South Dakota | There's nothing around and yet so much to take in

Do you ever find yourself feeling like you're in the presence of God or whatever you choose to believe in? Yeah, I got that feeling here.

Walking up to this monument was one of the coolest adventures I've had in the States, and that's saying something! I have been to 42 out of 50 States but this experience completely stands out against the crowd. Fun fact: It took around 400 people and 14 years to carve into the granite cliffs you see pictured.

“Do you think they talk to each other like the toys in Toy Story when no one else is around? How do they pick their nose?”

That guy on the left is Jeremy. Ya know, the guy you've read about in previous blogs. [I kinda like him, I think I do]. He's my adventure and life partner. I find traveling to be a lot more enjoyable when you can share those memories with the ones you love.

Anyways, so Mount Rushmore is the monument you see behind us. If you didn't know that, I might be judging a little bit. If ya did know that, cool you get a cookie. We decided last minute to drive from Denver, CO. to Keystone, South Dakota and back in the same day. I don't know why we do these things to ourselves but we always push it to the limit. It's totally doable, but in total we drove 12 hours in one day. REAL FUN.

This is one of those trips that requires Apple Play or a good radio signal cause its in the middle of B.F.E. Make sure that if you are planning to do it in one day, you time it accordingly. Because of the mountains, the sun goes down rather quickly and theres a lot more monuments to see in the Keystone/Black Hills area that will require daylight to catch a good glance.

I pride myself on being punctual with everything. Jeremy deserves an award for being the absolute worst person with time I have ever met. With that being said, we had zero extra daylight to see any other monuments in the surrounding area - which was a super bummer drag.

Exhibit A: Crazy Horse Memorial

You can find this memorial located in the gorgeous Black Hills. This memorial, much like Mount Rushmore is also carved in granite. The concept of it was to protect and maintain culture of the North American Indians. It's pretty badass knowing the reason behind the sculpture was to create reconciliation and harmony between people and nations. WILL WE EVER ACHIEVE THAT? I'd be nice to think so. This is also considered "the worlds largest sculptural undertaking" with the face alone standing at over 87 ft. tall! The sculpture began its journey on 1948 and continues to be an ongoing project to this day.

I'd highly recommend taking the drive out there or fly or walk or bike. I DON'T CARE how you do it, just get there and see them. They will take your breath away with the size and detail of both carvings. I can't even sculpt a clay pot let alone carve a whole freaking mountain so to me it was absolutely incredible!

Oh and by the way, if you are a foodie like us, you have to stop by the burger joint not too far from the sculptures called Black Hills Burger and Bun Co. Soooo bomb. They grind all their meat and make their buns fresh daily. We had Bison burgers and damn were they melt in your mouth, delicious! Can't go wrong with anything on the menu, where you can go wrong is by not stopping in and eating a juicy burger. NO SALADS HERE DURING ADVENTURE TIME.

DONT FORGET

"Live through love, learn through patience, and accept kindness with gratitude"

:Liv