July 7, 2008

We took yesterday off because Vera became ill the night before. She spent all her time in bed and didn’t get up until this morning. She felt better today so we went out exploring again.

We went to President’s Park today near Lead, South Dakota. They have 7,000-pound sculptures, approximately 20 feet tall, of all 43 Presidents. It was a beautiful day, with temperature in the lower 80’s and a nice breeze, for a walk through the Park and the opportunity to learn a little about each President. Vera took pictures of all the Presidents but I am only putting two with a little trivia about each in the blog.

This is the fifteenth President. Since he was the only bachelor President, he needed a woman to fulfill the duties of hostess of the White House and the First Lady. His niece, Harriet Lane, enthusiastically accepted this role. The President’s name was James Buchanan.


Best known for serving two nonconsecutive terms as the twenty-second and twenty-fourth President. This is Grover Cleveland.

Next we stopped at Deadwood, a town famous for gold mines, gambling, gunfights and a lot of Wild West tales. We watched as the street was closed for a reenactment of a gunfight. Luckily this time they didn’t use real bullets and no one was hurt.


Later, a fight was narrowly averted when a New York Cowboy, Big Richard, found his girl, Miss Vera, on Wild Bill Hickok's lap. Char and I managed to calm Big Richard down and explained Bill meant no harm. Everyone parted with smiles on their faces.

We tried our luck at the slot machines. Both couples lost a dollar so we moved on to something else.

“ Remember Dear, this is our retirement money.”

Here is the New York Cowboy, Big Richard after he calmed down.

We saw two celebrities trying on some of the latest fashions. I don’t think they bought anything.


Next we visited the Mount Moriah Cemetery that overlooks the town. We stopped here to see the graves of two of the West’s Most Famous people; James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok and Martha “Calamity Jane” Canary who’s dying request was “Bury me next to Wild Bill”.



On the way home we stopped at the “Roo Ranch”. Here we learned a lot about Kangaroos, Wallaroos, and Wallabies. After spending over an hour with a guide, I still can’t tell you the difference between any of these. Here are a few things I did learn:

In the wild kangaroos can live into their twenties.
A kangaroo can jump as far as 30 feet and can move as fast as 40 mph.
A group of kangaroos is called a mob.
Wallabies are actually native to the mountainous areas, so they love snow.
There are around seventy different species of kangaroos.
Tame kangaroos are soft and cuddly.

I’m sure we were told a lot more but at this age I can’t remember as well as I used to.



A baby is called a Joey and these two were inside for additional care.



The farmers still wanted to touch and pet the animals.

That is the end of another great day and happily Vera is feeling much better.