Last's night's trip to see the illumination of Mount Rushmore was kind of a bust due to a thunderstorm. At one time there were three warnings on WeatherBug: a thunderstorm watch, a tornado watch, and a flash flood watch.
We left Custer around 7 pm, and our new friends, Judy and Everett invited us to ride with them in their car. We snagged a good spot to watch the lighting ceremony, and then the big drops of rain started. We waited it out for a while, but then when the amphitheater screen started showing the same movie that we had seen the day before in the visitor's center, we decided to bail on the lighting ceremony. After we had driven out of the parking garage, we saw the illumination of the presidents.
All was well with both of our motorhomes, despite the warnings of 70 mph wind gusts. Our RV park had a problem with their water, but it was fixed sometime during the night. Today's weather has been cloudy, sunny, a bit of rain, but no winds or tornado watches. The change in weather has cooled the temperatures down about twenty degrees which is a welcome relief. At 3:30 pm, as I'm writing this blog, the outside temperature is 74 degrees with a partly sunny sky. Perfect!
Today's adventure was to the Crazy Horse Memorial. We could see Crazy Horse from the highway but we paid $10 each to go inside the gates and see a closer view of the monument. The visitor's center is extensive, with great views and lots of exhibits. Dave and I decided to have lunch at the visitor's center and we thought the food was good and reasonably priced. The best part was the view that we had of Crazy Horse while we were eating lunch.
1/34th size replica of the Crazy Horse model
A poster of the front of Crazy Horse's head
The head was unveiled in 1996, approximately fifty years after the project began. The sculptor who started the project, Korczak Ziolkowski, believed in free enterprise and the project is funded by private donations and has never accepted any federal or state money.
I would have liked to take a private van tour to the top of the memorial, but prices for that tour start at $125 per person, and we didn't feel like making that big of a donation to the Crazy Horse Memorial.
After lunch we drove on the famous Needles Highway. Here's the first of the tunnels we went through today.
We checked out Sylvan Lake, which has a walking path around it, but the lake was very busy today and not only did we not find a place to park, we barely were able to turn the car around to get out of there.
Some of the first stone needles that we saw:
Looking back at the second tunnel, the famous tight tunnel which is only eight feet wide:
A view of today's ominous clouds:
More needles:
Cathedral Spires trailhead:
The third and final tunnel we drove through today.
Our Crazy Horse entrance fee included free tickets to the nightly laser show, so we will probably go to that sometime in the next few nights.
That area is just magnificent, I just loved it there, so much to see and do. It sounds like you are having a great time and hitting all the the sights. Glad to cooled off for you.
ReplyDeleteI just can't imagine when that Crazy Horse Memorial will be done. Was there any estimate of a completion date? The Black Hills were so sacred to the Native American tribes, that it needs to be finished.
ReplyDeleteLoved that drive!!! Beautiful scenery!!
ReplyDeleteWe are going to take Crazy Horse in tomorrow later in the day and then drive over to see Mt. Rushmore at night. If we want to see Crazy Horse at night before we leave, we will need to do it on Monday. Hitting the road on Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteIt has not changed much outwardly in the last twenty years, at this rate it will take many more decades to complete. It looks nearly the same now as it did 22 year ago the first time we visited the site.
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