Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Mount Rushmore
On Sunday, we visited Mount Rushmore, as you can see from the pictures on
Flickr mentioned in my earlier post. It was a beautiful place. The whole
Black Hills area is gorgeous, with lots of rolling hills, some small
mountains, pine forests, and few people. Mount Rushmore was pretty
interesting, and we enjoyed walking around the monument. I spoke to a man
there who was one of the original workers from 1938 (he was 17 at the time).
The whole monument took 14 years to build, but he quit when WW II started
because he thought the funding would get cut on the project.
We then went to the Tatanka Bison exhibit. It was a beautiful spot, with
lots of information about the bison population, how the Native Americans
hunted them, and some nice artwork. Kevin Costner sponsors the whole place.
I guess Dances With Wolves really inspired him.
Tatanka was on the outskirts of Deadwood, SD. This was billed to be a place
where you would be reminded of the old west. Perhaps it was all the bikers
that had invaded, but the street was full of casinos and bars, which wasn't
what we were in the mood for. We went to play mini-golf instead, which was
much more fun. After then going out to dinner in Deadwood, we headed back.
It was a great day.
