Pursuit of Happiness

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." 

There are many things about our nation's history that I'm not particularly proud of, but this is one of the things that I am most proud of.  Our founding fathers said that each of us has the right, the right, to pursue happiness. 

Today, I pursued happiness with gusto!

Mt. Rushmore has been on my Bucket List for years, but being here to celebrate our nation's birthday is extra icing on the already decadent cake. Sure, it was crowded, but is there ever a time that it's not? And I loved seeing the red, white and blue proudly displayed on so many fellow park-goers. And as an added bonus, the four presidents represented in stone were also wandering around the park as part of the celebration! 

These faces of Democracy stand tall, looking out over the Black Hills National Forest.  It is absolutely amazing to me that someone had the insight, perseverance and vision to carve a mountain. 90% of the carving was done by dynamite, and the rest by hand.  The photos of men hanging over the side of the mountain with very little support holding them onto these sixty-foot faces are absolutely astounding.  Despite the high heights and the difficult situations, no one died in the fourteen years it took to complete these faces.

Melissa and I

After marveling in the shadows of the presidents, I went to see another enormous stone carving.  The carving of Crazy Horse has a much sadder history.  In 1939, the Sioux Indians approached a carver who had worked on Mt. Rushmore.  They wanted him to carve Crazy Horse into the side of the mountain.  Ten years later, the work began and continues today.  Crazy Horse was once a leader of the Lakota Indians.  He united them and led them against the whites that were encroaching on their land.  He eventually surrendered, realizing that that was the only way to save his people.  Through disagreements and misunderstandings though, he was killed, and as one version of the story goes, "under a truce flag."  

Crazy Horse is far from finished.  The vision is to have a grand statue of him on his horse, but today, only his face is visible.  Blasting continues though, and crowds gathered to watch a blast today.  

I drove into the small town of Custer on my way to the Custer State Park and decided to stop for a little walk through.  Any town that will blast Alan Jackson's "Gone Country" through the town's speaker system is okay by me!  The little town of about 5 city blocks was celebrating the 4th in full swing with a country fair, a crafts fair and even some grilling on the street.  The people were welcoming and the town had a great feel to it.

Custer State Park is a real treasure.  It seems the only reason it is not a national park is because it was first claimed as a state park.  The changing scenery includes tall pines, small lakes, rolling pasture land and incredible view points.  The state park also boosts wild life, of which I felt fortunate to see deer, an antelope, and buffalo.  

The drive was pleasant and not too crowded, but it was easy to spot the wildlife as that is where the tourists were.  At one curve in the road, cars stopped and people were getting out of their cars going to look just around the bend.  I was confused as to what it might be, hoping people weren't getting close to the buffalo.  When I finally rounded the bend, I saw what all of the fuss was about:

The burros of the park are not native to the area, but they are descendants of the ones that used to "work" in the area.  They are very friendly and cause quite a stir in the park.

I had two different routes that I could travel back to Keystone on, and I chose one because the information said that this road itself was a work of art.  On the narrow winding road, three one-lane tunnels perfectly frame Mt. Rushmore.  It was incredible!  This is a video I took of my time in Custer.  Look very closely at the very end to see if you can spot Rushmore!

I returned to Mt. Rushmore for the evening ceremony.  They no longer do fire works, and as the ranger said, "Should we ever have lit fireworks in a national forest?"  However, they do have a lovely ceremony that was made even more special by the day on which we were there celebrating.  I sat amongst hundreds, possibly thousands of fellow visitors: Americans from across this great land and visitors from around the world.  We listened as the ranger spoke about the values this country was founded on and how politics today is what we make of it.  He spoke about the importance of not only tolerating differences in our religious or political beliefs, but respecting those differences, listening to one another and getting back to the ideals the country was founded on.  

We watched a short film that gave history of the mountain carving and of each face represented in it.  The video ended with "America the Beautiful" which the crowd joined in singing.  Then we rose to sing our national anthem and watched as the faces began to light up the dark sky.  

I hope, no matter where you were today, that you found a way to pursue happiness, and that you continue to all the rest of your days.

Miles traveled: 84
Gallons of gas purchased: 0

Hours in the car: 3.5
States: South Dakota