We, and thousands of Harley Davidson riders, stayed in Keystone, SD near Mount Rushmore. We were surprised at how much there was to see at the monument. It took us 3 hours to see everything and I took about 40 pictures from all different angles.
The four presidents are carved out of the granite of the Black Hills. The original plan was to have western heroes but the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum. convinced the park officials to have presidents. At first he was just going to have Washington and Lincoln but then Borglum added Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt, whom he admired and was a close personal friend. There was also controversy and opposition to the monument by the Lakota indians. Where the monument is located is sacred land to the Lakota tribe. As a response, they decided to build their own tribute to their hero, Crazy Horse. The Ziolkowski family has been working on it since 1948 and because of lack of funds and refusal of government assistance, it will probably take them another 50 years to complete it.
We left Keystone and on our way across South Dakota we stopped at the Badlands National Park. It is located in the White Hills of South Dakota and was called the Badlands because it was desolate, dry and very difficult to move across. They are spectacular hoodoos and carved out hills and a real sight to see, reminds us very much of Drumheller.
We are spending 2 days in Sioux Falls, SD so Darcy can get some work done. It has been so hot here (the hottest was 34) that we were happy to spend a couple of days in an air conditioned hotel room. Now we are heading east and planning on being in Parry Sound by the weekend.
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