Day 3: The Black Hills

We started the day at Mount Rushmore National Monument. I really enjoyed seeing this landmark in person - very cool. We walked the presidential trail from which you can see the sculpture from different angles, and checked out the visitor center.

Mount Rushmore

The next stop was the Crazy Horse memorial. I had no idea that they had been working on it for 50 years already! The monument is HUGE, in fact it's not a carving in a mountain like Mount Rushmore, it's a mountain being carved into a figure in the round - meaning it will be carved on all sides. The 4 faces of Mount Rushmore fit into the HEAD of Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse Monument
(scale model in foreground, mountain in background)

The third stop was Custer State Park. The park features an abundance of all sorts of wildlife and we saw deer, pronghorn, turkey, buffalo, prairie dogs, and burro.

Buffalo at Custer State Park

We returned to Mount Rushmore for their evening lighting ceremony at the end of the day.

Mount Rushmore lit up at night

Check out more pictures by clicking here.