South Dakota - Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore

After leaving the Badlands, we made our way to the far western side of South Dakota. The first thing my family saw here was The Crazy Horse Memorial. Crazy Horse was a Native American leader who fought against the U.S. Government at The Battle of Little Bighorn in June 1876. In 1948, Korczak Ziolkowski agreed with Native American tribal leaders to began work on the monument. However, Mr. Ziolkowski refused to take funds from the U.S. Government, so the monument is still uncompleted. Mr. Ziolkowski is now dead, but the project is continued by his family.

Crazy Horse Memorial

After visiting The Crazy Horse Memorial in the morning, we made our way to Custer National Park. This area is full of nature. Specifically, herds of American buffalo are allowed to rome free here, and their numbers are preserved.

American Buffalo at Custer State Park

Also, tame burros are in the park. They hang out by the road hoping to get snacks from tourists.

When we were there, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was taking place. There were hundreds of motorcycles everywhere. People come from all over the world to attend this motorcycle festival. There were lots of interesting people to talk with to say the least.

Sturgis Motorcycle Rider at Custer National Park

After leaving Custer National Park, we drove through the Black Hills National Forest. It was a little scary though because the road is really high up, and it is very narrow. There are some really cool rock formations on the road though. Also, we got to drive through a really tight tunnel. We also visited Lake Sylvan, and walked around the lake. The rock formations here are also really cool.

Bee at Lake Sylvan

The final day, we went to Mt. Rushmore. It was interesting to see because it's so symbolic of America. We are raised seeing this image all the time, so I was glad I go to see it in person. After visiting Mt. Rushmore, we went to Wind Cave National Park. I wasn't very impressed though. It was really wet and moldy, so I started coughing. There are much better caves to visit.

Mt. Rushmore