May 13, 2022
The weather is nice, so far. So we decided to head to the Crazy Horse Memorial. We decided to take the scenic way to the Memorial. The road is SD 89 which meets SD 87. This is a road that is usually closed in the winter. In addition, it is the Blue Star Memorial Highway. It is a tribute to the Armed Forces. The scenery was beautiful. We also met some wildlife. About 15 feet from the road stood a deer. We had Bree in the back street and she was barking at the deer. The deer stood there and just looked at us. Not a care in the world.
PICTURES - ROAD TO CRAZY HORSE
One of the perks we get as workampers here at Fort Welikit, in addition to a free site with full hook up, is a Badlands VIP Training Program cards. These cards give us free admission to some places, 1/2 price for some places, discounts at various merchants and gift shops. The cards are for employees that work in the area. It is my guess that most are like us, and not from the area. The purpose is to give the employees a chance to explore the area, learn about the history and appreciate the area. It has been wonderful so far. An excellent perk. Free admission to Crazy Horse is one of the perks.
We arrived at Crazy Horse. We have seen it from the main road a couple of times already but it was neat to go a little closer. This memorial is actually a work in progress. It was started in 1948. It is intended to be not just a memorial to Crazy Horse but it is supposed to represent and memorialize all Native Americans. On the campus is the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, the Indian Museum of North America, the Nature Gates, and several others with more to come. We first entered the Welcome Center and we sat in a theater to watch a movie on the origins of the memorial and the people involved. Very cool. After we left the theater we wandered around the museum to take in the sites and history. The artwork was beautiful. The quotes were very appropriate, even today. One display that caught my eye was the Code Talker display. During World War II, native Americans were used for communications in their native languages. The most famous was the Navajo, depicted in the movie, “The Wind Talkers”. The Navajo were used in the Pacific Theater. Other tribes, like the Lakota Sioux, were used in Europe. Of course the exit from the museum is the gift shop. One section was nothing but hand-made items from Native Americans. Beautiful craftsmanship. One thing that caught my eye were the arrows and the quivers. Very cool.
The gift shop opens to an outdoor viewing area. You can view and photograph the Memorial. On the other side is a snack bar and the Laughing Water Restaurant. It was time for a late lunch so we went in. After looking at the menu, we opted for two dishes and we split them so we could each experience the tastes. We shared the Native American Taco and the Tatanka Stew. The taco was a base of Indian fry bread with taco meat, refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, salsa, and sour cream. The stew was cuts from local bison (buffalo), carrots, peas, potatoes, and onions. We enjoyed the meal but not overly impressed. Nancy liked the Indian fry bread but I did not.
After we left the restaurant we continued to explore the rest of the campus. There was a 1/34th size model of the completed memorial. Other items included statues, a 9-11 tribute, and the actual hose the sculptor (Korczak Ziolkowski) and his family lived in while they were working on the memorial. Chief Henry Standing Bear was the catalyst of this project. Visit www.crazyhorsememorial.org, to see the progress of the memorial. They have live web cams, etc. You also have the opportunity to donate. The neat thing about this memorial is that it is not funded by any government. Strictly donations.
