The Tourists

Day 26-31

Thought it wasn’t planned this way, Ruben ended up touring with me when we hit many of the country’s greatest treasures, including Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Yellowstone Park and Little Big Horn. What made his visit so memorable is that we are so similar in our desire to look, learn and then move on. Some people can spend hours, days, etc. at various sites, but Ruben and I were almost identical in when it was time to move on. Here are the highlights:



Ruben wanted to bring him
home as a pet

Little Big Horn, Montana: This is one of those historical tales that we all learn about in high school, but can’t remember the details. We’ve all heard of “Custer’s last stand’”etc. However, after touring this amazing site, I have to tell you Custer got his ass kicked because he was overconfident, gave the Indians no respect and frankly it is entirely questionable as to whether his attack should have happened in the first place. It’s an awesome tour that everyone should visit.


Blue water geyser

Yellowstone, Wyoming: There is so much to see here that we only scratched the surface. We saw Old Faithful, hundreds of geysers, incredible vistas, waterfalls, bison from 10 feet away, antelope and the best part, we were so early in the season, that there was very few people there making the experience even better. The weather was crazy as well. We had sunshine, rain, hail, fog and a smattering of snow. For those of you who have done Yosemite, Sequoia and Zion, this is probably the best because there is so much to see and it covers such a huge geographic space.

Sturgis, South Dakota: On the way to Mt. Rushmore we were able to stop in at Sturgis, which many of you know is the biker mecca of the world. Though the town looked like any other small town in America, it was funny to see how there was a huge bar on every street and street corner. Most of them shuttered till the biker rally which is a few months away. However, we did stop in for a couple of cold ones at the Knuckle Saloon, which was super cool.



Amazing, but still can't figure out
why Teddy was in included

Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota: This can only be described as amazing. When you drive around the hillside and see it in the distance it is frankly overwhelming. To think of the vision, fortitude and commitment to make a pile of granite rocks come to life and have so much history. Both Ruben and I were surprised by all that there was to see. We took the walking tour to see the monument from many different angles and then visited the Gutzon Borglum artist studio which was one of the highlights. Definitely a must see of American history.

Look closely and you can Crazy Horse's profile.  The hole is
the space below his extended arm and his horse's mane

Crazy Horse, South Dakota – Though this is very much a work in progress, the Crazy Horse monument was one of the best and frankly the most compelling. This monument was started in the 40s by Korczak Ziolkowski and commissioned by a Lakota Elder and the progress being made is significant now, compared to when it first started. The entire monument is being done through private funding and managed by Korczak’s wife and family (he died). The video describing what’s taking place and the overall tribute to Crazy Horse is pretty moving. Definitely worth seeing!

Corn Palace, Mitchell, South Dakota – For over thirty years I have heard my best friend Jim Thomsen talk about the amazing Corn Palace located in his home town of Mitchell, South Dakota. You may be asking yourself “What the F is a corn palace?” I did the same. Well, given that I was driving from state line to state line and driving right through Mitchell, I figured I had no excuse, particularly because I was seeing Jim in a couple of days, and it would have been tough to explain how I had missed one of the world’s greatest treasures! To put it into words is difficult. The exterior of the Corn Palace (it’s an events center) is made entirely of corn, corn stocks and corn husks…I kid you not! To say it was hard for my eyes to believe what they were seeing would be an understatement…

We literally crammed about a month’s worth of touring into five days!