The wishtonwish of Bear Lodge

It was COLD this morning!  The thermometer in my car said low 30s when I left Sheridan, WY.  I was fearful that the freezing temps would cause the crack in my windshield to grow.  It was fine, at first, but after turning on my defroster, the crack grew a couple more inches.  Oh, well.  I expected that.  I headed east on I-90, and as I glanced in the rear view mirror, I saw the Rockies white with new snow.  The day had warmed to the mid-50s by the time I reached Devils Tower National Monument.  This park is our country's first national monument, proclaimed by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1906.  The name Devils Tower came from Colonel Richard Irving Dodge in 1876, but the native people knew it by other names, the best known was Bear Lodge.  When you approach the park, you're greeted by the sight of the massive tower.

I had visited Devils Tower National Monument a long time ago, when I was a teenager.  I vaguely remember walking around the tower, which I planned to do again today.  With sunshine and blue skies, I got a lot of nice photos.  As I walked along the Tower trail, I began to realize just how many old people there were at the park...and yesterday at Little Bighorn Battlefield, too.  I guess retired folk feel the same as me...sightseeing when the temperatures are cooler and there are less crowds.

Notice how the tower looks a little different as you walk around it?  I had planned to hike a couple of other short trails, but the approaching clouds looked ominous.  Plus, I wanted to make sure and see the resident prairie dogs...or wishtonwish as the Indians called them...before I left.  The critters were just as cute...if not cuter...than the prairie dogs I saw at Greycliff Prairie Dog Town yesterday.  One thing stayed the same, though...they were also hungrily grazing and nibbling on vegetation.

Just when I got done taking photos of the prairie dogs, the first drops of rain started falling.  As I drove to Deadwood, I passed through multiple cloudbursts.  Deadwood has a rich history, well known for its colorful characters such as Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.  I went to the Adams Museum to get a bit of that local flavor.  The museum was small, but filled with many interesting artifacts from the turn of the century.  Shown here are Hickok's gun, a wreath made of human hair, and a hangman's noose, which I'm not sure if it was used or not.  

Tomorrow, the weather forecast says no rain, but it's supposed to be windy.  And, it will probably be chilly again in the morning.  You know what that means...