Randomness with Rachel: AVERT2015 Recap Part 4

I'm happy to report that the three weeks of overtime with no days off are finally over with! **happy dance** I'm still recovering, and I plan to take a long weekend this coming weekend to do nothing but relax (so if you call and I don't answer- that is why). :)

I started this post on Sunday night, thinking I would post on Monday, maybe even Tuesday. Obviously, that didn't happened. I really hope to be a better blogger one day. Jodi and I are gonna skip What I'm Loving Wednesday this week. Please come back next week, we hope to get back on a regular schedule with our link up here soon!! :)

I'm also hoping to finish my road trip recap soon (which yes, is almost a month old). :) If you missed the last recap, click here.

That Monday was one of my favorite days of the trip since we were able to go to Mount Rushmore. I had waited my whole life to go there. I'll admit, I was kinda giddy when we saw the entrance sign. It was truly amazing. They showed a video about the drilling/carving of the monument. We learned some interesting facts, like how Thomas Jefferson was supposed to be on the other side of George Washington, but it didn't work out, so they "blew it up" and moved him to the other side. Yes, I could bore you with a lot of facts, but I won't, because you didn't come here for a history lesson. Lol. So I'll bore you with a ton of pictures instead. :) I think I took a picture with every possible view of Mount Rushmore behind me. :)

Don't you hate it when you are taking a selfie, and four old guys photobomb you? :)

Yes, I'm one of THOSE people. Lol. ;)

Yes, Mount Rushmore/Keystone had a baseball team!

Before we left, we stopped at the gift shop (because of course, we needed souvenirs, and I was on a mission to find Mount Rushmore salt and pepper shakers for my mom. In case you are wondering, I found them). They were selling a book by one of the original drillers, and it just so happened he was there that day signing copies of his book. I couldn't pass up that opportunity, so naturally, I bought a copy. He had just turned 94 the day before. He was super nice and told some interesting stories, I can't wait to find time to read his book and find out more about his time working on Mount Rushmore. And yes, he was nice enough to take a picture with me.

Me and Mr. Clifford. He was a member of the Mount Rushmore baseball team. He included his baseball card with the book purchase. :)

After Mount Rushmore we headed over to the Crazy Horse Memorial. I'll be honest- I didn't know much about it. This memorial started back in the 1940s after Henry Standing Bear, an Oglala Lakota Chief, asked a sculptor named Korczak Ziolkowski to carve a memorial honoring all Native American Indians. We learned that the first blast on the mountain took place in 1948 and five survivors of the Battle of Little Bighorn attended the ceremony. When you look at the memorial, it doesn't seem like much has been accomplished in the past 60 years (really you only have Crazy Horse's face). The Memorial does not accept state or federal funding, they rely on admissions and donations. I saw what the completed memorial is supposed to look like, maybe my grandchildren will live to see the day that it's completed. It is still a great place to visit- and they obviously need our support! Please check out their website for more information. It really is fascinating. If you ever go visit Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial is maybe 20 minutes away- it's totally worth a visit. Korczak passed away in 1982, but his children and grandchildren have continued to keep his dream alive and are still involved with the Memorial. His wife Ruth was actively involved in day to day operations at the Memorial until her death in May of 2014.

In order to get this close, you have to take the bus tour. It only costs $4 and is totally worth it.

Our tour guide (top left) was awesome. He had a lot of information. He was funny too. He reminded me of Jerry Van Dyke (his voice even sounded like him). They had Crazy Horse's family tree hanging in the museum. I wouldn't mind my I~~ndian~~ Native American name being that (top right). They had a lot of Ruth's memorabilia throughout the museum. She collected sports autographs. Gee, sounds like someone else I know (who coincidentally has a middle name of Ruth). :)

One of the few pictures Mel and I took together- this is us on the Crazy Horse tour bus!

This is what the completed sculpture will look like

This was another day where it was supposed to rain ALL day. As you can tell from the pictures, it was overcast and cloudy (with the exception of about 30 minutes of sunshine at Mount Rushmore), but thankfully the rain held off until we were leaving Crazy Horse. Funny story as we were leaving the parking lot of Crazy Horse. When we got back to my car, we noticed the car that had parked next to us had a Texas license plate. Not TOO unusual, Texas is a big state, I'm sure lots of people travel to South Dakota. BUT, it had a bumper sticker from my high school in Austin. What are the odds? Lol. It made me laugh.

We were hoping to make it to North Dakota by the end of the day (because why visit South Dakota and not make a trip to North Dakota)? We noticed on the atlas (yes, a real paperback atlas) that the geographic center of the United States was in Belle Fourche, SD, which happened to be on our route, so, naturally, we stopped.

We were happy to make it to North Dakota well before dark. We stayed in a town called Bowman (just a ways past the ND border). We discovered the only place to eat in Bowman after 8pm was a Subway, but it was okay. We were able to have a relaxing evening after a very long, tiring day.