We only had one attraction to visit – Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. We went into this one thinking that there wouldn't be much there to see – maybe a marker and a small museum but we were pleasantly surprised.
The day was perfect – the first without any rain – when we pulled up to the visitor's center. The center is next to the national cemetery holding mostly veterans of WWI, WWII, Korea, and other modern wars. We walked through the small museum and learned there was a bus tour of the battlefield.
The bus tour, guided by a member of the Crow tribe, took us through the sequence of events that led to Custer's last stand. Her description was fair and balanced. The fields and hills are dotted with white gravestone-like markers showing where the remains of dead soldiers were found. Most of the remains are buried in a mass grave. All I can say is that Custer was one stupid white man. What do they say “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Seems appropriate here. The whole park was well done. Pictures can be found here.
The rest of the day was a long drive to Yellowstone. We checked into Lake Yellowstone Hotel before walking along the shores of the beautiful lake. The lake shore and the outside of the hotel was swarming with mosquitoes – huge mosquitoes. Fortunately the hotel is also swarming with swallows that swoop around the hotel columns eating mosquitoes. Frankly the swarms of swallows, being more visible, are more freaky.
The hotel also had no television or Internet something that both inspired fear and hope in me. Very strange reaction.
We arranged a bus tour and a lake boat tour for the next few days. Friday will be hike day.
I've always liked the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. It never ceases to amaze me that they put a bright yellow and white hotel in the middle of the wilderness yet, somehow, it fits.
ReplyDeleteGH: It does kind of stick out in an oddly comforting way.
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