Deadwood & Needles

This was, truly, a day to be singing "Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day!"  The entire day was just absolutely perfect.  Not too hot, not too cold, light breeze blowing...just awesome!  How blessed we are to be here today!!!

We got to sleep in just a little bit longer this morning, since we didn't have to be up and rolling down the highway.  Our day today was going to be just sightseeing, more or less, and checking the area out!!

Wallace and Judy are always prepared for everything, so we filled their cooler with our containers of sandwich fixings.  Tom had one that we filled with our water, tea, and cola's to make it through the day!  

Our first stop was in the town of Deadwood, a city that was once a mining camp, and home to such characters as Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane and Poker Alice. 

We went to the 76 Museum, which housed a history of the city of Deadwood, the characters that lived there, the rodeos that they enjoyed, and it had a huge collection of vehicles of that era.  Over 50 wagons, coaches, buggies, and hearses was on display, and I do believe we looked at each one!  It was a look into the city that once was!!!!!    They still have an annual 76 days festival and parade!  We enjoyed our time there!!

The whole gang enjoyed the 76 Museum

James & Linda finally get to see a buffalo up close & personal

 what a stagecoach hold-up might have looked like

clown that was prominent at lots of their rodeos

  

We then walked the streets of Deadwood, and went into a Saloon.  Sawdust floors welcomed us, and a small band was getting ready to play a song or two.  There was free popcorn, slot machines, and a huge bar to 'belly up to'.  The music was so good, that Linda enjoyed a little buck dancing, of course, for us only, and just the few people who were around us!!  There was lots of memorabilia on the wall about some of the wild folks that once roamed the area.

old time bar (except for the computer station)  :-)

Tom and the saloon girl that was working there

lots of wild characters spent time here

We rode up to the Mt. Moriah Cemetery, high above Main Street.  This is where some of the West's most flamboyant folks now 'rest in peace'.  Along with Wild Bill and Calamity Jane, the graves of Madam Dora DuFran, Potato Creek Johnny, Preacher Smith, Seth Bullock and Colorado Charlie Utter are located in this historic cemetery. We parked, but when we looked up the path (and I do mean UP), it was just too steep a walk for us old folks to attempt, so we just turned around and came back down to Main Street. 

We found a city park, with picnic tables, free parking, playground, and since it was such a glorious day, it was just the perfect place for our lunch that we had packed!!  The car was unloaded, and we all enjoyed a nice picnic lunch, laughs, and before we left, Tom even took a turn on the slide in the playground.  I didn't get a photo of it, cause he was so fast, I couldn't get my camera ready, but reliable sources have told me that Wallace got a shot of it!!!  Way to go Wallace!!

From Deadwood, we made the trip up even more mountains toward a place called Needles Highway!  Now our good friends, Doug & Sandra, had told us about this and said above all, this was to be a 'must see', while here!!   

Needles Highway is 14 miles long and usually takes anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour to drive.  Only because about the most speed you can build up to is 20 mph.  As we were driving along, a beautiful lake caught our eye.  This lake is called the Sylvan Lake.  We parked and spent some time there, just admiring the beauty of the day and of this lake.  There were even children climbing on the rocks, and swimming   

From there, we rode on to the interesting part of Needles Highway!  Signature granite 'needles' rise out of the surrounding landscape.  And, I must say, to be rocks, they are beautiful.

Another thing that makes this drive so interesting is the narrow roads, and the tunnels.  Since I was driving, I actually held my breath while going through one of them!!  But, we made it just fine, and, needless to say, I've never driven on such a winding, up and down, curvy highway!  Quite a challenge, but we all made it just fine!!

Driving through the eye of the needle.  What an experience!

This one was a tight fit!

In the center of this picture, is a buffalo.  The only one that we saw to snap a photo of.   (use your imagination)

After our driving experience on the Needles Highway, there was no time to go to Custer State Park, as we had planned.  Everyone, with the exception of Butch and Brenda, had reservations at a dinner show, so there was a time of arrival for it, so we had to get off the mountain and to the theater asap!!  Done, safe and sound.

This area is abundant with buffalo, sheep, and other wildlife.  We actually only saw one buffalo that was resting on the edge of the woods as we passed.  I tried to crop the picture to get a close up of him, but it didn't work, and for that, I'm sorry!  We did ask at the Visitor's Center, about them, and was told that even as we were talking, there were Rangers in the woods, on horseback, that was rounding them up, herding them to another area for the winter.  I'm assuming they were all hiding from the Rangers!!

Now, again, my computer says it's 12:04 AM, and the microwave says it's 10:04 PM!!  Time change is hard on old bodies to get used to!!   Everyone is back at the campground, and now I must close this day's blog entry out, shut our front door, and Butch and I will call it a night.

We haven't had our meeting as of yet, about tomorrow's plans, but that will all be settled in the morning!!!

Goodnight, all.