PART 1: OUR DRIVE THROUGH THE STATES-MOVE TO COMOX JUNE 2010

South Dakota's original 1880 Town has more than 30 buildings from the 1880 to 1920 era, authentically furnished with thousands of relics, historical accounts and photographs, a Casey Tibbs exhibit, Dances with Wolves movie props

General Custer

BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK The rugged beauty of the Badlands draws visitors from around the world. These striking geologic deposits contain one of the world’s richest fossil beds. Ancient mammals such as the rhino, horse, and saber-toothed cat once roamed here. The park’s 244,000 acres protect an expanse of mixed-grass prairie where bison, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, and black-footed ferrets live today.

Custer State Park is a state park and wildlife reserve in the Black Hills of southwestern South Dakota, USA. The park is South Dakota's largest and first state park, named after Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer. CUSTER STATE PARK: Few truly wild places remain in this country. Custer State Park is one of them. Located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the park is home to a variety of wildlife and magnificent scenery spanning 71,000 acres. Nearly 1,300 bison, commonly called buffalo, roam the prairies and hills of Custer State Park, which they share with swift pronghorn, shy elk, sure-footed mountain goats and curious burros. Visitors often enjoy close encounters with these permanent residents along the 18-mile Wildlife Loop Road that winds around the southern edge of the park. Unique Scenery Slender granite formations called "Needles" dominate the skyline. These unique rock outcroppings are an excellent place for rock climbers to push themselves to the limit. With its winding roads and small granite tunnels, the 14-mile Needles Highway (SD Highway 87 between Sylvan Lake and Legion Lake) provides the perfect backdrop for a scenic drive and ranks as a favorite among sightseers and motorcycle enthusiasts. A third scenic drive, Iron Mountain Road, connects the park to Mount Rushmore National Memorial via a 17-mile stretch of SD Highway 16A. The route includes some of the most breathtaking scenery in the area as well as three more tunnels and three "pigtail" bridges. Custer State Park, one of the largest state parks in America, invites visitors to roam free amidst pure nature. Enjoy leisurely, moderate or strenuous walks along more than a dozen hiking trails throughout the park. This includes two trailheads that offer access to climb to the summit of Harney Peak, the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains, located just outside of the park's northwest boundary. At the top of Harney Peak is an awe-inspiring vista of granite peaks carpeted with evergreens and aspens.

Pronghorn Antilope

This area memorializes the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry and the Sioux and Cheyenne in one of the Indian's last armed efforts to preserve their way of life. Here on June 25 and 26 of 1876, 263 soldiers, including Lt. Col. George A. Custer and attached personnel of the U.S. Army, died fighting several thousand Lakota, and Cheyenne warriors. THE BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN-June 25 1876, approximately 7000 Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho led by Sitting Bull were encamped along the Little Bighorn River. General Custer with 225 men of the US army met defeat and death after 2 days of fighting. The Battle was but the latest encounter in a centuries-long conflict that began with the arrival of the first Europeans in North America. That contact between Indian and Euro-American cultures had continued relentlessly, sometimes around the campfire, sometimes at treaty grounds, but more often on the battlefield. It reached its peak in the decade following the Civil War, when settlers resumed their vigorous westward movement. These western emigrants, possessing little or no understanding of the Indian way of life, showed slight regard for the sanctity of hunting grounds, or the terms of former treaties. The Indian's resistance to those encroachments on their domain only served to intensify hostilities. In 1868, believing it cheaper to feed than to fight the Indians, representatives of the US government signed a treaty at Fort Laramie, Wyo., with the Lakota, Cheyenne, and other tribes of the Great Plains, by which a large area in eastern Wyoming was designated a permanent Indian reservation. The government promised to protect the Indians against the commission of all depredations by people of the United States. Peace, however, was not to last. In 1874 gold was discovered in the Black Hills, the heart of the new Indian Reservation. News of the strike spread quickly, and soon thousands of eager gold seekers swarmed into the region in violation of the Fort Laramie treaty. The army tried to keep them out, but to no avail. Efforts to buy the Black Hills from the Indians, and thus avoid another confrontation, also proved unsuccessful. In growing defiance, the Lakota and Cheyenne left the reservation and resumed raids on settlements and travelers along the fringes of the Indian domain. In December 1875, the commissioner of Indian Affairs ordered the tribes to return before January 31, 1876, of be treated as hostiles by the military force. When the Indians did not comply, the army was called in to enforce order.

An Indian Memorial was dedicated June 25, 2003. It was built to honor all of the tribes defending their way of life at the Battle

PART 2: A COLLECTION OF OUR MEMORIES FROM 2010 TO 2014

Retirement home where my Dad lived until he passed away in 2017.