A KIOWA LEGEND

 The Native American Legend of Devils Tower:  

DEVILS TOWER

We left Rapid City and pointed the coach westward toward Wyoming, the home of Devils Tower.  

After leaving the interstate at Wyoming 24 then 110, we proceeded through the rolling hills toward our destination. Eventually, the tower appeared on the horizon as a small rock that would grow larger with each mile we drove.  

Checking into the Belle Fourche River Campground, we relaxed for the rest of the evening.  The campground has two loops.  The "A" loop is closed due to Prairie Dogs deciding to inhabit the area. The price was right at $6.00 / night with the "old farts" pass.  We stayed for five days.

  

Near the entrance to the campground is artwork called the Circle of Sacred Smoke by Japenese artist Junkyu Moto for the Native Americans of the area.  It represents the smoke from a newly lit pipe.

Looking through the Circle of Sacred Smoke, Devils Tower is in sight.

Day one, as always, is a rest day for John after driving any distance.  I took advantage of this by visiting Prairie Dog Town and was greeted by the "gate keeper."                                                         I understand why they describe this as a "town."  Across the expanse of the pain is mound after mound indicating that an entrance to burrow for the chattering critters.  

Each of these mounds represent tunnels fifteen feet deep and thirty feet in length.  But they do not provide total safety from predators such as snakes.   

There was one prairie dog that allowed me to come within about three to four feet of her.  No chattering, no fear...just a "hello" and we watched each other.   

I believe that she might have been inviting me to join her. What do you think?

The following day we were off to the Tower.  

I had told John that it was my plan to walk around the base of Devils Tower.  He decided to remain near the visitor's center. The approach to the Tower path is a killer if you are not accustomed to walking steep grades.  I made it and just at that time felt that I had accomplished a milestone.  

The walk around the tower is astounding.  Each step seems to provide a different scene to leave one in awe.  

The Native Americans consider this place to be holy ground. You find prayer "cloths" on tree branches along the circumference of the base.                                                     I found myself wondering if the different colors of cloth had a significant meaning.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I found one that was especially intreguiging. There were many cloths wound in a circle then tied to a string.  Behind it was stems of grass with seed heads.   

                                                                                                                                                                                                There were three teams of climbers on the Tower.  One, I saw made it to the top.  I sure wish I were young enough to try.                                                                                                 

Our campground is down there!  Way down there!!!

Here is another shot of the tower I took as I walked the circumference of the Tower.  It is STILL a long way up there!

If you look closely, you can see just above the trees on the right is a group of climbers.  They are in a university leadership class training to be our leaders of tomorrow.  

Learning communication skills, goal setting and teamwork are essential to being a great leader.  Do you see on the far right an near the top of the photograph one team member talking to the next who is being to climb as the rest await their opportunity.  

We were fortunate enough to have this group across the road from our campsite.  And I was fortunate enough to be walking the base as they were climbing.  

Another view from the trail

Up and up and up

Isn't this beautiful!

 The Belle Fourche River

I love the view while walking

Signs along the way encourage visitors to be quiet, listed to the winds and surrounding sounds of the wildlife.  What I heard was the sounds of people talking and loud laughter. They walked so fast that they could never have enjoyed the visit as much an I. 

When I arrive back  at the visitor's center, I cannot find John. I look in the center, in the covered area used for viewing the tower and in the Miata.....no John.   I sit and wait for an hour with each passing minute providing more and more anxiety.

I finally decide that he is neither in the men's rest room nor on the longer hike.  That crazy man has decided to follow me on the hike.  Soooo, again I go up and up.  When I reach the spot that marks the beginning and end of the trail I choose to start at the end of the trail hoping I can find him faster that way.  

Finally, about half way around, I locate him....he says he never thought to leave me a note. oooooo, I could have strangled him!  It took him two full days of rest to recuperate. 

We returned to the coach and look what greeted us....from afar! There were also Long Horn Cattle. 

And then there is John getting a view from his throne!  I hope he was happier than he looks here.  I think he was totally worn out.  

 The End

Thanks for visiting and may God bless each of you.  

And thanks for shopping Amazon through this blog.  

SNOW IN THE DESERT? KUMEYAAY NATIVE AMERICANS.

Anza Borrego State Park, CA
Clark Dry Lake


You will never guess what was on the desert mountain top when we came outside Saturday morning.  


Keeping in mind that the days have been very hot, would you believe snow at about six thousand feet?  And it lasted well into the day.  

Our day was a bit cooler and we had a full day of activities on our agenda. 










The visitors center and the Anza Borrego Foundation and the Begole Research center were hosting an Archaeology Weekend.

  









There were seminars and activities for adults and children.

Clay pots were created by budding artists.  As they were working the clay, they heard how the Native Americans, in this case the Kumeyaay, made water vessels, bowls and other useful items for their everyday living.  

There were Kumeyaay attending to sell their pottery, jewelry, and to demonstrate weaving with reeds and grasses.

I was eager to ask the ladies questions.  I tried the small amount of Spanish that I know to no avail.  Thank goodness there was a translator. The ladies speak their own Kumeyaay language!

There was also a display of native plants and their uses by the Native Americans.

When I grew up, the Native Americans were called Indians. Now, that term is 'politically incorrect.'  I agree. Native Americans were here longer than our ancestors, unless your ancestors are natives that is.  








The visitor's center was crowded with guests there to learn about the animals and the culture of the area.  

The extra volunteer staff was extremely busy answering questions, selling merchandise and giving directions.

Each display had visitors learning about the birds and animals that populate the Anza Borrego Desert. 

How many animals can you find in the photograph on the right?  Can you name them?  




The day ended with a silent auction and ice cream social at the Begole Research Center. 





They served chocolate and vanilla ice cream with every topping that you can imagine.  

The volunteer on the right was also making root beer floats.  All a nice treat on a warm spring afternoon.   

For the auction, there were almost two hundred items donated by Borrego Springs businesses.    

Many beautiful items were displayed, but they were too large or too heavy for a motorhome.  We went home empty handed.  

John and I are considering volunteering at the Beogle Research Center next winter.  

This is one of our favorite destinations.  It is relatively close to our daughter, Jojo. And we have so much more to see and do here at the Anza Borrego State Park.

Thank you for visiting today and a big thank you for shopping Amazon through our blog.  

God bless you - especially during this Holy Week as we remember the life, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.  

PARKER ARIZONA

While in Quartasite, Arizona we took a day trip.  We thought we would drive north on AZ 95 to Lake Havasu City, but we did not make it.  Instead, we explored the small town of Parker with a population of three to four thousand people.  There we found enough to see and do to keep us busy for the better part of the day.
 
Parker was first an Indian reservation.  If I am not mistaken, part of the city still is on reservation land.   Ely Parker was the first Native American to act as Commissioner for the U.S. government.
 
A museum and library of the history of the Native Americans is located in Parker.  You can find it off AZ 95 at Second and Mohave.  At the museum you will find Native American ruins and paintings.  In October, Native American Days is celebrated and December there is an All-Indian Rodeo.

We began a search for a local restaurant that would serve good food.  Our Garmin wanted to direct us to Hardees, McDonalds and the like but we prefer to support local establishments.  Their food is, by far, the best if you find just the right place.  We found our right place when a local health food store employee directed us to Cyber D’Lites Internet Café and Bakery.  The café is located at 1600 California (AZ 95)  in a strip mall.  The sign is small, so keep your eyes open and look to your left if you come from Quartzsite.  I took this photo from their website. 


They have doubled their size since this picture was taken.  Now they have a wall of local artist’s artwork. Photography, oil and watercolor paintings grace the wall of the café.  
Being an artist, I LOVED the work on one artist.  The imagination and creativity in this work swept me off my feet.  I know that some of you are going to utter “say what?” but I raved all afternoon about it. 
  

If I had one empty space in our motorhome, one of these would be hanging right now.  But then, I would have to take down one of my pieces.  It’s not going to happen.  Anything I take down will be replaced by something I do as we travel.

Back to the D’Lites.  As soon as we arrived we were greeted by an attentive server with fresh bread, with a dipping sauce unlike anything we have had before.   We ordered the most delish veggie wraps.  I had the sun dried tomato and John had the spinach tortilla.   Inside was total and tasty veggies with a chef made chipotle sauce.  Our sides were slaw for me and French fries for Mr. Skinny. 


After our delicious meal we set out on a quest to find the Parker Dam.  John thought is was in one direction and I thought it was where the directional signs indicated.  Being such a sweet, submissive wife (uh hum), I deferred to John’s judgment and we drove F O R E V E R! We drove in a huge circle, along the Colorado River, up into the foot hills, back along the river and then on flat land only to be back into Parker.  I quietly just started following the directional signs.
 
This route was very interesting.  The landscape changed significantly on the California side of the Colorado River. I have never seen a river so blue!  Beautiful.

We drove past RV  parks that were located on the river.  They looked inviting for a summer stay when you would want to be on the beach every waking hour to keep cool. Highway signs indicating that wild Burros were in the area.  I has hoping that we would see at least one and we actually saw two groupings that we could get photos. 

 I thought I was able to get a photo of one that came up to the car to beg for food, but it did not register on my camera.  I did get to scratch her nose though.  The burros are as curious as our Llamas were.  I do miss my critters. 
   
Following the Burro experience we came upon Parker Dam.  It was much more narrow than what we had expected.   After the Hoover Dam, this looked pretty anemic.  That is until I learned more about the Parker Dam.


Parker Dam is the world’s deepest with three hundred twenty feet below the river bed.  It was built between 1932 and 1938 as a project of the Bureau of Reclamation.  The dam is the second largest producer of hydro-electric power. North of the dam, the reservoir holding the water is Lake Havasu.

Water from the dam irrigates ten million acres that produce twenty five percent of the fruits and nuts grown in the U.S. 

The Bureau of Reclamation has constructed  six hundred Dams and reservoirs including the Hoover and Grand Coulee Dams.  The Bureau is now part of the Interior department and is now a water management agency.

People think of only the Grand Canyon, Phoenix or Tucson when they think of Arizona.  There is so much more to see, do and learn.  We have just begun to scratch the surface.  Next January and February we will return to learn more about this wonderful state.

My next post will continue to share a bit more about another small town in Arizona and how it and the surrounding area played a vital part in our history.

Until then, safe travels and my God bless you during this season of Lent.