Monday, August 18, 2008

Black Hills SD - Crazy Horse Memorial - Mt Rushmore

On Saturday we got an early start for the Black Hills. There is kind of a scenic loop that takes you through and past lots of interesting things. I know I've posted a lot of animals, but this one really caught me as funny when you can see both ends of a huge animal.

No more animals I promise, until I see something else lol

There are a few campgrounds on this scenic loop, but I think you have to come in a special way if you were to drive the rv. We passed through at least 2 of these tunnels.




We glanced down at the gps at one point and thought the curvy roads showed up well. What do you think guys, time for a road trip? lol


There were huge rock formations every where you looked.

The Crazy Horse Memorial is a work in progress. This scaled down model is what the completed work should look like.

The first blast on this project was in June of 1948 and took off just 10 tons. Millions of tons have been removed since. This is a private non profit project. They want no national funding for it. When completed the vision is to have the sculpture, a university and medical training center along with a museum of native history. This is a picture of the sculpture to date. The horse's 22 story high head is blocked out now.

The video we watched at the visitor center helped to put the size in perspective. Mt Rushmore would fit into the hair of Crazy Horse! When looking off into the distance it is hard to convey the difference in size. Mt Rushmore looked huge too.

Next stop was Mt Rushmore. We've all seen it, but it's still a beautiful sight. There were a lot of changes since we were last there 20 years ago. Twenty years ago you just drove up to the base of it and looked up, today there is a huge parking garage and then you walk up to a walkway that is lined with state flags. There is also stadium seating.


The Black Hills of SD shouldn't be missed on a trip wests. Don't forget to bring home rocks lol. We bought a rock from the blasting of Crazy Horse (remember the movie "The Long Trailer" with Lucille Ball?) and then we went by a rock quarry that was selling lots of Black Hills rocks. Oh yeah, we got some for the garden lol. Fun trip.

4 comments:

Becki said...

Very cool. I love rocks. And cliffs (but not from the edge...)

siteseer said...

Harmony, lots of cliffs with quick drop offs. While up on the Teton Mts there was a little boy that reminded me of us when you guys were little. His mom just walked away and let dad handle the little boy walking precariously close to the edge. I too had to walk away lol.

Michelle said...

Great pictures. Looks like a beautiful state. I think this is very close to where my hubby use to live in his single days. Hope you're having a fun trip.

Tammy said...

This is a trip I would love to take my kid's on. I also remember the Crazy Horse rock thing. I sould look for those pictures and see what the differance is.