Spring Break 2010: Black Hills

Mike and I took a few days off at the beginning of University of Wyoming's spring break to drive to the southwest corner of South Dakota to see the sights. We had a great time! The weather was nice -- 40-45 degree highs and lots of sunshine -- and the Black Hills were just beautiful.

Here's a shot from Custer State Park. When we got up to higher elevations, it was really misty. There are so many pine trees that the mountains look incredibly green, even at this time of year.
This is Pactola Lake, between Custer and Deadwood. As you can see, it's frozen solid.We stayed in Custer, SD. Here's a view from Main Street. :)
Our first real stop on the trip was Mt. Rushmore. It was quite impressive. We were interested to learn that the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, had planned a much more complete sculpture with chests and arms for the presidents. The mountain carving began in 1927 and was expected to take five years and $500,000. Carving and blasting continued through the 1930s (and the Great Depression) and the federal government allocated $1 million to the project, but the project came to an end in 1941 with the death of the sculptor and the U.S. involvement in WWII. Isn't it interesting to think that this national icon was supposed to take a much different form?
On day 2 of our trip we went to the Wind Cave (pictured above), which is the 4th longest cave in the world. We had a cool tour of some of the caverns. It's called the wind cave because there is a very strong wind that, depending on air pressure outside the cave, either blows into or out of the cave. On the day we visited, the wind was blowing into the cave at 30+ miles per hour!
We also went to the Crazy Horse memorial on day 2. This is another major mountain carving in the Black Hills that depicts the Indian warrior Crazy Horse. It's a work in progress that was started in 1947 and is not federally funded. Apparently the government offered money to the sculptor, but he was a big believer in free enterprise and said he would only accept private donations. The sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, seems to have been quite a character. He lived in a tent next to the mountain when he first started work on it. His wife and 10 children have continued the work since he died in 1982. As you can see in the photo above, the face of Crazy Horse is completed and his arm above the horse's head is taking shape.
This is a scale model of the Crazy Horse mountain. It will be carved in the round, unlike Mt. Rushmore. The story is that Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear asked Ziolkowski to carve the mountain to "show the white man that the red man has heroes, too." In some ways it seems a bit sacrilegious to see the Black Hills, a sacred place to the Lakota, blasted away for the 4 dead presidents and for Crazy Horse. The unmarked Hills are more beautiful and more spiritually powerful than the ones that have been dynamited. At least that's what I think.
Also on day 2 we drove to Deadwood, the famous Old West mining town. It's in this narrow little gorge, with houses built way up the hillside. Casino revenue has allowed the town to do a lot of restoration, and there are some fabulous old buildings from the 1880s.
Here's main street in Deadwood. Around the Black Hills (and around the West) there are several little towns, notably Keystone, that are built to look like the mythic "Old West." Deadwood is the real deal and it feels authentically gritty.

On our last day in South Dakota, we went to the Badlands. The landscape there is beautiful in an otherworldly sort of way.
We took lots more photos than the carefully selected ones here. If you'd like to see all the various views of Mt. Rushmore, including plenty of up-the-nostrils shots, see our Black Hills Flickr set.

Boston -- ALA Midwinter

Beacon Hill (I hear this is John Kerry's neighborhood)

The Cheers bar!

I traveled to Boston last weekend for the American Library Association's Midwinter meeting. It was a good trip. Here's a photo of the exhibit hall, where library vendors come to give away tote bags, books, drinks, etc.
I got to hear Al Gore speak about his new book, Our Choice. I have very warm feelings for Al, as he was my first-ever Presidential vote in 2000 when I was 18. This is not a very good picture, but it was the best I could get in the convention center ballroom
Although much of my time was spent in meetings, I spent one afternoon on the Freedom Trail with two friends from work. It's a tour of some important historical sites in Boston. Here are a few images from the trail:

Ice skaters in Boston Common, the oldest park in the country, established by the citizens in 1634.
The old statehouse in Boston. The Declaration of Independence was read to Bostonians from this balcony.
Here lies Paul Revere.

As a Westerner, all these sites seemed truly, impressively old. It was interesting to note just how many public, democratic gathering places are built in to Boston's downtown area.

The Boston meetings were great. I got to catch up with librarian friends from Utah State and from University of Illinois. I got some good ideas from the Instruction Section meetings I went to, including one that I used in class yesterday. I also had yummy seafood!

Holidays 2009-2010

Mike and I traveled 1800 miles over winter break, first to Fairview, ID to visit my family.

Dogpile Christmas morning!

Then to Albuquerque, NM to spend time with Mike's family.

Here we are on Sandia Peak. There was hardly any snow in the valley, but tons up at the top!

We had a fabulous time in all of our travels and were really blessed to see so many of our family members over the holidays.

I want to highlight a few knitting-themed gifts that I received.

My mom knitted me these awesome felted clogs in University of Wyoming colors. They are so warm and toasty!
My lovely friend Heather sent me 500 grams of this beautiful blue baby alpaca from Peru, where she spent the holidays. As you can see, I have a project going.
My mother-in-law, Sheri, brought me this amazing knitting bag from a knitting shop in Alaska. (If you can't tell, it has cats on it!)
It opens up to all these neat pockets for circular knitting needles, double-pointed sets, and all your little knitting tools. I love it!

Happy Trails: Elna Baker

I meant to review lots of books on this blog, and I haven't done that. But I simply had to review a recent book titled The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker (I had to check that title three times to make sure I got all the words in the right order). I felt compelled to review it not just because I really liked it, but also because it spoke to me as a Mormon woman who was single until the advanced age of 25. (That may sound young to some of you, but census data from 2000 says that Utah women marry for the first time at 21.9.)

Elna Baker is a 27-year-old Mormon comedian living in New York. She's single. She's lived in New York since she was 18 and a freshman in college. Her book is the most honest account of Mormon singlehood that I've ever read. She's honest about the problems of celibacy, of dating outside the faith, and of gendered expectations for women within the Mormon church. She's very funny, a bit self-absorbed (it's a memoir, so of course she is), and a good writer.

One of my favorite stories from the book is related to the title and involves a fantastic fortune-cookie costume. You can see Elna herself tell the story here:


I highly recommend the book. But if you have preconceived notions about what Mormon women are like (or if you're offended by cursing and talk about sex), prepare to be shocked.

Feeling grateful

I'm extra glad right now to have chosen library science over a PhD in literature. A New York Times article last week said: “Students thinking of going to graduate school in English should understand that right now their chance of landing a job that provides them a livable wage is 50-60 percent,” said Rosemary Feal, executive director of the M.L.A. Who knew it was that bleak???

Thanksgiving in Cache Valley

It's been awhile since we posted here, and this will be brief. We spent a lovely Thanksgiving weekend in Cache Valley. For the first time since June 2007 all the Bowles kids were together! (In intervening years Justin was in San Jose, CA for two years, Nick was in Alaska during the summers, and M&M lived in Illinois and made twice-yearly visits home.) Here we are at the old homestead:
The whole fam

Just the kids (we were in some random order, then someone insisted that we get in order of our age)

And finally, Nicholas has had enough.

Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site

I meant to post about this long ago, but the fall has been awfully busy! So here are some photos of and some tidbits of information about the Wyoming Territorial Prison, built in Laramie in 1872 and closed in 1903. Mike volunteered there this fall and I checked out the site on Labor Day.

First, here's Michael in his prison stripes behind bars.

What Michael actually did as a volunteer was make brooms in the broom factory pictured below. Work was part of the rehabilitation process for inmates at the prison, and the prison operated a broom factory for several years, where the inmates worked every day.

Butch Cassidy was one of the most famous inmates who spent time at the Wyoming Territorial Prison. Here's his mugshot, taken in 1894 when he was imprisoned for 18 months for stealing horses. He got off early when he promised the governor he'd stay out of Wyoming.

Below is a photo of the prison chapel, where the first female chaplain in the U.S. prison system, Dr. May Preston Slosson, held weekly services. (Wyoming is the Equality State!) This room was also used for lectures by professors from University of Wyoming, who came to improve prisoners' minds.

Here's a photo of the outside of the prison.

Wyoming is a really interesting place with an interesting history. There's a gallery in the horse barn (not pictured) with a fascinating exhibit on the first women who served on a jury in the U.S., which happened in Wyoming in 1870. There's also a women's gallery in the prison, with brief histories of the female criminals who served time in the Territorial Prison. It's a great place for women's history.