Day 30: Home of "Crazy Horse", Custer, South Dakota

We woke up to five minutes of blue sky and then all day it was rain, snow, clouds and fog. But , being properly attired with the help of kids and friends , we still had a great time.
Custer is a small town , five minutes away from Crazy Horse monument. The monument is for the Native Americans, specifically for the chief , " Crazy Horse" of Lakota tribe. He did not give in to the white men and reportedly when all his land was taken he was asked, " where is your land now". He stretched his arm and said, " My land is where my people lie buried". (he was stabbed in back later).
Interesting story about the sculptor. He was a polish orphan from Boston who was convinced by the Indian Chiefs to take the undertaking. He devoted all his life to the monument, working alone for many years, and now his children and wife are continuing the work he started. The project is funded through donations only (no government money). He believed in private public donations than the Government.
The monument is going to be the biggest monument in the world. Bigger than the Pyramids, bigger than any building in the world. The whole complex is very impressive with lots of displays explaining the life of Lakota Chief as well as the sculptor.
The face is done and rest is in progress (the outline is visible)

Our next stop was Mount Rushmore. It was very foggy but we were able to see good view of the faces of four presidents. There were audio visual displays, flags of all the states and dates when they joined the union. We saw the movies of construction in both the monuments and saw the difference in technology used here and the technology used at crazy horse. This monument was the biggest of it's time and is great but the Crazy horse monument is the commitment of one person and his determination and hard work. One monument glorifies the history of white people while the other monument is for the Native Americans who are mostly forgotten .

Mount Rushmore (Glory of our people)

We drove to Custer State Park (15 miles) through scenic byways, Iron Mountain Road, many tunnels and windy road. Custer State Park has so much wild life that it almost feels like , "San Diego Wild Animal Park", except here they are actually wild and free. We saw herds of Buffaloes, wild horses, many different kinds of Deers, Antelopes, fox, marmots and many many birds. This is when the weather started turning snowy and foggy. On a clear day and with some hiking in the wilderness, this could have been a very very exciting venture but even in this weather it was worth spending time.



We came back through the scenic byway of Needles state park. This 12 mile road, goes though most amazing rocks that look like needles. The road and the tunnels were blasted through these rocks. By this time the weather was getting worse and we were getting all scared , so we came back and soaked in the hot tub.


It is white outside and is snowing a lot. Not sure what we will do tomorrow but I am sure it will be fun. Good night sleep well and ask the weather God for some better weather for us.