After visiting Carhenge we made our way to the Black Hill National Forrest. On the way we wanted to stop and take a look at "Crazy Horse" which is right next to Mount Rushmore and is a memorial of a Native American war leader. They wanted to have 20$ from us so we just stopped made a picture with great zoom and left again. We drove to the Horsethief Campground which was approximately 18 miles from Mount Rushmore. We got a nice campsite which was at the end of the camp and therefore a little bit away from the crowd. We saw some insanely big RV's which looked even bigger in comparison to our tent. It was quite easy to built up the tent so we had plenty time left in the evening to visit Mount Rushmore.
We parked our car and walked up to the Monument. Freddy was wearing his Beijing University t-shirt that he bought when we were in China. Every Chinese was looking at him and he even got to practice his mandarin skills again. After testing our "looking-surprised-pose" which Hugh showed us how to do, we went up to the viewing point and made our pictures. At the same time there was a military ceremony for officers of the US army. We took a loop-walk in order to see Mount Rushmore a little bit closer. Mount Rushmore displays 4 presidents of the USA. On the very left you can see George Washington, the very first president of the United States. He was the general who led the US during the Independence War. Next to him you can see Thomas Jefferson who was Secretary of State under Washington, Vice president under Adams and also the 3rd president of the US. He was the one writing the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and is also an American Founding Father. To his right is Theodore Roosevelt. Don't mix him up with Franklin D. Roosevelt a far relative of Ted and who was president later. The Teddy bear was also named after Theodore Roosevelt. On the very right you can see Abraham Lincoln. He is probably one of the best known presidents who was in office from 1861 until he was shot in 1865. He was known to be a very good speaker and was the president of the North during the Civil War. He was against slavery and laid the foundation for equal rights of Afro-Americans in the US.
We could probably go on and on about these presidents but this should not be a history lesson. Coming back to Mount Rushmore, it was actually planned to build these four down to their wastes. This project was not completed as you can see due to cash shortages. The construction of Mount Rushmore began in 1927 and the faces were completed in 1939. About 450'000 tones were blown out of the mountain.
We could probably go on and on about these presidents but this should not be a history lesson. Coming back to Mount Rushmore, it was actually planned to build these four down to their wastes. This project was not completed as you can see due to cash shortages. The construction of Mount Rushmore began in 1927 and the faces were completed in 1939. About 450'000 tones were blown out of the mountain.
Okay, THAT'S it about the history. We left the monument around 8-ish and planned to go back to the camp. We saw a beautiful lake on the way back so we stopped, Freddy jumped out of the car and into the lake, aaand again into the car. After this short detour, it was time for our first camping experience in the US. What can I say about that.. It was unbelievable cold. Freddy had a thin sleeping bag and I had a blanket.. well, it did not work out. I slept very bad and was glad to take a hot shower in the morning while Freddy built down the tent on his own (Thanks for that)! After our, by now ritual, cereal breakfast we began our long journey to Yellowstone, hoping that it would be warmer up in West-Wyoming!