July 6, 2013

Presbyterian Church, Lead

Our last day in the northern hills....  We passed the Presbyterian Church in Lead, where Mom and Dad were married.  Then drove to Deadwood to see the cemeterywhere Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, and other characters were buried.  Strange place for a pilgrimage,

View of Lead from Mt. Moriah Cemetery, Deadwood

but it's on the list of places to visit in the area--the place was crowded, and trinkets were laid at the base of Bill's grave.  Local consensus is that Calamity Jane never was intimately involved with Wild Bill, but she did ask to be buried beside him, and her request was granted!  While viewing the grave markers, Dad realized that Wild Bill was born the same year as his grandfather, William Royal Vasey!

former Wagoner Hotel

We spent some time in the Adams museum.  A building across the street from there used to be theWagoner Hotel and restaurant.  Mom said she would come there with her parents on Sunday nights for supper.  She would always have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a cherry milkshake!

Harleys at Cheyenne Crossing

Another classmate from Belle Fouche wanted to join the party, so they planned lunch at Cheyenne Crossing.  Dad and I ate pasties at the cabin and went down to the Crossing to take pictures of the group an hour after their planned meeting time. We laughed as we arrived at the Crossing and found it packed with motorcycles!  Our hungry 80-year-olds were still waiting for a table under the tents outside the restaurant.

Skip, Jack, Char, Lottie, Jodi, ....

 As they snacked on cheese crackers, I rounded them up for an official reunion photo.
They were seated a short time later, with most ordering the famous Indian taco, and Dad and I splitting some apple pie ala mode.  A 63 year class reunion is a lot like a 40 year class reunion.  Everyone talks about how they don't feel as old as they are.  They want to know what your extended family is up to.  Those not in attendance are asked about, and there's a lot of, "do you remember when we did..." It was fun to be a part of it from an outsiders point of view.  And isn't it great to maintain the relationships!

The late afternoon lunch gave us just enough time for a drive to Hanna Creek, where our family camped when I was about 8.  What a beautiful little place.  We stopped for a Coke at the Lead Country Club, where Mom said she never played golf, but she went along to spend time with her dad as he played almost every other weekend.

Hanna Creek

With Jodi's family and her sister and husband, who live in Lead, we went back to Deadwood for sandwiches at Diamond Lil's, surrounded by costumes and memorabilia from Kevin Costner's movies.  I must watch Dances with Wolves when I get home.  Parts of it were filmed in Spearfish Canyon.  As we left the restaurant, I bumped into people from my home in Imperial, NE!

Lead Country Club

wild roses at Hanna Creek

Fourth of July 2013

Our day started at the Cheyenne Crossing restaurant for breakfast.  While we enjoyed sourdough pancakes, and gourmet oatmeal, the sky turned dark, and pea sized hail fell on the motorcycles, convertibles, and other vehicles in the parking lot. Our waitress was so excited for the moisture and the storm.  But Mom was excited when she realized the drawing on the back of the menu was done by her old high school art teacher!

On down Spearfish Canyon is the Latchstring Inn where we celebrated Mom & Dad's 50th anniversary a few years ago.  And up a ways from there is a waterfall Mom wanted to see again.  A road goes on past the falls, and I wondered why we couldn't go on.  Mom didn't recall ever going, but in my head, I heard my kids saying, "Here we go!"

Iron Creek Lake

12 miles further up the road was Iron Creek Lake.  It was beautiful, with lots of campers for the holiday weekend.

We thought we'd leave in the other direction instead of going back to the falls, thinking it would be closer on our way to Spearfish.  Our map was sketchy, and my cell phone was back at the cabin.  Our road turned out to be more of a rutted, muddy trail past some mining sites, and very remote national forest land.  When the road crossed a cattle guard and a sign said all ORVs must have valid Wyoming licenses, we really

Notice the pond crossing the trail on the right!

thought we were lost, and wished we were in at least an SUV instead of the old Lincoln Continental!  Dad said a lot of, "I don't like this."

About twenty miles, and three hours later, we finally found some decent roads and got to the highway west of Spearfish.  Later Google Maps confirmed that most of our trip had been through Wyoming!  What an adventure.  Mom is telling her friends, "It was really fun!" We were all ready for a break, and opted for early supper at Sanford's Grub & Pub in Spearfish.

Later, Mom watched the Capitol Fourth on PBS, but Dad wanted live fireworks, so he and I found a spot on the hill in town across from the "Open Cut" (large pit from the gold mine right beside downtown Lead)and enjoyed the ooohs and aaaahs with lots of other people.  We talked about memories of other Fourths.  Dad recalled a cold one in Oakland, California, when a family with 2 kids, shared their extra blankets with our family (3 kids at the time) and afterward these strangers came to our house for cocoa!