So, today I will share days 1 and 2!
We flew to Denver and rented a minivan -- never thought I would like minivans -- but, they really do serve a great purpose! (Not that I am running out to buy one however! :) ) After getting into Cheyenne, WY - and calling my brother-in-law for directions! - we found the local Wal-mart and loaded up on drinks and snacks! We drove and drove until we found this sign:
Yipee!! We stopped to check-in to our hotel and grab a great pizza from a local joint and made our way to Mount Rushmore. As we were driving around this mountain, we see cars stopped and looking back behind us. Naturally, being the tourists that we are, we parked and did the same. Amazing!! Do you see him?!?
We continued driving and there it was! So breathtaking! I honestly have to say that I really wasn't THAT excited about going to Mt. Rushmore. It was more of a "We're kind of in the neighborhood and should see it" thing. But, I definitely got chills being there!
Mt. Rushmore was the creation of a sculptor named Gutzon Borglum. He began the carving in 1927. Ninety percent of Mt. Rushmore was sculpted using dynamite! 400 workers, 14 years and $989,992.32 later, Mt. Rushmore was complete. Did you know that Thomas Jefferson was originally on George Washington's right; but, after getting most of Jefferson carved, they realized the rock quality was poor and used dynamite to blow Jefferson off that side and put him on the left side instead!
We stayed until dark to see the evening lighting ceremony. It is spectacular! I highly recommend Mt. Rushmore as a sight to see!
Saturday morning, we headed to Crazy Horse Memorial. Crazy Horse was an Indian hero from the Oglala Lakota tribe. A man named Korczak Ziolkowski, who helped Borglum carve Mt. Rushmore, agreed to help the Indian tribe carve a memorial for their hero. He began work in 1949 when he was 40 years old and only had $174 to his name. He, his wife and their ten children made it their life work to complete this. Ziolkowski has since died, but his family is still working on it. They do not have a finish date in sight! This was a very interesting place with many Indian artifacts and history.
This picture shows the mountain carving with the model of the finished product in front...
We left South Dakota behind and drove into Wyoming. We heard about a place called Devil's Tower and decided to take the 100-mile detour to see it. Devil's Tower was the nation's first national monument. It is the core of a volcano exposed after millions of years of erosion. It rises 865 feet into the sky.
While driving towards Cody, WY, we came upon a cold, cold river and decided to take a little break!
The day was almost done when we had to pull over and take a picture of God painting! A beautiful Wyoming sunset!
1 comment:
See, I could be a cowgirl on a Wyoming ranch! However, I do know Devil's Tower did not take millions of years to erode...since we know God created the earth and it was not millions of years ago :)That's just what the evoluionists think.
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