Crazy Horse

Our first stop was the Crazy Horse Memorial. I remember driving by this when I was in college on a choir tour and I could hardly even tell what the future sculpture was going to be. That was in 1995 and since then the workers have finished the face and blown off a bunch more rock.
The story is pretty cool. Some Native Americans decided they wanted a memorial similar to Mt. Rushmore to honor the land of the people, so they found a scultor that they thought would be up to the challenge. The guy (I can't remember his name, but he was Polish) moved to South Dakota, made a sample sculpture to honor Crazy Horse and the land where his people died, and he started blowing away rocks. That was in 1948! The sculptor spent his whole life working on the monument, but hardly even got to see it take shape.
The project is huge! It will be way bigger than Mt. Rushmore! Here you can see our four favorite guys and the face of Crazy Horse looking out to the right.
The sculptor had 10 kids and 7 of them continue to work on the monument by choice. I don't even know if it will reach completion by the end of their lifetimes, either. I am amazed by their dedication to the cause.
On several occasions, the federal government has offered millions of dollars in grant money to help complete the monument, but the family has refused. They believe that it needs to be finished using donations only. The admission fee is like $10 per person, plus they sell all sorts of Native American arts and crafts, have raffles (like the special Crazy Horse Harley seen here), and accept donations of money, equipment, and dynamite.

We thought this was a pretty cool experience because it is a work in progress. Someday we can return to Crazy Horse and see the progress, or perhaps the finished product, and say that we saw it way back when it was only a face and a bunch of rock.