Tonight was one of those nights... there's not much to do in Deadwood, South Dakota except drink and gamble - so that's what I did... it worked out well for the most part, but alas, I did forget what room I was staying in (but at least I remembered which hotel!)
I stopped for breakfast this morning in Chadron, Nebraska. Breakfast itself was not terribly notable, but the brief stop in at the local Walmart afterward was hysterical. Why was I at Walmart you might ask? Good question... Because I figured it was easier to stop and buy new underwear and t-shirts than it was to find a laundromat somewhere and spend an hour ignoring the guy in the corner with mental health issues talking to his socks.
Walmart in middle-America is awesome. Not because of the deals on unmentionables (though those are good too) but because the people watching is fantastic! I saw at least a half-dozen people that looked exactly like the people featured on this website - just awesome... it's the only way to describe it... honestly.
I was headed for Mount Rushmore in south-western South Dakota - and wow - this part of the country is stunning:
Prairie gave way to rolling hills, lush green forests and sparkling lakes as I got a little further into SD; it was a beautiful drive that I hadn't been anticipating, and I tried to just sit back and take it all in.
The first stop was at the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills area of the state. This is really cool; it is a monument built to honour Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain's smooth, fine-grained granite (the same rock that Mount Rushmore - 13 miles up the road - is carved from).
The carving was begun in 1948, and the face was finished and unveiled in 1998. The larger-than-life rock sculpture has no fixed completion date, and based on how long it's taken them to get this far, it will be quite a long time before it's done. For more info on what the finished sculpture will look like, and more info on the memorial, the Indian Museum of North America, and the Native American Cultural Center click here (the white marks in the photo above indicate where the head of the warriors horse will be carved - eventually).
From there it's a short drive through the Black Hills to Mount Rushmore. Mount Rushmore - as I'm sure you're aware - is another sculpture carved into the mountainside of the heads of four famous US presidents: (from left to right) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
Mount Rushmore is also cool (sort of); it rises some 5700 feet above sea level and was the brainchild of sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Construction on the sculpture began in 1927 and was completed in 1941 (though it wasn't officially dedicated until 1991 by then President George H. W. Bush) without a sugle worker casualty. The crowds can be crushing in the summer - as I found out - and I was amazed by the vast array of trinkets and trash that bear the monument's likeness available for purchase in the gift shop. It was interesting to see such an iconic piece of popular American culture up close, but unless you're really into art history or American pop-patriotism, you can probably skip it.
And this is what brought me to Deadwood. The town is the final resting place of Wild Bill Hickok and it is a National Historic Landmark for this reason - I suppose. It is a town of roughly 2000 people and just as many casinos, saloons, gift shops and ice cream parlours. It's not that bad to be honest - the slots are loose and the women - well, actually I have no idea, so let's skip that. Originally it was a mining town, and subsequently a railroad and manufacturing center, and naturally it then morphed into a tourist trap based on a history that may actually be as fabricated as it is widely believed.
But none of that matters now - Kevin Costner owns a casino here - that's neat. And the bikers on their way either to or from Sturgis seem to like it - so let them have their fun... after all, the hotels need fillin' - no matter who's staying in which room.
Today's CLASSIC clip is my favourite scene from the movie Rushmore. It has nothing to do with anything I saw today (other than sharing a name with a mountain) but it is hilarious - almost as hilarious as those people at the Walmart back in Nebraska.
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6 comments:
ALWAYS makes me laugh... not just giggle.. but LOL actually.
Oh.. Are they?
HA
i'm laughing even now. aw sigh.. when luke was skinny and awesome.
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