The Black Hills of Dakota

Today has been all about The Black Hills of Dakota, the lyrics say:

Here the pines are so high. That they kiss the sky above

And the trees, both the pine and the black hills birch really do surround you and seem to kiss the sky.


We started the day with breakfast in the hotel's dining room, which is called Bullys in honour of Teddy Roosevelt who was a friend of Seth Bullock, indeed Seth attended Roosevelt's inauguration and led a group in the inaugural parade.

Given the number of free breakfasts provided by hotels this year, something very different from a decade ago, we have not had to order our own breakfast often, so it was nice to do so today. We had an orange juice each and I had steak and two eggs, with hash browns (sorry there is no photo the lighting in here, or lack of it made it difficult.). Drew opted for a three egg omelette with bacon and sausage (Picture right). The server was a very entertaining guy called John, more about him from Drew:  

<<co-pilots note: our "server" (and believe me that is a blog post/rant/lengthy diatribe of its own) was called John, and a fine, upstanding fellow he was too. John, like the pilot, did not operate on quiet mode, and any conversation John had was clearly audible to each and every person in the room. Indeed when they (John and the pilot) started singing at each other I felt some type of feedback loop was being generated as both tried to outdo each other -is it any wonder I'm in the state I am!!!. Anyways, a women came in and was sat at the booth behind us. John, being a friendly sort asked how she slept, the lady replied that she slept very well, but was disappointed not to have any "nocturnal visits from the deceased", John gave his regrets informing her/us that he had once had "a full body paranormal visitation", "Who was it?", said the lady in amazement. "It was Old Seth!!" came the reply, followed by gasps of amazement I, myself could hardly contain my excitement, dear readers. God damn Marketers!!!>> 


After breakfast we headed out to our first location in the Black Hills, Mount Moriah Cemetery. Here we visited the graves of Bill Hicock, Calamity Jane Burke (nee Cannery), Rev Smith and other characters from the HBO show, oops I mean characters from the early life of Deadwood. There are a mix of photos of graves from the era on Flickr, along with other photos looking over the Black Hills and down into the town itself.

We were really lucky as we walked through the cemetery to see two young deer a few 100 yards away. They leapt away when someone else approached, but for one moment we were communing with nature as it was in the days before the gold rush hit these hills. I know this is a strange thing to say but this cemetery was a really joyful pleasant visit. But I guess cemeteries are more for the living than the dead, God will look after them.

Our next destination was Mount Rushmore, the famous presidential monument acknowledging Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Jefferson. The 40 mile route took us through spectacular parts of the Black Hills Forest and then you arrive at this rock face with four faces staring out at you. While this is really a trap for tourists, it is also a not miss site when you are in this part of the country. The large heads are impressive and mark a sense of American pride developed in that post-war era, that is not always as evident today. Drew took a picture of me with the president's heads and wanted me to name it: "Five HUGE Heads" :-)

From Rushmore we drove the 6 miles to an even more poignant and evocative carving. The sculpture of Crazy Horse. Unlike Rushmore, this is still in the making and has been since 1948. Significant progress has been made since 1997 when I was last here, as the photo on the right shows. The idea of a memorial to one of the native Americans own people has led not only to the statue itself, but also to the development of a Museum, a Cultural Centre and a University all which celebrate and support the life of the people of these hills who were here long before the arrival of the white man and their yellow metal had disrupted their life and livelihoods.

We had lunch while at the Crazy Horse Memorial site, a hot dog and a diet coke each. Just enough to keep us going for tonight. We then had another 40 mile drive through the forest of the Black Hills with loads of thoughts and reflections of the three sights we had visited today.


So with today's song I can sing:

So take me back to the black hills, the black hills of Dakota, to the beautiful Indian country, that I love 

Here I am back in those hills, and they are as lovely and moving as ever.