Doubling back to South Dakota

In my account of my recent travels, I realize I never talked about visiting either the Crazy Horse Memorial, or Mount Rushmore. And what happened was that I didn't have any pictures worth sharing. The few I took didn't turn out well.

So, doubling back...

My first stop, midday Tuesday, was the Crazy Horse Memorial. This is amazing. I don't have time to tell the whole story, but you can look it up. Some details I will highlight:

- The organizers want to create a city there, made up of a university and a museum as well as the memorial. All three exist in embryonic form, but not finished.

- They said they won't take federal dollars because they don't trust the feds to honor the plan.

- The statue being carved out of the mountain will take a very long time to complete. It began in the 40s, and only the head and the upper part of Crazy Horse's arm is complete. I didn't see an estimate of how long it will take, but perhaps not even 100 years will be enough. The sculptor -- whose grandchildren are working on it now! -- laughed in the film that is shown, saying, so what? Time is relative!

- There's a lot more to see in the museum, and there were young ladies giving presentations in Native American dance and music; I left my hat in my car and so couldn't sit too long in the sun, and I wanted to move on to Mount Rushmore. In any case, I actually spent more time at Crazy Horse than with the four presidents.

Onto Mt. Rushmore...

It's striking how the planners arranged it; you don't really see the famous images until you have parked and ascended the stairs and entered through a grand passageway; then, there they are!

I didn't even bother taking photos of the mountain! You can find better images online. When I arrived, I was still a little sun-weary so I sat in a shady spot, both to contemplate the mountain, and to watch the people. It was like a little UN; there were bikers wearing Harley-Davidson gear whose native language seemed to be German! I couldn't help laughing as a dad patiently tried to get his kids to cooperate with a photograph.

There are displays on the story behind the famous sculptures, but I was already familiar with it, and at any rate, I was worn out. What I didn't know, but learned at the prior stop, was that the sculptor who gave his life to dynamiting Crazy Horse out of a mountain, worked first for the scultor at nearby Mt. Rushmore. 

Also something to keep in mind, if you visit: there is an ampitheater at the foot of the mountain, and at night (every night?) there is a lighting ceremony; if I'd done my homework, I might have planned to be there for that. But I arrived around 3 pm, and didn't want to hang around for six hours, nor did I want to return. But I bet that would be cool to see.

OK, that's a wrap!