Bury my Heart....

We started out our day in Chadron (pronounced with "sh") and headed north to Pine Ridge, SD. As soon as we arrived in Pine Ridge, we stopped for gas at the first station we saw. I went inside to use the restroom, and knew immediately that I was on the Sioux reservation. The restroom signs were in Sioux; so was the sign on the trash can. there was a mosaic seal on the floor of the gas station, with Sioux words on each side, and their English translation below; they were words such as Honesty, Courage, Respect, Courage, etc. I was looking at the floor when up walked an Indian man who began talking to me.

I knew as soon as I walked in the building that I was in the minority; it didn't bother me. I respect the Indian nation. So when this man, who introduced himself as Floyd John, began talking to me about the floor and how it meant balance with the Creator, oneself, and Mother Earth, I listened. In some ways he made sense, and I listened more than I talked, but when he asked why I was there, I thought for just a few seconds, then said, "My husband and I have been wanting to come here for some years, so it's like a pilgrimage to us." He said, "Why?" And I said, "To go to Wounded Knee." He said again,"Why?" And I said, "To honor the dead." He struggled to maintain his composure. As we parted, we both said, "God bless you."

We wanted to go to the site of the massacre at Wounded Knee, the last "battle" between the Sioux and the federal soldiers.

It was a sad place. There is not much honor there. There's just a plaque, front and back, that tells the story. It has graffiti on the back. And there's a mass grave with a marble marker on the hill just 400 feet to the west of the massacre. That's all.




At the gravesite, we met four men from Minnesota, who took our picture after we took theirs. They were there to feed the homeless in nearby Clay Hills, the city we passed just before Pine Ridge.


The mass grave site, where all 160 Indians and soldiers were buried in late December, 1890.

Then, as we were coming down the hill where the grave is, a woman got out of the only other car in the parking lot with us. She was Indian, and introduced herself. We chatted for a bit, then she extended what she had been playing with: it was a little black bag, decorated with beads. She asked if we wanted to buy a medicine bag; this one contained sage. I was pleased and we took it for what she asked. She lives in Wounded Knee. Even though there was no souvenir shop nearby, I was handed one. It will be special to me.

By this time, it was noon. We headed to the Badlands National Park. It took us a while to get out of Pine Ridge Reservation, and we looked at all the little towns we passed through to see if there was anywhere we could buy something to eat. Nothing. It was past 1 pm when we entered the Badlands, and just inside there was a place to eat! It was a wonderful souvenir shop/cafe. We had the Sioux Indian Taco and I had hot tea, as the day was cold and drizzly. We had a fantastic view from the cafe window of the badlands. I had never seen them before, and they are amazing. God is indeed creative. Big brown and pink-striped hills rising from the grassed prairie, with seemingly no rhyme or reason.

Our view from the cafe.

The cafe was decorated with lovely sunflowers in vases. They didn't look real, but they were standing in water. I took a snapshot of the ones in the bathroom, and then afterwards read the sign that said that taking pictures in the building was prohibited. So enjoy the black market picture!!!


Just outside the Badlands was an authentic sod house built into the prairie hillside. I suppose this is what the Ingalls' sod house looked like, too.


Just in front of the sod house was a prairie dog colony, which I've seen before in West Texas. What I had never seen before were white prairie dogs. But that's the type of prairie dog there was in that location.



After leaving the Badlands, we drove east to Wall, South Dakota. This town was made famous by Wall Drug. The owners made it famous by offering free ice water to anyone that was thirsty. Today, it occupies a whole city block, and 20,000 people come through there every day during the summer months. That's a whole lot of people.


We didn't buy a thing, but we browsed through nearly the whole place.


We were disappointed that there were no cups at the ice water holes, but I guess not many people want ice water when the outside temperature is 45 degrees!

All day I was enthralled while sitting in the passenger seat, at the amazing palette of colors. From the nearly neon orange of grasses along the side of the road to russets and olive greens and nearly black land with tiny bits of green coming up that make them look almost maroon at times (I know, that sounds really crazy). Then we saw the cottonwoods that ranged in color from green to yellow and the pine trees with their dark green to other trees that looked sawdust in color. And dark red nearly maroon bushes on the side of the road. So amazing, and I don't do it justice at all...I hope I can hold it in my mind.

We are now in Rapid City, and will be here for three nights. We will be seeing a lot of things in the next few days, and I'll try to keep you updated. We are enjoying ourselves here. I think we'll hit the whirpool later on tonight. At this particular hotel, it is in an adjacent indoor waterpark named WaTiki. Go figure!