Presidents and Indians

  It's our last night in the Black Hills and it has been a very good stay. Monday and Thursday were spent pretty close to home due dentist appointments, but Tuesday and Wednesday we did some more exploring.

  Tuesday we headed to Mt Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monuments. I had been to Mt Rushmore before but it was a very long time ago, I was probably ten at the time. I didn't appreciate what I was seeing at ten years old, the beauty was lost on me. This time was different.  Before going to the monument we stopped in Keystone to go through the Gutzen Borglum museum.  He was the man who carved the mountain. Doing the museum first was a good idea. It gave us a better perspective when we got to the monument itself. I could bore you with a description of what we saw but I wouldn't do it justice. So I'll let these do the talking.

 After Rushmore we headed to the Crazy Horse monument. They're still working on it and probably will be after I'm gone. It's taking so long because it is not funded by government in any way. They rely solely on the profits from the welcome center, gift shop, restaurant etc. I hope to see the finished product one day, it will be spectacular. The artist was Kolczak Ziolkowski, he started in 1948 after being commissioned by the Lakota Indians. Ziolkowski died in 1982 but his wife and 10 children continue to work on the project.