Travel Journal
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On the Way to the National Parks
(and Beyond)
Part IV
December 2019
By Sandra Bertrand
For this part of the trip, we're heading eastward for the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Badlands, with detours to the Wild Horse Sanctuary, The Mammoth Site, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Mount Rushmore, Deadwood and much, much more.
Leaving Jackson, WY and our Dutch companions behind, Joanne and I are in a “two for the road” state of mind. Silence, however temporary, fills the Jeep Cherokee. After the gushing geysers of Yellowstone and the Great Teton range burning in our recent memories, the hours stretch monotonously before us.
Diversion, even on an empty stomach, comes in the form of the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. The town of Casper began in 1847 as a ferry site on the Oregon Trail, Mormons boating the travelers across the North Platte River. Inside the Center, we opt for a covered wagon ride to relive this “Westward Ho” experience. It’s a bumpy, surreal few minutes, and a few diorama viewings later, we head for our Motel 6 lodgings nearby.
Leaving Jackson, WY and our Dutch companions behind, Joanne and I are in a “two for the road” state of mind. Silence, however temporary, fills the Jeep Cherokee. After the gushing geysers of Yellowstone and the Great Teton range burning in our recent memories, the hours stretch monotonously before us.
Diversion, even on an empty stomach, comes in the form of the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. The town of Casper began in 1847 as a ferry site on the Oregon Trail, Mormons boating the travelers across the North Platte River. Inside the Center, we opt for a covered wagon ride to relive this “Westward Ho” experience. It’s a bumpy, surreal few minutes, and a few diorama viewings later, we head for our Motel 6 lodgings nearby.
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The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary and the Mammoth Site
The next morning, we’re headed on a two-hour journey north to the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, a 15,000-acre plot where over 500 preservation herds and their sanctuary-born descendants can roam free of capture. The brainchild of Oregonian Dayton O. Hyde, Washington leased him the land with the caveat he would raise enough red Angus cattle to qualify for an agricultural property tax classification. Mike, a history teacher from Cincinnati, was a perfect guide, loading us into a retired school bus to meet up with mustangs - American, Spanish, Curly and Choctaw - along the route. Within minutes, we found ourselves in their midst. These were the gentlest of creatures as they tentatively approached, allowing us to pet their sleek hides. As Mike explained, a family group will form, even accepting an orphan captured from abuse or potential slaughter. When they move to another area to drink or graze, they move single file behind a mare who takes the lead. |
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Another surprise awaited us, the bus hurtling toward a canyon wall with ancient Indian petroglyphs on display. We jumped out, touching and photographing these strange carvings. I felt a chill, reminded of the giant lines in Nazca, Peru cut into the earth’s surface as if from an alien visit. Here were real reminders of indigenous Native Americans from long ago.
Mammoth Site
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We ended our tour at a small plot leased by the Sioux, containing a sacred circle we did not enter. Annually, the resident tribe performs rituals closed to the white man with one exception: Dayton O. Hyde. Until his death, he was allowed entry as a great man and savior of the wild horses.
Our appetites whetted for more adventures, we arrived late afternoon at The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs. Billed as America’s Greatest Ice Age Treasure, a thirty-minute tour of the museum allows the visitor to skirt the edges of a giant sinkhole where Columbian and woolly mammoths, camels, wolves and giant short-faced bears became trapped 26,000 years ago. It’s a treasure trove of fossil remains of over 61 mammoths, including two baby mammoth mummies discovered in Siberia. Evidently, these creatures fell into the warm waters and could not escape due to the slippery shale contours of the site. Wooley’s Restaurant is adjacent to the site, where we capped off a full day with an oversized martini at the rear bar, leaving the salad buffet for the younger and noisier of the crowd. We managed to finish off a New York strip steak and a rib-eye between us. It seems our appetites were whetted for more than the plenitude of bones we’d just left. |
Our Stay USA Hotel was little more than a stone’s throw away, and sleep came quickly. There was much more of South Dakota to come, and we needed whatever reservoir of energy we could muster.
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Black Hills, Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore
Enveloped now in the dense, darkish beauty of the Black Hills pine forest, I pondered our earlier rush to get up and go. Within minutes of landing in Custer State Park, we were surrounded by an aggressive herd of bison. Though veterans of bison-spotting in Yellowstone, this ranked as the longest bumper to bumper experience of our trip. Fuzzy-coated youngsters ambled along the road’s edge, their parents pausing between car fenders, flicking their tails in defiance. There’s an unmistakable beauty in this landscape with every twist and turn of the road - like a rough uncut diamond, it holds its secrets fast within. We wanted to linger, but we were headed north for a visit to the Crazy Horse Memorial. As the story goes, the Boston-born Polish sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski (1908-1982) had been asked by Chief Henry Standing Bear to come to Paha Sapa (a.k.a. Black Hills) to carve a memorial. “The red man has heroes also,” he proclaimed. This was no ordinary request and Kiolkowski was no ordinary man. In May of 1947, with $174, the work began on what has become the world’s largest carving in progress. Today, several of his ten children continue to work with staff year-round. When completed, the carving will be 641 feet long and 563 feet tall. |
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Mount Rushmore
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There really is no describing the thrill when the profile of Crazy Horse first comes into view on the distant rock face. For miles, the monument to the great Lakota warrior grew larger in our sights. Once within the complex, there is a wealth of exhibits to hold the visitors’ interests, including three wings of the Indian Museum of North America. But Crazy Horse, three-quarters of a mile from the viewing veranda (binoculars provided), is the star of the show.
After a quick bite in the resident Laughing Water Restaurant, we headed out for the 17-mile drive to Mount Rushmore. A visit with Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Lincoln felt a bit obligatory, but we were, after all, in the neighborhood. The jostling of crowds notwithstanding, I would have regretted sidestepping the experience. Descending a winding nature trail below the Grand View Terrace, we discovered the sculptor Gutzon Borglum’s favorite vantage point. That led us to the sculptor’s studio and an informative lecture to put the whole grandiose business in perspective. A point of interest: In 1937, a bill was introduced to add Susan B. Anthony’s portrait on Rushmore. Separate legislation required that monies be spent only on figures already begun. |
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Deadwood, Devil’s Tower and the Badlands
A dose of Wild West fantasy never hurts no matter what your age, and we were certainly game to give Deadwood the benefit of the doubt. What started as a tiny gold camp in 1876, grew like lightning setting off one of the greatest gold rushes in America’s history. Gambler Wild Bill Hickok came here to pan and was subsequently shot dead in Saloon No. 10. He was holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights - known as the Dead Man’s Hand. The HBO series, “Deadwood” (2004-6) furthered our determination to add this National Historical Landmark to our agenda. The downstairs lobby of the Iron Horse Inn was a jumble of slot machines and a Victorian color scheme of dark plum and green throughout. Our first stop was the infamous saloon on Main Street where glass boxes held the waxen heads of Hickok, Calamity Jane, Potato Creek Johnny and the rest of their pals. The chair that Hickok occupied when he was shot hangs over the doorway, and behind the bar a dried hornet’s nest and an elk head or two grabbed our attention. We had just missed a shoot-out re-enactment in the streets, but don’t fear as they take place at regular intervals to almost everyone’s delight. |
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One of the best meals of our Black Hills experience was at the Legends Steakhouse in the historic Silverado Franklin Hotel. The lobby and Silverado Casino are grand enough for a half hour wait for a table. The jumbo shrimp and rack of lamb plus a couple of glasses of pinot noir put us both in a devil-may-care state of mind. (I must admit, I won a whopping $3.50 at Blackjack back at our hotel.)
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The next morning we took a stroll through the Days of ’76 Museum, where I gawked at a two-headed calf among the mining relics. I was growing restless with Main Street’s paraphernalia. The Devil’s Tower was on my bucket list - memories of actor Richard Dreyfus’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, aliens landing their spaceship atop the eponymous Tower flooding my mind. Only an hour and fifteen minutes west from our hotel, it was an unmissable detour.
Pine forests became rolling plains grasslands, the vista wide open. A monolithic tower of molten magma lay before us, thrust as if from the core of the earth some 50 million years ago. In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed it the first national monument. A sacred place to Indian beliefs, all 867 feet is closed to climbers in June. We didn’t see any climbers, but a nearby tourist pointed out a falcon’s nest near the top. I couldn’t help wondering if a spaceship did land there eons ago. A short distance from the park exit, we spotted a photographer hunched on the side embankment. We cut the motor and inching our way toward the action, discovered a black-tailed prairie dog. We had arrived just in time to find this particularly friendly specimen waiting to greet us. |
Before departing Deadwood for the Badlands, we visited the Mt. Moriah Cemetery and paid a visit to the Wild Bill memorial, a fitting Bronze marker of his likeness and crowning achievement of the cemetery’s restoration. Calamity Jane’s tombstone lies alongside, though it is believed they were never actually lovers.
Seventy-eight miles later and a bit parched from the drive, we arrive in Wall. Billboards to Wall Drug Store, the “No. 1 Roadside Attraction in America” accost the eye. It all began in the 1930s as a place where thirsty travelers could find free ice water. Today it attracts 20,000 people a day, enjoying five-cent coffee, food, souvenirs, an extensive collection of Western art...and yes, free water. We settled for sharing a three-scoop dish of ice cream.
Seventy-eight miles later and a bit parched from the drive, we arrive in Wall. Billboards to Wall Drug Store, the “No. 1 Roadside Attraction in America” accost the eye. It all began in the 1930s as a place where thirsty travelers could find free ice water. Today it attracts 20,000 people a day, enjoying five-cent coffee, food, souvenirs, an extensive collection of Western art...and yes, free water. We settled for sharing a three-scoop dish of ice cream.
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Once again, the land seemingly transforms itself. At the first marked outlook, an otherworldly collection of eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires greet the eye. There is nothing “bad” about the Badlands, only a landscape in its purest form, before life as we know it. It is a truly magnificent sight - only the Grand Canyon could rival what we saw before us. The Badlands Loop State Scenic Byway (SD-240) is an absolute must - an hour’s drive through the middle of this unbelievable labyrinth.
Before reaching our next stopover in Murdo, we take a short detour to the Petrified Gardens. This is no Babylonian oasis - entering a nondescript building with aisles of minerals haphazardly arranged, the clerk points us to a backdoor exit leading to the “garden” collection. Fragments of ancient trees reveal multicolored petrification sparkling in the midday sun. Dinner that night was at the Rusty Spur Steakhouse, a family-style restaurant heavy on the barbecue sauce but short on the catsup. Fairmont, Minnesota lay ahead, but, for now, I felt like a dot on an endless AAA map. |
Badlands
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Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago
Flat plains of green spread endlessly before us. For awhile, we speed along (there’s an 80 mph Minnesota limit), running through Joanne’s playlist for the Jeep.
Once checked into our Super 8 motel on the outskirts of Fairmont, we found the Agave Restaurant downtown. It was six o’clock and the town appeared deserted. We drove the backroads for entertainment until we’d managed to confuse even our guide Sirie. When she said “You have arrived,” we found ourselves on the edge of a local cornfield!
After a five-hour drive the next day and a quick glimpse of the State Capitol, we checked into the Marquette in the Williamson section of Madison. Our evening stroll unearthed Ha Long Bay, a Vietnamese café where we enjoyed a green curry seafood entre and a Laotian shrimp platter. By the time we left, there was a line of customers out the door. A nearby diner the next morning advertised the 1964 Seattle World’s Fair, alongside a framed print advising “Grandmas are like Moms with Frosting.” Behind the counter, we eyed a used Pictionary game and a big-bellied waiter in Bermuda shorts.
Flat plains of green spread endlessly before us. For awhile, we speed along (there’s an 80 mph Minnesota limit), running through Joanne’s playlist for the Jeep.
Once checked into our Super 8 motel on the outskirts of Fairmont, we found the Agave Restaurant downtown. It was six o’clock and the town appeared deserted. We drove the backroads for entertainment until we’d managed to confuse even our guide Sirie. When she said “You have arrived,” we found ourselves on the edge of a local cornfield!
After a five-hour drive the next day and a quick glimpse of the State Capitol, we checked into the Marquette in the Williamson section of Madison. Our evening stroll unearthed Ha Long Bay, a Vietnamese café where we enjoyed a green curry seafood entre and a Laotian shrimp platter. By the time we left, there was a line of customers out the door. A nearby diner the next morning advertised the 1964 Seattle World’s Fair, alongside a framed print advising “Grandmas are like Moms with Frosting.” Behind the counter, we eyed a used Pictionary game and a big-bellied waiter in Bermuda shorts.
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Milwaukee was next…
With my passion for art museums here and abroad, I knew the Milwaukee Art Museum would be our first stop. I was hardly prepared for the magnificent structure spread before us. Soaring above the white marble and glass entrance pavilion is the Burke Brise Soleil, a wing-like sunscreen with a 217-foot wingspan that unfolds twice daily. The vaulted 90-foot-high ceiling gives Windhover Hall a lofty cathedral sensation. In progress was an aeronautic show over Lake Michigan, military planes pirouetting through the crackling air. As for the permanent collections, I was particularly impressed with the abundance of German Expressionism, Folk and Haitian art. A healthy walk from the museum to the city fairgrounds landed us smack in the middle of the annual German Fest. Costumed musicians with mile-long alphorns were playing their hearts out for the early attendants. After investigating a collection of vintage Volkswagens in one of the larger tents, we grabbed a picnic table to enjoy our beer and potato pancakes. “The Pennsylvania Polka” played loudly in the background. A good time was had by all, but the crowd was growing by the minute. I can only imagine the beer consumption by night’s end as I must have counted at least thirty beer stalls in all. |
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Checking into the Palace, I knew we had crossed the line separating rural and urban lifestyles. There’s something undeniably charming about these historic European boutique hotels, where every effort is made to take you away from the day to day reality of your environment - from the lobby’s coffee service to the Art Nouveau poster over the bedstead. Madison wasn’t Gay Paree, but it would do for the night.
The next morning, pulling into the Hertz hangar at the Chicago O’Hare Airport and leaving our Jeep Cherokee behind, I felt a twinge of sadness. I couldn’t help feeling our “on the road” days were over. Thankfully, that sentiment was short-lived. As our taxi sped closer to Chicago, we could anticipate reuniting with Meg, our longtime pal from New York City who had agreed to meet us for fun in the Windy City.
The next morning, pulling into the Hertz hangar at the Chicago O’Hare Airport and leaving our Jeep Cherokee behind, I felt a twinge of sadness. I couldn’t help feeling our “on the road” days were over. Thankfully, that sentiment was short-lived. As our taxi sped closer to Chicago, we could anticipate reuniting with Meg, our longtime pal from New York City who had agreed to meet us for fun in the Windy City.
A "Slice" of Key Lime
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It was a hot evening. As we greeted Meg in the lobby, I knew she was ready to wile the night away, clad in her T-shirt, shorts and flip flops. A few blocks away, we found El Agave, a bustling, upscale Mexican restaurant where we shared a large charcuterie of grilled meats and a pitcher of tequila margaritas at an outside table.
The heat pursued us the next day as we headed for the zoo, where I sought out every pocket of shade I could find. My favorite among nature’s diverse family was a mother giraffe and her baby, nestled away from the weekend hordes of tourists. We had made a reservation for Gibson’s Steak House that night, and I was glad to be inside the dark cool recesses of the establishment. We knew we were in for a meal of Chicago proportions. After my filet mignon, a mountain of mashed potatoes and enough spinach to send that cartoon icon Popeye into the stratosphere, we shared a slice of key lime pie - higher than any pie had a right to be. |
The next day, I had the opportunity to walk off the extra calories at Chicago’s famed Art Institute. The featured exhibit was Manet and Modern Beauty, a sumptuous exhibition of the artist’s later works depicting fashionable Parisians at play. What we were determined for Meg not to miss, however, were the Thorne Rooms, permanently ensconced in the basement. With only an hour before closing, we flew through the exquisite array of European and American miniature rooms - sixty-eight lighted boxes now over seventy years old, the brilliant creation of philanthropist Mrs. James Ward Throne (1882-1966).
On a more dizzying scale was a tour of the city’s landmark buildings lining the Chicago River. Skyscrapers notwithstanding, the real education for any serious tourist is the Chicago Architecture Center opposite the cruise dock. One highlight is the nearly 40-foot tall scale model of the yet to be built Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia by Chicago architect Adrian Smith. It grazes the 26-foot ceiling, but I was pleased to see our beloved Chrysler Building holding its own nearby.
A sojourn in Chicago wouldn’t be complete without a night of jazz, and we found it at Andy’s Jazz Club, only blocks from our hotel. It was an “open mike” night, and talented, young musicians kept playing musical chairs during our after-dinner set.
On the way to O’Hare and home the next morning, that classic WWII tune, “I’ll be seeing you...in all the old familiar places…” kept playing through my mind. Our familiar places and promises to return were growing.
On a more dizzying scale was a tour of the city’s landmark buildings lining the Chicago River. Skyscrapers notwithstanding, the real education for any serious tourist is the Chicago Architecture Center opposite the cruise dock. One highlight is the nearly 40-foot tall scale model of the yet to be built Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia by Chicago architect Adrian Smith. It grazes the 26-foot ceiling, but I was pleased to see our beloved Chrysler Building holding its own nearby.
A sojourn in Chicago wouldn’t be complete without a night of jazz, and we found it at Andy’s Jazz Club, only blocks from our hotel. It was an “open mike” night, and talented, young musicians kept playing musical chairs during our after-dinner set.
On the way to O’Hare and home the next morning, that classic WWII tune, “I’ll be seeing you...in all the old familiar places…” kept playing through my mind. Our familiar places and promises to return were growing.
Editor’s note: This concludes the fourth and final installment of On the Way to the National Parks…and what a journey it has been! Stay tuned for more from Sandra in 2020.
Sandra Bertrand is an award-winning playwright and painter. She is Chief Art Critic for Highbrow Magazine and a contributing writer for GALO Magazine. Sandra was Sanctuary's Featured Artist in May 2019 and is also Sanctuary's columnist for "Travel Journal."
POINTS OF INTEREST:
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National Historic Trails Interpretive Center Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary 1501 N. Poplar Street 12165 Highland Road Casper, WY 82601 Hot Springs, SD 57747 307-265-8030 605-745-5955 The Mammoth Site Custer State Park 1800 US 18 Bypass 13329 US Hwy 16A PO Box 692 Custer, SD 57730 Hot Springs, SD 57747 605-255-4515 605-745-6017 Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation Mount Rushmore National Memorial 13000 Hwy 244 12151 Avenue of the Chiefs Bldg. 31, Suite 1 Crazy Horse, SD 57730 Keystone, SD 57751 605-673-4681 605-574-2523 Iron Horse Inn Saloon No. 10 27 Deadwood Street 697 Main Street Deadwood, SD 57732 Deadwood, SD 57783 605-717-7530 605-578-3346 Days of ’76 Museum Silverado Franklin Hotel 40 Crescent Drive 709 main Street Deadwood, SD 57732 Deadwood, SD 57732 605-578-2872 605-578-3670 Devil’s Tower National Monument Wall Drug Store PO Box 10 510 Main Street Devil’s Tower, WY 82714 Wall, SD 57790 307-467-5283 x635 605-279-2175 |
Black Hills & Badlands Badlands Petrified Gardens Visitor Information Center I-90, Exit 152 1851 Discovery Circle Southside, near Kadoka, SD 57543 605-837-2448 Rapid City, SD 57701 605-653-2871 Rusty Spur Steakhouse El Agave Mexican Restaurant 205 E. 5th Street 62 Downtown Plaza Murdo, SD 51559 Fairmont, MN 56031 605-669-3290 507-235-8835 The Marquette Hotel Ha Long Bay 414 South Baldwin 1353 Williamson Street Madison, WI 53703 Madison, WI 53703 608-255-2868 Plaza Hotel Milwaukee Art Museum 1007 N. Cass Street 700 N. Art Museum Drive Milwaukee, WI 53202 Milwaukee, WI 53202 414-276-2101 414-224-3200 Gibson’s Steakhouse The Art Institute of Chicago 1028 North Rush Street 111 S. Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60611 Chicago, IL 60603 312-266-8999 312-443-3600 Blue Agave Tequila Bar and Restaurant Chicago Architecture Center 1050 N. State Street 111 E. Wacker Drive Chicago, IL 60610 Chicago, IL 60601 312-335-8900 312-922-8687 Andy’s Jazz Club & Restaurant 11 East Hubbard Street Chicago, IL 60611 312-642-6805 |
