We were there this summer, and let me sum up the experience for you - we spent the entire morning at the Crazy Horse Monument, versus stopping on the road for Mount Rushmore, snapping a shot and keep on driving. Rushmore was, yeah, I’m glad we saw it, but Crazy Horse was just so freakin’ cool!
My wife and I spent a day going through the Black Hills back in May. We went to Crazy Horse first and were blown away by the scope of that work-in-progress. Then we went to Rushmore and went, “well, it’s okay, I guess…” Later in the day, we headed north to Devil’s Tower (also pretty cool) and visited the aliens – the complimentary anal probing was so gentle you almost didn’t know they were doing anything (my prostate is apparently healthy).
A little further north yet is my favorite American monument – Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana. But I’m kinda into the history of that particular battle, so YMMV.
ETA: D’oh! featherlou beat me to commenting on our summer trip!
Personally, I was shocked at how small they were. You think it’s the entire mountain, but no, it’s just the top edge of a cliff. Weird. Crazy Horse, on the other hand, will be completely insane when it’s finished. Of course, it’s kind of dull until then (ETA: and expensive! Who wants to pay $15 to look at a mountain that they can see from the toll booth?)
<nitpick>
The meanings of words in any natural language change over time, just like how gay used to only mean happy, and there ain’t thing one any of us can do about it. ‘Correcting’ people back to an archaic usage of a word only makes you look out-of-touch.
</nitpick>
Strangely enough, when we were there a few summers ago, we did the opposite, only it was the evening at Mt. Rushmore. We stayed for the flag ceremony/lighting, and our daughter was running around looking at the exhibits to earn a junior ranger pin. (Kids (and the grownups helping them) learn quite a bit about Rushmore and the men on it when they do that.) As far as Crazy Horse is concerned, well, we didn’t have time for everything, it did seem kind of expensive, and, well, you can see it from the road.
But you don’t get the whole Crazy Horse story from the road, and that is some fascinating history there. What you can see, that almost incomprehensibly big part that’s already done, that was done by one family, and started by one man and a bunch of dynamite and a jackhammer.
There are some good documentaries and books out there describing the challenges in building Mount Rushmore which make viewing it much more interesting.
For instance, did you know that Jefferson was originally supposed to be left of Washington? They got pretty far before they hit some bad cracks and had to blast his unfinished face off. Jefferson got moved to the right, and then they discovered a vein of hard quartz running through his chin (which you can easily see), so they had to tilt the head back to avoid working with it. Also you can see the outline of three knuckle’s of Lincoln’s hand below his chin which are unfinished - it was supposed to be showing him clutching his coat.
The whole history of financing what we would now call a boondoggle, getting Coolidge and FDR in the loop, and calling it “good enough” and stopping just before WWII is a great story.
So it joins the Giant’s Causeway as something worth seeing, but not worth going to see?
Well, back in ‘62, it knocked this 9-year-old’s fuckin’ socks off! I think it might’ve been my first genuine sensation of awe.
[hijack]Speaking of “‘Correcting’ people back to an archaic usage of a word”, could we please reclaim the word “awesome”? It’s such a fine word, so perfectly suited for the condition it,and only it, can describe, and now, thanks to Spicoli and pop culture, it just means “cool”. We already have cool. When I see something really awesome, I’d like the word to be as important as the feeling.[/hijack]
and get the hell offa my lawn…
Placing Wall Drug (think small-time Wal-Mart with Western kitsch) in the same frame of reference as the Badlands is deserving of a pitting, or would be if I had the energy. 
So I was looking at this picture of the Mona Lisa. It’s way smaller than I imagined. And completely lacking in enormity.
Yes, the enormity of my crime is hard to fathom.
I donno. I’m a sucker for weird roadside attractions and odd tourist traps - and I think Wall Drug is one of the best in America, starting with the “Don’t Miss Wall Drug” signs along the highway for hundreds of miles around. If you found Wall Drug to be nothing more than “Wal-Mart with Western kitsch,” I don’t think you were looking very hard.
And even better after they replace Lincoln with General/President Thade.
Speaking of Crazy Horse, will that thing be done in my lifetime?
I remember my friend taking a trip out there and saying how huge it was and how awesome it will be when it’s done. That was 1982.
Just how slowly does work progress on the thing?
For about the first 40 years of the project, the work was done by one man, Korczak Ziolkowski, who died in 1982. His children have taken on the challenge of continuing the work and have been plugging away at it slowly but steadily, but there’s only a handful of them as well. So the short answer to your question is “maybe.” The kids will get it done as fast as they can, and as money permits, and are apparently committed to completing it eventually. But there is no timeline set for completion.
Dubya is convinced that history is going to show exactly what a fabulous president he has been (remember, he didn’t last 8 long years because he wanted to be popular!) - so there better be some room for this…Giant.:rolleyes:
I was prepared to be underwhelmed by Mt. Rushmore, but I really enjoyed my visit. Despite the crowds, there was just a vibe there–common to many National Parks–of being part of the Great American Summer Vacation. Heck, there was even a guy dressed up like Abe Lincoln prowling the main walkway and posing for family photos (for free!) Any fan of America or the NPS owes themselves a visit.
The Black Hills in general is a terrific tourist destination. I love the kitsch at Wall Drug, The Badlands are spectacular in the moonlight or after a summer rainstorm, Custer State Park has great camping and wildlife viewing, there’s Jewel and Wind Caves, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Reptile Gardens…the list goes on.
Sentimentally, my favorite spot is Dinosaur Park in Rapid City.
Ok, so of all the places I went to this last summer, I will admit that I stayed there the shortest. I heard lots of people saying things much like the OP. I think it has to do with your mindset going in.
If you’re expecting a series of gi-nor-mous Davids, you’re looking for the wrong thing. It’s a monument to four leaders of our country, done in a large scale to show their relative worth to the country. There’s all sorts of debates you could have about why these four, should there be more, maybe some non-presidents, but, like all monuments, at some point the designer said, nope, this is it.
To me, it wasn’t as awesome and awe-inspiring as the natural wonders, archeological sites, or battlefields I saw. But, as a tribute to four pretty darn good presidents, I thought it did pretty darn good. My only complaint is that there is a very limited set of things to do there. I really wish the hall of records was completed.
What is most awe-inspiring to me is just how long they’re likely to last. Just about everything else we’ve ever built, from the stone age to the present day, has a shelf life comfortably measured in centuries or some other ‘this empire plus the next two, maybe’ timescale. Of everything humans made during the Neolithic, for example, only the stone and bone tools survived: We have needles but no cloth. Mount Rushmore, on the other hand, will survive for geological epochs. It would take something capable of provoking a mass extinction event to destroy it quickly. Only a handful of societies have produced something so long-lived and within living memory we became one of them.
I camped overnight there once with a bunch of Girl Scouts. It was a revelation to wake up in the morning and find piles of buffalo poop right in front of your tent (and all over the camping area) and realize that they were that close. I’m glad no one had to use the restroom in the middle of the night and discover she was in the middle of the herd! It’s nice to see Mt. Rushmore at least once, and see what the Badlands are like and see what is probably a vanishing part of Americana, like Wall Drug.