Lolma and Collouise

Sunday, August 12, 2012

End of the Journey: Watch Out For That Cliff!!

2000-Year-Old Women at Maryhill Museum in Washington

Our last site was the Maryhill Museum in Washington. How wonderful! The founder, Samuel Hill, had connections with the Queen of Romania, with the sculptor Rodin, and with a fascinating dancer names Loïe Fuller. She is pictured above playing the 2000-year-old woman from H. Rider Haggard's "She" (?did she have a relationship with Mel Brooks's 2000-year-old man, we wondered). The little video clip shows a dancer recreating Fuller's famous "Serpentine Dance." Also pictured is Collouise trying on her new dancing outfit.

Jewel Cave National Monument

Jewel Cave National Monument in South Dakota is a jewel. We got the last tour of the day, the shortest tour because the longer ones required reservations and they were already full for the day. But Ranger Billie was generous with his time and ended up giving us a 40-minute instead of the usual 20-minute tour. We took an elevator down to a large room full of crystals. The cave is so dry that there are no stalagmites and stalactites, just crystals hugging close to the cave walls. The adventurous soul could go spelunking in the caves, but to do so, you have to pass through a whole 7" tall and 20" wide. We'd have to take it easy on the pasta and wine! The pictures we took turned out a little green, but we hope you get the idea of the concurrent beauty and eerieness.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Shots of Flat Lorely and Cool Colleen

Pano Shots

Lake Champlain

Niagara Falls Illuminated at Night

Niagara Falls Rainbow

Badlands

The Grand Tetons

Ayers Natural Bridge

Craters of the Moon

Oregon Trail in Baker, Oregon

Crazy Horse Memorial

The Crazy Horse Memorial is definitely a work-in-progress. The sculptor--Korczak Ziolkowski--and his family and those carrying on his vision to create the largest mountain sculpture in the world pride themselves on remaining a totally private endeavor and refusing governmental funding. The story behind the creation is very interesting, but unfortunately we found the whole enterprise quite commercial with a $10 per person entrance fee, a $4 bus fee to go closer to the sculpture, and a massive gift shop. Crazy Horse's head is complete, and the dynamiting to make the sculpture continues. We'll have to return in 40 years to see the completed work of art.