Lincoln, Nebraska

Our last afternoon in Lincoln we checked out the Sunken Gardens. I saw pictures taken the week before, and decided it was on a “Must See” list. When we arrived, however, lots of the blooms were past their prime, and a good portion of the garden had been pulled up and was being prepared for replanting. It was still very pretty.

The garden was created in 1930 as a depression-era work project. The corner had been a local dump, and was overhauled by about 200 men to become a gorgeous garden. It was so popular that several neighboring states sent representatives to get plans for similar gardens in their areas.

A statue by Ellis Burman, entitled “Rebecca at the Well,” was placed in a water feature in 1935. It was one of four works the city of Lincoln commissioned for public parks. Unfortunately, the weather was not kind to Rebecca, and she was deteriorated to the point of retirement in 2004.

The gardens were revitalized from 2003 – 2005, and a new sculpture (by David Young) was placed… this time in the shade above the rebuilt waterfall. I’m not sure of the new girl’s name, so I’ll continue to call her Rebecca… I am really fond of that name! 😉

We had planned a nice campfire cookout for our last evening in Lincoln… but our grandkids were under the weather, so neither they nor their cousins and families were able to attend. So we had our friends Ron and Vicki, and Grandma Jo, over for hot dogs, potato salad, watermelon and S’mores. After they left, our new friends Dave and Karen, came over for a while. They drive the beautiful Prevost hiding behind the tree in the photo below. We had a great evening with so many fun folks!

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On the road again…

Half way to Denver we had lunch in a pretty little rest stop. This interesting archway is just for fun… but looks good under such a beautiful sky!

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Somewhere near Denver, Colorado

In the Denver area we were blessed by staying with our good friends, Lonnie and Laura. They recently moved to a great house southwest of Denver, on several acres. We had a super time staying with them while we got a few errands done in town. Here’s a short video of their beautiful home and us playing with the lawn tractor:

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Fort Collins

With our tasks completed, it was time to head north. We were privileged to spend a few hours, far too short, with long time friends Giny and Joe. After a nice meal, we visited briefly with Bethany, at the cute tea shop where she works. The “Happy Lucky Tea House” was not only cute, it had tea I liked! (I’m not a tea drinker…)

Fort Collins has a very nice pedestrian mall, with fun fountains, sculptures and flowers everywhere.

Giny and Joe have the prettiest front yard and a gorgeous garden in back. Their place is just adorable.

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Cherryl sometimes drives our rig, and it this time she got a bit of everything… sunny, cloudy, then wind, rain and snow! We were glad to be headed north – Denver was forecast to get several inches of snow. All we got was a bit of slushy stuff that Cherryl had to drive through!

Billings, Montana

More beautiful skies in Montana! Our campsite had an inviting playground a short walk from the motorhome… so we had to act a bit like kids…

The maps showed Pictograph Cave State Park, so we had to check it out. The two main caves are Pictograph Cave and Ghost Cave. The sky was beautiful, the scenery great, the pictographs underwhelming. Petroglyphs are carved into rock, Pictographs are painted on rock. These looked rather like some kids spray painted graffiti on the rocks 30 years ago, and it’s faded severely since then.

If you look carefully, you can see some red drawings on the rocks below. Enjoy.

Far more interesting than the spray paint, were the odd ball-shaped formations in Ghost Cave. Probably ten or twelve feet in diameter, they are spaced around the cave, and even have evidence there are more in the cliff wall.

Another point of interest on the map was Boot Hill. I thought it would be fun to go through an old pioneer cemetery… this is so small it was hard to find. It is pretty much just a couple of markers and a tall rock pillar commemorating that a cemetery was there in the 1800’s.

More interesting was the grave of “Yellowstone Kelly.” I’m sure you know of him… I didn’t!

Born in 1849 as Luther Sage, he was a trapper, hunter and guide in Montana in the late 1860’s and 1870’s. He was good friends with Teddy Roosevelt, and included in Roosevelt’s “Tennis Cabinet.” Even though he spent his last days in Southern California, he asked that he be buried in Billings. “I feel my body will rest better in Montana, the scene of my earlier activities, than it would in the vastness of Arlington [National Cemetery]”

I love his motto – “Keep not standing fixed and rooted; briskly venture, briskly roam.”

His memorial park overlooks downtown Billings. I couldn’t help but wonder what he’d think of the area if he could see it now. A fair bit has changed here over the last century!