Rapid City, SD & Mt. Rushmore (Still Day 6)

Day 6, Saturday (cont'd)
We arrived in Rapid City about 5:30 pm.



This is a design in the floor of the hotel lobby...



And this is a sculpture of a Sioux Chief (not sous chef) hanging on the wall in the lobby...



It was nice to find some more statues in downtown Rapid City. These are permanent and there is no contest, but they are very nice.


JFK



No plaque on this one but I think it's John Adams.



Andrew Jackson


We had an excellent dinner at "Corn Exchange", a small organic bistro with great somewhat eclectic dishes (and owner). We headed up to Keystone, the town just below Mt. Rushmore. Keystone is a quaint Old West looking town but we didn't spend any time there. This is the very nice walkway leading up to the viewing area of the mountain...



Here is a pic of the mountain at dusk. The four faces are at the very top of the mountain...



During the summer, a spotlight is shown on the faces of Mt. Rushmore at 9:30 pm. There is a ceremony prior to that, performed by an 8-member Native American "band". A very large stage faces a large amphitheatre, about the size of the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA. I had no idea this was all up there until I looked down over the back of the amphitheatre to see where the music was coming from.


The stage as seen from the back of the amphitheatre.

Before each song, a band member would dedicate the following song to some noble Chief, and make a very long reference to the idea of Unity and how we all need to come together as a people of the Earth. Okay, the first couple of times it made sense and I think most could agree with the notion. But by the third song, this speech rapidly became, as homer would say, "booorrring". AtNear the end of the last song, the spotlight is dimly shown on the mountain's faces, and then gradually increased in intensity. But it never really gets very bright. I had to doctor some of these photos to lighten them up.


George, Thomas, Theodore, and Abe.

So tomorrow we are going to see these guys in the daylight.

Ciao,
Jeff
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