Wednesday, 10th September - Rapid City (115 miles)

We went west out of Rapid City today to one of the most recognisable monuments in the USA, Mount Rushmore:

From left to right: Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Lincoln. We watched a film presentation about the construction of the Monument and spent quite some time in the excellent visitors' centre. Poignantly it was constructed on a mountain considered sacred by the native American Indian's .....

Having seen a buffalo/bison yesterday we ate it for lunch today in a bison chilie:

We then moved on to the Crazy Horse Monument (construction started in the 1940s and is unlikely to be fully completed until the 2040s!). By way of scale, the top of Lincoln's head at Mount Rushmore would align with the eye of Crazy Horse ie the latter is approximately half as big again. Crazy Horse is pointing towards the lands that got stolen by the pale faces:

Once finished it should look like this model:

All very thought provoking and marking a pretty inglorious period of American history.

We made our way back to Rapid City via the Custer State Park, the Needles Scenic Highway and the Peter Norbeck Scenic Highway all running through the spectacular Black Hills:

Dinner at Sickies (again)

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