We left Winnipeg on September 12th and headed to Nebraska to spend a few days with family. That was a great visit.
Then we headed back home to Yuma with several planned stops in between. Our first stop was Chamberlain, South Dakota. I had heard of and seen pictures of a statue at the rest stop off of Interstate 90 at Chamberlain. The statue is of a Native American woman holding up a star quilt. We spent the night in Chamberlain and visited the rest stop in the afternoon and again at sunset to see the statue in the different lighting.
The statue named Dignity: Of Earth and Sky is magnificent. She stands 50 feet tall and is constructed of stainless steel. The blue diamonds in the quilt move in the wind causing them to twinkle in the sunlight. Sculpture Dale Lamphere designed the statue to honor the cultures of the Lakota and Dakota people. He said she represents the courage, perseverance and wisdom of the Lakota and Dakota culture in South Dakota. His hope is that she will serve as a symbol of respect and promise for the future. The statue was a $1 million gift from Norm and Eunabel McKie of Rapid City, South Dakota to celebrate the 125th anniversary of statehood.
The nighttime views were equally stunning.
The rest stop also has a visitor center with some interesting exhibits in their small museum. Definitely worth a stop. A couple of the rest stops in South Dakota had these large concrete teepees. They were erected between 1968 and 1979 as a symbol of South Dakota tourism and history.
We stayed at a hotel overlooking the Missouri River. This large pheasant sculpture was just down the road. It's made of over 1,900 railroad spikes, 400 large railroad square nuts, lawn mower blades and transmission parts. It was unveiled in 2019 as a salute to South Dakota pheasant hunters, and is featured in Roadside America attractions. I kept the mail truck in the picture so you can see how large the pheasant sculpture is.
Our next stop on the adventure home was Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming. We began seeing it from many miles away.
In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the 867 foot monolith Tower and over 1,000 surrounding acres a national monument. It was the nation's first national monument. The area at the top is about the size of a football field. We hiked the 1.3 mile trail that goes around the bottom. The views were different from every side.
The first documented ascent was made on July 4, 1893 using a wooden ladder for the first 350 feet. Parts of that ladder still exist. Over 5,000 climbers come every year from all over the world to climb the massive columns. Over 220 climbing routes have been used. A technical climb takes about 5-8 hours, however times vary between 18 minutes to 16 hours. We saw eight different climbers on different sections of the Tower.
The views overlooking the valley were beautiful on this gorgeous fall day.
And, we saw some cute prairie dogs on the way out.
Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!
