Day 5 has got to go down in the books as the best day ever! We left our hotel in Hill City, south of Rapid City and headed towards Mt Rushmore. It was very windy and very cold. I think this was the coldest day so far, it never got to 50. Just an FYI, my daughter in law told me that if you click on a picture, it will make it full size. She says that the blog size just don't do some of them justice, so try it. Anyway, 15 miles later, come around a corner and this is what we see. Absolutely amazing. The story goes: Charles Rushmore was a lawyer from NYC. He was a frequent visitor to Keystone, another small town near where we stayed. He handled all the law things for the mining company there. Rumor has it that we had a knack for getting under the locals skin, he asked so many questions. Now maybe that's a lawyer thing, the getting under the skin part, I don't know. Anyway, one day, while he was horseback riding with some locals, they told him that if he didn't ask anymore questions, they would name this mountain after him. I guess it worked, cause we now have Mt Rushmore.
If you have never been here, which neither Dave nor I have, it's a must see. Impressive and impossing are two words that come to mind. The state historian wanted something built that would attract visitors the the state. they commissioned a man whose first name escapes me, last name Borglum and work began, I think in 1923. While we were there, we met a man, he's 91yrs old now that worked on the faces, well actually he only worked on Lincoln and Roosevelt and we bought his book for $10 and he signed it. He told us that Roosevelt was the last face to be completed and the hardest, if you look, it is recessed in and required alot of rock to be removed. He worked from 1939-41. It attracks 3 million visitors a year, so I guess it was a good idea.
This view, if you look real close, is slightly different from the rest. We walked down almost to the bottom and off to the right.
This is a picture taken off to the left of the faces, it gives you an idea of what things look like. The rock is granite and looks very black when you're driving.
Profile shot as we're leaving the park.
Next stop was the Crazy Horse monument. It is privately funded, a not for profit entity. The man who started this was from New England and for our purposes, he will be called Karschak. That's real close to his first name, I'm just a bit too tired to get first and last exactly. Anyway, he was a sculptor and one day he received a letter from an Indian chief, Henry Standing Bear out in South Dakota. The letter said that the white man had their monument and that if Karschak would do it, the Indians would have theirs. He agreed and started this project single handedly. He arrived in 1947, was almost 40yrs old and broke. He believed in free enterprise and twice turned down $10,000,000 offers from the US government for federal funding. He died in 1982 and his wife and 7 of his 10 children continue. Crazy Horse is considered a hero to all Indian nations, but he is of the Lakota tribe. When asked where his people live, while sitting on horseback, he leaned forward, stretched his arm out forward, pointed his finger and said "my lands are where my dead lie buried" this pose, as described, has become the pose for this monument.
When completed, it will be the largest carving in the world. It will stand 563 ft., and 641ft long. Dave and I paid a fee and a nice guy took us all the way to the top as you see here. We are standing on his outstretched arm. It was freaky awesome. We both touched the side of his face and maybe someday, we will bring our grandchildren here and tell them this story.
A view from the top of Crazy Horse looking to the right.
From Crazy Horse, we headed to Jewel National Memorial. It is the second longest cave system in the country. We got there late, all the tours except the small 25 minute one were done. Dave went on that one alone, no offense, but I have seen all the caves I care to see. From Jewel, we decided to see if we could get a room at Custer State Park. Riding in, these guys on the left are just walking around. Again, it's Disney like, cue the Pronghorns! I just can't believe it.
Now, I can't think of too much that is more breathtaking than coming around a corner and seeing these guys. They are absolutely beastly. To me, they are so ugly they are beautiful. There they are, just standing there, eating dirt. Dave says that if they can be driven off a cliff, they can't be all that smart.
I did get off the bike to take these pictures and got scolded by a woman that asked me if I knew that I couldn't get on the bike and away from there fast enough if they decided to charge. Come on, could you, would you have passed up this?
To end the night, we are in Custer State Park staying here. OK, it is now morning, and I wish I had been told the rules of staying in "authentic historic lodges" inside parks. The rules of the lodge game are as follow: All rooms share a common foyer that is at the top of very squeaky stairs. You must start at 5 am but no later than 5:30 to play. First, open your door that has a spring on it. Walk out, let it slam. Now see how many times you can walk up and down the stairs. That's it, easy, isn't it? I don't know who won this morning, but from now on, I will know how to play. The lodge is nice, it has a bar, restaurant and of course a gift shop. Today will see us making the drive around the park on the wildlife loop to see if we can see the buffalo herd. Next Monday, the 26th is the roundup. They start each spring with under 1000 bison. In Sept they have a roundup that is attended by thousands. The bison are pregnancy tested, vaccinated, tagged and branded. In order to manage the size, they will once again sift off some young, female, male bison and auction them. They estimate this fall's roundup to be around 1500 bison. It is necessary to do this or the park would become overrun. We hope to be in Deadwood to end this day. Peace out, love to all, Linda
Day 5 has got to go down in the books as the best day ever! We left our hotel in Hill City, south of Rapid City and headed towards Mt Rushmore. It was very windy and very cold. I think this was the coldest day so far, it never got to 50. Just an FYI, my daughter in law told me that if you click on a picture, it will make it full size. She says that the blog size just don't do some of them justice, so try it. Anyway, 15 miles later, come around a corner and this is what we see. Absolutely amazing. The story goes: Charles Rushmore was a lawyer from NYC. He was a frequent visitor to Keystone, another small town near where we stayed. He handled all the law things for the mining company there. Rumor has it that we had a knack for getting under the locals skin, he asked so many questions. Now maybe that's a lawyer thing, the getting under the skin part, I don't know. Anyway, one day, while he was horseback riding with some locals, they told him that if he didn't ask anymore questions, they would name this mountain after him. I guess it worked, cause we now have Mt Rushmore. 
If you have never been here, which neither Dave nor I have, it's a must see. Impressive and impossing are two words that come to mind. The state historian wanted something built that would attract visitors the the state. they commissioned a man whose first name escapes me, last name Borglum and work began, I think in 1923. While we were there, we met a man, he's 91yrs old now that worked on the faces, well actually he only worked on Lincoln and Roosevelt and we bought his book for $10 and he signed it. He told us that Roosevelt was the last face to be completed and the hardest, if you look, it is recessed in and required alot of rock to be removed. He worked from 1939-41. It attracks 3 million visitors a year, so I guess it was a good idea.
This view, if you look real close, is slightly different from the rest. We walked down almost to the bottom and off to the right. 
This is a picture taken off to the left of the faces, it gives you an idea of what things look like. The rock is granite and looks very black when you're driving.
Profile shot as we're leaving the park.
Next stop was the Crazy Horse monument. It is privately funded, a not for profit entity. The man who started this was from New England and for our purposes, he will be called Karschak. That's real close to his first name, I'm just a bit too tired to get first and last exactly. Anyway, he was a sculptor and one day he received a letter from an Indian chief, Henry Standing Bear out in South Dakota. The letter said that the white man had their monument and that if Karschak would do it, the Indians would have theirs. He agreed and started this project single handedly. He arrived in 1947, was almost 40yrs old and broke. He believed in free enterprise and twice turned down $10,000,000 offers from the US government for federal funding. He died in 1982 and his wife and 7 of his 10 children continue. Crazy Horse is considered a hero to all Indian nations, but he is of the Lakota tribe. When asked where his people live, while sitting on horseback, he leaned forward, stretched his arm out forward, pointed his finger and said "my lands are where my dead lie buried" this pose, as described, has become the pose for this monument. 
When completed, it will be the largest carving in the world. It will stand 563 ft., and 641ft long. Dave and I paid a fee and a nice guy took us all the way to the top as you see here. We are standing on his outstretched arm. It was freaky awesome. We both touched the side of his face and maybe someday, we will bring our grandchildren here and tell them this story. 
A view from the top of Crazy Horse looking to the right.
From Crazy Horse, we headed to Jewel National Memorial. It is the second longest cave system in the country. We got there late, all the tours except the small 25 minute one were done. Dave went on that one alone, no offense, but I have seen all the caves I care to see. From Jewel, we decided to see if we could get a room at Custer State Park. Riding in, these guys on the left are just walking around. Again, it's Disney like, cue the Pronghorns! I just can't believe it.
Now, I can't think of too much that is more breathtaking than coming around a corner and seeing these guys. They are absolutely beastly. To me, they are so ugly they are beautiful. There they are, just standing there, eating dirt. Dave says that if they can be driven off a cliff, they can't be all that smart.
I did get off the bike to take these pictures and got scolded by a woman that asked me if I knew that I couldn't get on the bike and away from there fast enough if they decided to charge. Come on, could you, would you have passed up this?
To end the night, we are in Custer State Park staying here. OK, it is now morning, and I wish I had been told the rules of staying in "authentic historic lodges" inside parks. The rules of the lodge game are as follow: All rooms share a common foyer that is at the top of very squeaky stairs. You must start at 5 am but no later than 5:30 to play. First, open your door that has a spring on it. Walk out, let it slam. Now see how many times you can walk up and down the stairs. That's it, easy, isn't it? I don't know who won this morning, but from now on, I will know how to play. The lodge is nice, it has a bar, restaurant and of course a gift shop. Today will see us making the drive around the park on the wildlife loop to see if we can see the buffalo herd. Next Monday, the 26th is the roundup. They start each spring with under 1000 bison. In Sept they have a roundup that is attended by thousands. The bison are pregnancy tested, vaccinated, tagged and branded. In order to manage the size, they will once again sift off some young, female, male bison and auction them. They estimate this fall's roundup to be around 1500 bison. It is necessary to do this or the park would become overrun. We hope to be in Deadwood to end this day. Peace out, love to all, Linda
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