Today our Trinity group split up for the day with Karin and Sandy going with the Remember group on a tour of The Rez. Greg & Terry, Bob & Joyce spent part of the day with the Remember Board at Feather 2 and then joined us for lunch.
Our first stop was KILI Radio Station. This is an information station which connects people on The Rez to what is happening across the area. The information is interspersed with music ranging from Lakota, rock, rap, etc. While we were there the roofing crew was putting on the final layer of shingles.
The next stop was Lakota College and museum. The college has 7 branches scattered across The Rez. For more information on the college, please visit their webpage at: http://www.olc.edu/. The museum offered a panoramic audio tour of the history of the Lakota Tribe. It was complete with framed photos, maps, replicas of treaties (broken) and paintings depicting the events. The audio was then culminated with a video from the college. Leaving the building we walked to the college bookstore.
A brief stop at The Chamber of Commerce provided an array of artistic offerings from award winning Lakota artists such as water colors, oils, beaded clothing and jewelry, etc. All quite impressive!
The Singing Horse Trading Post/Bed & Breakfast was the next stop. This store provides local crafters with their supplies plus carrying their finished products. It was a souvenir shoppers dream. Speaking of dreams, you've heard of the dream catchers? Did you know that the first Lakota "website"?? Corbin Conroy, our guide for the tour kept us laughing throughout the day.
Lunch was at Betty's Kitchen. Betting is the great granddaughter of Black Elk, a prominent Lakota leader. Learn more about Black Elk by reading "Black Elk Speaks". Betty was serving over 200 lunches from her home today plus her specialties of fry bread and chocolate cake. Some of the group then walked down to Black Elk's cabin, which is still standing.
We then headed to Red Cloud School and Heritage Center. This school is associated with The Catholic Church. It is highly selective about the students who attend with over 90% of the graduates going on to college. A cemetery lies up the hill adjacent to the Center. Here you can visit Red Cloud's grave site which is quite a moving experience. A quick visit into The Heritage Center and museum completed our visit.
The most popular spot on The Rez was our final destination - Big Bats. It is a gas station which is the local hang out. We loaded up on snacks and treats to celebrate our final evening on The Rez. Pizza and ice cream sundaes were slated for supper. Karin and I departed for Denver for a morning flight back home and left our share of the food for the Elon students.
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