Friday, July 1, 2011

Pine Ridge 2011. Our first day on the Rez









We have arrived! Once again the starkness and loneliness of the landscape as we made the last lap of the trip made us sit up and take note. The sky is more blue here than at home. The clouds seem flattened, and even though this is not Montana , the horizon here could qualify this area as “Big Sky Country, too! It is quite beautiful here on the reservation this year. They have been having much more rain than normal so it is much greener than normal.


This year there are more teens here than last year. There are about 60 people, and probably 2/3 are youth. It should be an interesting week. We women are sharing our dorm room with 6 young women. The good news is that by the time we went to bed last night, everyone was tired and the girls slept. It was Judy who got a fit of the giggles! Judy, Judy, Judy! You are going to need to sleep, because tomorrow will be a big day!


Yesterday as we approached Des Moines, the signs announced that the interstate we had planned to take was closed. We had received word that it was open, but we decided to take an alternative route to be on the safe side. It was a really beautiful drive, but slower than the other would have been. We arrived at our hotel at 7:45 and then we went to dinner at Famous Dave’s. This morning we got up and hit the road at 8:15 and arrived here about 3:00. We enjoyed a grand entrance at the Pow Wow with probably 60 to 70 Lakota in really neat native regalia. I have several pretty good pix. I will try to include one.


Today (Sunday morning) we are awaiting breakfast, and then we will begin to hear the story of the Lakota history. Wounded Knee and hopefully a hike in the badlands awaits. It should be a good day. I hope you are all well. I will post more later.

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