South Dakota is the 17th largest state in the USA by area, but the 5th least populous with 886,667 people in the 2020 census, less than a million people. As the southern part of the former Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with North Dakota. Pierre is the state capital with a population of 14,091, the second smallest state capital, since Montpelier, Vermont, is the smallest state capital with 7,855 people. South Dakota is in the Great Plains North Central region of the USA, named after the Dakota Sioux Native American tribe, which still has nine reservations there. Sioux Falls, with a population of about 192,200, is South Dakota’s most populous city. The Missouri River divides South Dakota into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as “East River” and “West River.” Eastern South Dakota is home to most of the state’s population, and the area’s fertile agricultural area. West of the Missouri River, ranching is the predominant agricultural activity, and the economy is more dependent on tourism and defense spending. Most of the Native American reservations are in the West River area. The Black Hills, a group of low pine-covered mountains sacred to the Sioux, and the so-called badlands is in the southwest part of the state. In 1817, an American fur trading post was set up at present-day Fort Pierre, beginning continuous American settlement of the area. Mount Rushmore, a major tourist destination, is near Rapid City, where we were. The Sioux tribe dominated this area in the nineteenth century, before the European-American settlement intensified after a gold rush in 1874-1877, when gold was discovered in the Black Hills during a military expedition led by George A. Custer. Historically dominated by an agricultural economy and a rural lifestyle, South Dakota has recently sought to diversify its economy in other areas to both attract and retain residents. Over the last several decades, the population in many rural areas has declined in South Dakota, in common with other Great Plains states, characterized as “rural flight.” The tourism industry has grown considerably since the mid-twentieth century, with the Black Hills becoming more important as a destination. The financial service industry began to grow in the state as well, with Citibank moving its credit card operations from New York to Sioux Falls in 1981. South Dakota often ranks highly for its way of life. Gallup’s well-being index in 2018 said that South Dakota was the happiest, healthiest state in the USA. South Dakota has the lowest per capita total state tax rate in the USA. However, South Dakota has the highest number of schools per capita in the USA. Some famous people from South Dakota include Tom Brokaw, Al Neuharth, Bob Barker, Pat O’Brien, Mary Hart, Billy Mills, Mike Miller, Mark Ellis, Becky Hammon, Adam Vinatieri, and Kristi Noem. Minor league sports teams compete in Sioux Falls, while universities in South Dakota also host a variety of sports programs. Fishing and hunting are popular outdoor activities in South Dakota. The annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally draws hundreds of thousands of participants from around the USA. While several Democrats have represented South Dakota for multiple terms in both chambers of Congress, the state government is largely controlled by the Republican Party, whose nominees have carried South Dakota in each of the last 14 presidential elections. However, despite its size, two South Dakota senators have been the majority leaders of the USA Senate in the last twenty-five years, Tom Daschle (1947-) and John Thune (1961-). What do you know about South Dakota?
Black Hills Pasion Play in Spearfish, South Dakota
That evening of June 19, 1986, we went to the Black Hills Passion Play and stayed at the Prime Rate Motel in Rapid City, South Dakota. From 1939-2008, forty years, the Black Hills Passion Play drew tens of thousands of people to a 6,000-seat amphitheater on the edge of Spearfish, South Dakota. Passion plays were first staged in the late Middle Ages by monks hoping to educate a mainly illiterate public about the last days of Jesus and the Easter story. This Black Hills Passion play traced its origins to a monastery in Luenen, Germany, and a production first staged in 1242. In 1932, Josef Meier, a seventh-generation Passion play performer born in Luenen, translated this historical play into English. He moved with a small cast to the USA. Meier began looking for locations around the country. In 1938, he chose Spearfish, South Dakota, as the play’s new home base. An amphitheater was built and the play opened in May, 1939, just when I was born. Josef and his wife Clara, who played the leading female roles in the play for many years, retired in 1991 after 9,000 performances. Josef Meier died in 1999 at the age of 94. Clare Meier passed away in 2007. The Meier’s daughter, Johanna Della Vecchia, continued to produce and direct the production in Spearfish through the 2008 season. The Black Hills Passion Play’s last performance was on Sunday, August 31, 2008. Spearfish is the largest city in Lawrence County, South Dakota, with a population was about 12,000, the tenth most populous city in South Dakota. Spearfish is also the home of Black Hills State University with about 3,000 students. During the Black Hills Gold Rush of 1874-1877, this city was founded at the same time, at the mouth of Spearfish Canyon, originally called Queen City. Spearfish grew as a supplier of foodstuffs to the mining camps in the hills. Even today, a significant amount of truck farming and market gardening still occurs in the vicinity. In the 20th century, the history of Spearfish was tied to mining and tourism. Have you ever heard of Spearfish, SD?
Spending the night in Cody, Wyoming
On that June Wednesday night in 1986, we had dinner at the Royal Palace Restaurant and stayed overnight at the Best Western Sunset Inn in Cody, Wyoming. Both institutions are still going today. Cody is the county seat of Park County, Wyoming, named after Buffalo Bill Cody (1846-1917) for his part in the founding of this city in 1896. William Frederick Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started performing in shows that displayed cowboy themes and episodes from the frontier and the Indian Wars. He founded Buffalo Bill’s Wild West in 1883, taking his large company on tours in the USA, and then in Europe, starting in 1887. His name has appeared in many TV shows, movies, novels, and songs. The town of Cody has a population around 10,000 people, the eleventh-largest city in Wyoming, within a 10 square mile area. The Shoshone River flows through the city of Cody with four bridges over this river, at the western edge of the Bighorn Basin. The racial makeup of Cody is 94% White and 4% mixed races. The Buffalo Bill Center of the West features the Draper Natural History Museum, the Plains Indian Museum, the Cody Firearms Museum, the Whitney Western Art Museum, and the Buffalo Bill Museum, which chronicles the life of William F. Cody, for whom the center was named. We looked at them from the outside. There is an Old Trail Town that is a restoration of more than 25 historic Western buildings and artifacts also. The town of Cody calls itself the “Rodeo Capital of the World.” They have both the Cody Nite Rodeo, an annual amateur rodeo event that started in 1939, and the Cody Stampede Rodeo, a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rodeo, that started in 1919, one of the largest rodeos in the USA, with a stampede, parades, rodeos, and fireworks. We spent the morning in Cody, before we headed east in Wyoming towards Rapid City, South Dakota. Along the way, we stopped at Sheridan, as we went through the Big Horn mountains. We were saying goodbye to Wyoming as next up were the Black Hills of South Dakota. Have you ever heard of Buffalo Bill or Cody, Wyoming?
Driving through Yellowstone National Park
Wednesday afternoon, June 18, 1986, we drove through Yellowstone National Park since the Grand Teton Park was only about an hour away. Yellowstone National Park attracts over three-four million visitors each year. Yellowstone is in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. President Ulysses S. Grant, on March 1, 1872, established the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, so that Yellowstone was the first national park in the USA, and probably the first national park in the world. This park is roughly bisected by the Yellowstone River, from which it takes its historical name. Although it is commonly believed that the river was named for the yellow rocks seen in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Native American name source is still unclear. Yellowstone is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially the Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular features. As we drove through the park, of course we saw this geyser. I have two brochures and eleven postcards, but Margaret was more interested in Old Faithful, so that she took nearly 50 photos in Yellowstone National Park. While Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s. In 1917, the administration of this park was transferred to the National Park Service, which had been created the previous year. Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468 square miles, 2,219,789 acres, larger than either of the states of Rhode Island or Delaware, with lakes, canyons, rivers, and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake, the largest super dormant volcano on the continent, has erupted with tremendous force twice in the last two million years. Well over half of the world’s geysers and hydrothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone. Boardwalks allow visitors to safely approach the thermal features, such as the Grand Prismatic Spring, the most famous geyser in the park, and perhaps the world, Old Faithful geyser, located in the Upper Geyser Basin. Yellowstone contains at least 10,000 geothermal features altogether. Paved roads provide close access to the major geothermal areas as well as some of the lakes and waterfalls. This park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining nearly intact ecosystem in the earth’s northern temperate zone. Yellowstone National Park has one of the world’s largest petrified forests, trees which were long ago buried by ash and soil, and were gradually replaced by mineral materials. Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have been documented here, including several that are either endangered or threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants, since Yellowstone Park is the largest and most famous megafauna location in the contiguous United States. This park is inhabited by grizzly bears, cougars, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk. This Yellowstone Park bison herd is the largest and oldest public herd of American bison in the USA. Forest fires occur in the park each year, with the largest forest fire in 1988, covering over one-third of the park. Yellowstone has numerous recreational opportunities, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing, and sightseeing. During the winter, visitors often access the park by way of guided tours that use snowmobiles. The National Park Service maintains over 2,000 buildings, such as the Old Faithful Inn built from 1903 to 1904. Camping is available at a dozen campgrounds with more than 2,000 campsites. In 1978, Yellowstone was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Have you ever been to Yellowstone National Park?
Driving through Grand Teton National Park
Wednesday, June 18, 1986, was a day of driving. In the morning, we drove through the Grand Teton National Park, as we said goodbye to Jackson Hole, as we headed to northwestern Wyoming. At approximately 310,000 acres, this park includes the major peaks of the 40-mile-long Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Grand Teton National Park is 10 miles south of Yellowstone National Park, to which it is connected by the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway. Along with surrounding national forests, these three protected areas constitute the almost 22-million-acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the world’s largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems. The human history of the Grand Teton region dates back at least 11,000 years. In the early 19th century, the first European explorers encountered the eastern Shoshone people. Between 1810 and 1840, the region attracted fur trading companies that vied for control of the lucrative beaver pelt trade. The USA government expeditions to the region commenced in the mid-19th century, with the first permanent white settlers arriving in the 1880s. Efforts to preserve the region as a national park began in the late 19th century. On, February 26. 1929, President Calvin Coolidge signed the executive order establishing the original 96,000-acre Grand Teton National Park, protecting the Teton Range’s major peaks. In the 1930s, conservationists led by John D. Rockefeller Jr. began purchasing land in Jackson Hole to be added to the existing national park. Grand Teton National Park is named for Grand Teton, the tallest mountain in the Teton Range at 13,775 feet, more than 7,000 feet above Jackson Hole. In addition to this Grand Teton, another nine peaks are over 12,000 feet above sea level, often-photographed as the Cathedral Group. This park has numerous lakes, including a 15-mile-long Jackson Lake as well as streams and the upper main stem of the Snake River. Some of the rocks in the park are the oldest found in any American national park, dating nearly 2.7 billion years. Grand Teton National Park is an almost pristine ecosystem and the same species of flora and fauna that have existed since prehistoric times can still be found there. More than 1,000 species of vascular plants, dozens of species of mammals, 300 species of birds, more than a dozen fish species, and a few species of reptiles and amphibians inhabit the park. Due to changes in the ecosystem, some of them human-induced, efforts have been made to provide enhanced protection to some species of native fish and the increasingly threatened white bark pine. Grand Teton National Park is a popular destination for mountaineering, hiking, fishing, and recreation. Grand Teton National Park is one of the ten most visited national parks in the USA. The youngest mountain range in the Rocky Mountains, the Teton Range began forming between 6 and 9 million years ago. Of the larger mammals, the most common are elk, which exist in the thousands. Grand Teton National Park permits the hunting of elk to keep the populations of that species regulated. Over 300 species of birds have been sighted in the park. The Snake River’s fine-spotted cutthroat trout is the only native trout species in Grand Teton National Park. Grand Teton National Park is a popular destination for mountain and rock climbers partly because the mountains are easily accessible by road. This park has 200 miles of hiking trails, ranging in difficulty from easy to strenuous. I have twelve postcards of the various mountains in this park. Most of the snow peaks were mountain covered in June. Have you ever seen snow in June?
Whitewater rafting on the Snake River
On Tuesday, June 17, 1986, Joy, Margaret, and I went on a Whitewater trip on the Snake River. In the morning, we took the Sands Wild Water River Trip that started at Sheep Gulch and ended at West Table Creek. In the afternoon, we went on a more sedate scenic five-mile trip on the Barker-Ewing Float Trip through the Grand Teton National Park that started at Teton Village. Both these operations are still going today. I have brochures from them in 1986, and five postcards of Jackson Hole and whitewater rafting. Then, we went horseback riding into the ski area. It was quite a busy day. There were about ten people in each raft. The guide was in the middle of the raft with oars directing the movement and explaining to us what to do. We had to wear life jackets. We got wet as we went along. However, they drove us back to the starting place. I enjoyed the whitewater part and the calmer view of Teton National Park from the Snake River. The horseback riding was just okay. The Snake River is a major river in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the USA, about 1,080 miles long, the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Snake River begins north of Two Ocean Pass near the southern border of Yellowstone National Park, about 9,200 feet above sea level in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming. This river descends west through the high mountains of the Teton Wilderness meeting the Lewis River and continuing south into Jackson Lake in the Grand Teton National Park, a natural glacial lake enlarged by Jackson Lake Dam. Joined by Pacific Creek and Buffalo Fork below the dam, it meanders southward through the alpine valley of Jackson Hole situated on the plain in front of the Teton Range to the west. Below the town of Jackson Hole, it forms the Snake River Canyon of Wyoming, turns west and crosses into Idaho. It flows across the arid Snake River Plain of southern Idaho, the rugged Hells Canyon on the borders of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, and finally the rolling Hills of southeast Washington, where it joins the Columbia River just downstream in the southern Columbia Basin. The Snake River Plain was a product of the Yellowstone volcanic hotspot, altered by catastrophic flooding in the most recent Ice Age. The present-day course of the Snake River was pieced together over millions of years from several formerly disconnected drainage systems. While the Snake River course beyond Jackson Hole was not directly impacted by glaciations, its landscape was dramatically changed by the Ice Age flooding events. The name of Snake River comes from the Plains indigenous people who referred to the Shoshone people as “Snake People.” The Shoshone referred to themselves as “People of the River of Many Fish.” However, the Shoshone sign for salmon was the same to the Plains indigenous people as the common sign for a snake. Thus, the English name for the river was likely derived from this interpretation of the hand gesture, although it is uncertain when this name was first used. At the turn of the twentieth century, some of the first large irrigation projects in the western USA were developed along the Snake River. Most of the Snake River watershed is on public land. Wednesday night, we had supper at Jedediah’s restaurant in Jackson Hole that is still there today. Have you ever gone whitewater rafting?
The state of Wyoming
Wyoming is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western USA. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the south. Wyoming is the least populous state despite being the 10th largest by area, and it has the second-lowest population density after Alaska. With an estimated population of 587,618, the state capital and most populous city is Cheyenne, which has a population of 65,132, with 23 counties. Wyoming’s climate is drier and windier overall than other states, with greater temperature extremes. The federal government owns just under half of Wyoming’s land, generally protecting it for public use. As of 2017, Wyoming received more federal tax dollars as a percentage of state general revenue than any state except Montana. Part of the land that became Wyoming came via the Louisiana Purchase, part via the Oregon Treaty, and, lastly, via the Mexican Cession. With the opening of the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, and the California Trail, vast numbers of pioneers traveled through parts of the state that had once been traversed mainly by fur trappers. This spurred the establishment of forts, such as Fort Laramie, that today serve as population centers. The Transcontinental Railroad supplanted the wagon trails in 1867 with a route through southern Wyoming, bringing new settlers and the establishment of founding towns, including the state capital of Cheyenne. On March 27, 1890, Wyoming became the union’s 44th state. On November 5, 1889, voters approved the first constitution in the world granting full voting rights to women. In honor of this part of its history, its official nickname is “The Equality State” and its official state motto is “Equal Rights.” Wyoming’s economy is largely based on tourism and the extraction of minerals such as coal, natural gas, oil, and trona. Wyoming does not require the owners of LLCs to be disclosed in their filing. It does not levy any individual or corporate income tax. However, Wyoming has a state sales tax of 4%. They do not collect any capital gains taxes, gift taxes, or estate taxes. This region had acquired the name Wyoming by 1865 when Representative James Mitchell Ashley of Ohio introduced a bill to Congress to provide a temporary government for the territory of Wyoming. The territory was named after the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. American John Colter first recorded a description in English of the region in 1807, as a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The Union Pacific Railroad constructed track was used as the route for construction of Interstate 80 through the mountains 90 years later. After the Union Pacific Railroad reached Cheyenne in 1867, population growth was stimulated. The federal government established the Wyoming Territory on July 25, 1868. Once government-sponsored expeditions to the Yellowstone country began, Colter’s and Bridger’s descriptions of the region’s landscape were confirmed. In 1872, Yellowstone National Park was created as the world’s first, to protect this area. The population’s racial composition of Wyoming today is 85% white. Catholics rank 1% lower than Mormons with 12% of the population. Republicans are 77% of the Wyoming populations, so that the Republican presidential nominee has carried the state in every election since 1968. State legislators appointed a commission in 2023 to create a stablecoin, aiming to be the first cryptocurrency created by any USA state. Have you ever been to Wyoming?
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
On Monday night, June 16, 1986, we arrived at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We were staying at the Americana Snow King Resort in Jackson Hole, the first ski resort in Jackson Hole, that still exists today. The first ski rope tow was built at Teton Pass in 1937 and Snow King Resort was established in 1930. Teton County has three excellent ski areas including Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village, Grand Targhee Ski, and the Summer Resort located on the western slope of the Tetons, as well as Snow King Resort. Jackson Hole is a resort town in Teton County, Wyoming, the county seat, at an elevation of 6,237 feet above sea level. Flat Creek, a tributary of the Snake River, runs through the town. The snowfall averages about 78 inches. From 1960 until 2020, Jackson Hole has grown from 1,437 to 10,760 people. Less than 3% of land in Teton County is privately owned. 97% of the land is federally or state owned or managed. The town is called Jackson Hole, which is the name of the valley in which it is located, only about 3 square miles. Jackson Hole is a popular tourist destination due to its proximity to the ski resorts and the gateway to the Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. David Edward Jackson (1789-1837) gave his name to the valley after a winter spent on the shores of Jackson Lake. William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) took the first photographs of the Teton Range and Yellowstone. Yellowstone National Park became the first National Park in 1872. Grand Teton National Park was created in 1929. The town of Jackson was named in 1894 and incorporated in 1914. Jackson Hole elected an all-woman city government in 1920. In 2009, the town of Jackson Hole was designated as a Preserve America Community. This designation recognizes that, as a community, the town protects and celebrates its heritage, uses historic assets for economic development, and encourages people to experience and appreciate local historic resources. A strong local economy, primarily due to tourism, has allowed Jackson Hole to develop a large shopping and eating district characterized by many art galleries, custom jewelers, and designer clothing retailers centered on the town square. The Grand Teton National Park is roughly 5 miles away from Jackson. Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the country, and brings in roughly four million visitors each year, even though mostly in Wyoming, Yellowstone also extends into Idaho and Montana, about 60 miles away from Jackson. The town is served by Jackson Hole Airport, the busiest airport in the state of Wyoming. There have been many movies shot in Jackson Hole, with about twenty celebrities who call Jackson Hole home including Sandra Bullock and Harrison Ford. Jackson has gained notability since a livestream of its town square went viral on YouTube in 2016. Have you ever been to Jackson Hole?
The Continental Divide
On Monday morning, June 16, 1986, we said goodbye to the Littleton Finnegans, as we headed to Wyoming. We were going to stop at the Continental Divide on our way to Wyoming. The Continental Divide of the Americas is the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas. The Continental Divide extends from the northern Bering Strait to the southern Strait of Magellan, separating the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain into the Atlantic and Arctic Ocean, including those that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and Hudson Bay. Although there are many other hydrological divides in the Americas, the Continental Divide is by far the most prominent of these because it tends to follow a line of high peaks along the main ranges of the Rocky Mountains and the Andes, at a generally much higher elevation than the other hydrological divisions. Grays Peak, at 14,278 feet, is the highest point of the Continental Divide in North America. The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail follows the Divide through the USA from the Mexico–USA border to the Canada–USA border. The trail itself is a corridor of pathways. There are dedicated footpaths or back roads, either on or near the Continental Divide. We actually stopped at Berthoud Pass that was only 11,307 feet in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, just west of Denver, named for Edward L. Berthoud, the chief surveyor of the Colorado Central Railroad during the 1870s. Berthoud discovered the pass in July 1861 while surveying a possible route for the railroad. The route of USA Highway 40 currently traverses the pass north of its junction with Interstate 70 in Clear Creek Canyon. However, this pass is one of the most notoriously difficult passes in Colorado for motorists, based on its height as well as the steep grades on both sides, and the large number of switchbacks on the southern side of the pass. It was no wonder that Margaret kept telling me to be careful. Berthoud Pass is known for the wide variety of wildflowers growing in the area. Berthoud Ski resort was claimed by some to have been the first resort and lift in Colorado, perhaps the first resort to openly welcome snowboarders. Anyhow, we got over it and had lunch at the Old Town Pub in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, about a 156 miles north of Denver. We were on our way to Wyoming. Have you ever seen a Continental Divide?
Riding an elephant at the Denver Zoo
On Sunday morning, June 15, 1986, all the Finnegans went to St. Thomas More Center at 8035 S. Quebec St., that is still going today. This Church, built in 1958, overlooks the Rockies. They even had a restaurant and a school there. We had breakfast with John and Frances Finnegan, before we set out for the Denver Zoo. The Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance is an 80-acre nonprofit zoological garden and conservation organization that was founded in 1896 with an orphaned American black bear. It became the first zoo in the United States to use naturalistic zoo enclosures rather than cages with bars. The Denver Zoological Foundation was created in 1950, the same year that the zoo acquired its first elephant. A children’s zoo was opened in 1951. The zoo opened the Feline House in 1964, a Giraffe House in 1966, and an Animal Hospital in 1969. Bird World was opened in 1975, followed by the Mountain Sheep Habitat in 1979, Northern Shores for polar bears, Arctic foxes, North American river otters, and pinnipeds in 1987, and Wolf Pack Woods in 1988. The Toyota Elephant Passage is a $50 million 10-acre exhibit. At its opening, it was the largest bull elephant habitat in the world, designed to house up to 12 elephants, 8 of them bulls. This arrangement allowed the zoo to conduct behavioral research related to the recent discovery that bull elephants form loose bachelor herds in the wild when not breeding with matriarchal herds. This exhibit houses Asian elephants and other animals such as greater one-horned rhinoceros and Malayan tapirs, which rotate among different habitats in the same style as Predator Ridge. It includes more than 2 miles of trails for the animals. Pools in the exhibit contain a total of 1,100,000 gallons. This elephant exhibit opened with two female elephants and two bull elephants. Denver’s herd is the largest Asian elephant bachelor herd in the world with five bulls. The thing that I remember most of all about these elephants is that we got to ride them. I know that Sean Crilly, myself, and my daughter Joy got to ride some of these elephants. I have pictures of us on these elephants, as a trainer walked along side us. It was real fun and these elephants were very gentle. However, back in 1990, the Denver Zoo stopped offering elephant rides anymore. Have you ever ridden on an elephant?
Gene Finnegan Remembers Living Eighty Wonderful Years 