In Portland’s Washington Park, there is a hill with the International Rose Test Garden at the bottom, and the Portland Japanese Garden at the top. When last I visited, I spent most of my time in the Japanese Garden on a bench at the karesansui, the sand and stone garden. One of the main themes […]
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Laughing Water
Minnehaha Creek begins at the eastern edge of Lake Minnetonka and flows east about twenty-one miles, spills over the limestone lip of a cliff as Minnehaha Falls, then travels one last mile to feed the Mississippi River. Contrary to popular belief, Minnehaha does not actually mean “laughing water,” though as I stand at the foot of […]
Wheaty Wonderland Homes
It’s been three years since I last saw this river, on a brisk November morning at its opposite end. Elena and I cross the Mississippi at the Upper St. Anthony Lock, closed to prevent the northern spread of bighead carp, a non-native invasive which can out-eat any fish that belongs here. The only natural waterfall […]
Gangland shootouts and breakfast cere...
Seven hours left to drive and I already regretted the morning’s stops: Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore, the Badlands—I’d have traded them all for a shower and a clean pair of jeans. There is a freedom to living out of your luggage, but laundry is a risky business when you’re on a limited supply of underwear. On […]
Headbutt Practice
Easily 10% of this state is Wall Drug billboards, the remaining 90% grass and casual racism. That a South Dakota shopping mall is famous because its owners decided to slap ads all over the damn landscape is perhaps the single greatest testament to American capitalism since the digging of the Panama Canal, but I have […]
Gutzy
If controversies surround the Crazy Horse Memorial, which at least uses some of its revenue to put native youth through college, then Mount Rushmore, nine miles to the northeast, is one big controversy blasted into the face of a mountain. A monument hewn from sacred land, idolizing four abusers of this land’s original inhabitants. Washington, […]
Work in Progress
Following rumors of a gold finding in 1874, George Armstrong Custer led 1000 troops into the Black Hills. Their discovery of a small amount of gold on French Creek triggered a massive gold rush, and invading prospectors, in violation of the Treaty of Fort Laramie, clashed with the native tribes. In the resulting war, Crazy […]
Branding campaigns in the American We...
With the sun low in the foothills at the horizon, I parked the car at Bear Lodge Butte (commonly known as Devils Tower) and started toward the scree field at its base. The face I approached was hit square by the setting sun—one wall of the great gray laccolith lit golden. Pronghorn grazed between Ponderosa […]
Death by Grizzly
The Lower Falls of Yellowstone were framed by jagged rock walls, stained yellow from sulfur, red, purple, pink from iron and aluminum oxides. Lodgepole pine lined the path we hiked from the viewpoint. Snow crunched under my boots and Evan’s sandals. “This is uncomfortable,” said Evan. “We can turn back any time.” “No, it’s my fault […]
Death by Peeing
The waves of Yellowstone Lake were whipped up by alpine winds, children of the mountain bowl that hems in the park from all sides. Here, sailboats sank often. Sailors underestimated the gales, and phones lacked the service to call for rescue. “Imagine going through all the trouble of getting a boat up here just to sink […]