Autumn, the year’s last, loveliest smile. ~William Cullen
Hope your week’s going well. . . .
{carole}
The Lemon Leaf
Recently, we were on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and stopped at Chestertown to look around and have lunch. We found the cutest place called the Lemon Leaf Cafe.
I was particularly taken with the graphics in their sign:
All the outdoor tables were reserved, but I guess the diners were running late.
I’m not in the habit of photographing ladies rooms, but this mural was pretty cool:
Even the side door was in that nice lemony yellow:
Can you guess what we shared for dessert?
Best lemon meringue pie ever.
I’ll return to the Eastern Shore in a future post as it’s a really lovely area, but we’re going away again for a few days, so that will have to wait until next week. If all goes well, I’ll post a photo Wednesday and Friday.
{carole}
Autumn. My Favorite Season.
Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.
~Stanley Horowitz
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
Posted in photography
Tagged autumn leaves, bokeh, pastel-colored steps, wraparound porch
13 Comments
Kaleidoscope
“A tangerine and russet cascade of kaleidoscopic leaves, creates a tapestry of autumn magic upon the emerald carpet of fading summer.”
~Judith A. Lindberg
More autumn leaves on Friday.
{carole}
A Lake, Some Needles and a Bit of Wildlife
As promised, part II of the last post on South Dakota. Let’s start with Sylvan Lake, shall we?
The day we were here, it was in the 50s (Fahrenheit) and really windy. After high 80s in the Badlands, we weren’t ready for this and pretty much froze walking on the path below.
Don’t let the small waves fool you. The wind gusts were up to 60 mph.
The lake is surrounded by rock formations and ponderosa pine trees, and is located in Custer State Park. The wind carries the scent of pine and it’s wonderful.
Random fact: Sylvan Lake was featured in the movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The film made the lake appear to be located directly behind Mount Rushmore, when it’s actually five miles southwest of the monument.
I think the clouds look a bit like smoke signals here. . . .
The only problem with Sylvan Lake is getting there. You have to take a very narrow, winding road with sheer drop-offs (sometimes on both sides!). Just down the road from the lake is an area called The Needles with little tunnels like this:
If you’re thinking this tunnel looks kind of narrow, you’d be right. Only one car fits at a time, like this one.
That means you have to approach carefully and honk when you’re in the tunnel so cars on the opposite side know you’re in there. Luckily there’s space for backing up, which is exactly what someone had to do for us.
The Needles are named for rock formations that look like–you guessed it–needles. The most famous one looks like the eye of a needle.
The views of the surrounding hills are pretty nice too.
You will often see ponderosa pines growing in rock.
We drove through Custer State Park and saw this by the side of the road:
Although the terms buffalo and bison are used synonymously, the scientific name for the “buffalo” found in America is bison. The true buffalo are found in Asia or Africa and belong to a different family.
You can take Jeep rides through Custer State Park and see hundreds of them if you want. We just didn’t have time.
But we did see this beauty:
All too quickly, we were back at the Rapid City airport with this view of the Black Hills.
Oh, by the way, the Black Hills are actually mountains, and Harney Peak, the highest point is 7,244 feet (2,208 m). That makes it the highest summit in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. The Lakota named them the Black Hills (“Pahá Sapá”) because they looked dark from a distance.
Hope you all had a good weekend. . . .
{carole}
Posted in photography, Travel
Tagged bison, Black Hills, deer, Needles Highway, pine trees, rock formations, Sylvan Lake, The Needles, tunnel
21 Comments
Deadwood
You may have heard of Deadwood, South Dakota, from the HBO series. The entire town (pop.: 1380) is a National Historic Landmark and it’s filled with beautiful old architecture.
Deadwood started out as a mining town after a miner named John B. Pearson found gold in a narrow canyon in the Black Hills in 1875. The canyon became known as “Deadwood Gulch,” because of all the dead trees in the canyon.
General George A. Custer led a government-sponsored expedition to confirm the presence of gold in the Black Hills. The U.S. government tried to hide the discovery from the general public in order to honor the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, which forever ceded the Black Hills to the Lakota-Sioux Indians. But miners entered the area illegally and the 1876 Gold Rush was on.
In 1890, the railroad brought people to the area from various areas. Chinese immigrants were among those building the railroad. Hundreds of Chinese came to the Black Hills and worked on the railroad or in the mines. By the end of the 1880s, Deadwood had a Chinatown, which was at the northern end of present-day Main Street.
In Deadwood, the Wild West theme is everywhere.
In 1988, a gaming issue initiative was put on the state ballot and passed. Kevin Costner, who directed and starred in Dances With Wolves (filmed in the Black Hills and Wyoming) owns a casino, the Midnight Star. . . .
You can see memorabilia from Costner’s movies throughout the casino and restaurant.
Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall in Deadwood’s Saloon No. 10 while playing poker. This is re-enacted every day during tourist season.
Hickok is buried in Mt. Moriah Cemetery, just outside of town.
Wikipedia image
Calamity Jane, another colorful character from that era, is buried next to Hickok, at her request. There were rumors of a romance between the two, but they were never substantiated.
Google image
Doris Day starred in the movie Calamity Jane, but I’m not sure about the resemblance.
Google image
Moving on. Leaving Deadwood, we saw a beautiful sunset. The sun lit up clouds in the East so they looked like pink cotton candy. Montana is called “Big Sky Country,” but I think South Dakota qualifies too.
I underestimated how many photos were left, so I’m breaking the last South Dakota post into two parts. Part II on Monday.
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
Interloper
Fall is making itself known around here. . . .
I’m still catching up, so will save the last South Dakota post for Friday. See you then. . . .
{carole}
Strictly Ornamental
When I bought this plant, I thought it was ornamental cabbage. Someone later suggested it was kale. Whatever it is, I like the colors in sunlight.
This was supposed to go out on Friday, but I ran into one snag after another trying to publish on the hotel computer and then on my iPhone. After much teeth gnashing, I finally gave up. Apologies.
Hope you all had a great weekend. . . .
{carole}
Wall Drug–not just any drugstore
Just north of the Badlands on Interstate 90, you’ll find a cowboy-themed tourist trap called Wall Drug. It started as a simple drugstore in 1931, but is now comprised of a shopping mall, restaurants and a chapel. You can find all kinds of kitsch there, plus some pretty cool cowboy boots. . . .
I’m not sure what the Tony Lama sign means. “100% cowboy.” As opposed to. . .what?
Please excuse the wonky colors–these were all taken with the iPhone and the lighting was unusual.
I don’t wear cowboy boots, but I think they’re beautiful.
It’s not every day that you see this while eating lunch:
At one end of the mall, there were several “Old West” likenesses literally sitting or standing around. I thought this one of Poker Alice was the best.
Although she was born in Devonshire, England, Alice Ivers Tubbs, or “Poker Alice,” was a famous poker player in the Old West. Her family moved to Virgina when she was small, then to Leadville, Colorado. Tubbs eventually ended up at Deadwood, South Dakot, then Sturgis.
Educated at an elite boarding school, Poker Alice was a quick study who picked up the game of poker by watching her husband gamble. She soon became an accomplished card player and dealer and claimed to have won $250,000 in her lifetime. Unfortunately, she was arrested twice: once for shooting a man, and again for running brothels. She was acquitted of the first offense; the governor pardoned her for the second when she was 75.
Alice was known for wearing stylish clothes and smoking cigars. Check out her eyes in this close-up. . . .
You can buy all kinds of stuff at Wall Drug, including colorful rock.
You can also sit on a fake jackalope (half jackrabbit, half antelope) and pose for pics. We decided to pass on that. 😉
Google image
Wave at the Wall Drug dinosaur on your way out.
Hope your week’s going well. We’re going away again, but just for a few days. A short post on Friday, then I’ll show you Deadwood and Sylvan Lake next week. Hope you’re not getting sick of South Dakota!
{carole}
Posted in photography
Tagged calcite, cowboy boots, Indian statue, Poker Alice, South Dakota, Wall Drug, Wall Drug dinosaur
6 Comments
Scenic and the Badlands
Until just recently, you could have bought the entire town of Scenic, South Dakota, for under $800,000. It was once a Wild West town, founded in 1906, and comes with a saloon, dance hall, museum, bunkhouse, two stores, a train depot, and two jails, although we saw only one. Population: nine.
However, a Filipino church called Iglesia Ni Cristo, or Church of Christ, just beat you to it.
We first heard about Scenic from a New Zealand couple at breakfast in Rapid City one morning. Intrigued by photography potential, we drove out on Highway 27 to get a look. Here’s what we found:
The Longhorn Saloon. When I took the photo, I didn’t take time to read the sign. Was startled to later read, “Indians Welcome. . . Lakota,” then indecipherable words. I don’t know if that meant only those tribes were welcome? Lakota refers to part of a confederation of seven related Sioux tribes and speak Lakȟóta, one of the three major dialects of the Sioux language.
In case you were wondering, those are indeed skulls on top of the place.
I thought Longhorns were only in Texas, but I’m no ranching expert.
Next up, the jail.
I think it looks more like a dog kennel.
A general store.
Scenic has been owned for years by former rodeo queen Twila Merril, who was originally asking three million for the town. After a story about the sale appeared in the Rapid City Journal, CNN, ABC News, Forbes and Time covered it.
I’m not sure what this building is, but I like the way it looks against the prairie. This shows just how remote the area is. After all, it’s located next to this:
The Badlands of South Dakota. A beautiful, desolate place. The best time to take photos is at sunset, but we had limited time, and to tell you the truth, I wouldn’t want to be there near dark. We saw only a handful of cars the whole time we were there, and it’s nothing but highway and rock formations. I’ve been a city person for so long, all the wide open spaces kind of spook me now. That doesn’t stop me from appreciating the beauty, though. . . .
{carole}
Posted in photography
Tagged Badlands, Longhorn Saloon, longhorn skulls, old general store, Old West town, Scenic, South Dakota
18 Comments
Pearls & Prose 