A Large Peace Pipe in the Minnesota snow.
Guess where the large peace pipe is? Right! Pipestone, Minnesota.
(I know you already knew that.)
After all of this 100+ degree heat, part of me wishes I was still freezing my tail off in South Dakota. To finish out my trip to the frozen tundra, where TSA felt me up, and I saw the best butt crack ever, I now bring you a giant peace pipe. And some more pictures of snow. You’re welcome.
The large peace pipe is proudly displayed next to the Keepers of the Sacred Tradition of Pipemakers store. The area is known for the pipestone Native Americans use for making pipes.
“When you pray with this pipe, you pray for and with everything.” -Black Elk
Smoke ’em if you got ’em.
That would be a mighty big prayer.
You too can see the large peace pipe, and maybe even buy one of your own. It’s at the corner of 4th Street and Hiawatha Avenue in Pipestone, Minnesota. The horse cart sculpture pictured below is at the same location.
Horse cart sculpture near peace pipe.
I would really like to be making snowballs in that snow right about now. It’s hard to believe only a few months ago I was in snow, and now I’m in 100+ degree heat. Oh, to find a happy medium!
I sort of wish I was there right now, playing in the snow.
Oddly, the biggest draw to the area is not the giant peace pipe, but is the Pipestone National Monument. Not that National Monuments are lovely, but I had only enough time for one weird, wacky or wonderful stop. Unless this is your first visit to my site, it should come as no surprise I lean toward the weird and wacky.
At Pipestone National Monument, the pipestone is still quarried today for use in making pipes. Before you plan your trip to get yourself some pipestone from the quarry, you should know a quarry permit is required. To qualify for a permit, you have to be a member of a federally-recognized tribe. Even then, you are only placed on a waiting list. It’s probably easier to just go to the little store with the giant peace pipe in front.
Hmm. Probably easier just to go to your local head shop. Or is that an archaic term? (And — God forbid — am I also giving my age away?!)
I didn’t go in, but that little store with the large peace pipe in front sells pipes. It’s probably not a “head” shop, but a store with Indian crafts.
And while we’re on the subject of snow, how well I remember it from my eastern childhood. The steep, icy driveway in New Jersey. Walking home from the school bus stop to face it — in view of the other kids — hitting that ice and falling on my arse day after day. (What’s worse, we’re talking adolescence here.) Until I got my secret weapon — cleats on an elasticized band. Slip ’em on your shoes discreetly — and it’s as good as walkin’ on water.
We had a moment of rain here today. What continues to amaze me about Texas weather is how it can be pouring rain, and it will still be 85 degrees out. WTH?