Two more parks that I wish did not exist for they are reminders that people can be very cruel to each other, and often beyond cruelty. The first stop that morning was near the very small town of Granada at the Amache Japanese Relocation Camp - for “relocation” read internment and it is more accurate. 10,000 people of Japanese ancestry mostly from Los Angeles were housed here in barracks for the duration of WWII. I understand the anxiety of the potential threat however, the solution was excessive and too often those who were sent to these camps did not recover their homes or businesses.
The second stop was much worse. Here after an hour drive on very rural roads and miles of dirt roads as well, we came to the site of the Sand Creek Massacre. There is zero rationale for this. A large band, 750 estimated, of indians mostly women and children and elderly men who were in the last stages of peace negotiations with the US government, were attacked and slaughtered. Rather than recap this disgusting event, if you wish you can read about it her:: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_Creek_massacre.
From here we made our way to Salina Kansas where we had dinner with some of Jill’s relatives and stayed the night with Jill’s Sister-in-Law, Greta Lagerberg. It was nice to spend some time there.
