Deadwood, Ded Good

Another day in Deadwood has been as leisurely as a vacation day away in the drizzling rain could be. We both slept very well, and got our continental breakfast early which was a refreshing change from our fatty bacon and eggs breakfasts the past few days. We had toast, juice, coffee and bananas. We went out on a walking tour of the town, then climbed a zillion steps and up steep sloping hills to visit the Mount Moriah Cemetery where Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Potato Creek Johnny and Seth Bullock (among many others, obviously) are buried. Holy shit, my legs have not been that active in far too long! The cemetery was muddy due to all the rain, and it's all on an amazingly steep hillside which makes me cringe for the grave diggers, yikes. There are several mass graves of the poor peasants of the time, labeled as Potter's Fields, in various areas of the cemetery which was a little disconcerting. There was an area that was for the Chinese immigrants whose bodies were eventually moved back to China; all but two people whose graves looked rather eerie on either side of the sign explaining the site. I was also interested to learn that there was a prominent Jewish population that made history in Deadwood, so I took a photo of the sign that showed where the Jewish folks were laid to rest, each marked with the Star of David. We never made it to Seth Bullock's grave which we later looked up to find that it was buried WAAAAAAY up further on the hill, so we would have never made it that far anyway! There is some rather interesting facts about this cemetery at (http://deadwood.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={FDD11CF4-F861-473A-BF57-29C897B35DF0})
if you're interested in reading about it.

After our long trek to and from Mount Moriah, we decided a large dinner was in order. We chose to dine at The Gem Steakhouse where John had a steak dinner, and I chose quesadillas which were good but I felt kind of weird getting those in a steakhouse. I was afraid I'd never be able to finish a steak and potato type dinner, but it turned out I couldn't finish the quesadillas, either. A fifty foot walk back to the Celebrity for some lounging in style to watch the game and rest up for the long drive home. We meant to use the whirlpool bath once more, but I crashed watching the game and was out like a light until morning. Reluctantly, we checked out early after another light breakfast and leisurely showers in the gorgeous shower with the elephant shower head.

On our journey home, we took a three hour detour through the Badlands. Even though it was bitterly cold, windy and rainy, it was a beautifully rugged place and we again found ourselves marveling at how the Lakota people survived in these lands. We never did see anything other than prairie dogs and a lone antelope wandering the prairie, but there are black-footed ferrets, bison, coyotes, bighorn sheep and even rattlesnakes (and everywhere birds and hawks of all sorts!) that live in the Badlands. You can literally see and feel that you're driving through the winding hills of an ancient, dried up ocean that is impossibly huge. I can see why those that live here love it, but I can also see what a hard life it would be. We enjoyed a meal at the Cedar Pass Lodge; John had the Indian Frybread Taco (which was fantastic!), I had the Albacore Tuna on marble rye, which was unique because it had grilled red onion and didn't use any mayo-it was delicious. We then set off on the long, long drive home that landed us in our condo around 11:15 pm last night (Thursday). The babies were happy and squeaky to see us :) It feels good to have a few days to acclimate to regular life again, do laundry, catch up on our internet sites and sleep in! YAY! I'll post some final photos to enjoy :)~