Mount Rushmore! So cool. I'm really happy I came here. It's really far from anywhere and I wouldn't reccommend coming all the way out here just to see it but I'm glad I came. As with most things I've only seen in movies it's smaller than you'd think but it's still very impressive. I saw the video on the carving which had some footage of the drilling and the blasts and it was pretty interesting.
Apparently it all started out because a South Dakotan historian some of decided the Needles (big rocks) should be carved into western heroes like Lewis and Clark and Buffalo Bill. You can kind of see why he thought they'd make good human figures:
When the sculptor came on board with the idea he dismissed using the Needles because of the poor quality of the rock and they settled instead on Mt Rushmore. He also decided it should reflect the great thinsg about America like democracy and freedom so they agreed to do the Presidents. It's pretty cool.
Wonderful Wind Cave
Following a Park Ranger's advice I drove to Wind Cave and went on the Garden of Eden tour. It was free because it is Verteran's Day weekend.
Wind Cave is a huge network of underground caves which currenlty stands at 139 miles long. It is said to be the world's most complex cave network because all the caves are squished into one square mile (they go over and under and around each other) It was rediscovered (it was previously known to local Native Americans) by two cowboys who heard the "wind" rushing out of the mountains, found the source of the noise, this hole:
One of the cowboys poked his head in, only to have his hat blow off! The next time he went back, with people from the nearby town, and did the same thing, only this time his hat was sucked into the cave, never to be seen again! It turns out the reason for the wind is a desire on the part of the cave to equalise the air pressure inside and out. After all this hat hoopla the caves were explored (though God knows what would make someone climb into that hole for the first time...)
In the 1800s it was advertised as the Wonderful Wind Cave and people (including ladies in big skirts) would come from all around the States to spend 6 hours visiting the caves with just candles and no even footing.
Nowadays, the caves are still being explored. In order to chart new territory, you need to belly crawl for TEN HOURS to just get to the starting point. I can't think of many worse things to do of a weekend.
Crazy Horse
I also popped by the Crazy Horse memorial very briefly, long enough to take a photo. I think when it's done it will be really interesting but for now it's just a rock with a hole...
Other things I've seen today
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| Baby deer |
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| A bison with her baby |
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| This weird car |
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