Special Treasures...

I, for one, am glad that there are people in this world that care enough to preserve “special treasures”.  Maybe it’s just “nostalgia”, or maybe it’s “history”, or I guess you could put any number of different tags on it, but the bottom line is that there are just some things worth saving, I think (and obviously, so do others).

We were fortunate to spend some time with a couple of them...

Just outside of Rapid City is a wonderful historical church called Chapel in the Hills.  It is an exact replica of a stave church in Norway called the Borgund Stavkirke built about 1150.  It was originally built as the home for the “Lutheran Vespers” radio program and completed in 1969.  The radio program moved to their national offices in Minneapolis in 1975 and ultimately became a non-profit corporation using monies from donations, wedding fees and sales from the gift shop.

The chapel is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and probably you too!  The early church builders in Norway were the same ones who built the Viking ships, so many of the details were the same.  For instance, carvings around the door frames are of snakes and dragons representing the battle between good and evil.  The Vikings being pagans, considered dragons to be good luck which is why dragons adorned the prow of their ships.  You will also see dragon heads adorn the Chapel.  (The fact that crosses outnumber the dragon heads demonstrated their confidence in their new conversion to Christianity.)

The timber for their staves went through a special hardening process of two years where they were left standing, but had all their bark and branches removed.  The Chapel has 16,000 hand-cut (with a saw!) shingles on it.  Standing inside the church, the ceiling is constructed like a Viking ship turned upside down.  Pretty cool looking.

The side door is known as the women’s door (front door being the men’s door, of course!).  The door portal around this door is also a pagan sculpture.  The top of it has carved lions and the bottom has heads of bear or wolves.  The door locks on the doors are also interesting (and cool iron work).  The large ring on the front door served a dual purpose.  First it was a door knocker, but it was also known as a Sanctuary Ring.  At the time the Borgund church was built, outlaws could be killed by anyone but if the outlaws could get to the church and grip the ring, no one could touch them.  Folklore says many outlaws starved to death holding onto the ring!

In addition to this beautiful little Chapel they had a small gift shop that has a sod rooftop, Norwegian museum and short prayer walk along a hillside with a few statues.  It was a lovely place to visit and quite enlightening as well.  I’m glad we found it.

The other special treasure is a vintage steam engine train.  Now if you know Jack and I at all, you know we love trains, so whenever we get the chance to ride an “old one”, we take it!  This scenic one is called the 1880 Train and it runs from Hill City to Keystone.  It’s about a 2 hour, 20 mile round trip that winds through the Black Hills National Forest. 

We rode the #110 which is a 2-6-6-2T (low speed locomotives commonly used on logging railroads)  which is an articulated Mallet that was built by The Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1928 for the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company of Vail, WA and was retired in 1968.  It is the only 2-6-6-2T Mallet in service in the world. During the late 1940s, diesel engines became more common than steam.  After years of declining use a public relations man with railroad experience, William Heckman, decided to start a railroad where steam was actually operated, and was not just relegated to static display. 

The first official train began operation in August, 1957.  The route had been nicknamed "the 1880 TRAIN," as it was likened by Heckman to riding a train in the 1880s. While not quite historically accurate (Heckman was never a rigorous advocate of historic accuracy), the dating of the operation stuck, and if nothing else, captured an illusion of the railroad history.

As for us, our train traversed around one bend then another and we saw such sights as the Good Luck Tungsten Mine, Harney Peak (elev 7242) with it’s rock fire lookout tower outline on the very top, Indian Cliffs, old abandoned houses and pretty new houses, even a deer dashing through the tall grass. The ride was smooth and the  whistle blew often.  Big puffs of steam shown in the blue sky and I could see the beauty of that big engine ‘round each bend from my seat way back in one of the beautifully restored cars. 

What a lovely trip it was...scenic, relaxing and yes, reminiscent of another time.

...kicking back in Rapid City South Dakota,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Dream come true

Have you ever had a dream to see something "in person", one that you had for many, many years?  I have, and it was to see Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorials in person.  I've read about them, seen special television presentations on them, and seen other people's pictures of them.  I wondered, more than once, if I would ever get there. 

So, when Jack and I started planning our year and the places that were "a must" on our list, I said that these two places in South Dakota were ones that we just had to visit!  As we left California, we headed "towards the sun", so the route started in Arizona and just kept going towards Texas, Florida, etc.  It was only logical to head on up the East Coast through the summer, so routing ourselves back down towards South Dakota was going to have to wait until the Fall.  As we stayed longer and longer in some areas, it cut our timing to get back to the West.  Entering South Dakota we were watching the weather like hawks.  Right on our heels, appearing to come our way, was quite a bad winter storm, one we didn't want to get caught in!

As with this whole trip, we were blessed with good weather,  giving us just enough time to head to Keystone, and have at least one full day to see my two special monuments.  The day greeted us with sunshine with cool temperatures, so we headed up the mountain as early as we could.  Driving up the Black Hills mountain road was a joy in of itself.  Absolutely beautiful.  We even came across a section where rose quartz was exposed through the surrounding sandstone, granite boulders, shale and gypsum beds.  Trees growing out of the boulders.  Color everywhere...

But nothing compared to seeing the monument for the first time!  We were advised by our camp hosts to go up the mountain the longer, more scenic way than the signs send you, and that as we drive through the first tunnel we will see the monument as we exit.  My heart really started beating excitedly as we entered this first tunnel, knowing that I was going to get my first glimpse of the monument.  The little kid in me came out as I had Jack pull over to the side so I could jump out, camera in hand, and just stand there for a moment to take it in.  Pictures taken, now I was anxious to get up to the Visitor Center and see it closer, and in all it's glory!

As we drove closer and closer, I couldn't take my eyes off of it...so magnificent.  When we arrived at the Visitor Center, I was amazed at how big, how beautiful, how large it was!  I had this image in my mind that it would just be a big carved out area where people stood to see the monument.  I thought there would be some gift shops and snack shops, but nothing in compared to what greeted us that day!  Once you park, and head towards the center, you are greeted with wide steps that lead you up to, and through the "Avenue of Flags" to enter the Information Center and Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center.  Flags of each state hang overhead as you walk through, creating goose bumps for all that they stand for.  We made a brief stop at the Ranger Station, but enough of all that, I wanted to get as close as I could to see the monument! As I stood there and viewed the monument, I realized I was holding my breath; there's really nothing to compare to having your dream come true.

Afterward, we spent hours going through all the various exhibits & movies, with a stop for lunch.  Even as we ate, our view was of the monument...pure bliss.

We knew that we really only had this one day, so we needed to head to the Crazy Horse Memorial before the day got completely away from us.  Again, I expected something very simple - not the many, many rooms of exhibits, art, stories and memorabilia they share.  But before we went through all that, we "upgraded" our ticket to take a small bus ride up the mountain to get to the actual base of the sculpture.  Wow, what a great treat!  We could see and hear men actually working on the mountain as we stood there.  Cool, really cool.

I thought the sculpture would be further along than it was, but after learning that for the first 8 years the Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski worked on it all by himself!  Even now, they only have 8 workers (6 from his family).  Ziolkowski was so committed to what this sculpture is all about, that he (and the Indians) don't want any government monies.  Every bit has come from donations and ticket sales.  At this rate, it won't be completed until my great-grandchildren come to visit!  One thing in their favor, is now there are more advanced ways to work through the rock, than in the early 1940's.  It was really interesting to walk through his studios, their family home and all the various memorabilia. I learned a lot.  A truly wonderful visit.

Dreams do come true.

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

One the road, Marie