Fun with Jeremy and Leigh

Monday, July 22, 2013

Cheryl: We’ve spent a busy three days with our friends Jeremy and Leigh who arrived in Buffalo late Friday evening. On Saturday the four of us trekked over to Sheridan to enjoy “Main-Street-America” once more and visit the King Saddlery and Museum. The store looks unassuming from outside, but after pouring over their extensive merchandise the trick is to move out the back and on across the alley to the area of the store where you can buy a beautiful saddle, ropes of all lengths and sizes, and an array of custom leather goods. Attached to this large workshop you’ll find the amazingly large museum of saddles of all kinds and eras along with Indian and cowboy artifacts, knives, guns, taxidermy, buffalo rugs, a carved-panel hearse, weavings, jewelry, photographs, and much, much more!

I’m not sure how long we lingered in King’s, but it was well over two hours or so. Then, after a further shopping tour of Main Street, we stopped at Sanford’s Restaurant where the wall space brimmed with old license plates and assorted western paraphernalia, leaving not one spot uncovered. We chose a booth near the back and enjoyed large plates of sweet potato fries and sandwiches.

Around 4:30 p.m. back in the trailer in Buffalo, Frank and I watched the second disk of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy. (Frank:  In Swedish, with subtitles.)  By the time that ended we were tired puppies after a full day of being tourists, and we conked out for the night.  I think I’m getting all this in the right order.

On Sunday, we fixed a picnic breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs to surprise Jeremy and Leigh when they came to pick us up at 8 a.m. for a trip to the Little Big Horn Battlefield. Sitting outside our trailer under the trees at the picnic table made for a great start to a long sightseeing day. It was at least an hour and a half ride out to the scene of Custer’s Last Stand. The bus tour narrated by a very articulate and knowledgeable Crow guide helped give us a better understanding of what transpired over the several days prior to, during, and after the battles that raged there. We think Custer got a “bum rap” after hearing how he and his men were trapped by an overwhelming band of warriors. (Frank:  They were told to expect 300 to 500 Indians, but instead encountered 8000, 3000 of which were warriors!)  The National Park with its excellent visitor center, and what we learned and the expansive landscape that greeted us made the long trip over and back worth it. We ate a hearty lunch at the trading post there and scurried home to watch the last disc of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy before wearily packing it in for the night.

Today Jeremy and Leigh picked us up at the trailer, and we returned to downtown Buffalo to eat breakfast at The Busy Bee Restaurant. Leigh and I went upstairs to see the room where she and Jeremy are staying at the Occidental Hotel. The hallways up there were filled with exhibits quite like you’d find in a museum. Downstairs we visited the Virginian Restaurant to see the table inside what used to be a vault, the Billiard room, bar and another museum-like display in the downstairs hallways. Many famous people have stayed there, and we enjoyed roaming the lobby and seeing all the memorabilia.

Back in Jeremy and Leigh’s rented, luxurious, top-of-the-line Jeep Grand Cherokee with sun roof, leather bucket seating and all the bells and whistles, we struck out once again for Sheridan to see Trail End, a 13,000+  square-foot mansion not far from the middle of town in a top-of-the-hill wooded neighborhood. Frank and I both love to visit historic homes, and we agreed in all the many we’ve visited this one stands out as by far the best. The presentations of documented photographs perfectly explained the lifestyle of this family both in the city and on their nearby ranch. The mansion sparkled as if a cleaning crew flew through the entire place daily, and the woman at the front desk greeted us with a lovely summary of what our self-guided tour would show us. The ballroom on the third floor absolutely stood out to me as the highlight of the tour. Frank and I even danced to the music as if we were among the elite who swished across the floor in the distant past. It seemed magical, and we wished we could enter that world to take a peek at what it might have been like to actually be a part of an era so grand.

The lovely woman at the mansion’s front desk recommended a Mexican restaurant in Sheridan where the cook surprisingly has trained in French cuisine. We were treated to an unexpected sumptuous lunch and should have walked a couple of miles after we ate. Instead we got back in the car for the short 35- mile drive back to Buffalo where we said goodbye to our friends with the intention of meeting them for ice cream downtown around seven this evening. Tomorrow morning we bid them adieu as they continue on their trip to Deadwood and beyond before returning to the UK.

Frank and I will move the trailer up to the KOA in Sheridan tomorrow and spend a couple of days there in order to see Greg Brown in concert on Thursday evening. Then we’ll travel over to Cody, WY for a couple of days before making our way to Ennis, MT to visit with our friends, Pam and Richard.

With love from the intrepid travelers,

Frank, Cheryl, Peanut, and Cleo Chica

Frank: Yeah, what SHE said.