Day 10, Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Dan and Jean celebrate their 31st wedding anniversary with Native lore—and Lewis and Clark!
A low key type of day. We’re camped in the part of the state that is about as far from the normal tourist destinations as one can get. Our weather has been fantastic, the people we run into have been helpful and kind and just “nice”. It’s wonderful to be able to be fully vaccinated and out and about.
We spent today exploring the Lewis and Clark Rest Area overlooking the Missouri River in Chamberlain. A rest stop on I-90? Really? Yes, REALLY. Lots of history. I’m amazed at how hard it had to be to find a water route across America. Thomas Jefferson got Lewis and Clark headed west and what an expedition it was! Wonderful displays and a creative second floor of the museum part of the rest stop that was a to-scale replica of the main boat L&C used.
We had a friendly lunch at a local place—The Main Street Cafe—where everyone seemed to know each other. Our waitress was so nice. She was touting the pie and we took her up on the freshly made blueberry with a yummy flaky crust. SO good. It IS our 31st anniversary, after all. Live large! When we got our bill, the waitress had bought our pie for us for our anniversary!
After lunch we explored the Akta Lakota Sioux Museum/School in Chamberlain. Very interesting. The displays were wonderful. A new art exhibit was being placed as we were touring—many beautiful works. I’d recommend this small museum to anyone wanting to learn more of the history of the area Sioux people.
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| The Sacagawea Dignity Statue dominates the Lewis & Clark rest stop, as is appropriate, given her enormous contribution to their expedition |
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| Dan and Sacagawea Dignity Statue |
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| We return from our walk to the end of the path overlooking the Missouri River |
The following are from the Akta Lakota Sioux Museum
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| Beaded deerskin garments |
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| Beaded capelet |
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| Yesterday and today I saw examples of quillwork. Here is a quilled baby bonnet and moccasins. It is so interesting to me because by looking at it, I can’t tell how it is done. In the back and in the middle-ish of the photo are parfleche constructions—painted rawhide made into a box and a container. Yesterday I had never heard of parfleche, but the gift shop at the archeological site had small pieces done with thinner parfleche and decorated in a more contemporary way. #alwayslearning |
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| If I understand correctly, this painting was done by a graduate of the Indian School located here on the grounds of the museum. |
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| This one really reminds me of gouache works done by my friend Paula Montgomery on antique ledger pages. |
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Taken at 9:30 pm, looking west, out of the RoadHouse door. Note the blue sky still at 9:30!
Tomorrow: on the road to Nebraska. Stay tuned! |
Sacagawea--beautiful! Her "quilt" back! Love it. I'd be nuts-crazy about the Native American museum myself.
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to see the statue of Sacaqawea and her quilt! Thanks for sharing it! Holly
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Sacagawea monument and Lakota museum tour — all stunning!!
ReplyDeleteAnd happy 31st wedding anniversary, you two — I do still remember 06/02/90 at St. Peter’s with all of our happy moms, a celebration for the record books. God bless you both with many more decades of adventures together. 🥂💍🍻