Custer Vacation Day 6 – September 24, 2015   Today dawns bright and beautiful and Black Kettle has a crock pot breakfast ready with a concoction of eggs, sausage, and cheese. The timer on the crockpot works great thanks to Seeks Pie and Li’l Pot who check and recheck to be certain they set it correctly! We older gals don’t even attempt to mess with the timer!  Breakfast was pretty darn tasty and just what we needed before leaving Blue Bell campground for the Buffalo Roundup Arts Festival. Today is the day to spend money!

As Bean Gatherer maneuvers the HildeVan on the twisty roads of Custer, suddenly to my left is a single creature placidly chomping grass. I say creature because we are not sure at this point if it is a sheep or goat. Research done later by Seeks Pie says it is a Bighorn Sheep. We stop roadside and whip open the side doors and take pictures. We have enjoyed this van because of the two side doors that slide open. Photos taken, we proceed down to the Arts Festival.

The Arts Festival is held on a large flat grassy area and since we are early, the vendors are just finishing setting up their displays. There is a running joke in our family about how I can never go anywhere and not run into someone I know. Well the look of surprise on my sister’s faces when I stopped and hugged a lady and exchanged pleasantries was priceless! Yes, I knew someone here! Marcia from Galesburg and is a vendor here, and is selling her beautiful artwork.

Most of the items for sale are of a western flair. Many artists are showing their paintings of buffalo and western scenery – some quite expensive! There are plenty of pelts, knives, Indian artwork, and jewelry. I settle on a beautiful elk antler that lays on its side and has slits cut into it that knives slide into for display. It will be a Christmas gift for Eric. He will love it!

It’s not long and Black Kettle and I see Bean Gatherer hurrying towards us. Bean Gatherer looks concerned. She has seen a buffalo head she wants to display on her fireplace but it is huge! How are we going to get it home? She has checked and there is not a hitch on the HildeVan so renting a trailer is out. Black Kettle and I look at each other and grin. We have stuffed cars and trucks so full of stuff in our lives that we nod and assure her that it will be okay. “Where there is a will there is a way,” we mutter as we rush to see the item in question.

The buffalo head is beautiful and quite large. We all exclaim over him and immediately name him Harry, after our jeep driver from the night before, who we have seen and talked to again today while he was ferrying people around.  The vendor continues to pull items out of his truck and we spy buffalo skulls! I text Eric and ask him if he has one in his skull collection. Eric texts back that no, he did not have one and yes, he would love to own one. So a skull was purchased for Eric. Li’l Pot and Black Kettle also choose a buffalo skull and we are set!

There is an education tent and we sit in its shade and watch a raptor program. Beautiful little owls, great big owls, and a hawk are displayed and discussed. The hawk devours a couple of mice in front of us and I snickered to myself at the revulsion an audience member showed as the hawk dissected the mice and gulped them down in a couple of quick bites.

But the next program was a snake show and we headed out of there. Besides, it was noon and time for a door prize drawing. We scurried to the main tent where there was singing and guitar playing going on but soon they were drawing names. Li’l Pot won! She went to the vendor’s booth and choose a beautiful silk scarf for her prize.  She is the Lucky lady today!

It’s time for a picnic lunch under a shade tree but on our way to the car we are distracted by the Buffalo Chip Toss. Of course, we all have to do this and choose our chips carefully. Some are light and large, some are smaller, heavier but more dense. All are real buffalo poo. Aiming carefully and tossing away, we all receive blue ribbons! However, there was one calamity. Bean Gatherer was standing in the way of a chip while taking pictures and her leg was injured. No first aid was necessary and by now we were hungry!

Leaving the festival with our purchases we headed back to camp to hang out a bit and prepare for our evening’s entertainment. After a supper cooked on the campfire, we head over to The Crazy Horse Memorial.

When I was about 14 or so, our family drove by here and I vaguely remember not being very impressed. Not much carving had been done on the mountain at that time and there was a long way to go. There is still is a long way to go! However, Crazy Horse’s face is now complete and work continues on what will be the largest sculpture in the world. The original sculptor has died and his large family continues the project and foundation. An informative movie plays to explain their vision and the history of the project and family.

We were surprised at how much beyond the mountain there is to see! A huge Indian museum full of artifacts is quite impressive and we found ourselves wishing we had more time to browse from room to room. For a donation, there are rocks that you can take home from the blasting of the mountain and a few were picked up by these Illinois natives. There is also a University and Medical School for Native Americans on the grounds. Finally, it is dark and the laser light show is about to begin! This is what we came for! We sit outside with a couple dozen other visitors and watch a colorful light show played onto the mountain. I loved it!

After the light show we visited the gift shop and I bought another stick medallion to add to my collection. But now it was time to get some sleep as tomorrow is the roundup and we must get up very early! Good Night all!