Things I forgot to tell you.

I was just going through my pictures and realized that I haven't told you about my visit to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD. There was nothing terribly interesting about the site itself, although I imagine kids would love it -- with the caveat that they talk a lot about the drowning, thrashing deaths of the mammoths as they fell into a sink hole and unsuccessfully struggled to get out. What I found fascinating was that my guide proclaimed early and often that he was a creationist.  According to the evolutionist, "which is not what I believe as a creationist," the mammoth is descended from the mastodon and the current day elephant is what is left of all of them. It was crazy. I followed up with a question about similar DNA between the three and he veered off into the ethics of cloning a mammoth and how it was all against God's plan. I was not about to argue.

Speaking of crazy, I drove over "Crazy Woman Creek." Did a crazy lady just live by the creek or did someone pull a Virgina Woolf there? These are the things I think about...

In Deadwood I had to hurtle a fence and climb a wall to take a picture of Wild Bill and Calamity Jane's graves. I'm glad I did though. The entire town is a slot machines and flashing lights -- I think the only thing authentic in the entire place was the cemetery. I felt very spry and rebellious getting my illegal pictures.

I also went to visit the "Devil's Tower." Or as I know it, the thing that Richard Dreyfuss makes out of mashed potatoes in Close Encounters. As I got closer, and saw it I pulled over and took a picture. I considered turning around at that point, but instead I continued on another 15 minutes to pull up to the park entrance. I took another picture and turned around. What was the point again? Oh well, that's the theme of my trip -- "Seriously, why am I here?"