My dad, Scott and I traveled from South Dakota to Sundance, Wyoming to check out the local sites.

Devils Tower

According to the Native American tribes, a group of girls went out to play and were spotted by several giant bears, who began to chase them. In an effort to escape the bears, the girls climbed atop a rock, fell to their knees, and prayed to the Great Spirit to save them. Hearing their prayers, the Great Spirit made the rock rise from the ground towards the heavens so that the bears could not reach the girls. The bears, in an effort to climb the rock, left deep claw marks in the sides, which had become too steep to climb. Those are the marks which appear today on the sides of Devils Tower. When the girls reached the sky, they were turned into the stars of the Pleiades.

Devils Tower is 867 feet from summit to base.

Sundance

Sundance, Wyoming’s population is small about 1,200 people. The town is named after the Sun Dance ceremony practiced by several American Indian tribes. The biggest claim to fame is a one time resident of the local jail, Harry Longabaugh aka The Sundance Kid. Longabaugh did take his sobriquet from the name of the town.

Mt. Moriah Cemetery

Buried beside each other are Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok. The cemetery overlooks the town of Deadwood, South Dakota a short drive from Sundance. My dad, Scott, and I visited a few of the casinos in Deadwood to play a few hands of blackjack.

Here we say good-bye to my dad and continue our trip to North Dakota.