Crazy Horse and CarHenge #SouthDakotaTrip

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I have become super busy these days and so, couldn't write my Day 3 Travelogue of our South Dakota trip. On Day 3, We covered Crazy Horse Memorial and the beautiful Car Henge in Nebraska while returning  to Colorado Springs.

Before reading this travelogue, go through my earlier posts of our South Dakota trip:

A plan of South Dakota Trip with kids

Rapid City - Mt Rushmore and Custer State Park

Spearfish Canyon and Badlands National Park

Here are some flights to reach Rapid City, South Dakota:

The Final Plan

Looking for accommodations around Rapid city? 

This might help.

Crazy horse memorial has the quote "Never forget your dreams"  written all over the place in Visitor center. The construction of this memorial of course is a mammoth task and it is the result of many sculptors' dream and vision.

Actual Sculpture - In progress

 The elevation of the mountain on which the memorial is built is 6352 ft above sea level. This sculpture was started by Korczak Ziolkowski and Lakota chief Henry Standing Bear.  

At the Museum

Fighting Stallions Sculpture At Crazy horse Visitor Center

The carving of Lakota leader Crazy Horse is 641 ft long and 543 ft high. This memorial which is in progress is a must visit.

Admission is $30 per vehicle and there is some bus fee to go near the sculpture. Cars are not allowed to drive near the memorial. The Visitor center has a museum with crafts made by different tribes in North America.

There is a helicopter tour if you want to see the memorial from top. The place is expensive and commercialized but definitely worth a visit.

We couldn't visit Wind Cave national park as it was closed. But, I suggest you to visit both wind cave and jewel cave national parks which are near by.

The time has come to end our South Dakota trip and drive back to Colorado Springs. But, To avoid a boring drive, we have changed our route to go through Nebraska to cover 2 more tourist places.

Carhenge is the replica of Stonehenge, one of the historic landmarks in England, but with cars! This is created by Jim Reinders. 

This is a must visit if you are traveling with kids. My sons enjoyed visiting this place.

The above pics are all from Carhenge in Nebraska.

Chimney rock national monument, Scott Bluffs monument , Courthouse and Jail rock are all within 1 hr distance from each other.

Chimney Rock

Chimney Rock rising 300 ft in Morrill county looked amazing. This rock consists of Brule clay interlayered with volcanic ash and Arikaree sandstone. There are sign boards about the dangerous snakes along the trails near the rock. It was too hot to roam around anyways.

Since it is very hot, we skipped visiting Scott Bluffs National monument and covered 'The courthouse and Jail rocks'.
There is a dirt road leading to these rock formations. These two rock formations are in Bridgeport.

Courthouse and Jail Rocks

The remaining way to Colorado Springs is mostly through the agricultural fields and a lot of wind mills. The scenery is great but there is not much crowd or many cars, so a bit scary in dark. There are not many rest spots, gas stations too. 

That is all about our memorable South Dakota trip!

How do you like it? Do let me know in comments.

Until next time,

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Day 2 - Mesa Verde National Park

Before going to our Day 2 travelogue, please go through below posts to follow the itinerary.

Utah Vacation Plan with Kids

Day 1 - Arches National Park and Canyonlands National park

Monument Valley Park and Four Corners National monument

On Day 2, we have covered 2 national monuments and 2 national parks. Since it is becoming a lengthy post, I had to split my Day 2 itinerary to 2 posts.

We covered Monument valley park and Four corners monument by afternoon 3 pm and we headed towards Cortez to reach Mesa Verde National park. 

Our next stop was to Mesa Verde national park. The statue before the visitor center is amazing.

This national park in Southern Colorado is known for it's well preserved ancient Puebloan cliff dwellings. Today, this park protects around 5000 archeological sites and 600 cliff dwellings.

Be sure to stop by the visitor center to buy tickets for the Longhouse, Cliff Palace and Balcony House. Cliff Palace and Balcony house tours are a must if you visit this place and the tours require you to climb ladders and even crawl a bit at some places. Check this website for Visitor center hours and the opening/ closure information of some sites.

Our first stop was to Spruce tree house overlook, which is near the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum. We spent some time in the museum watching the exhibits of ancient pueblo culture. Spruce tree house overlook is very nearer to the museum. This is 3rd largest and best-preserved cliff dwelling in the park. 

The drive to the spruce tree house from the visitor center is also very scenic with road going through the hills and valleys. 

We drove the 20 miles scenic loop in the park. On the way, we stopped at overlooks to watch Cliff palace, Square tower house and Sun temple at the end of the loop. 

Here is a slide show of the pictures:





Square tower house looked really beautiful and we should appreciate the park for preserving these ancient dwellings. Cliff Palace looked great too. Since we reached late, we couldn't go on a tour but I definitely recommend touring it.

Balcony House was closed in April when we visited and it might be open in Summer. We started back by around 7 pm and started our drive to the hotel. We booked our accommodation in Pagosa Springs for that night, which is known for the world's deepest geothermal hot springs.

On the way to Pagosa Springs, we crossed Chimney Rock National monument. It is just 15 to 20 mins before you reach Pagosa Springs. Since it was late for us, we couldn't visit this monument.

Will meet you with the travelogue of Day 3 where we visited 'Treasure Falls' and Mahalakshmi temple in Crestone.

Until next time,