September 3, 2008 - South Dakota: Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial Mountain

See the complete collection of photos for this day

Drive to Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore was something I wanted to see since at least second grade. Today was the day. Although it was only about ten miles from the hotel, it seemed to take an awfully long time to get there through winding roads.


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As I got closer, I noticed there were some beautiful rock formations. But, I will say I've seen better ones elsewhere. I didn't bother to stop and take pictures because I was just overloaded with scenery at that point. Even my enthusiasm for Mount Rushmore itself was reduced by the overload.

Fees for Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore is a national park. However, the only fee involved is to pay for parking. Therefore, the National Parks Annual Pass does not apply. In fact, they don't even take credit cards. It's cash only. I think that's kind of ridiculous. The $10 parking fee allows parking access for the rest of the calendar year, provided you use the exact same vehicle. Of course, since most people are visiting from out of the area, they're not going to get too many repeat visitors for very long.

Lighting ceremony
There is a lighting ceremony at 8pm every night. The parking pass will allow people to get into that for free. Due to timing I was unable to see that.

First impression
When I first saw the famous faces prior to paying the parking fee, I was a bit unimpressed. From that distance, they looked underwhelming. They almost looked "plastic" in a way. The colors were different from anything I've seen.

A better look
After parking in the parking garage, I was able to get a closer look. The faces began to look more along the lines of what I have seen in books and on the Internet. This was not a sunny, cloud-free day, so photos are not going to be the best. See the photos.

When first entering the viewing area, there is an "entry monument". Then you pass through columns with state flags. The states are in alphabetical order. The columns list the name and the date the state was admitted into the Union. After passing through all of that, you can see the giant carved faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. Of course, along the way there are gift shops and restaurants.

Sculptor's Studio
Another attraction within the park is the Sculptor's Studio. This features a scale model which is a little different from what is actually there. See the photos.

According to the information in this building, there is a vault inside Mount Rushmore which was built to contain important documents about the country. It is not open to the public.

On the way back up to the Mount Rushmore viewing area, there was a goat feeding on grass. He had a collar with some sort of device.

The chipmunk
I bought an ice cream dessert which included broken M&Ms. I ate it while looking at Mount Rushmore. Evidently, a green M&M piece candies fell on the ground. A chipmunk showed up out of nowhere and began eating it. These parks tell people not to feed the animals. However, I cannot help it if I unknowingly drop something and out of the blue a rodent comes to clean it up.

After finishing the candy, the chipmunk hung around a bit just to see if anything else might accidently drop. In fact, the chipmunk ran around the area a bit, including crawling on me. I was a bit nervous about this, having had a relative who was once bitten by a chipmunk. Once I finished my dessert. I put the cup down and on the seat and stuffed a napkin in it. The chipmunk got inside the cup and started seeing if there was anything interesting to be found. I was amused by this for a while. But as time went on, I had to get going. As I moved, the chipmunk got the cue that it was time to leave.

Profile view
After leaving, signs pointed out the profile and there was a scenic pullover area along the road. I took a few photos.

Crazy Horse
My next stop was the Crazy Horse Memorial. This is another mountain sculpture. It's currently under development. It has been under development since 1948 and has a long way to go. It is a private memorial so there are limited resources to complete it. See the photos.


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There are no known pictures of Chief Crazy Horse. The model had to be constructed based on "oral pictures." See photos of the models.

There is an extensive museum and gift shop associated with the memorial. See the photos.

Hill City
After I was finished at Crazy Horse, I visited Hill City. This was where I stayed the night before. The main road has a strip including western-themed buildings. See the photos.


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Deadwood
I also wanted to quickly see Deadwood, SD. This is a big tourist attraction and an Old West themed area. I should have spent more time there but I wanted to get to the next hotel. Parking was very limited and in most cases required a fee. From what I did see, I can summarize it in one word: gambling. There are casinos everywhere. I was really not at all impressed.


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Sturgis
After Deadwood, I decided to visit Sturgis. The motorcycle rally takes place the first week of August. At this point, it was quiet. I did see a couple of motorcycle riders though. It's a very small city. There were some billboards advertising Sturgis 2009. In the "downtown" section, there was at least one building focused on motorcycles. See the photos.


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Rapid City
My next hotel was in Rapid City. That's the largest city in Western SD. It began to rain quite a bit so I was happy to get to the hotel.


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The hotel for the evening
I had read mixed reviews about this hotel. Many people said the staff were just downright rude. I did not see any warnings about unclean rooms. But there were a number of complaints about the pool, the breakfast, etc. Most of those things don't apply to me. I don't have time for the pool and I'm tired of the institutional hotel breakfasts to the point that I'd rather skip breakfast at these hotels. But, the rude staff part was close to accurate. I chose this hotel to save some money. There were others in the Choice Hotel brands that would have been more expensive.

"Additional Fees"
When I checked in, they made me sign for something I have never had to sign for in the future: "Additional Fees." The clerk explained that this is a signature in case I use the phone for long distance calls, rent movies, etc. This bothered me quite a bit. I wrote below that there would not be any. I was concerned based on the bad reviews that phantom "additional fees" would appear. I have no time for movies and I have a minimally operable cell phone for long distance calls. The clerk was not exactly pleased at what I had written below my signature.

It was raining hard when I got out. I began to try to pull my car to the building containing my room. The car seemed to lock up. Moving it to drive or reverse accomplished nothing. It began to act as if it was in neutral and was actually about to start rolling down a hill. I turned it off and turned it back on. It began working again. Had it rolled a bit more, it might have hit a parked vehicle.

When I got to the right building, I took a little while to get out of the car. Once I did, I had my hands full. Two customers were waiting on the inside of the door for me. They opened it so I didn't have to use my card. They indicated they were waiting because of the severe rain. That was nice of them.

The room was perfectly clean and acceptable. The Internet worked. So, I was done for the night.

Plans for the next evening
Originally, I planned to see the famous Wall Drugstore on September 4th and then go to Scott's Bluff in Nebraska. Scott's Bluff was something I had planned to see last year but just did not have time for when I was in the area. This time, I would spend the night there and then work my way east along I-80. I had a cemetery in Fairbury that I wanted to see. I like western Nebraska as it is very much like the rest of the West. However, I do NOT like I-80 in western Nebraska as the road is horrible. There is a bump every tenth of a mile.

I decided I was really getting tired of sightseeing. At that point, if I saw Scott's Bluff I would not be able to appreciate it because of sightseeing overload. I decided my next hotel for the evening would be in Kearney, Nebraska. I stayed in the Comfort Inn at that location last year. So far, this has been the only hotel I've had in common with last year's trip. It would be a five hour drive from Wall, SD to Kearney, NE. I would go from the middle of South Dakota to the I-80 area of Nebraska, which was about an hour away from the Nebraska/Kansas border.

I would go from Kearney, NE to Fairbury, NE to see a cemetery where a direct ancestor was buried. After that, I would go to visit a friend in Wichia, Kansas. This would give me a chance to relax and get away from sightseeing for a while.