Cloudy…with a Chance of Rainbows

The Black Hills are well-known for their beauty.  People pay ridiculous amounts of money for any piece of property up here.  A small house in Spearfish Canyon, nothing  all that special, sells for more than double what my house in St. Louis just sold for.   That’s the price of beauty–or the price of possessiveness.

But the thing that has most captured my attention for the moment are the clouds.  Oh, the clouds, my head’s in them and every afternoon seems to bring some fabulous new creation floating my way.

Like St. Louis, the weather here is extremely changeable.  Don’t like it, wait ten minutes…..more-or-less.   On one drive, I went from sunny and bright to a complete rainbow sparkling up ahead on the road–quickly followed by a sudden deluge replete with golf ball sized hailstones.  Then sun shining again 20 minutes later.  Ah, simple Midwestern joys.

Then, after the sun sets and the clouds have gone their merry way, there comes the inky blackness of the night sky and the plethora of stars that populate the heavens here.  I’m far enough away from a major population center that the light pollution is almost non-existent and the stars hold sway in the dark.  The Milky Way stretches across space and time and the constellations impress themselves upon your brain in ways that I had forgotten they could.  While star-gazing last night,  the Big Dipper came into view as I turned in a circle in order to take in the whole sky.  I had forgotten just how impressive it could be.  I surely remember now.

I’ll end this brief entry with a few photos of some of the clouds I’ve managed to capture in the past few days.

There’s Something in the Air….

When I woke up this morning, there it was.  A certain feeling, a light breeze, a tiny bit of freshness, ah!  A hint of cool!   So I ate and packed up, loaded up and headed out.   In less than an hour I rounded a  curve and there in front of me was a beautiful lake…and the town of Bear Lake.  It was so lovely, so picturesque, that I was very, very tempted to pull into the little campground that was strung along the shore, each site a dainty morsel tempting the taste buds of my imagination.  What would it be like to idyl away a few days in a spot like that? Wavelets nibbling at the edge of my campsite, lapping my toes with their velvety tongues?  So much temptation.

Obviously, I couldn’t drive on without at least sampling whatever delights Bear Lake might hold for me.  So I pulled over and decided to at least visit a shop or two.  The first was an old building that housed the treasures collected by one man in a lifetime of travels.  Porcelain vases from China, hand-crafted dolls from somewhere in the middle east, old bottles, etc.  He filled a small warehouse with his collection, then passed away.  Now the family is trying to sell it all, along with many other things accumultated by others in the family.   Then on to a couple of other shops of the type you find in almost any town, gifts, garden items, hand-made soaps, etc.  Then a last stop in a store that was once a small-town craft store, now going out of business.

The proprietress was not nearly as ancient as the building that housed her shop, though they were handsomely suited for each other.   She warned each person who came through the door that the floors were very uneven in the back and to watch their step.  I found out what a huge understatement this was when I tripped over a ridge in the hardwood that, while it only spanned 5 or 6 boards, rose a good 4 inches in the air.   The old floor’s version of the continental divide, boards heaving as the foundation shifted underneath them.

Still, it was a stop well-made as I bought several items for less than a  third of what I would have paid for them in St. Louis.   And, it served to make me feel that I had explored enough of Bear Lake to justify continuing on.

My next stop was at Crystal Mountain.  I knew there was something there called the “Michigan Legacy Arts Park”, full of sculpture and I wanted to see it.  It turns out that Crystal Mountain is an enormous (and I suspect, very pricey) resort.  Cabins and duplexes scattered along winding roads, most of which  on one side or the other of a beautifully manicured golf course running up the middle of the valley.   There was also a ski lift running to the top of a groomed slope.  Since it was running in the summer I thought it was just for viewing the surrounding forest until I saw a pair of sinuous, undulating half-tubes coming down the mountain.  Apparently the more adventurous can descend the mountain via the two winding slides.  it could be a fun ride, but it was not the point of my visit.

After getting lost and having to back-track a couple of times, I finally found the sculpture park.  Apparently whatever side of the post a sign is mounted on indicates the direction of a turn one is supposed to make at the next opportunity.  Directions would be nice.  Even a simple arrow.  Oh, and coming back from the park, some indication of how to get out of the labyrinth would be nice.  The route is anything but straightforward.

But at long last, I did find it.  Parked the beast (now known as “Queeny”, short for Queen of the Slipstream…..apt?   My fantasy world, my names…), put a leash on Topper and we started off.  For those of you from St. Louis, think Laumeier, but all in the woods, and all on very hilly, very steep paths.   All the sculptures were designed to echo some aspect of Michigan’s past, complete with signs to tell you exactly what and why.  No guessing here!  Scatted along the paths are stones with various quotes engraved on them from everyone from Buddha to Hemmingway.  I liked that.  A nice touch.

By the time Topper and I finished the trail my legs were more than a little tired and I was very ready to sit down.  Unfortunately I spotted a place to dumped all my recyclables back near the trail head, so I had to make one more trip.  I can’t just put my bottles and cans in the trash.  If a campground doesn’t offer recycling bins i carry the stuff with me until I find suitable receptacles.  It just rubs me wrong to do otherwise.   Since the bag had gotten very full and I was tired of tripping over it in the close confines of the RV, I made one last trip up the hill.

A comment on the timber industry ….

Then I looked over my options for a campground for the night.  Made a decision and hit the road.   That’s a post for another time.  I will say, I found the cool.  Cool enough that when I took the dog for his evening stroll, I was shivering in my shorts and tee shirt.  But that was the second thing I noticed.  The first was the Milky Way.  I can’t remember the last time I could see it clearly.  I can from where i am now.  It’s magnificent.

Later.