Notes from A Road Trip

On the last leg of our return journey this morning, with road-weary tushies and two tons of dirty laundry. Over the next week or so I'll post notes from the road; here's the first.

We journeyed to Montana via Mount Rushmore, a lengthy but worthwhile side trip. All three kids were transfixed by the giant granite sculptures looking out over the Black Hills, with Aden particularly affected by their eternally peaceful repose. Daniel was impressed by the Herculean efforts of artist and sculptor Gutzon Borglum, to the extent that he determined to name his first-born son Gutzon Borglum Dravenstott. Unique, to be sure. We stayed to watch the mountain light up and sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" with hundreds of other tourists.

Our education continued the next day as we learned the history of the both the mountain and the presidents depicted thereon and moved on to a study of geography when we got off the beaten path for lunch at the Petrified Fores.The petrified logs there have literally been turned to stone over the past 120 million years, and they are cypress trees. At that time the area was located where southern Texas is now, and the vegetation was tropical as opposed to mountainous. Though initially skeptical  of our stop, we were super-de-duper impressed.

On to Devil’s Tower in the middle-of-nowhere, Wyoming, where shocking numbers of tourists got out of cars to look at prairie dogs and the vegetation was surprisingly lush after a winter of heavy rain and snow. The kids studied up for this side trip by watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind (courtesy of Rob) where the monument appears desert-like and harsh. When we did our three mile hike around the base we waded through meadows thick with golden wildflowers and tromped across red sandstone dirt broken by water rivulets and bright green pines.

Our last side-trip was at Custer’s Last Stand – Little Bighorn National Monument. We all felt the aura of sadness for the murder of the 7th Cavalry and for the campaign of terror against the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes. There was no honor in the continuous line of treaties broken by the US Government nor in Custer’s practice of taking women and children hostage and using them as bait for the Indian warriors. There are now a monument and gravestones for the Indian warriors as well as a massive stone and cemetery for Custer and the members of the US 7th Cavalry.

Over this first part of the Fourth of July holiday week we were fortunate to learn many lessons about the nation's history, both about the values of peace, freedom, dignity and hard work, and about the hard things that occur when these values are "trailed in the dust" as Teddy Roosevelt  once said. Now off to meet the family . .  .