Blogs from Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, United States, North America - page 2

Once Upon a Time, there was a mountain that looked like this: and it was called “Six Grandfathers” by the Lakota Sioux. In 1885, it was renamed “Mount Rushmore” after a lawyer, from New York- Charles Rushmore. Mr. Rushmore was in the Blackhills area, helping people with their mining claims. When he asked what the name of this mountain was, to be schmoozy*, they told him that since it didn’t have a name, they’d call it Mount Rushmore. (*Since I don’t know how “schmoozy” translates, the dictionary says “To converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection.”) The giant sculpture was an idea dreamed up by Doan Robinson, who was a South Dakota State Historian. He origina... read more

Early the next morning we head to the Black Hills in South Dakota, a large patch of mountains just off the border with Wyoming. Before the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, South Dakota was the home of Sioux American Indian tribes and this bit of history comes alive at the Crazy Horse Memorial, a yet incomplete mountain carving aimed at creating a Native American version of the nearby Mount Rushmore National Memorial. When completed, it will stand 563 feet high – around nine times higher than Mount Rushmore – and and 641 feet long. In 1929, Lakota Sioux chief tribes led by Chief Henry Standing Bear invited Korczak Ziolkowski, a sculptor from Boston, to carve Crazy Horse’s image on a mountain in what is now a privately owned land. Ziolkowski had just worked briefly on Mount Rushmore ... read more

From the Pecos River in the heart of the Santa Fe Wilderness, then north on I-25 to Raton, New Mexico on the eastern edge of the same wilderness, and on again to Trinidad, Colorado, the terrain changed dramatically. High mountains full of pine, oak and aspen trees, to flat land with forever views and little to no trees. From Trinidad, we drove northeast to La Junta (La Hoonta), Colorado, and then straight north to Sidney, Nebraska. Sidney is the home of Cabela’s headquarters and is right on I-80. It’s like the ultimate hunter/fisherman/outdoorsman’s paradise. From there, north through the pan handle of Nebraska to Scottsbluff. Scottsbluff is a landmark that early American pioneers looked for on their way out west on the Oregon Trail. On the Nebraska quarter, there is an image of Chimney Rock. It’s ... read more

We started the day at Mount Rushmore. The weather gods were smiling on us. The clouds parted and gave us a clear day! While Ed was in the museum I sat on a bench, in the sun, and just studied the monument. It was a inspirational moment. Sometimes you can be in the middle of a crowd and have a wonderful solitary moment. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I was there for several minutes, just enjoying the true beauty of it all. Ed and I took off for the afternoon by ourselves. We didn't intend to drive far, so we headed off on an interesting road, Iron Mountain Rd to Custer State Park. What a cool road. It had 3 tunnels that were carved into the mountain. The tunnels are one lane tunnels ... read more

We headed over to another part of the Black Hill's area where we saw Mt. Rushmore ,Crazy Horse and some really cool landscapes !!! We drove through mountains, beside mountains, around mountains, on top of mountains...you get the picture, the place is very mountainous........ but not the kind of mountains we have at home in the Rockies , but weird protruding rocks that are stacked up on each other coming out of everywhere !!! You have to take winding narrow roads that have hairpins turns, 15% grades and piggy tail switchbacks, that are no wider that 8 feet. I was very glad we had the car to tour around with as the motor home would never have made it. Crazy Horse is the one that really amazed us. The mountain carving was started in 1948 by ... read more