Classic!

A week or so ago, as we made our way from the Black Hills of South Dakota to Yellowstone National Park in western Wyoming, we had one of those all time classic moments that we'll never forget.

For some silly reason, we've dragged along on this trip a shiny-metallic statue of a pointy-eared dog. I'm not sure why, other than the kids (and Ann) wanted to bring it with us and take pictures with it at some of the places we were visiting. We've remembered to bring it to many of our stops, and it has only suffered one major injury - a broken off ear which was quickly fixed with some super glue. Little did I know the role this little dog statue would play in our amusement.

We stopped off at Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Devil's Tower is America's first official National Monument, and is the inside cone of a long-ago volcano with the surrounding earth stripped away. It is probably most remembered as the backdrop to Steven Spielberg's classic film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It is truly impressive, and is an important cultural and spiritual place for the Native American peoples that lived and still live in this area of the country.

In Native American culture, when visiting these important spiritual locations, prayer flags and prayer bundles are often left behind, tied to tree branches as offerings. Signs at Devil's Tower explain their significance to visitors and ask people to respectfully leave them alone. Having traveled in this area, and on other Indian Reservations before, I was familiar with them and explained them to my kids. They thought these were really neat and enjoyed pointing them out to me as we walked up to the base of the mountain.

After a picture of the kids (and the dog statue) with the Tower in the background, we went off to explore some of the boulder field that litters the base of the mountain. Ann, my wife sat down on a rock for a moment, and placed the dog statue next to her at the foot of a tree.

After a minute or two, a couple in their 50's came strolling by, and the woman noticed the dog by the foot of the tree. She pointed it out to her husband, and asked him if he thought it was an offering left by Indians. He said he was sure it was, they seriously discussed its importance and meaning, and then they both glanced around to see if anyone important was watching. The woman then went over to the statue, bent down to get her face next to it, and had her husband take a picture of herself and the dog statue. Ann was doing all she could to not burst out laughing, and after they wandered off, she picked up the statue, and met up with us further up the trail.

Our shiny dog statue is going to show up in someone else's photo album as an example of a spiritual offering! How classic!!!