Little Bighorn, Deadwood, Mount Rushmore

OK, I just realized that I MAY be starting to sound like my mother…..when my mom, and brother came to visit me in New Zealand we clocked about 5000km on our rental  car as we toured the North and South Island, and with every bend and curve my mom was floored by the roads and the speed at which people travel on them.  I have noticed a pattern in my writing to sound somewhat similar.  So I am going to shift my focus to something else….although I did forget to mention that after the drive to Victoria Maureen informed us that the highway we had just driven on is the second deadliest in BC, to the Kokahola.  OK, done. 

So a childhood favourite of mine is CALAMITY JANE, featuring also one of my all time fav’s Doris Day, and her love interest Howard Keele.  I am a lover of musicals for the most part, but this probably has to rank up there among TSOM (can any of you figure that one out?).  Anyway, so Mark and I were driving amongst the Black Hills of Dakota (check out this song for a little serenade as you read: video)  and we stopped on by Deadwood City, a place Calamity and Bill Hickock are both known.  We both loved the town, it felt as though we had just entered a western movie, with saloon’s surrounding us, pistols at the ready and all (perhaps a slight exaggeration).  It was awesome to see a place associated with a character that I have loved for so long (even though she isn’t as kindly represented in the TV show Deadwood).

Deadwood, South Dakota

Meg with Calamity Jane

Mark scanning the streets of Deadwood

I just want to add a few things about ole’ Deadwood. I learned much of its history from the HBO show ‘Deadwood.’ The show has real-life characters, including Sheriff Bullock, Al Swearengen, Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Charlie Utter. Only three seasons: loved the first and third. The town from the show is not much different than the real town; it’s just how I would picture Deadwood 130 odd years later: casinos, one main street, saloons, the Black Hills all around. This was also the infamous site of Wild Bill Hickok’s murder. Well, you see, he was a big gambler and card player, and one day he angered a fellow player by taking his money in a fair game. Well, that player, named Jack McCall, snuck back while Hickok was playing cards and shot him right in the back of the head! (The cards Wild Bill was holding when he died is now called 'Dead Man's Hand': two black aces, two black eights).They didn’t show that in Doris Day’s ‘Calamity Jane’ now did they? Here’s a scene from Deadwood (it's the arrival of Wild Bill, the only scene I could find without swearing or blood): video. Now, back to Megan.

HBO's Deadwood

Doris Day Calamity Jane

HBO'S Calamity Jane

Previous to Deadwood we visited a place that Mark knows much more about…….Custer’s Last Stand, at the Battle of Little Big Horn.  For me this place brought back memories of my mama’s tasty custard, so you can see that my level of knowledge on the site wasn’t aplenty.  Hence why I am going to pass it over to Mark to tell you a little more about it.   (yes I know it’s not CUSTARD, but it’s where my mind went) haha

Well, not much to add. Custer was a General in the American Calvary; he was involved in the Indian wars, tracking down Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne when lo and behold he found himself surrounded by 2000 led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. His group of 200 positioned themselves atop the hill at Little Bighorn, killed their horses to use as barriers and fought the good fight. None of the Americans survived, including Custer. Back to Megan.

Little Bighorn

And the last stop for yesterday was MOUNT RUSHMORE.  Neither Mark or I had much information on the background of the site, when and why it was constructed, but nothing a little Wikipedia can’t solve (right Marky boy…I always tease him, as he uses this as his point of reference).  It was a pretty impressive bunch of heads, apparently they had intended on making some pretty impressive torso’s, but sadly ran out cash.  Oh well.  Anyone remember Richie Rich?  Brought back more childhood memories ha

Here’s Mark to go into a little more detail with Mount Rushmore. 

Hello, class. Well, Mount Rushmore was originally called Six Grandfathers and was a spiritual site of the Lakota Sioux tribe. There is controversy surrounding it, since the American government had given back the land after taking it in 1868. On this land, they decided to sculpt the faces of four American presidents into the side of a cherished mountain; seems a bit of a slap to the face to the Lakota to say the least. There have been several protests to this, including one in 1971. Presently, the Lakota are sculpting a rival to Mt. Rushmore: one for Crazy Horse, the Native American fighter who fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn. The battle rages on. Back to Megan with the weather. Megan?

So the light turned to dark, and the deer eyes were gleaming at the side of the road, so being my paranoid self we retired for the night in Murdo, South Dakota.  A few things of interest there:

-At the entrance to the Super 8 there were 2 boxes of semi-dirtied towels….one box reading CLEAN, one reading DIRTY….to clean GUNS and BIRDS. WTF! Comforting.

-I never saw one person NOT in hunting camo, without a pet….I guess you could say it was ‘hunting season’….as long as these fellas were just hunting animals made me relieved.  A nice image before we fell peacefully asleep for the night.  On to Minnesota (oh no, again), Iowa to the field of dreams (or the remains of one), and our end destination for the night CHICAGY as Calamity would say, CHICAGO as most of y’all would know it by.  Night partners for now, it’s turning in time. 

TRIVIA:

The answer to the trivia questions are: Mark was afraid of FREDDY KREUGER as a kid; Megan and her friend Christina dressed up as WALDO AND ODLAW.

Now, onto the new ones:

When Megan, her mom and brother Josh were in New Zealand, they decided to spend their hotel money on what instead of sleeping in a hotel for the night. As a result, they slept in a parking lot. What did they spend their money on? Was it…

a) Casino Slots and Blackjack

b) Custard Slices and Lemon Drops

c) an Expensive Indian Meal

d) a Whale-watching Adventure

At Mark’s brother Paul’s birthday party as a kid, what did Mark’s dad have to rescue little brother Paul from? Was it…

a) choking on ice cream cake

b) drowning in a pool of plastic balls at Chuckie Cheese’s

c) a weirdo clown

d) an overdose of helium from those darned balloons