South Dakota Part 5 - Presidents in Rapid City

On our last day in South Dakota, we had a few hours to kill in the morning before our flight, so after a trip to the packed IHOP (a must for any US vacation), we decided to walk around and check out Rapid City's "City of Presidents" - a series of bronze statues of each American president placed on street corners in the city.  

I wasn't sure exactly how enjoyable it would be, but it was actually a lot of fun trying to guess which president we were coming up to (especially considering that we know about 10 presidents total) and seeing the different ways that they were portrayed.  There were a whole bunch of presidents that I've never even heard of, and apparently all sorts of drama that I wasn't aware of either.  A surprisingly large number of presidents died in office (eight out of 44), and a surprising number look like cowboys.  

Here are some of the statues we liked, in the order that we came to them (which has nothing to do with their historical order).  

Franklin D Roosevelt.  You can't see it from this angle, but there's a walking cane leaning on the back of the podium and you can see his leg braces through his pants.  He's also got a pretty good grip on that podium.  Died in office.

John F Kennedy.  There were only two presidents portrayed with children, which was interesting.  Also died in office.

Abraham Lincoln (the other president portrayed with a child).  Also died in office.

Bill Clinton looks like a standup comedian for some reason.

Richard Nixon, looking appropriately shifty.

George W Bush making his famous thumbs up gesture, accompanied by his dog.

Thomas Jefferson.  We couldn't work out if he was signing the Louisiana Purchase or writing the Declaration of Independence.  Love the hair.

I wish I had taken more photos of the presidents as there were a bunch of funny ones and the way they were portrayed was often interesting - what they were carrying or wearing.  It was definitely a fun way to spend a few hours before our flight.

There are 5 parts to this series - this is part 5.  You can also read part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.

South Dakota Part 4 - Crazy Horse and Devil's Tower

Crazy Horse Memorial is supposedly the Native American answer to Mt Rushmore.  It's been in progress since 1948 but there isn't a whole lot done.  We discovered why when the visitor center showed  photos of the workers - one white guy and his family including his little kids.  Apparently the government has offered millions of dollars in funding on multiple occasions, which has been turned down.  The current estimated completion date is 2120.

The whole place was rather bizarre.  The strangest part was the steep entry fee of $10 per person that only allowed you entry into the visitor center - there were further fees to be taken by bus to the base of the actual monument.  To put it into context, Mt Rushmore carpark cost $10 for the car, and the national and state parks that we visited cost $10 each for the car as well.  Visiting Crazy Horse felt like a rip off even before we saw that you had to pay more to get close to the monument.

A small model of what the memorial is supposed to eventually look like.

What the memorial looks like now from our paid vantage point (we didn't want to pay the extra to go closer).  They've carved his face and the top of his arm.  I don't recommend visiting Crazy Horse - there are too many things that don't add up in the monument's story and the visit left me feeling ripped off.

After Crazy Horse, we thought we'd take a detour to nearby Wyoming State to visit the Devil's Tower, which is the solidified core of an ancient volcano.  It's about 400m tall and looks pretty bizarre in the context of the landscape.  Devil's Tower was the first US National Monument, established in 1906.

From a little closer.  The Native Americans call it Bear Lodge, and their story goes that a group of little girls were playing when some giant bears spotted them and chased them.  The girls climbed onto a nearby rock and prayed to their Great Spirit who made the rock rise up so that the bears couldn't reach them.  The deep channels in the side of the mountain were made by the bear's claws.

The base of the tower is a sea of boulders bigger than a person, fallen off in the past.  That's me, in the white jacket, for a size comparison.

Apparently the tower is very popular with rock climbers.  There were two making the climb while we were there.  Here's a close up that shows them both - the guy in the orange jacket is the lower one, and there's also a girl above him and to the left a little in a green jacket.  The sound carried back from the rock so we could hear them yelling to each other from the base of the monument with ease.

Not the view from the top (I'm not that crazy or skilled), but the view from the base of some of the surrounding land.

Stephen somehow managed to randomly snap a picture at the perfect time when the sun was setting and the light turned the tower pink and orange.  30 seconds later when he tried to take another photo, the rock was grey.

There are 5 parts to this series - this is part 4.  You can also read part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 5.

South Dakota Part 3: Custer State Park

Apparently Custer State Park would have been a National Park except that the state of South Dakota got in first.  It's home to a herd of 1500 bison, plus a whole bunch of other animals.

To get to Custer State Park from Mt Rushmore, we took the "Needles Highway" (highway is a bit optimistic), which wound around in circles up and down various mountains and rock formations.  It was beautiful and probably moreso because it was all covered in snow.

"Needles" comes from these rocky spines.  

The road also went through various tunnels carved straight through the rock.  One of them was barely big enough to get the car through, and you had to sound your horn to make sure no other cars met you halfway in the tunnel.  In case you're wondering about the blue sky in this photo vs the grey one in the others - this one was taken 9 minutes earlier.

 Once we were inside the State Park, the landscape changed dramatically to the open plains, and the animals were in abundance.  There were deer everywhere.

More open rolling plains.

Custer State Park is known for its herd of "friendly burros" (donkeys), who beg food from passing tourists.

The little burro looks just like a little lamb!  :)

They were so friendly that we had trouble leaving, as they kept trying to stick their noses inside the car.

We found the herd of bison.  They are huge!  (And tasty!)

We found a wedding party in the park too, that apparently wasn't expecting the -5 degree weather or snowy conditions.  I really don't envy those bridesmaids.

There are 5 parts to this series - this is part 3.  You can also read part 1, part 2, part 4 and part 5.