Visit two iconic memorials in western South Dakota on a narrated tour. Spend 2 hours at each memorial, Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Enjoy pickup from your hotel in Rapid City and bottled water during the tour.
Begin at the iconic Mt. Rushmore. Watch the new 23-minute video called “Carved in Stone” about the carving, the sculptor Gutzon Borglum, and the workers. Visit the Lincoln Borglum Museum to see displays about Borglum, his family and his works, the mountain and machinery, and the workers.
Take the Presidential Trail, a gradually inclining walk that goes under the faces in the rock rubble with great spots for pictures of the individual faces. If you go further, there is a strenuous walk down to the Sculptor’s Studio (open only in the summer months) then back up to the viewing terrace.
See the Avenue of Flags, representing all 50 states and the territories, along with their respective dates of admission to the Union. Explore the large gift shop with a large variety of items. Stop at the Carvers’ Café and an ice cream shop for refreshments featuring Thomas Jefferson Original Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe from France.
Leave and stop for a picture at the side profile of George Washington. Drive 30 minutes to the Crazy Horse Memorial, a 3-sided sculpture which will be the largest in the world when completed. Watch a 23-minute video about the carving and the sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and his family that are doing the work.
Visit the North American Indian Museum, with items from many different Indian tribes, with 90% of the items being donated. Enjoy refreshments at the Laughing Water Restaurant.
Browse the gift shop, filled with Native-made items for sale. Walk through Ziolkowski’s workshop and the log home he built, filled with antiques. Visit the Native American Cultural Centre, where you can watch Natives making items for sale, as well as display items to see and touch.
See a brass Nature Gate and a huge statue of Fighting Stallions. For an additional $5, take a bus that delivers you to the base of the mountain so you can take a full picture of the face of Chief Crazy Horse.
