It was a scorching 100 degrees today. Certainly, the hottest day thus far. This morning we drove to see the statue of Crazy Horse- a statue that is much larger than Mount Rushmore. It has been a project that is privately funded and has been ongoing for many years. In fact, no one knows when it will be completed! The man who originally started the memorial had 10 children.  His children and grandchildren have continued the carvings. When completed, it will be the largest statue to date. The granite the Crazy Horse Memorial is made from contains minerals such as iron, garnet, feldspar, quartz, mica, and pyrite; pretty spectacular.

We also went to the Crazy Horse Memorial Museum which I found to be fantastic. I learned a lot about Crazy Horse, originally known as Curly,  due to his curly hair when he was born. He became a fierce warrior and did so because of a vision he had of a man riding a horse not becoming injured. Originally,  he fell in love with a woman whom he had been courting for many years. However, when he went away for battle,  she ended up marrying someone else. In addition to the story behind Crazy Horse, it was also mentioned that he was never, in his life, photographed.  Interestingly,  there were multiple visual depictions of him on postcards and such through the years claiming to be Crazy Horse; however, this was not the case.

When we traveled outside, we were able to see the original model sculpture of Crazy Horse as well as a small 9/11 memorial depicting the twin towers.

After traveling to the Crazy Horse monument,  we traveled back to Mount Rushmore during the daytime. Gutsum Borglum was the architect behind this masterpiece. The presidents chosen were Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Jefferson. Roosevelt was known quite well for his expansion of the West. This is why he was chosen. We had the chance to really explore the Avenue of the flags placed in alphabetical order.

Later we entered into the Badlands. This was once an ocean during the Jurassic Period. This area erodes one inch per year. It is made of sedimentary rock and there is little plant life. It is unimaginable to think of the early settlers coming through here with their carriages- trying to make it over the challenging passes. I can imagine this was frustrating for them.

The oldest rock at the bottom is 70 million years old. It used to be an ocean and then turned into a warm swampy land. Then 30 million years after there was an erosion period. In other words, few deposits happened during this time. 35 million years ago we got more deposits. We are currently looking at a cooler, shrub land. Animals that died were probably in the mud and this preserved their bones. A three toed horse could be found here, larger cats,  rhinos and pigs. Thenred bands are fossilized soil layers. The thin bands above the red layers may be ash formations from volcanic eruptions known as the Rockford Ash lay.Currently,  we are in an erosion period. Therefore, there are few deposit.

Back when individuals started migrating during the Dust Bowl era, a couple started something called a Wall Drugstore. Basically it is a tourist trap giving free water and 5 cent coffee. In addition, if you are a veteran or newly wed, you can get a free donut. This wall drugstore was massive with basically anything you could imagine. It was a bit overwhelming but lovely took peruse through.

During the evening we had the sincere pleasure of listening to Stephen Yellowhawk. He was an individual who had grown up with grandparents who were christian missionaries. His grandparents had raised him because his mother had him at such a young age. He attended school and didnt know much about his heritage. His grandparents at the time of being missionaries were asked to put aside their culture so they could be missionaries. Stephen started expressing interest in his culture in high school. He is now an advocate and a cultural leader that helps Native American students assimilate into the culture in the hopes they graduate.  He was an incredible speaker and just the most wonderful individual. He definitely made me think about life, its purpose and the importance of changing our education system for the better.