Advertisement
Published: August 17th 2010
Edit Blog Post
City Offices at Hot Springs
Many of the buildings in Hot Springs were made from the local sandstone. July 25—Last night I arrived in Hot Springs, SD and today I spent a little time exploring the town. It seems to me that most towns named “Springs” are pretty towns. This one is no exception. Many of the buildings are made from the rose-colored sandstone bricks made in the surrounding area. The town does have hot springs, but I didn't look any in which to bathe. I don't need any more hot right now! Fortunately, this area has at least cool nights, so I am able to dry-camp some.
Anyway, back to the town. Some of the buildings are just gorgeous, but it's an old town, built in the late 1800s and the streets are very narrow. I didn't feel like finding a parking place for the RV and walking around too much for pictures.
The Black Hills surprised me. I thought it be much more like a desert area here. It is really quite beautiful, with lots of pines, firs and aspen trees. The Hills aren't quite black, but there is a lot of dark rock which look like huge rock piles dumped into the forests. The formations are often unusual.
July 26—Today I stopped first
Black Hills
Some of the "rocks" at Black Hills at the Crazy Horse Mountain. The story of this work-in-progress is incredible. After Mt. Rushmore was completed, Chief Standing Bear contacted another stone-sculptor to create a monument to honor Native Americans. The man designed a scale model of his idea and began working alone on the mountain with very limited tools. It took 50 years just to get the face done! After his death, his wife and children have carried on. They have refused government money, wishing to keep the project as a private enterprise, supervised by family members and supported by donations. They estimate it will take another 40 years to complete.
What inspires me is the spirit and dedication of this family. There is also much more than just the monument to see. The buildings and grounds house a museum, the sculptor's office, his log-studio home from which he worked and did the original design and scale. A Native American Culture Center features displays, Indian arts and crafts and Indian artists at their crafts. Future plans include A Indian University and Medical Training Center.
The sculpture is massive. The head alone is 87 feet high, almost twice the size of the Mt. Rushmore faces. The hole
Long View of Crazy Horse Mountain
This picture was taken from about 5 miles away. you can see in the mountain is large enough to place a 10-story building. I took a bus tour which took us to the foot of the monument and a little of the back. We could see the machinery working, primarily clearing out rubble from the last blasting. They blast about every 10 days. This monument and all the buildings and plans are quite impressive.
After leaving Crazy Horse Mountain, I drove on the Mt. Rushmore, which is just a few miles away. The faces can be seen from the east entrance to the park area. Entrance to the park is free, but there is a $10 parking fee. Naturally there is no parking along the road or anywhere nearby, so in I drove. The parking spots for Rvs less than 25 feet (meaning me) was a narrow area in front of the lowest level of the parking garage. To make things worse, it was angle parking. That means I was totally blocked for seeing if any traffic was coming when I got ready to leave. (It was a busy area, too.) Finally someone took pity and directed me out between traffic!
The sculptures are awesome, but I
Crazy Horse Mountain
The "hole" you see is big enough for a 10-story building. Click on the picture to enlarge and you will see heavy machinery toward the left of the middle where yellowish rock is. thought the welcoming area was a bit overdone. There were the usual gift shops, eating places, museum, ranger offices, meeting rooms, etc. Then there was the “Avenue of the States”. This is the approach to the viewing area of the faces where all the state flags flying. There is a hiking path to get to the bottom of the faces, but it was too hot for me to want to try it. I did go into one of the gift shops to buy my souvenir lapel pin and they had a special guest there autographing his book about being one of the original drillers on the mountain. I didn't stay at Mt. Rushmore nearly as long as I had at Crazy Horse Mountain. I did find out, though, that the rock faces are smoothed with a hand-held acetylene torch.
It being a long, full day, I drove just a few more miles to Custer and found an RV park for the night.
Now, here's Bootsie.
Hi, everyone. You already know my name and stuff about me that Marty told you. Did she say I'm a pretty good guy? She tells me that all the time. I Doziers at Work
Machinery clearing the rubble from the last blast at Crazy Horse Mountain. They are working on the horse's head now. haven't quite decided, yet, if I like this traveling stuff. I don't seem to have much appetite, even after we stop. We do stop every night, but the motion sure goes on a long time during the day. Except every now and then. Then we stop and go a lot. I know there used to be another cat here. I find the toys. So far, I'm still getting my road legs and sleep more than anything else. Coming from a houseful of other cats, I get kind of lonesome sometimes. Other times I think it is pretty cool to be the king here. I get to claim everything as mine! Marty is pretty good staff and does all the right things at the right time. I really like it when she scratches my back and brushes me. I'll talk more later and keep you posted on how things are going.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.238s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 11; qc: 64; dbt: 0.0812s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Pat Painter
non-member comment
Thanks
Marty: I'm loving being able to follow you in your travels. I would love to have your email address so I could sent you emails, if that is possible. :)). You are a great writer. I think you should do something for TV or magazines. I've been many of the places that you have been and you are very good with your writings and pics. Have fun, stay safe and may God continue to bless your journey. When/if you come back through OKlahoma City, I'd love for you to come and at least spend a night with us if possible. We were still in NE Oklahoma when you were here in July. We were gone all of July. Love ya'