Close Encounters of the Third Kind!

Thursday, September 12, 2024

 

Wow!  Who knew?  For anyone who never saw the Spielberg movie mentioned above (and I never did…) it was a movie from 1977 about extraterrestrials visiting earth.  As it turns out, J. Allen Hynek was a professor and head of the Astronomy Department at Northwestern when Robert was there, and R knew him well.  He (Hynek) was also a “ufologist” and was very interested in the search for life on other planets.  He actually served as a consultant on the Close Encounters movie and played a cameo role in the film.  At any rate, R has always wanted to see Devil’s Tower, the location chosen in the film where the aliens and Earthlings were to meet.  So, today we did!

 

The Devil’s Tower: About 200 million years ago, this part of what is now North America was a shallow sea that over time laid down layer upon layer of silt that eventually became sandstone or limestone.  Then, about 95 million years ago, a plume of magma (molten rock) pushed up from below into the sedimentary layers and solidified, probably without breaking the surface to become a volcano.  Erosion then stripped away the sandstone and limestone layers to leave the tower standing 897 feet above the surrounding plane.  The Tower is also unusual because, as the magma cooled into solid rock, it formed vertical six-sided columns, similar to the Devil’s Postpile in California.  But Devil’s Tower is the largest.  [By the way – In the movie, the hero, Richard Dreyfus, climbs to the top of Devil’s Tower in just an hour or so! Ho Ho Ho!]

First sighting of the Devil's Tower!

 

Me at the visitor center at the top

R at the visitor center at the top

Devil’s Tower is located about an hour and a half (depending on the route you take!) from Deadwood and is a lovely drive!  We were up around 5:30 am and were so full from dinner last night, that we basically just munched on the last of the Rotolo for breakfast.  Then on the road about 8 am.  We took the freeway back into Wyoming for a few miles, and then took the longer route to Devil’s Tower, but it definitely looked more interesting.  And it was!

 

Lovely fields and trees, and then suddenly – there it was!  Devil’s Tower, springing up in front of us!  We were able to follow around the mountain, and then head up to the base of it.  (Oh!  As we were just heading out of the hotel, which is Cadillac Jack’s, NOT Cactus Jack’s!  Apparently Cactus Jack’s is a used-car dealership in Tucson; somehow I got confused…oh well!)  Just as we hit the highway, there was a flock of Big Horn sheep in the road, and hopping over the railing into the field beyond!  Just incredible!  They were SO close!  It was hard to get a good photo – I got a bit of something; had never seen them so close before, and they were in the wild!  Maybe just coming into town for breakfast or some gambling or to do the laundry!  Who knows?!

 

Back ends of the Big Horn Sheep 

That had just jumped over the wall from the road!

Then to the freeway and on the Devil’s Tower!   On the prairie at the base of the mountain, on both sides of the road, was a HUGE community of Black Tailed Prairie Dogs!  They were EVERYWHERE!  And SOOOOO cute!  But … R says I can’t have one … or more … says we just got the new landscaping going, and the new irrigation system, and that wouldn’t work at all … bummer…

 

Do love the Black Tailed Prairie Dogs!

All of them!

Up to the Tower – passed a flock of wild turkeys along the way – and found some parking.  We took a couple of photos, but honestly, the mountain is really best seen from a bit further back, and we had taken LOTS of photos going around and up!  Then, back down the hill, and heading back towards South Dakota.

 

Wild turkeys next to the road!

Decided we would see what was up in Spearfish and have lunch there, as it seemed to be a sizable community – it has a Walmart, and many new homes on lovely large lots!  Turns out, we really, really like Spearfish!  Very modern place, with lots of conveniences, as well as a small public 4-year college, Black Hills State University, 4,000 students strong.  

We decided to try Redwater Kitchen, on Main Street, and found a very close (and free!) parking space.  Rordered the “It’s Not Your Granny’s Grilled Cheese” – and it sure wasn’t!  It had a fabulous fig jelly, smoked Gouda cheese, bacon and grilled Granny Smith apple slices!  R said it was amazing!  I chose their brisket sandwich, which came with white cheddar and cranberry sauce and a creamy horseradish sauce, on grilled toast.  It was also fabulous, but definitely one of those sandwiches where, once started, it was really hard to put down!  R got his sandwich with sweet potato fries, and I had their homemade French fries, which were excellent!  We hadn’t planned for that to be our “meal of the day” but wow!  It certainly was!

 

R's excellent grilled cheese!

My brisket sandwich with horseradish sauce and fries!

After lunch, we decided to head back to Deadwood via the Spearfish Canyon Drive.  This was a 20-mile drive through a stunning canyon, including several small waterfalls and following the Spearfish River.  R took lots of photos; very, very lovely drive.  We popped out at Cheyenne Crossing, and from there, it was just another 10 miles back to Deadwood through the town of Lead, and we were back at the hotel around 2 pm.

Along the Spearfish Canyon Road!

Lots of water!

R decided that he definitely needed a nap at that point, so he settled down right away.  About an hour later, with a rested Robert, we took the local Deadwood shuttle, a minibus that picked us up in front Cadillac Jack’sinto Deadwood to look around.  

 

Last time we were here, Deadwood was so crowded that we could never find a place to park, so we decided this was definitely the way to go.  We got off the shuttle downtown and walked for a bit.  I got a great MooseTracks ice cream cone, and sometimes we just sat on a bench and watched the people walked by.  Turns out, that unlike Spearfish, where real people live, Deadwood is a total tourist mecca with a very strong emphasis on gambling.  (I probably would have figured that our last year, if we had walked around at all, but as we didn’t have the chance, I didn’t!). If you don’t drink (beer and whiskey), or gamble, I don’t think there’s all that much to do there.  And as we certainly don’t mind a glass of wine or two (or an ice cream cone…), neither of us gamble at all and to be honest, we find that pretty boring!  [Deadwood is Tombstone on steroids. – R]

 

Coming off the Trolley

Historic Downtown Deadwood

Great Moose Tracks!

So!  Hopped back on the closest trolley, and took it all the way around the loop, and back to the hotel.  It’s now about 5, and we are definitely in for the night.  Fortunately, should either of us get hungry, there are plenty of food options right downstairs, and there is an NFL game on Prime TV (to which we subscribe) so we should be good to go for the evening!

 

Then, up tomorrow morning and heading across the state to Sioux Falls for the night!

So!  Take care, sending love and good wishes to all, and more later!  (Got to get this posted by 6:15 so the clock is ticking!!!)

 

m

xxx