Traveling during the off season has it’s pluses and minuses. A definite plus: there’s far fewer people to contend with. Also, it’s pretty easy to drive into any town and get a hotel room. A plus or minus depending on how you look at it is that almost all of the normal tourist traps are closed–Bear Country, USA: CLOSED; Rushmore Caves: CLOSED; Rushmore Waterslide: CLOSED.

We made it, and look it's lit up by mother nature.

It's a grand view.

But what isn’t closed is what we really came out here to see: Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse and the Black Hills. Mt. Rushmore was great, I think it’s a sight everyone should try to see at some point. It’s just an incredible feat of sculpture in a beautiful setting. But what was really impressive to me was the drive in and around the Black Hills to Crazy Horse. Such a beautiful part of the country, I can understand why the Lakota Indians consider this sacred land.

I wasn’t really even sure what the Crazy Horse Monument was, Rance was just sure we needed to see it. We both gulped a bit when we were told it was $10 per person to enter the memorial area. Especially because off in the distance you can see that Crazy Horse is definitely a work in progress. But we were here, I mean we might as well go in and see what it’s all about. And I’m so glad we did.

At first we were wondering what the hell did we just pay $20 to come in and see? What kind of suckers are we? And then we were ushered in to a theater in the middle of the museum to watch a mini-documentary on the history of the Crazy Horse Memorial and the man behind the vision. By the end, my appreciation for what was around us, and where we were, and the intention and motivation behind all of it grew 100 fold. Basically it’s one man, and now his family–the Ziolkowski’s, who hold the vision for not only what will ultimately be the largest sculpture in the world but a whole memorial and campus area. What was even more impressive is that they have turned down 10 million dollars from the US government not once, but twice so they could hold onto their original vision without the federal government monkeying up the works.

The model and what will be in the distance.

Crazy Horse will probably not be completed in my lifetime, I’m just so glad I got to see it in progress and that with my admittance fee and purchases I can say in a small way. . .I was a part of that.