D & D

After the long day of driving yesterday, we stayed overnight at a nice motel in Buffalo, Wyoming. We were asleep by 9PM. I guess driving can be tiring. Next morning we headed out on our next adventure. This is just outside of town. The dots in front is a herd of pronghorn antelope.

As we drive through the vast prairies, we keep stopping and taking prairie dog pictures, just to relieve the monotony I guess. They're just so darn cute; but deadly don't forget (the plague).

Which brings us to our first (D). Stands for Devils Monument; bet you never would have guessed that one. 

If you've seen the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" you'll remember the ending where the space ship lands. Well, this is the tower in the movie. Couldn't find any evidence of the spaceship having been there though. 

It is one of the most unique geological formations in the world and was declared the first America national monument by Teddy Roosevelt in 1906. It is believed to be the centre of a volcano which has eroded away over the years just leaving the core. It is composed of multi sided vertical columns which, once in awhile, one will break away and fall. These pieces lay all around the base of the tower.

Thousands of people each year climb the tower. Here is one group stopping for a break. Note the stratified vertical columns.

The base is well forested and we hiked completely around the column on good paths. As a park, I guess the animals aren't too scared of people.

After all the outdoor stuff we figured its time to get a bit of local history. Hence, our next (D), Deadwood City. It was a wild west town at one time and is now home to more gambling halls than I've seen since Vegas.  Even the place we stopped for lunch had slots.

Deadwood is no doubt most famous for being the place that Wild Bill Hickok was gunned down while playing poker. He was holding a pair of Aces and a pair of 8s and that hand is now known as the dead mans hand. The killer was later caught and hanged.

Hickok was buried at Mt. Moriah and a few years later his friend Calamity Jane was buried beside him.

This is Hickok's grave and on the other side of grammie in the raised grave is Calamity Jane. We couldn't find much else of interest in Deadwood so we're heading home for some R&R, its been a busy couple of days.