The American Wild West
Buffalo Bill Center in Cody
"The landscape of the American West has to be seen to be believed and has to be believed to be seen." - N. Scott Momaday
My first introduction to this exciting world of gunslingers, sheriffs, prospectors, and stories about the lawless wild west came from the stories of Louis L’Amour.
My introduction to the author came as a ten-year-old girl traveling on a train in India by an uncle who was a huge fan. Then came the Hollywood versions of the “Good, Bad, and the Ugly” and sheriffs and gunslingers played by Clint Eastwood, John Wayne and the power of my imagination. Living in California there are many locations where these movies were filmed, and I visited them all and thought I knew what it was all about.
I finally got to visit the reality as I traveled through Wyoming and South Dakota and visit Deadwood, Cody, the site of Custer’s Last Stand. Part of my trip included staying at a dude ranch and enjoying a night out under the stars roasting marshmallows and doing a singalong.
So where was the fast draw? and pitched battles? Alas all tucked away in my imagination and in the movies, I’ve watched and will probably watch in the future.
Cody, Wyoming, the Buffalo Bill Center and the wonderful museums located here.
Certainly, gave me an opportunity to refresh my memory on characters such as Buffalo Bill, Calamity Jane and also the fabulous native American museum which brings alive the stories of the native Americans along with some of their arts and crafts.
At this rest stop on the trail I knew I had left California far behind. For some reason this life like replica of an American Indian made me think of the series of books “Indian in a cupboard”. I have to confess I don’t remember the stories themselves and have made a promise to go back and reread these books again.
Who hasn’t heard about the Sundance film festival? the independent modern film festival that seeks out and promotes talent for the motion picture industry.
This location close to Devil’s Tower is the true Sundance where the braves performed the coming-of-age sun dances. My mind was churning with vision quests and tepees with smoke and other accoutrements that these brave young boys experienced as they transitioned from boys to men.
Deadwood, South Dakota is one of the best-preserved western towns today. The Cemetry located up on the hill is a who’s who of names made famous through movies and books.
The town is dedicated the poker hand that Wild Bill Hickock was holding when he had his last gun battle. We did an interesting school bus tour of the town and the cemetery with a guy who should have been a standup comedian. No topic was sacred, and he had us in splits as we traversed through the town of Deadwood.
The historic hotel, shops, casinos and events bring alive the wild west in this corner of South Dakota.
We stayed the night in Spearfish Canyon and enjoyed menu items such as venison and bison at dinner. The lobby of the hotel that we stayed at was decorated in a very Western motif.
Amongst other things we got to experience a chuck wagon dinner with country western singers. Once a quick grace was said we chowed down on burgers and steaks and had ourselves a jolly good time.
Part of our trip included a night at a dude ranch in Ucross and a trail ride int the morning before we set off.
After a gourmet dinner we were treated to smores, singalongs and a fire brought the night alive and fired the imagination.
I had been hoping to catch me a glimpse of some cowboys herding cattle. While we saw a lot of cattle grazing along the way, we didn’t really see very many cowboys riding on horses. A modern ranch glimpsed as we were driving along the road.
We got to see cattle, elk, turkeys, moose. I’ll have to do a separate post on all the animals we were privileged to see on this journey.
These are the hills and waters where gold was discovered. Gold that created greed such that the United States of America broke the treaty that they had signed with the native American Tribes of the region.
A street corner in Rapid City South Dakota. The street corners have lovely metal sculptures of American presidents and famous Native American chieftains. This one particularly caught my eye because of the tenderness between the old grandmother and young girl.
The battle of Bighorn or Custer’s last stand or the battle of the greasy grass. Can you imagine the Indian tribes gathering here, angry about the broken promises of the US Government and fearful of changing their way of life.
Even as I relived scenes from some of the movies I’ve seen or books I’ve read, my imagination was fired with the native Americans who owned this land, hunted buffalo and rode free with their families.
The American Wild West might not be so lawless anymore and fast draw might be left for Hollywood, but I truly enjoyed traveling along these parts of the country that I had never visited before and letting my imagination take flight.