New York, New York!

NYC for the 27th time! Arrived late Wednesday evening and were tired. Had a bit of a slow start this morning therefore, and, first thing we did after breakfast (provided by our hosts) was to walk around the corner to get some groceries at Foodtown, a well-sorted supermarket in our neighborhood, Sugar Hill/Harlem (left pic). Fortunately, we have a little kitchen with fridge etc. and don't depend on expensive restaurants.

Afterwards, we took the subway - a 1-week-ticket for unlimited rides still goes for $ 34! - all the way down to Manhattan's southern tip, to the Battery, which took us over an hour. We walked along the East River Promenade to South Street Seaport and through the historic harbor district, on to the new Arches Park and City Hall to the World Trade Center Site

South Street Seaport

Brooklyn Bridge

City Hall

Calatrava's Oculus on WTC Site

Woolworth Building Lobby

World Trade Center Site - Mural at Construction Site of WTC2

Perelman Performing Arts Center

Perelman's from up the steps

 

 

 

Essex Street Market

From there by subway to Stuy Town and the new East River Park - not really worth the walk yet, since it's still under construction. On to the Lower East Side and Bowery - with Essex Street Market and the ICP (museum & school of photography), the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, the New Museum (closed for expansion) - to Nolita and Prince Street, Broadway and West Broadway (paradise for shoppers!) to Union Square and 14th Street,,, and, of course, we stopped at our fav book store, Strands, just "to look and see",,,

Williamsburg Bridge

IPC - photography museum & school

Too much to write about, just can tell you that we walked 12 mi/20 km. Since NYC is self-explanatory (and crazy - have seen more "characters" on the subways and streets today in a single day than all year at home!), just photos below:

Lower East Side - Tenement Museum

"Street Art Museum" in Citizen M M

P

Prince Street - Shops and Halloween decoration (above)

Birria-Landia Taco Truck and tacos

S

Strands bookstore - 97

Mural Houston Street

Subway art - 14th St station

Mural Bowery

Denver - The Mile High City

Back to the beginning: Denver. What a culture clash, possibly the right attunement for NYC! Starting in Cheyenne/WY or rather at the state border (WY Welcome Center on the photo on the right), traffic picked up. At the end, we had 10 lanes on the Interstate into Denver - pretty hectic in comparison to what we had before! 

Stopped at the Denver Premium Outlet Center (without buying anything) before we drove to Cherry Creek to stay with friends of us in their beautiful modern, bright condo. Explored Cherry Creek North, an up&coming neighborhood of Denver about 3.5 mi/5 km away from downtown and filled with restaurants, unique stores, galleries, etc. after a late lunch on their balcony.

Besides all the shops and restaurants spread out on several blocks in the neighborhood, there is also the huge, upscale Cherry Creek Shopping Mall (left pic).

In the evening we had a wonderful meal in the cozy, pleasant atmosphere of a little French restaurant in Cherry Creek - La Merise French Bistro. We enjoyed Steak Frites and Trout Almondine (photos below) with a bottle of excellent French red wine and good conversation. A wonderful end of a great trip!

Wednesday morning we got up early and left for our 20+ mi. drive in rather heavy traffic to Denver Airport (photo far below). Returned the car: 1,800 mi/2.900 km driven in 11 days, almost same distance I drive in Germany in half a year! Unfortunately, the first plane we sat in and which has already left the gate, returned because of some engine problem. Currently, waiting at the gate for new announcement and new departure time. We'll see when we arrive to NYC - certainly not as early as planned!

PS: The plane engine could be fixed ("just the ignition") and we arrived to LaGuardia Airport with 2 hours delay, took an Uber to our apartment in Harlem, arrived at 8:30 pm, and had a simple supper in the room with our friend Haeden's summer sausage from North Dakota.

Custer and LeDoux - Little Bighorn and Kaycee

Monday morning we left Billings, Montana, after breakfast in a nice coffee shop, Mazevo Coffee, and enjoyed their freshly roasted coffee. We headed south, to Wyoming, but our first stop this morning was at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. We have had a quick tour two years ago, but now we had more time and did the driving tour over the battlefield on our own again: impressive landscape, though, the vision was a bit impaired due to the wildfires in Wyoming (about 100 mi away).

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also called "Custer's Last Stand" was fought along the ridges, bluffs, and ravines of the Little Bighorn River on June 25-26, 1876. Warriors of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes fought against soldiers of the 7^th Regiment of the US Cavalry. This battle was part of a much larger strategic campaign designed to force the capitulation of Lakota and Cheyenne. Their leaders such as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse had rejected the reservation system and did not sign the 1868 treaty.

Tension escalated in 1874, when Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer was ordered to make an exploration of the Black Hills inside the boundary of the Great Sioux Reservation. Deposits of gold were discovered and the U.S.wanted to purchase the Black Hills from the Lakota, but their offer was rejected. It leaded to a battle fought by the 7^th Cavalry, commanded by Custer, but - to make a long story short -  his strategy failed completely, mostly due to Custers big ego and the huge Indian warrior force. Hundreds of Lakota and Cheyenne warriors surrounded the troups and brought Custer's group to a close. It was a momentary victory for the tribes, but also a rallying point for the U.S. to increase their efforts to force native peoples onto reservation lands. 

 

 

 

National Cemetery

Little Bighorn Trading Post

On we drove, to Kaycee/Wyoming, a little cowtown with about three saloons/bars rowing up at a dusty main street. Focal point is the Chris LeDoux Park with the “Good Ride Cowboy” monument honoring Chris LeDoux, a world champion bareback rider and celebrated country musician who died in 2005 at the age of 56. His son Ned is a successful musician, too.

After about 4.5 hours (300+ mi) driving we reached Casper, WY, where we stayed overnight. Checked out Lou Taubert Ranch Outfitters on Main Street first, then had a drink at the local Black Tooth Brewing Company.

 

Breathtaking : Big Sky Country Montana

Saturday morning we left North Dakota for Montana. It is the 4th largest state in the USA, but only the 8th-least populous state. 1.1 mio people live on approximately 380.000 sq.km - compare to Germany: ca. 360.000 sq.km and over 84 mio. of population !!!

Again, perfect weather, though it has become a bit cooler in the mornings, but, still beautifully warm during the day. First stop on our 5 hours (320 mi/514 km) drive was in Miles City, famous for cattle and bucking horses.

In the old days, Texas drove cattle to Miles City to fatten them on nutricious grass and move them to train stations later to send them off to the slaughterhouses in Chicago. Nowadays famous is the Bucking Horse Sale - a major auction of rodeo stock in May. Stock contractors from all over the U.S. and Canada buy their rodeo broncs and bulls here. 

We stopped at Vintage and Rustics on Main Street, in one of several historic buildings. It's an antique store which we got to know two years ago. It has a wonderful old soda fountain, where we indulged in a chocolate malt and a pecannut roll - calories galore!

 

 

When we arrived to Billings in the afternoon, and had checked into the beautiful historic Northern Hotel, HarvestFest, a community fall festival  in downtown (right photo), was still in full swing and we checked it out. Soon afterwards we were picked up for dinner and had excellent "Steak Oscar" (steak topped with crab meat, artichokes and sauce béarnaise - photo below!) at Jake's. 

Next: the NILE ProRodeo (PRCA) in the local arena MetraPark. Here a few pics from the different rodeo competitions:

Merchandise - vendors at NILE Rodeo

Rodeo Queens

Team Roping

Saddle Bronc Riding

Bareback Riding

Steer Wrestling

Bull Riding

Sunday morning we attended the NILE Stock Show - a great opportunity for breeders  to show off (and sell) their very best animals in different shows. We saw several junior breed shows, where cattle, pigs and goats were shown, in their "Sunday Best", brushed and dry-blown, washed and shaved. Watched some Western riding events, too.

In the afternoon we drove up to Luther Sage (Yellowstone) Kelly's Interpretive Site and gravesite at Swords Rimrock Park. Fantastic city views (though vision was a bit impaired by the effects of wild fires in Wyoming), and, lots of information on Kelly's achievements as a Civil War veteran and Montana scout! 

 

 

 

Evening: Billings Brew Trail with 11 breweries (plus distilleries, a cider mill and a winery), many of them in walking distance from our hotel. We checked out a couple of them: Montana Brewing Company, Thirsty Street (great IPAs!), Uberbrew (had a bite to eat there, too) and Carter's Brewing ,,, and, called it a day afterwards.