Friday, June 01, 2007
My Laura Ingalls Wilder Tour -- After the Prairie (part 2)
From the Badlands I drove to Deadwood where I stayed for one night. I ate in Kevin Costner's restaurant The Midnight Star (anyone know where he got the name? Answer below...) and won $60 from his blackjack tables. Thanks Kevin! Apparently, the Lakota are not too fond of Kevin these days.
These three pictures are from the Deadwood website. (Mine were not so good.) The entire town is a national historic landmark.
The town you may know from the TV series looked like this (photo from 1876):
And most of it burned to the ground around 1879.
The tv show was correct that Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane spent time there. They are also buried there.
I awoke early in the morning, left Deadwood and headed for the Crazy Horse Memorial. Not sure why people decided the Black Hills were great for carving giant statues, but it seems to be the place. I have always wanted to see Mount Rushmore but knew I couldn't go there witout seeing Crazy Horse . Click on the link for more and better photos and info.
Here I am -- click to make it bigger.
Great view as I was leaving:
Have you been to Mount Rushmore? It's seems so small when you've been to see Crazy Horse first. My photos doen't help show the scale.
Okay, the reality is Mt. Rushmore is 500' high and 400' wide. When Crazy Horse is complete, it will be 563' high and 615' wide. Not much bigger, but you get fooled because there is one person/face at CH and four at Mt. Rushmore. Here is a photo of Crazy Horse's face:
and a great site that shows the face in progress is here.
The whole country out there in the land of the Lakota is amazing and beautiful. I can't wait to go back and see it all again and more.
(The answer to the Midnight Star name is from the movie Silverado (one of my favorites) that Kevin had a role in. Kevin Kline's character worked in the bar in Silverado -- The Midnight Star.)
These three pictures are from the Deadwood website. (Mine were not so good.) The entire town is a national historic landmark.
The town you may know from the TV series looked like this (photo from 1876):
And most of it burned to the ground around 1879.
The tv show was correct that Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane spent time there. They are also buried there.
I awoke early in the morning, left Deadwood and headed for the Crazy Horse Memorial. Not sure why people decided the Black Hills were great for carving giant statues, but it seems to be the place. I have always wanted to see Mount Rushmore but knew I couldn't go there witout seeing Crazy Horse . Click on the link for more and better photos and info.
Here I am -- click to make it bigger.
Great view as I was leaving:
Have you been to Mount Rushmore? It's seems so small when you've been to see Crazy Horse first. My photos doen't help show the scale.
Okay, the reality is Mt. Rushmore is 500' high and 400' wide. When Crazy Horse is complete, it will be 563' high and 615' wide. Not much bigger, but you get fooled because there is one person/face at CH and four at Mt. Rushmore. Here is a photo of Crazy Horse's face:
and a great site that shows the face in progress is here.
The whole country out there in the land of the Lakota is amazing and beautiful. I can't wait to go back and see it all again and more.
(The answer to the Midnight Star name is from the movie Silverado (one of my favorites) that Kevin had a role in. Kevin Kline's character worked in the bar in Silverado -- The Midnight Star.)
Labels: driving, prairie, south dakota, travel
Permalink posted by Julia @ 6/01/2007 03:11:00 PM 
