Clark Days !

Aimee here—the past few weeks at Garryowen have flown by! Between rodeos, birthdays, bull riding, and interns coming and going, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks. About two weeks ago, Chris gave all three of us the day off to go to Clark Days. Clark (of the famous duo Lewis and Clark) Days is a festival that happens every summer at Pompey’s Pillar dedicated to the memory of the Lewis and Clark expedition. I’ve mentioned this in previous blogs, but I want to reiterate the fact that I LOVE the story of Lewis and Clark. Needless to say, I had been itching to finally get a chance to experience some L & C stuff out here.

Pompey’s Pillar is a very historic place in itself. It stands as the only physical evidence on the land from the journey. In 1806, Clark carved his name and the date onto the rock structure. At the time, he also named it for Sacagawea’s son who he called Pomp. I had been looking forward to seeing this landmark since I found out I was moving to Montana, but when you add a day full of L & C themed activities, I could barely contain my excitement.
That morning, I put on my moccasins, beaded shorts and L & C shirt (yes, I do have a shirt with the pictures of L & C and a map on it) and hit the road. When we finally arrived, we checked out the Visitor’s Center. I had warned Sami and Rob that I would be “channeling my inner nerd” all day, but I don’t think they fully understood until I put on the “explorer” clothes they had on display. The center had about 2 shirts, a pair of pants, and a dress that looked and felt like what the explorers would have worn during the expedition. Of course, I made a silly pose like I was exploring and had Sami take a picture. When I disappeared to watch the movie by myself, I think they finally realized exactly what I had meant about reaching out to my inner nerd.

After I read about every sign and looked at every picture in the Visitor’s Center we ventured outside to the other activities. I thought I couldn't get anymore excited and then I saw Sacagawea. Obviously not the real one, but a woman was standing there in Native clothing depicting the famous Shoshone Indian woman. For those of you who don't know, I have been wearing moccasins for about three years now because of my nerd-love for Sacagawea. It was like I was seeing a celebrity; I wanted to get a picture with her, but I was too star struck to ask. I finally asked her (with much taunting from my fellow interns) and it is certainly a picture I will always treasure.

On the site, they had a lot of fun, educational activities. We learned about the medicine that was used on the expedition and the clothes they would have worn. I got to play dress-up again and this time Sami joined me. We put on some raccoon hats and Native shirts and had a small photo shoot. There was a booth set up to make a rubbing of the famous Wm. Clark signature. I asked the ladies if I was too old to participate and happily started coloring when they told me there was no age limit. I took a big, black crayon and colored my sheet of paper until the signature appeared. Then, I got to use rubber stamps and add pictures of animals and teepees. The other two interns just laughed, but I was really proud of my artwork!

We embarked on an expedition of our own when we started the hike up to the top of the pillar to see the signature. There were a lot of stairs and it was incredibly hot, but the views made it all worthwhile. At the top of the pillar, you could see for miles and miles; it seemed like the landscape never ended. I was really excited to finally see the signature and snap some photos of it. It was such an amazing feeling to actually be in the same place where Clark and his part of the expedition walked and see the same things they did. All in all, Clark Days satisfied the nerd in me and fulfilled my desire to explore some of the Lewis & Clark expedition out west.