Day 24 started in Spearfish where we jumped on highway 85/385 South. Sure, we could have taken I-90 and covered more miles but the area was beautiful so we took it slow.
Onto our first stop for the day.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
As far as American Icons go, this is one of the tops. The faces can be seen for miles sitting at an elevation over 5700ft. The faces are carved out of a solid Granite cliff face in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Each of the heads is 60ft tall and look out across the almost 1300 acre Memorial Park. It took sculptor Gutzom Borglum, and son Lincoln, 14 yrs from 1927 to 1941 to complete overseeing the project to completion.
From the parking lot the view is amazing!
As you continue closer, the corridor of State Flags pull your eyes from the hills. Under each state flag it has information about the Year of Statehood and other facts.
Once you get past the corridor of flags you come to an Amphitheater and viewing area of the sculptures. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was perfect outside.
As I've stated in past posts, we still didn't have a good camera at this point. Here are a couple shots from our phones and GoPro.
Back on the road and a very short drive down the road and we were at our next stop for the day. This one isn't as popular as the first one, but it should be!
Crazy Horse Memorial
In 1939 Korczak Ziolkowski came to the Black Hills to assist Borglum with Mount Rushmore. He was later contacted by Chief Standing Bear to commission a piece in tribute to the North American Indians.
The tribe has been working on it since 1947 and doesn't accept federal or state funding. All work is paid for by donations and admission costs. Here you can see the scale model of it completed along with the construction progress on the mountain in the background.
Currently this is the largest mountain carving in progress in the world. It's absolutely massive! You can't see them in this picture, but their are workers and equipment near the tip of the finger.
We walked around the visitors center and museum but don't have pictures. They ask that you don't take any pictures inside and out of respect we didn't.
After leaving we saw a brown sign and those always lead to something cool. Our third stop for the day was an unexpected one and neither of us had heard of it.
Wind Caves National Park
The Wind Caves became a National Park in 1903 and is one of our oldest parks. The park itself is enormous at nearly 29,000 acres and the caves are equally impressive. Mapping of 143 miles in the cave system puts this at the 3rd largest in the US and 7th in the world.
We didn't take the paid cave tour and instead walked around the visitor and interpretive center. The entrance of the cave isn't very impressive and I can't find any pictures we took of it.
Legend has it the caves here was breathing from the Earth. As the barometric pressure changes in the area it will either inhale or exhaust air from the cave entrance. It would have been very impressive to the Indians of the area long long ago. We didn't spend long here before getting on the road and onto our next stop.
Wall Drug
For hundreds of miles and several states we've been seeing signs for Wall Drug. We had no clue what it was from the signs. They covered everything from a museum to boots and worlds best rattlesnake jerky. Boy they weren't lying. This place is a city block!
In literally the middle of nowhere you'll find Wall Drug. They have it all and more. Inside is like it's own little town. They offer everything along with crazy statues and even a life sized stuffed Bison. Here are some pictures so you get an idea.
Such a cool place but it was getting late in the day and we had to find a hotel for the night. We drove as long as we could and found a spot just across the Missouri River in the town of Chamberlain. That would be where we end the day. Here is our route for Day 24.
Be sure to follow us on YouTube and Facebook for up to date travel. Thanks for following along on our journey and we hope to hear from you in the comments!
