance.
The arena. Mary Jean’s seats in 1977 were in the front orange seats on the right, near the fork truck.
Poster from the 1977 concert.

National Presidential Wax Museum

Keystone SD – September 2021

This is a pretty neat museum.
White House Press Room.
George Washington
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson
James Monroe (in the back)
James Madison
Andrew Jackson
Abraham Lincoln
Ulysses Grant (and Robert E. Lee made it to the Presidential Wax Museum!)
Theodore Roosevelt
Calvin Coolidge
Franklin Roosevelt with Churchill and Stalin
Dwight Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Ronald Reagan with Gorbachev
Donald Trump