Tues., May 31, 2011 Mt. Rushmore

We got up fairly early today to drive to Mount Rushmore. It was beyond windy out there! We could hardly open the doors to the car or RV because there was so much pressure against them, and then it was hard to get out without them snapping back on us. It was very slow going out on the road. We were traveling through the grasslands for hours where there were absolutely no wind breaks, manmade or otherwise, for as far as we could see. As we were getting closer to Rapid City, we began seeing signs for Wall Drug, another spot in the coffee table book. As we pulled into the town of Wall, it was evident that this was not just a little store in the middle of nowhere. The store opened up into a huge indoor shopping mall of souvenir shops, cafes and themed areas.

We gained another hour as we traveled further west, so we ended up getting to Mount Rushmore around 2pm. It was a perfect day to walk around the Park. The wind had died down some, and it was in the high 80’s. The mountain is very impressive! Around every bend, I took picture after picture trying to capture every angle of each of the Presidents J We took a short Ranger hike to the base of the mountain and learned a lot of interesting facts about the history of Mount Rushmore. We walked down a bazillion steps

to the sculptor’s studio where they had models and pictures of the entire process of carving the mountain. They even have a room 8ft by 12ft built into the mountain behind Lincoln’s head where they have documents of historic interest and small busts of important Americans. This chamber is not visible from any public access road or walking trail, and is not open to the public. We then took another bazillion steps back up to the gift shop and parking lot J

We left Rushmore and headed a few more miles down the road to Crazy Horse Mountain. After 50 years of working on this magnificent memorial to the Native Americans, only the face of Crazy Horse is recognizable. You might think that not much has been done over the years, however, there are crews blasting, carving and removing stone 5 days a week all year long (weather permitting). The size of the carved face alone would hold the entire four figures at Mt Rushmore! This is a huge undertaking! It was all started by one man and his desire to honor the Native America story by carving a huge portrait of Chief Crazy Horse, (on his beautiful horse, overlooking the land of his people), into the side of a mountain. His name was Korczak Ziolkowski, and he owned the property that the mountain was on. He began his work, climbing over 700 steps to the top of the mountain each day (sometimes several times a day) carrying his drilling equipment on his back. He worked alone on the mountain for 14 years. During that time he married and had 10 children. When his boys reached 7 or 8 years old, they began to help drill and carry the dynamite up the mountain. It has from the beginning, and still is a family operation. In recent years the family has hired work crews and experts in rock science, but the family remains in charge of the operation. Several family members are still actively working on the mountain, as well as running the gift shop, tours and museum. Mrs. Ziolkowski, at 85 years old, still lives on the property. This entire project has always been, and will always be run through private donations. Starting next week, they will for the first time ever have two work crews on the mountain at once. They have hired a Canadian team of experts to start the carving of the horse as well as the back of Crazy Horse’s head.

We had dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s, and headed back to the RV so Brett could iron his clothes for his interview and get all packed for his flight in the morning.