On our way from Sheridan to Custer, SD we stopped at Devil's Tower, our nation's very first national monument. it is actually the core of a volcano exposed after millions of years of erosion. We hiked around the base, the diameter of which is 1000 feet and saw many climbers scaling the sides. It rises 1267 feet above the Belle Fourche river. Praire dogs greet you on the entrance road- their underground town evidenced all over by little tell tale mounds.
Here are pictures of our day yesterday. We started at Crazy Horse, an undertaking of huge magnitude. It is- or will be- the largest stone sculpture in the world. It was started in 1948 and the head of Crazy Horse was unveiled in 1998. Five Mount Rushmore's would fit in the head of Crazy Horse! Mark and Bridget are standing in front of a scaled model. 
"Jumping Buffalo"was giving us a history lesson and demonstrating several Native American songs and dance. You can see Crazy Horse's head in profile in the distance to the right of the tipi. The large block of rock in front is what will be his horse's head. The project is non profit and privately funded. It has nothing to do with the State or Federal Governments...part of the reason it is taking so long.
Next we planned to visit Mount Rushmore but were totally turned off by the concrete toll booths and the $11 charge to park. National park passes are" not valid" at this National monument. So we couldn't get to the visitor center to get Bridget's book stamped or get any brochures, but we still had a fine view of the presidents. The best we could do with the iPad is below- a profile of George's head and a distant view of all four heads above the highway. As we explored the Black Hills forest we stumbled across many views of the monument and got some great shots with our other camera :))
We made it to Cody! Quite a haul over the Big Horn Mountains- definitely not the highest mountains we've traversed, but certainly the windiest. I was getting car sick driving! Thank goodness Bridget doesn't have the tendency to get nauseous in the car!
The "Buffalo"Bill Cody center houses five different museums. This is the firearms museum and Bridget is trying her hand at shooting again. She excels at rifles over pistols! One old timer couldn't believe how good she was! The largest American gun collection in the world is here and the complete Winchester Collection shipped from New Haven in 1974. Mark loved this- he worked for Winchester for several years in the 80's.
We also visited the Buffalo Bill, Plains Indian and Natural History sections of the complex. 
Next we went to Old Trail Town- A collection of 26 original buildings on the original site for the town of Cody mapped out by Buffalo Bill. It was better than any ghost town we'd tried to visit prior to this!
This is the restaurant/hotel Buffalo Bill built and named after his youngest daughter, Irma. It has a real saloon feel to it and the buffalo meat just falls off the bones! We fueled up here before heading to the rodeo :)
Bridget had to try Rocky Mountain Oysters which she has seen prepared on the food network show, "Chopped". So here we are dutifully trying our bull testes! They were actually quite good- we all liked them- even Mark!
Cody is the rodeo capital of the world, so of course we had to go! It opened with horses trying to buck men off their backs. The men are timed as to how long they can stay on. I believe the winner was 8 seconds. Then we watched cowboys try to rope calves, flip them on their backs and tie their legs. The winner there was 13 seconds. After that they have cowboy partners compete. One has to rope the steer's head and the other the feet. I don't know how they do it! Mark explained to me that there is a wire cable inside the rope which I never knew. That explains a bit of how they get the rope to behave for them. But still, the speed and timing and anticipation has to be so precise. The winning team in that event took 12 seconds. Bridget's favorite event was the barrel racing, where contestants have to drive their horse as quickly as possible around an obstacle course of barrels then sprint to the finish line. This was a cowgirl only event and the winner did it in 17 seconds. The time span between all 10 cowgirls was only 2 seconds, the winner 17.54 and last place 19.49. Bridget does a similar obstacle course at riding school, but they are walking/ trotting/ cantering- not galloping and sprinting! She loved it.....the whole rodeo I mean! There she is above in the whole mass of kids. They were called down into the arena to compete- who could grab the ribbon off the calf's tail. They let two calves loose and the kids all run around in complete mayhem trying to grab the prized ribbon! A very full, fun day!
We stopped here on our way back to Wyoming. We were lucky enough to catch the last ranger program of the day, a riveting retold tale of the battle- Custer's Last Stand. The ranger did an outstanding job. He was extremely theatrical- a former school teacher. Rangers are always full of good info, but this guy was special. He was clearly passionate about the topic. I wasn't feeling very good about being a Euro-American :(
These markers note the places where men fell in battle. The one etched in black is where Custer fell, but he has since been moved to West Point. The landscape is very similar to how it looked 137 years ago.
This is a section of the memorial for the Native American Tribes: Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho who the United States Army attacked on orders from President Grant's administration. They were to remove and relocate them to the Sioux reservation in the Dakota territory. The tribes were fighting to preserve their traditional way of life as nomadic buffalo hunters. In 1830 there were 60 million bison
A happier moment the next day at Black Tooth Brewery in Sheridan, WY. Bridget wanted to stay at camp and work on her math packet so we ventured 2 miles into town and got buzzed on local brew!
Our campsite at Glacier.
Mark on Buford, Jen on Houston. Fabulous 2 hr trail ride. Saw another black bear! This one was brown ( black bears can be 6 different colors- black, brown, blonde, cinnamon, blue gray or white depending on their age and what part of the world they live in). I got a great picture of him/her too!
Mike, Alida, Anita and John with Bridget. Mike and Alida are one of Bridget's best friend's grandparents. We did the St Mary lake boat cruise and falls hike with them!
The moose we saw from the same hike. Everyone thought it was a bear in the water, and it wasn't until we zoomed with our fabulous camera and took a photo that people believed me when I said it was a moose! This moose was 1/2 mi away down in the lake- we were up on the cliffs.
The black bear I mentioned earlier:)
These are some views of the St Mary area, which is where we are camping. Above is a ranger station celebrating its 100 yr anniversary. Also pictures of area affected by 2006 forest fire. Fireweed and aspen are making a strong comeback.
This is a lovely open meadow near beaver pond. We saw a huge beaver lodge! Anna was our ranger for the 3.5 mi hike. We saw bear beds- trampled ground where bears had clearly just slept, plus rotted logs ripped apart for the insects inside- clearly the work of a bear. Anna carried bear spray. It is recommended not to hike in glacier without it.
We saw many ripe thimbleberry bushes and were allowed to try one each- the rest are for the bears! This is a view of St Mary lake with the glaciers in the distance. The mountains at Glacier look high, but are only about 8000 ft. It is because the valleys are carved so low that the mountains seem high.
A visit to the Rocky Mountain Elk Center. We learned so much about how hunting and conservation measures work together to preserve wildlife and habitats.
A hearty brunch at the Montana Club.
Vicky and I took Bridget to a small water park while the guys flew their model planes and visited a couple of microbreweries.
