Last day

So I went to the Crazy Horse memorial today. Very impressive. All of Mount Rushmore could fit in Crazy Horse's head. Its rather large. People kept asking on the bus tour I took, why it is taking them so long to complete; the answer is twofold. First it is massive, much more so than Mount Rushmore which took a long time. Second, and this the more I thought about it the more I appreciated it, the entire thing is publicly funded. Korczak Ziolkowski refused to accept any government money, and one of his daughters spoke about a letter he wrote them (he has 10 children, 7 of whom are currently involved with the memorial) saying- don't take this up unless you plan on continuing with it, and doing it right. It makes sense; Gutzon Borglum died before Mount Rushmore was finished, the government took over and chopped his design in half (the Presidents are supposed to be carved to the waist). The government never honored a single treaty it made with any Native American tribe. If the government feels the memorial is important perhaps it could do more to encourage tourism to it, have presidents visit it (rather than send congratulatory letters like the ones displayed) and make everyone in the presidential entourage pay their own way. Wouldn't that be nice to see?

After Crazy Horse I spent some time in the Black Hills National Forest. I saw many of those quick marmots, getting some odd pictures of marmot tush. It was nice to just walk around and soak in it. Soak in what? Hard to explain, easy to feel, at least to me it was. Come and visit, you'll see what I mean. I decided to leave the backpack in the car and just carried my water- so sorry, no pictures (I don't have a case for the camera which makes it a pain to hike with as it has a huge display I don't want to scratch.) I am sick of that backpack anyway, its huge!
So I hike to the top of Harney Peak and regretted not having the camera. Harney is the highest mountain east of the rockies in North America and yet it was a pretty easy hike. Black Elk Wilderness is so peaceful, even for a busy weekend, it was still pretty easy to feel alone.

I'll be glad to get home to my own bed and pillow (I am a pillow snob and not afraid to admit it). It'll be nice to have conversations with people who know my name, but then again it won't be, you know?

Tomorrow is travel all day but I am going to try my hardest to leave the airport in Utah, as it is another state I have never been to.