Lake Mary via the Black Hills of South Dakota

Back home.  Lake Mary is looking good.   We came home to warmth and sunny skies and gentle breezes which was not the forecast when we left Washington.  A pleasant surprise, for sure.

It would have been an uneventful journey if we had not taken a spur-of-the-moment side trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota.   I say spur of the moment because that's exactly what it was.

Our conversation:

Jack:   "We can be home by about 10 p.m. if we just keep driving".  "Or we can head down to the Black Hills."

Well, I kind of wanted to see the Crazy Horse project and revisit Mount Rushmore.  I'll tell you this, my friends, the Black Hills are mighty awesome.

Me:  "Whatever you decide is fine with me."

Jack:  "No, you decide"

Me:  "No, you...you're the one driving...it's up to you."

Jack:  "Let's flip a coin."

Me:  "Good thinking.  You call it and I'll flip."

Jack:  Heads...the Black Hills; Tails...home

So I flipped a quarter.  It landed in Jack's empty coffee cup.  It was heads.

So off we went.  First stop was the Crazy Horse project.  What a fabulous site that is. Who was  Crazy Horse and why is there a monument to him being carved in the Black Hills of South Dakota, you ask?

Well, it's a mountain carving in honor of all American Indians and their heroes.  It was commissioned by Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear in 1939.  The sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski had captured the first prize at the 1939 World's Fair for his Study of an Immortal - a statue of Paderewski.  So Standing Bear invited him to the Black Hills to carve Crazy Horse.

Standing Bear said, "My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes, also."

 In 1947, Korczak accepted the invitation and started work in 1948.

Korczak was a poor child of Polish descent who was born in Boston, orphaned when he was only one year old and lived his childhood in foster homes.   He was a self-taught artist who was almost 40 years old when he began this project.   He had very little money and struggled through financial hardship, but believed  in the free enterprise system and twice refused offers of federal funding.

This is a bronze casting of the statue.  It is meant to depict the spirit of Crazy Horse more than his actual likeness.  His left arm is stretched out pointing to "My lands where my dead lie buried."

To put it mildly, it was a difficult time for all American Indian tribes.   The Treaty of 1868 said, in effect:

"As long as rivers run and grass grows and trees bear leaves, Paha Sapa - the Black Hills of Dakota - will forever be the sacred land of the Sioux Indians."

But that treaty (among others) was broken and the tribes were left without their sacred lands.   Crazy Horse defended his people and their way of life until he was stabbed in the back by an American soldier.  He died  September 6, 1877.  He was about 35 years old.

When completed The carving will be 641 feet long and 363 feet high in the round!   His head is 87-1/2 feet high and his arm will be 263 feet.  The horse's head will be 219 feet high...that's 22 stories!!

I'm including link to the Crazy Horse Memorial website.  There's an excellent page on the Story of the Crazy Horse Memorial with lots of pictures and links.  This photo is actually a photo of a photo that's hanging in the museum!

Seven of Korczak and Ruth Ziolkowski's ten children are continuing the work on their father's Crazy Horse Dream.  Watch the short video showing some of the blasting on the mountain, the interior of the Indian Museum of North America.  You'll see pictures of Korczak, as well.

We were there only an hour of so because we still wanted to visit Mount Rushmore.  It was late afternoon and the National Park was closing at 5:00 p.m.   We got there with twenty minutes to spare!

Tomorrow...Mount Rushmore.  Stay tuned.