The Sierra’s Secret Seclusion – Rock Creek Lodge

Written by Rob LaGrone


The Sierra’s Secret Seclusion – Rock Rick Lodge

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Ah, there's nothing finer than an autumn day in California's Sierra Nevada range: warm sunshine, crisp nights, golden aspen leaves, and shockingly blue skies. Not that spring, summer, and winter are less than spectacular here.

If you're tired ofrepparttar Las Vegas heat,repparttar 133633 L.A. smog, orrepparttar 133634 Bay Area dampness,repparttar 133635 folks at Rock Creek Lodge would like you to remember a number: 9,373. That's their elevation in feet above sea level.

If you're passing throughrepparttar 133636 beautiful Owens Valley onrepparttar 133637 "scenic drive" portion of U.S 395, you might never guessrepparttar 133638 lodge was there. At Tom's Place, a small collection of houses byrepparttar 133639 highway between Bishop andrepparttar 133640 popular Mammoth Lakes ski area, you turn towardrepparttar 133641 mountains towering above you onrepparttar 133642 west side. You wind your way up into Rock Creek Canyon asrepparttar 133643 high desert gives way to an alpine environment. The trees get taller and you pass some very nice campgrounds asrepparttar 133644 air grows thinner and cooler. Ahhhh!

If you're not too distracted byrepparttar 133645 majestic old cedars and Jeffrey Pines onrepparttar 133646 rocky slopes, you'll see Rock Creek Lodge's brown wooden sign on your left after about eight miles. If you arrive at a beautiful mountain lake, you've gone a little too far. The lodge is located a half mile below Rock Creek Lake. A wooden bridge overrepparttar 133647 picturesque stream brings you torepparttar 133648 lodge's main building.

What's this - flowers in my dinner? The chalkboard inrepparttar 133649 lodge's window announcesrepparttar 133650 bill of fare forrepparttar 133651 evening's meal inrepparttar 133652 cozy dining room. Now, any food served on a cool evening inrepparttar 133653 mountains can be called "comfort food," but if you're expecting burgers & beans here, you're in for a pleasant surprise. My dinner featured pork chops with sage and gravy, braised lentils, spinach salad with walnuts, fantastic home-baked potato bread - and "four lily soup." Did you know that garlic, shallots, leeks, and scallions are all members ofrepparttar 133654 lily family? This creamy soup had a marvelous flavor.

As you enjoyrepparttar 133655 warmth fromrepparttar 133656 old woodstove, you'll see some ribbons and trophies onrepparttar 133657 dining room wall. Janet and Randy are excellent cooks, and Janet has won prizes for several of her recipes - most recently for her chili-cheese bread atrepparttar 133658 2003 Tri-county Fair in Bishop.

Deadwood South Dakota Bets On a Deadman’s Hand

Written by Kriss Hammond


Deadwood South Dakota Bets On a Deadman’s Hand

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I grew up in these Black Hills — andrepparttar history ofrepparttar 133632 Old West hell raising mining camp of Deadwood is embedded into these hills as deep asrepparttar 133633 ore inrepparttar 133634 8,500 foot Homestake Mine up in Lead, now closed full of water, and soon to be a scientific underground laboratory.

You have probably seenrepparttar 133635 Hollywood version of Deadwood on HBO. As a series, how close does it come torepparttar 133636 true life characters that putrepparttar 133637 rawboned territorial town onrepparttar 133638 map?

LEGENDS OF DEADWOOD

Wild Bill Hickok, born James Butler Hickok in Tiny Grove, Illinois on May 27, 1837. He married Mrs. Ames Thatcher on March 5, 1876 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Wild Bill was murdered inrepparttar 133639 original Saloon No. 10 on August 2, 1876 by Jack McCall.

Quite aside from images ofrepparttar 133640 Black Hills gold rush andrepparttar 133641 Sioux Indian wars, Deadwood is famed inrepparttar 133642 public's mind asrepparttar 133643 place where "Wild Bill" Hickok was murdered while playing poker in Saloon No.10, holdingrepparttar 133644 "Deadman's Hand" of aces, eights, andrepparttar 133645 nine of diamonds.

Civil War spy, scout and sharpshooter, Indian fighter, frontier lawman and showman with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, Hickok was part ofrepparttar 133646 West's romantic image — aided no doubt by a Harper's New Monthly Magazine article about him in those terms in 1867

The reality was more complicated as a variety of books and Internet resources note.

Hickok joined a flood of miners, shopkeepers, prostitutes, card players, bunco artists and outlaws, invadingrepparttar 133647 raw and just-formed town of Deadwood in June of 1876.

By all accounts, his intent in coming to Deadwood was to separate prospectors and minters from their gold — not atrepparttar 133648 point of a gun, but atrepparttar 133649 poker tables with a winning hand and two pistols at hand for any sore losers inrepparttar 133650 bunch.

Hickok was highly motivated — he was a newlywed with a wife to support. His bride,repparttar 133651 former Mrs. Agnes Thatcher, was waiting for Hickok back in Cheyenne.

One ofrepparttar 133652 first guns ofrepparttar 133653 West, Hickok could shoot with a pistol in both hands. He carried his guns butt forward in his belt — an awkward position for others, but it worked well for him. Historians debate how good he really was as a marksman, but few cared to get shot at by Hickok — calm, deliberate and unflustered when taking aim.

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