The next morning, the haze had lifted a little, and we drove southeast through the rolling brown plains, past Crow Agency, and up to the Little Bighorn National Monument, just east of I-90. We drove up and flashed our parks pass to the charming young Crow woman sitting at the entry station. The Monument is spread along Battle and Greasy Grass Ridges; just past the parking lot is the portion of the Custer National Cemetery that was used for interring soldiers who died after 1900; this portion is neat and orthogonal, with mown and watered grass, like a mini-Arlington. On the other side of the visitor center is the 7th Cavalry Memorial, a fenced-off portion of prairie on the slopes of Last Stand Hill, surmounted by a tall granite marker inscribed with the names of the soldiers killed in 1876. Just to the north of the granite marker and slightly lower down the hill is a much newer Indian memorial.
We stopped and listened to a ranger – another Crow Indian – give a detailed presentation about the conditions leading up to the battle, the principal participants, and the course of events on the day of the battle.
A path winds down towards the Little Bighorn, and passes by eroding white marble stones – cenotaphs, technically, I suppose, because they mark the spot where soldiers' remains were found, but the remains themselves were moved up to the top of the hill, and buried under the big granite marker. Most of the white markers are clustered up near the top of the hill, but some are quite a ways down it. In a few places, there are red granite markers, the same size and shape as the white marble; these mark where Cheyenne and Sioux are known to have fallen.
Posted by David Fleck at 23 June 2007 12:27 PM
Hm. The one time I went into a Coldstone Creamery I didn't get the singing treatment, just a lump of ice cream. I wasn't really impressed -- it was okay ice cream, but mixing it all up on a piece of rock didn't lend it any specialness. Where I used to live they opened up a Brusters, which has pretty good ice cream, but they have no place inside to sit down, and only a couple of benches outside. It's not a drive through either -- it's a walk-up. It's a pretty stupid establishment for Florida; in the winter, which can get pretty raw in Central Florida, it will be too cold and windy to sit outside, and in the summer it's too hot -- and also too hot to carry your ice cream to the car. It will be half melted by the time you get home. Still, it seems to be popular. But I wish we had a decent diner-style place that served ice cream. Well, we have some restaurants, like Friendly's, but the food is awful, and the ice cream unimpressive.
Posted by: Andrea Harris on June 24, 2007 09:50 AM
When I was in college we used to go to the local Howard Johnson's, which wasn't great but the ice cream and desserts were good enough, and not too pricey, and it was a comfortable place to sit, and nowadays there's no good substitute around here.
I didn't read the original post, BTW. I guess I'm hungry.
Posted by: Jonathan on June 24, 2007 01:38 PM
OK, I've read it. Custer was such a putz. He would have done well in modern American politics.
I like photos 2 and 3, especially 2.
Posted by: Jonathan on June 24, 2007 01:52 PM
It's always food with you people...
Personally, I dislike almost all forms of ice cream. The rest of my family informs me that this marks me as deviant, subversive, and possibly criminal.
J. – #2 and #3? Interesting, #1 was my favorite.
Posted by: David Fleck on June 24, 2007 04:51 PM
Chacun a son gout, non? I think this is true for photos as well as food.
Posted by: Jonathan on June 24, 2007 07:13 PM
hi
Posted by: Angie Fleck-Rawlings on August 16, 2007 10:00 PM