Vacation Part 2

Day 3 started at Crazy Horse. I was also here a couple of times as a child...my grandpa lived in western Nebraska so I had a chance to see some of the things between Kokomo and Sidney, and Crazy Horse was one of them. Here's how Crazy Horse looked then, and how it looks in 2009.

We spent the morning at Crazy Horse. Zane would like to go back sometime on his birthday...they do 2 night blasts every year and one of them is on June 26!!

Here are our memories of Crazy Horse:

Matt: Chief Crazy Horse's childhood nickname was "Curly"
Janette: The Lakota elders wanted a monument and no government money has been used to do the work on the Crazy Horse sculpture
Quinn: All four Mt. Rushmore faces could fit in Crazy Horse's head
Clara: He's pointing toward his people's land
Zane: They use dynamite to move away rock to carve the mountain
Millie: They are starting to work on the horse

After visiting Crazy Horse we went to Wind Cave and took the Garden of Eden tour. I remember going to Wind Cave as a child, but remember very few details. My pictures in the cave didn't turn out so great--this cave is well-known for its boxwork, which was very cool.

Here are our memories of Wind Cave:

Matt: Wind Cave is the 4th longest cave in the world and was the first cave to become a National Park
Janette: The largest natural opening of the cave is only as big as a cowboy hat!
Quinn: Both families that originally owned the cave sued each other. They both won AND lost and then Wind Cave became public land. (read more about this here)
Clara: the cave is 53 degrees year-round. It's warmer than it's supposed to be (Jewel Cave is 49 degrees), probably because of the natural hot springs that are nearby.
Zane: I remember Popcorn, Boxwork, and the candle flashlight.
Millie: There were formations called popcorn--if you touch it, the oil from your fingers will turn it black and it will never be white again.

We ended our day at Mt. Rushmore, but went back again the following morning, so I will wait to give the recap in my next vacation post!

Click here for our pictures