Six Traveling Gypsies
As we conclude our annual weeklong sibling trip, this one has to go down in the books for everything it involved. This year, we chose the area around Deadwood, South Dakota. The weather was perfect: 85 during the day and sweater weather at night.
What makes a great vacation? Family members who simply enjoy being together. Laughing, eating, visiting, exploring and cramming six sets of creaking bones in the same SUV for seven straight days.
The other advice for a great vacation: be flexible and quick to respond: “It doesn’t matter to me.” It could involve choosing a restaurant, visiting another museum, choosing a landmark or the time to depart.
Thirdly: under no circumstance should you plan a vacation on a strict schedule. You are on vacation for Pete’s sake. I would rather take a knee to the groin as opposed to a schedule that maps out every hour of the day. Breakfast at 7. Leave for landmark at 9:15. Visit Wild Bill Hickok saloon from 11 until 1. Lunch reservations at Deadwood Bison Burgers from 1:15 until 2. Depart Deadwood for etc., etc., etc. You get the picture.
Our group includes sister Susan and Bob Tanner, brother Bob and Deb and my wife Susan and me. We could be known as the “Fly by the Seat of Your Pants Group.” Correction: all three of the ladies do extensive advance research and present me and the 2 Bobs a scouting report. They have yet to choose a bad eating place or event.
Many of the best “finds” have been things or places we just stumbled up upon. Example: in Sundance, Wyoming, we noticed a rodeo arena and adjacent area with more than 200 horses and riders of all sizes and shapes. We pulled in and found it was an annual horse sale that the Amish people in the area put on. On Friday, the owners bring their horses for sale and put them through extensive obstacle courses to show their working skills for the farm.
On Saturday, the entire town turns out for auction. A gentleman that we met was looking for 2 draft horses for his sons to use on their farms. While in Sundance, we visited the museum and learned the entire story about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The guide was so knowledgeable that Robert Redford would be proud.
Choosing the highlight of our trip would be like being a mosquito in a nudist colony. No choice would be bad. The most amazing thing to me was the first sight of Mt. Rushmore and learning about the original sculptor, Gutzon Borglum and his vision for the iconic facing. From 1927 until 1941, more than 400 workers worked continuously on the 4 presidents faces. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt all represented different eras for America. We hiked to the top to get better views and pictures.
On the same day, we visited the monument of Crazy Horse which is still being worked on today. In 1948, Lakota Chief Standing Bear commissioned sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski to carve the monument honoring the Native Americans. On the tour, we learned that the family refused any and all government funding. Our guide told us the reason was that they didn’t want to feel obligated to the government and they downright couldn’t trust the politicians. Our highlight was being able to visit with the grandson of the sculptor, who drove up in his truck from the base of the mountain.
A trip to the Black Hills wouldn’t be complete without visiting Custer State Park and taking a Jeep tour of the park. It was a 2-hour trek where we saw hundreds of buffalo, up close. We learned about the annual roundup through a narrated video by Kevin Costner and saw where many of the scenes from “Dancing With Wolves” were filmed.
At dark, we had the traditional chuck wagon steak dinner, complete with a country band. As I stated, the temperature dropped at night and the blankets came in handy in the open-air vehicles.
Even though the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally was recently completed, there were still motorcycles of all shapes and sizes, everywhere you went. I can see why these open roads and mountains serve as a mecca for the riders.
One of the most unique natural wonders was the Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. It was designated by Teddy Roosevelt in 1906 as the first national monument. Interest in the strange formation increased in 1977 when it appeared prominently in the classic “Close Encounter of the Third Kind.” We enjoyed our family picnic at the base and viewing the numerous prairie dog towns nearby,
Heading back to South Dakota, we stood at the Geographic Center of the Nation Monument in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. Believe it or not, after the inclusion of Hawaii and Alaska in 1959, the geographical center of the US moved from Kansa to this location. I can remember John Wayne in “The Cowboys,” ending the 400-mile cattle drive here.
Susan and I have a new appreciation for miners after visiting an old gold mine near Deadwood. It was damp, cold and cramped throughout the mine. When the guide turned off the lights and blew out her candle, you could not see your hand in front of your face. She reminded us of the number of miners who ended up blind due to the darkness then daylight after they emerged daily.
Naturally, Susan and I had to do our traditional horseback riding adventure. We rode sure-footed horses in the mountains on an old railroad bed, high above an abandoned gold mine. The views were picturesque from almost a mile high.
Sadly, this sibling trip had to come to an end. Like all of us, we recognize that there will be a day, either due to health or circumstances out of our control, that trips like this will be a fading memory.
Until then,“The Six Traveling Gypsies” ride on