If you ever plan to visit Mount Rushmore, don't visit the Crazy Horse Memorial first if you
want to think Rushmore is anything special. We checked out Crazy Horse in the morning and the place is spectacular. The monument getting sculpted in the round is many times larger than Rushmore and far superior in all aspects. The project's been on going for the past 60 years and is 100% privately funded. The government's tried to get its hands involved, but the Lakota Sioux have rightfully pushed them out. We took a bus tour to Thunder Mountain that was very informative but unfortunately we couldn't fork over the $160 for tickets up the actual sculpture.
Lunch was expensive in Keystone where role-playing outlaws cracked whips in the street to drum up business for some wild west show.
At Rushmore, some NPS concessionaire was asking $10 for parking, so we stuck it to them and parked a half mile away from the entrance and walked in for free.
Seeing Rushmore after Crazy Horse makes Rushmore absolutely pathetic. The scale is smaller, the carving less refined, and the unfinished aspects of the sculpture are very apparent standing below the presidents. The weather was perfect, but the overwhelming crowds added to our decreasing score for the government's monument. Hell, Lincoln has hammer stripes for sideburns...which published photos conveniently leave out.
We searched for camping in Custer State Park, but left when they asked for money. The Forest Service provided shelter at Olmstead Campground where spaghetti with meat sauce satiated our pallets. At 9:30 we went to a laser show back at Crazy Horse where animated pictures were projected on the side of the carving. Very impressive production that was closed with an outlining of the eventual finished product. Needless to say there was plenty of cheering.
Final score for the day: Mount Rushmore: 0, Crazy Horse: 3
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