VT = Ringside Seating.

Scenery aside - since it was beautiful, and there is no need yet to go into detail repeating that - the additions to Mt Rushmore need to be heavily credited. 56 Million dollars spent on parking, museum, theatre, gift shop, etc ... but the cream of the project was the new Presidential Walkway. A long open topped corridor lined on both sides by huge square granite columns. on each side of the columns was an inscription of the state represented, and the state flag flying above it. through all of this, you could still see Mt Rushmore beyond and above - rather excellent cropping effect. Meandering up the pathway, we spied a handful of the states that we had already passed through, Jersey about halfway down ... no VT, but we weren't really searching through both sides ...

and then... having reached the end John and I turned (always waiting on those girls ) and the very first column - the side facing Mt Rushmore, right side, - VERMONT! wooooooooooooot! we get the view and the public location. We figured the granite must have came from VT, and they put 'best spot for flag' on the contract!

Walked up the requisite pathway, tried to pick Washington's nose in a picture, almost fell off the guardrailing doing so ... ankle a little sensitive still, remember? That Borglum ... crazy bugger ...
gutsy. or Gutzon ...
Gutzon Borglum
interesting ...
impressive ... and he did it under a million dollars total. hard to imagine anyone doing any sculpture now for under a million ... I mean, we have a huge bean for 25 mill. Think about what it would cost to carve a mountain now-a-days?

Speaking of which - Crazy Horse! You think that regular Americans want everything bigger and better, and monuments like Rushmore and the Washington Obelisk are over the top ... just think what the REAL Americans must want. That's right, the American Indians are taking not just one cliff face, but the entire Mountain, and turning it into a sculpture of the Lakota War Chief! When completed the Crazy Horse mountain carving will be 641 feet long by 563 feet high. Crazy Horse's completed head is over 87 feet high. The horse's head, currently the focus of work on the mountain, is 219 feet or 22 stories high. ........Mt Rushmore could fit inside Crazy Horse's head easily!

Now - the original premise was for a monument to Crazy Horse, and the American Indian in general, and to show the world that they have pride and resources as well. Cool. Fine. Built by people inspired, for people to be inspired by. Also good. Completely funded by donations from the public ... also a decent ideal ... since that means that only people who believe in it give money ... but to turn down, Twice, Government donations of 10 Million dollars in grant money ... that just seems a little too prideful, and self defeating. It has taken over half a decade to carve the face. It will probably take another fifty years or more to do the horse head ... sure, that sounds awe inspiring ... but look at the master plan for the monument http://www.crazyhorse.org/story/future.shtml easily Billions of dollars just in construction costs! why not get a little hand up, so that by the time the real museum is built the artifacts are still salvageable!

Just an idea. Stubborn Americans.

Pulled into the 'Rod and Gun' campground in the Black Hills - actually one of our best campsites yet - and foraged for wood! Since we left the hatchet in Pittsburgh the larger logs were ravaged in a beaver-like fashion by our trusty hammer, until they resolved into manageable pieces. Met a couple from Minnesota and I won a $5 bet by officially coining the term 'Felamper' in normal conversation. Etimology: fellow camper. I think they just thought that I was crazy.

Played chubby bunny. oh yes. I won. Come on - did you really think that anyone else had a bigger mouth? Pictures to come ... one of these days we need to hit a random spot of highspeed wireless ... because $5 for 15 minutes of mediocre net-cafe service is not acceptable ...