Heading home

This will be our last post.  We leave tomorrow morning and are heading back to Arizona.  We received a call from our daughter, our grandson in Vermont is losing his battle with cancer and will be in hospice.  We don't want to be stuck some where and not be able to fly to Vt.

Crazy Horse Memorial

Today we visited The Crazy Horse Memorial. The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument under construction on privately held land in the Black Hills, in Custer County, South Dakota.  It will depict the Oglala Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing into the distance.  Crazy Horse’s face is 87 feet, 6 inches.  It was completed on June 3, 1998.  The carving is planned to be 563 feet high and 641 feet long.

It was really incredible to see the monument and hear the history. There’s a lot to see, we spent the day visiting the 3 museums, Sculptor’s log studio home, Sculptor’s Workshop and the bronze showroom.  We picked the right day to be there, they had the Lakota Hoop Dancers performing.  We really enjoyed watching them.

My Favorite museum was the one that featured all the beautiful Native American bead work and art.   

Beautiful bead work

Love the colors

I love this jacket

The design you see is made with tiny seed beads, can you imagine how long it took to make this

Leaving Cheyenne

Saturday we didn't venture to far they were calling for thunderstorms and we didn't want to be in the middle of a tour and have it pour down on us so instead we went to Safeway got our groceries I got a haircut and we grabbed some lunch.  It ended up not being much of a storm.  The ranch we're  staying at has 2500 bison but not all on this location, we heard there were some babies and we finally saw them.  They don't look much like bison yet and seem so small next to mama. They're orange or light brown at birth and stand immediately following birth, although their distinctive hump is undeveloped and they have no horns. Calves nurse up to nine months but eat grass during the first month. Buffalo calves live in families called herds. It's been a great place to stay I'm going to miss seeing all the beautiful horses everyday.




Our neighbors were leaving this morning heading to Yellowstone, their rig didn't start bad day!!




We leave tomorrow morning and are on our way to Mount Rushmore.

They are so cute!



Our neighbors, having a bad day!





Messenger's Museum, Nelson Museum and The Governor's Mansion,

Our first stop was the Messenger’s Old West Museum.  It was a small museum but very well displayed.  It had carriages, including one owned by Buffalo Bill Cody; sleighs, pistols, rifles, saddles, an old blacksmith shop, a late 1800′s bedroom, “one of the oldest Buick cars in the world,” and much more.

Next stop was the Nelson Museum of the West.  It has three floors of the most extensive Native American and Cowboy collection.  On display were Indian bead work, basketry, pottery, quilled items and jewelry.  The exhibits also feature 19^th century weapons, outlaw memorabilia.  We really enjoyed viewing all the exhibits and history.

After lunch we toured the Historic Governor’s Mansion.  Fourteen years after achieving statehood in 1890, the state of Wyoming built its first Governor’s mansion in 1904.  From 1905 to 1976, the mansion was the residence of 19 Wyoming first families.  It’s been beautifully restored.  The rooms were large the bedrooms had master suites and large walk in closets!  We loved all the ornate wood work.  I can just envision living there and putting on a formal tea party.

It was another beautiful day!

Messenger's Museum

Messenger's Museum

Messenger's Museum

Nelson Museum,Acoma Pottery bowl 1900's

Acoma Pueblo Indian Canteen 1950's

Cochita Fetish Bowl 1920's

1950's Rodeo Boots

1930's Rodeo Boots

1950's Riding shirt

Historic Governor's Mansion

Touring Cheyenne, WY

We started our day riding the trolley. The tour took us to Nelson Museum of the West ~ WY State Museum ~ WY State Capitol ~ Botanic Gardens ~ CFD Old West Museum ~ the Historic Governors' Mansion ~ a drive by Big Boy and "Ole Sadie" Steam Engines. Our tour guide was great and provided us with the history of the area.  It’s sad they tore down so many of the Mansions.  One historic building was torn down to build a parking lot, which made me think of the song Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell.

After having lunch at a local diner we decided to walk around town and discovered some great shops and antique stores, as well as viewing several of the 18 “these boots are made for talking” boots.  The boots are 8 feet tall.  The colorful giant boots are an appropriated signature of Cheyenne and are found throughout downtown.  The theme of each boot is different.  They were painted by local artists.

We ended the day touring the Union Pacific Depot.  The depot replaced a small 1867 wooden structure that sat on the same spot.  Due to the influence of the cattle barons, the railroad built one of the finest depots in America, finished in November 1887.

The weather was perfect in the low 80’s.

What a difference in the price of gas, we paid $2.89 a gallon at Bryce Canyon and the price here is $2.14.  I can’t get over how many fireworks warehouses they have here! There are 5 just 2 miles from us.

Train Depot

State Capital