President and Accounted for Mount Rushmore and More, SD

Miles Driven: 150 (includes driving around Blacks Hills) September 11th Wasta, SD to Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Custer State Park to Mount Rushmore, SD to Sundance, WY
Total Miles: 2362.3
Parking Fees: $10
Camping Fees: $0

Spent the morning driving through Wyoming to get to Mount Rushmore.  I reached the Black Hills at noon.  Getting to Mount Rushmore requires you to drive up into the snaking roads of the Black Hills.  Just as you round a corner the monument looms in the distance.  Now I don’t want to say I was disappoint, but maybe a little under whelmed.  I have seen many a photograph and it looks bigger in a picture than is does in real life.

Mt Rushmore Avenue of the Flags, SD

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that the monument is an amazing piece of art, its just smaller than I expected.  I drove further up the road to the entrance.  There is not an entrance fee but there is a parking fee.  Walking up the Avenue of Flags to the Grand View Terrace you see the four Presidents in all their glory.  OK, off the top of your heads who can name them?  You’ve got 10 seconds and no cheating go ……….From left to right, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.   I must admit I only got three of the four.  And they represent the birth, growth, development and preservation of the nation.

To early for a good photograph and the lighting ceremony I went off down the road (hills) to Crazy Horse.  Wow, Crazy Horse is massive compared to Rushmore.  Size wise, the four heads of the presidents will be able to fit into the hair of crazy horse.

Crazy Horse, Black Hills, SD

1/34th Model Crazy Horse Black Hills, SD

It has taken 50 years just to finish the head, now they are working on the horse.  As crazy horse is an active blast site, walking up to the mountain is prohibited.  Taking a $4 bus ride will get you to the bottom but the lines were to long.  The sculptor, Korezak Ziolkowski twice turned down $10 million dollars from the Government saying the memorial “is for the people, by the people“.  I hung around the view veranda taking photographs.  There is a 1/34th crazy horse model that you can get an idea as to how the finished memorial will look.  Thing is it will not be finished for at least another 100 years.  Taking a piece of rock I left and headed to Custer State park.

Custer State Park, SD

Custer State park is further down the road and is nestled in the Black Hills.  Not having much time as the sun was setting I came across a lake and took a couple of photographs of the sun setting over a ripped lake.  Not bad if I do say so myself.  Heading back to Rushmore for the lighting ceremony I was reminded of the day, September 11th.  There was an extra long ceremony and blessing for all soldiers past and present ending with the national anthem.  As I did not put my hand over my heart and sing, not American, I was spotted by another English couple, They were here on holiday and had just come from Yellowstone my next destination.  We are everywhere…

Mount Rushmore Light Up, SD

Needing to be on the road for awhile I drove for an hour so until I came across a rest stop.   The rest stop was just inside the state line in Sundance, WY.