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The Devil's Tower in northeastern Wyoming

To quote the National Park Service, "The Tower is an astounding geologic feature that protrudes out of the prairie surrounding the Black Hills. It is considered sacred by Northern Plains Indians and indigenous people. Hundreds of parallel cracks make it one of the finest crack climbing areas in North America." The website of Earth Trekkers offers the following explanation of how it formed: "50 million years ago, molten lava was forced into underground layers of sedimentary rock. As the magma cooled, it formed hexagonal columns of igneous rock. Over millions of years, the sedimentary rock eroded away, gradually revealing Devils Tower." It rises 867 feet above its base. You may recognize it from the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", which features Devils Tower as a landing site for aliens. There's a 1.3 mile trail around the base of the tower which is characterized as "easy". I quarrel with that, but the altitude and my asthma may be partly responsible for my personal "difficulty rating". Colorful bundles are found hanging from tree branches around the tower; these are prayer bundles left by Native Americans.

Montana - home of "big sky"

This is a view from a gas station not far from our hotel in Billings, Montana. Gorgeous.

Have you ever seen a mum mountain?

A local nursery - Otts Exotic Plants in Schwencksville PA - has a mound that is covered with pansies in spring and chrysanthemums in the fall. Who can resist driving 30 minutes to drink in such a beautiful sight? This is their fall display.

More from the Buffalo Bill Center of the West

If you get a chance, please don't miss the opportunity to visit here. We could have spent a full day and still would have missed so much!

A visit to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West

There's so much to see here. This post focuses on some of the clothing made by Native American artisans. These pictures fail to capture the intricacy and artistry required to maake such exquisite clothing!

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Hunkayapi celebrates the Lakota naming ceremony

This statue is found outside of the Prairie Edge store in Rapid City, South Dakota. I commemorates one of the sacred ceremonies for indiginous Lakota people. I am not of Native American heritage but when I did a bit of research it seems that this ceremony is a way of passing down Lakota heritage to the next generation. As I understand it, it seems that the older woman holds a position somewhat like a godparent toward the young girl in the ceremony. If you are Lakota, please feel free to leave a comment explaining this to those of us who would like to learn more about Hunkayapi.

A visit to Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore was a surprise to me - I didn't expect to be so moved to see the monument. It's one of the most powerful patriotic experiences I've had. We had the opportunity to walk the trail at the base of the mountain, which gave us some different perspectives on the faces of these great men from our history.