Custer State Park and Crazy Horse:

I think I will be running out of adjectives before long as every place we go to is so impressive and/or beautiful. We thoroughly enjoyed our drive through Custer State Park; stopped at every lookout spot and took lots and lots of pictures.

We came across our first herd of Bison; just a stone’s throw away from the road.  One bull in particular was unhappy about something; he kept pawing on the ground and letting out this low, deep, rumbling ????? (what is it known as when Bison’s talk?) It was nice to see several little ones toddling along next to their mamas.

 

We also came across wild burroughs. “Wild” is a misnomer. It was obvious they were looking for handouts (though we were not supposed to feed them, we saw several people giving them carrots) as they came right up to our car windows and put their big faces in. All they got from us were some nice words and a few strokes.

Artistic bull in the town of Custer - there was one in every corner

From Custer State Park, we made our way to Crazy Horse Memorial. Located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, it is touted as the world's largest mountain carving. The sculptor here was an apprentice to Borglum. When Lakota elder Henry Standing Bear decided he wanted to honor Crazy Horse (an Oglala Lakota warrior) with a statue that would be bigger and more impressive than the ones in Mt. Rushmore, he hired Korczak Ziolkowski. Started in 1948, the work is still going on and at this time we can see the face of Crazy Horse on the mountain face.
The place had a museum and a short film about the work and the sculptor. The sculptor started when he was in his 30s, worked on his own for many years since there was not enough money to hire workmen. He married and had 10 children – in the film he jokingly says he had to have that many children so he could have enough help. After his death, his wife and kids have kept the work going.  The museum has some fabulous examples of Native American work – all donated by various collectors.

This is a huge model made by Ziolkowski to show what the finished work will look like