Last Updated on October 19, 2023 by Jill
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Today we continue our tour of the Black Hills. In case you missed our first day you can click here. Well, back to the Black Hills Area Day Two!
Mt. Rushmore
We got up early and made it to Mt. Rushmore by 8 am. They say the crowds get bad as the day goes on so we decided to check it out first thing. What a beautiful sight to see. Mt. Rushmore sees nearly 3 million visitors a year according to the National Park Service. It was completed in 1941. It is so amazing to see how majestic it is in person. You can learn a lot at the site about what it took to create it. They have information on each president and the process to carve this sculpture. They also had one of the bosun chairs they used to do a lot of the work from. I would highly recommend a visit here if you haven’t been already.
Needles Highway
We had heard and read a great deal about a beautiful drive on Needles Hwy. That was our next item on the daily itinerary. It did not disappoint. The granite shoots out of the ground and has a look of “needles”. It is really quite something. I don’t think my pictures do justice. The scenery went on and on. On the highway you go through 3 tunnels, all of them very small. We could never have gotten the camper through them. One of them was very congested with lines on either side. All three of these tunnels only allow one car through at a time. All three of them are carved out of the stone. This drive was great we took it all the way around and then headed over to the Crazy Horse Memorial.
Crazy Horse Memorial
Now, the crazy horse memorial is not complete. It has been under construction for almost 70 years. The Mt. Rushmore memorial was completed in 14 years just to offer a comparison. This monument has decades at least left in order for it to be completed. If it will ever be completed. It would seem that the people who are running the place have put more concentration on making money than completing the project. In our opinion.
There are many different ways to see Crazy Horse. First, you must pay $12 a person. Which in our opinion was quite steep. Then you can pay additional money to take a bus to the base. You can also pay a large sum for them to take you up to the top where they are working. Anyway, to us it just seemed like they have lost their direction. If it does ever get completed it could be the largest sculpture in the world at around 563 feet tall. To compare Mt. Rushmore is 60 feet tall. If it is finished it will definitely be a sight to see. After all of this, it was lunchtime.
Next Stop
We jumped back in the car and headed to a restaurant called Desperadoes. They have good food and free wifi. While we ate we planned out our next place to stop and where we would go first. We finished everything earlier in the day than we thought so we decided to move on and make a little bit of ground. Looks like we will stop in Gillette for the night and then head to Cody, WY. Which is just outside of Yellowstone. We plan to base there and then drive into Yellowstone. Super excited I have always wanted to go!.
Cheers,
Jill
