Hello fellow travelers! This is essentially a part 3 to my South Dakota adventures! Our stops for this leg were the Journey Museum and the famed Crazy Horse memorial.
The Journey Museum
About the museum:
The Journey Museum is a museum that covers the history of South Dakota’s famed Black Hills. Located in Rapid City, the museum is set up as a journey through time. Visitors can see the Native American history and the geologic history behind the formation of the Black Hills, in addition to how the indigenous people and cowboys lived during that time.
The exhibits:
A beautiful quilt in the front lobby of the museum
Two dinosaur skulls and dinosaur footprints
The first exhibit, designed to look like the galaxy before any planetary formations.
A topological map of the Black Hills
An exhibit showing the layers that formed Mount Rushmore and Black Elk Peak
A life-sized replica of a T. Rex named Tinker.
Different types of crystals found in the Black Hills. Fairburn Agates are the official state gem of South Dakota, and I’ve also been looking for one myself to add to my crystal collection.
Some dinosaurs
Some exhibits about the indigenous people who lived in the land before the time of cowboys.
Life after the Dakotas were westernized. Notice the stark difference between Western culture and indigenous culture. Western culture thrived on inventions such as the rifle, camera, and lights. They also had their clothing made of cotton. Indigenous people were more simple, using bows and arrows to hunt. They also used every part of every animal they hunted, from bison all the way to feathers from various fowl.
Some of the fauna that can be found all throughout South Dakota, including wolves, bison, and snakes.
A replica of crested wheatgrass, a plant native to South Dakota
Explorer II, the first manned balloon to reach the stratosphere
The interior of a Western cabin
Indigenous horse armor
A statuette of a baby bison scratching an itch on its head
A on-scale replica of a log cabin.
Crazy Horse Memorial
The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain momument that has been under construction since 1948, and is still under construction. The monument was designed by Polish-American artist Korczak Ziolkowski. The monument is dedicated to Lakota leader Crazy Horse (real name: Tȟašúŋke Witkó, translated to “His Horse is Crazy”). Crazy Horse led a war party to victory during the Battle of Little Bighorn. The Battle of Little Bighorn (also known as Custer’s Last Stand) was an armed fight between the Lakota, Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho indigenous tribes and the 7th Cavalry of the U.S. Army, led by George A. Custer. The battle took place due to Custer’s intrusion on sacred Black Hills land. Custer himself ended up dying during this battle. Ziolkowski died in 1982, aged 74, and his 10 children and 2 of his grandchildren have vowed to continue his work to finish the memorial.
The monument:
A statue of Crazy Horse outside the memorial
A replica of the monument when it is finished. It depicts Crazy Horse and his horse pointing towards Custer and his men during the Battle of Little Bighorn.
The cutest little post office inside the memorial
A carving of Crazy Horse’s head and face
The memorial at its present stage. Only the head is done.
An old log cabin, supposedly destroyed by an explosion.
The largest Smoky Bear statue in the country.
Have you ever been to the Journey Museum or Crazy Horse Memorial?
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