Crazy Cosmos

The next day found us back up and early, not long after sunrise. Slowly as a group we'd get up, already falling into a familiar pattern. Me first, followed by Julie, then Isabel & Blake at the same time. Ian rounded out our team about an hour or so later. Anyone who knows Ian's sleep patterns knows this to be about right.

Camp coffee as well as pancakes and bacon over the fire was our hearty breakfast as we got ready to head out to both the Cosmos Mystery Area and Crazy Horse Memorial.

Cosmos was first up as it was closest, and everyone really enjoyed it. The weird physics and optical illusions of this place really are strange, and it was as fun as I remember it being when I went there as a kid. You'll see in the slideshow below.

Our tour guide was entertaining, and totally tricked us into clapping for her at the end of the tour by having us do an exercise to 'Feel the Force' of the Cosmos area by quickly and continiously bringing our hands close together, without touching. Eventually she had us cupping our hands while continuing the motion, then finally touching. The entire group we were with quickly realized we were simply clapping, rather than feling any magic. Very clever. The whole tour itself was a little shorter than I would have liked, as it is such a neat area to walk through. The skeptic in me has to wonder if this is truly "real" or if there is something else going on.

Blake did get a little nauseated from the experience though. Something he continued to comment on for the remainder of our trip, and eventually became a sort of running gag.

From there, it was on to Crazy Horse. Even though the memorial is far from finished, it truly is an impressive and imposing structure. The four faces of Rushmore alone would be able to fit in the head of Crazy Horse, when it is complete. We watched and informative and fascinating introduction film about the memorial and its original sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski. The man started the sculpting of the monument on his own back in 1948 with only minimal and old, used tools.

The facility around the structure contained a Native American Museum & Cultural Center, gift shop and Ziolkowski's hand built home and studio. We spent a good chunk of time there, as there was much to do and see.

With that done, we were back to the camp, finishing earlier this day than the last. This allowed time for hitting the (very cold) pool, which Isabel loved to do. Dinner that night was burgers, beans and salad over the fire.

Tale of the Tape
Things still going pretty good on the essentials front. The gas we'd bought two days previous got us through today, and we had to secure a few more groceries, but nothing drastic. What we've found is that lunches are the toughest because we are having those outside of the camp, which means purchased from a restaurant. We changed that a bit with Crazy Horse, buying our luch at the supermarket, which saved a few dollars.
Miles Traveled So Far: 836
Gas Money: $165
Dollars per Mile: $ .20
Food Costs to Date: $217




And here is some video from our visit to Crazy Horse