My niece, Stephanie, and her husband, Todd, have a beautiful little girl named Aria Kathryn. She arrived a couple of days after her due date--but in her own time. Congratulations to her parents and to the whole family welcoming her into the world.
We had a wonderful, busy day today with our friends Steve and Jan. They drove us around to see highlights of the Badlands and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. We started at the Sheep Mountain Table (mesa), which requires a four-wheel drive vehicle and a good driver to access. The views were awesome, and we saw several varieties of birds and butterflies and wildflowers. Several mountain bluebirds showed off their bright blue plumage for us. One plant that caught our attention had a yellow flower surrounded by sticky green spikes (later identified as the Curlycup Gumweed). We also saw an ancient juniper on which were hung several prayer cloths, indicating that the Lakota consider it a sacred tree.
We drove to the White River Visitor Center, which is staffed by the Lakota tribe. We looked around the displays and ate lunch (a tailgate party, since the tables were full of young people from a church back east who had come on a mission to the rez).
Then we went to Wounded Knee to visit a small museum and the cemetery where the victims of the massacre are buried. When we left there, Steve drove to Red Cloud Indian School, where we saw a remarkable display of art by Indian artists from around the country (they have to be over 18 and registered members of a recognized tribe). One of the more unusual genres is called "ledger art" because the paintings and drawings are done on ledger paper or other documents, like maps, the only paper available to the artists at one time. The range of subjects, materials, and techniques in the collection was impressive, as were the creativity and humor of the artists.
We drove to the Prairie Wind Casino, thinking we might eat dinner there, but the atmosphere was smoky and the buffet didn't look too great, so Steve drove on, inadvertently taking a longer route than he expected. By the time we got to On the Border in Rapid (the locals all call Rapid city just "Rapid"), we were all ready for dinner and relaxation.
On the way home, Jan asked Steve to drive into the park the long way, on the chance that we might see some bighorn sheep. The wildlife have not been in evidence as much this year, since the park has been doing lots of road construction. We were very lucky. In addition to a beautiful sunset, we saw a group of several Bighorn Sheep feeding by the road, including a young ram, several ewes, and two lambs. The older lamb tried to nurse but was rebuffed by its mother, so it went back to eating the prairie grass.
We had planned to attend the astronomy program at the park, but we were tired and the sky was very overcast, so we headed on home.
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