Brokeback Sightseeing

I'm to tired to not be funny so this will be quick. The day started with a venture to Mt. Rushmore. It was pretty interesting and we did the picture thing. Also ran into a British guy who has been going around the world. After hearing about his trip ours kicks his ass. After Rushmore it was off to Crazy Horse with a quick stop-over in Custer. Not much to see there. Crazy Horse was pretty spectacular. When you realize the scale it kind of blows your mind. His head alone could fit all of Rushmore inside it and the whole thing is about twice the height of Washington Monument. When done it will be largest sculpture in the world, bigger than the pyramids. The scale is also what is stopping it from ever being done. Little did I know that it started in the 1940's and so far they only have the face done. At this rate it may be done by 2100. The sculptor who died in '82 was a pretty interesting guy himself. He went from clean cut Boston guy to Grizzly Adams over the 40 years he lived there. 7 of his 10 kids still live and work on the sculpture. 

After Crazy Horse was Deadwood. For those that don't know Deadwood was a booming gold mining town in the late 1800's. After succumbing to fire multiple times over the years the town was growing old and dilapidated. The residents had a grand idea of how to restore the town...gambling! It's now turned into another gimmicky, trashy, gambling town. The most interesting part was seeing the old graveyard where Seth Bullock, Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hikock are buried. The whole town sits in the middle of the Black Hills, the same as Keystone, and it makes you wonder why people ever settled there or stayed when the gold ran out.

Towards the end of the night we headed to Devil's Tower, quite possibly one of the coolest nature wonders I have ever seen. It stands ~845 feet high which is hard to fathom. Check out the pictures to see the scale with us (we are hard to spot, look for a red dot in the bottom right of one of the pictures). It was the first national park in the US, designated by Roosevelt. We got some good shots as the sun set.

We are now in Gilette, Wyoming, pretty much the only town in Wyoming besides Cheyenne. Off to Yellowstone tomorrow. About 100 new pictures added to the link to the side.