{"id":796,"date":"2013-06-18T02:32:42","date_gmt":"2013-06-18T02:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shailiza.com\/blog\/?p=796"},"modified":"2013-06-18T02:32:42","modified_gmt":"2013-06-18T02:32:42","slug":"road-trip-south-dakota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shailiza.com\/blog\/travelogue\/road-trip-south-dakota\/","title":{"rendered":"Road Trip: South Dakota (SD)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Road trip across America is seriously an adventure of a lifetime.\u00a0The vastness of this country gives you a myriad of choices to explore and experience new places and culture.\u00a0Your American\u00a0journey is incomplete without the great American road trip. Having traveled across the east and west coast, I wanted to take a major road trip across the Dakotas. To appreciate the beauty of the flatness of the American midwest and, also due to a slight influence of Robert Pirsig’s cult classic ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’.<\/p>\n

South Dakota\u00a0is best known for Mount Rushmore National Memorial monument. The rocky mountain carved with four faces of the most prominent US presidents.\u00a0Namely: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.\u00a0If you came all the way to South Dakota just to see Mt Rushmore, you would be highly disappointed.\u00a0The good news though, there’s more to Southwest South Dakota than simply the Mt. Rushmore.<\/p>\n

Rapid City<\/p>\n

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Rapid City<\/p><\/div>\n

We began our journey from Rapid city. It’s the main city in the tourist area also known as the Gateway to the Black hills.\u00a0With the inflow of international and local tourists flocking this region, this place gives a really cool small town, rich cultural vibe.<\/p>\n

Mount Rushmore National Memorial<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Mount Rushmore National Memorial<\/p><\/div>\n

Located in Keystone, SD this memorial is about 30 miles from Rapid city.\u00a0Interesting facts about this monument: Over 450,000 tons of rock were removed from this mountain to carve the four presidential faces.\u00a0It took 14 years (1927 – 1941) to complete the sculpture.\u00a0Inside the monument they have built a nice park to walk around the mountain including museums with historical information about\u00a0the details of the building\/sculpting process. And information about each president.<\/p>\n

Crazy Horse Memorial
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Crazy Horse Memorial<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong>After spending an hour or so at Mt. Rushmore, we made our way to Crazy Horse which is approx. 16 miles away. The memorial dedicated to a native american warrior – Crazy Horse, depends entirely on visitors fee with absolutely no federal government help.\u00a0That’s why it has taken more than 60 years to finish carving of the face alone of the crazy horse.\u00a0If completed, it could become world’s largest mountain carving ever.\u00a0Interesting fact: The face carving of crazy horse alone can fit all four of Mt Rushmore’s presidential heads.<\/p>\n

Custer State Park
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Sylvan Lake, Custer State Park<\/p><\/div>\n

The natural beauty of this park allows you to reflect, reconnect and introspect. This park is spread across 71000 acres. Offers a variety of activities: kayaking, fishing in the lakes, hiking, camping as well as rock climbing.<\/p>\n

Main highlights of the park:<\/p>\n