Large Stone Carvings of Dead Men

July 5  Mt. Rushmore and Crazyhorse

The timing was nearly perfect for us to visit Mt. Rushmore, afterall it was the day after our country celebrated Independence. It was also the day we visited the Crazyhorse monument which is kind of ironic considering in order for our country to gain independence from England we had to take the land which had been Native American and call it our own.

At any rate, I am not sure what I was expecting at Mt. Rushmore but I was pleased by what was actually there. I had a picture in my mind of Mt. Rushmore and a parking lot, and not much else, but it is actually a whole park which is very nice. There are several educational exhibits and multiple areas for viewing the monument.

 This is the family in front of the iconic sculpture, of course. All of the flags are from the 50 states. Like I said, I was surprised and pleased at how nice it was.

This is what the monument was supposed to look like, but the government ran out of money. I really like the full coats of George Washington and Abe Lincoln, but Lord knows I know how it is to run out of money before I was able to pay for the full outfit.

While I like this photo of the whole family in front of Mt. Rushmore,  the next one of Eli is my favorite of all.

Crazyhorse

While I really wasn't expecting much from MT Rushmore, I was expecting to be WOWed by Crazyhorse. I was disappointed. First of all, it is not a national or state park; it is a private endeavor to honor one of the Lacota Indians' heroes. I get that. But it seemed more like constant guilt trip by which one might only get relief by purchasing more donating more to the cause.

The price to get in to the "location" was $10 per person or $27 per car. That got us in to the outer area with the museum/gift shop/ information center. If you wanted to get anywhere close to the monument it was an additional cost for a bus ride. That was another $4 per person. While in the information center we watched a video about the sculptor and the cause and were left with a plea to donate more money by the late sculptor's wife. After leaving the movie we could roam around the multiple buildings, but they were very haphazardly laid out and difficult to see the rhyme or reason for any of the displays. There was a model of what the finished sculpture will look like and the surrounding areas which will include an Indian Medical School and Museum. But all of that is not free people!Hense \---  another opportunity to give. If you really liked the idea of a souvenir to take home, and the gift shop was not enough, you could always purchase an actual rock that had been blasted away from the mountain. At least that's what they claimed it was. Who knows? Looked pretty much like any other rock to me. Oh and with hundreds of thousands tons of rock being blasted reguarly, that's a never ending supply of money making tourist trapesque souvenirs. But I digress....Here is a photo of a model sculpture of the finished Crazyhorse and the real one in the far backgound.

I think I was disappointed because I expected this to be a nobel and inspiring monument to a brave Lacota Indian, but it felt more like one of those terrible commercials for abused pets or sick children. Please don't try to guilt me into giving. Just explain your cause and let me decide if I want to give. I'm the mother here.... I know guilting.