« Older Archive for June, 2009

Mount Rushmore

Sunday, June 28th, 2009 by Alyice

When I was in the 11th grade, I lived with my honorary aunt and uncle. That summer, they took a trip to South Dakota, without me, and came back with wonderful tales of their time in the Black Hills, including their trip to see Mount Rushmore. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to visit the area—just once. Well, that day arrived this year and while Mount Rushmore wasn’t as glorious and magical as I remember my aunt and uncle telling me, it was a beautiful site.

Upon paying a $10 entrance fee, we parked the car and ventured up a walkway that was adorned with flags, straight to a balcony that was directly in front of the presidential carvings. Realizing that ninety percent of the carvings were done by dynamite, not chiseling, made the view even more inspiring. To realize that the dynamite had to be placed at just the right spot, or the entire head would have been blown off, is surreal.

Off to the left was a path. We took the path to get a closer look at the carvings, it wasn’t as close as I’d hoped to get since it didn’t go up towards the carvings but it did allow us to get a good view from underneath and a side view.

Upon returning to the balcony area, we rested. The climb back up was a little steeper than our out-of-shape bodies anticipated, LOL. Then we waited. We waited for the light show.

Honestly, I was expecting a real light show: colorful lights dancing in the sky, lasers creating an image in the sky, something. Instead, we got a mountain lit up with steady white lights while we watched a historical presentation on a big screen. The presentation was well-done so there was no disappointment there.

We wanted to visit the gift shop and eat in the restaurant, but we waited too long. By the time the presentation was over, everything was closed so we did what anyone in our position would do…we left Mount Rushmore and munched on the snacks we had packed in the car.

Let me leave you with a few interesting facts:

Mount Rushmore was named after a visiting attorney and not the creator, Gutzon Borglum.
When state historian, Doane Robinson, conceived the idea to create a large sculpture on the side of a mountain to attract visitors, he intended the sculpture to be of horses, but Borglum disagreed. Believing the sculpture needed a more national appeal, he selected four presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
Mount Rushmore wasn’t the original place for the carvings, but was picked because it would receive “good light throughout most of the day” and because the granite erosion was much better; averaging 1 inch every 10,000 years.
Mount Rushmore took 14 years and $989,992.32 to complete.
It was not carved by a single man, but took 400 workers to complete.
Thomas Jefferson was originally placed on Washington’s right but after discovering a large crack in the foundation, he was blasted off and moved to the left.

Oh, and if you’re in the area at the right time, you can take free sculpture classes and tour the Sculptor’s studio. I’m hoping to take advantage of this offer during one of my return visits.

Until next time…

Disclosure: I paid for this attraction. This is “my opinion”. I was not paid to give a positive review.

Posted in SD Transplant | Comments Off

Wildlife Magnets

Saturday, June 27th, 2009 by Alyice

I absolutely love taking photos of natural landscapes and wildlife. There’s nothing more majestic and awe-inspiring than that which was not created by man—but by God almighty, himself.

With so many photos sitting on my hard drive, I thought it was time to put them to good use, so I’ll be creating several wildlife magnets over the course of the next year. I hope you’ll stop by my shop and pick up a few—if not for yourself, then for family and friends. And because I use a print-on-demand service, you can customize each magnet with your very own text, making them the perfect addition to any gift!

Here’s my first batch of wildlife magnets.

And…

Keep Creating

Posted in Artist's Life | Comments Off

Original 1880 Town

Friday, June 26th, 2009 by Alyice

Feeding into my love of the old west, my husband took us to Murdo, South Dakota where I got to see over 30 original buildings dating back to 1880, along with lots of relics from the time period. While I’ve come to realize that I could never live in that era, there are many things about that era to appreciate—from historical figures to family traditions to glorious wide-open spaces with plenty of room to run amuck.

The name of the town, Original 1880 Town, is a little misleading since it doesn’t depict the buildings from an “actual” 1880 town. But that’s easy to get past since every building, on the lot, is dated back to 1880 and comes from South Dakota.

What really fascinated me about this town is the “hands-on” approach. You walk into a town with such historical value and you think, “Museum, no touching allowed.” And that’s not the case. You don’t just walk up to a window and door and peek into the buildings—well some buildings you do—but you actually get to step foot inside the buildings. And in many of the buildings, you get to touch the relics displayed—period furnishings, table settings, and old clothes.

The only relics you cannot touch are in the actual museums, the “Dances with Wolves” props display, and of course, the few buildings that haven’t been opened up to the public. Other than that, you can climb onto an old wagon or stage coach, walk the stairs of the hotel, step foot into the chapel, play a game of checkers, and climb inside an old railway car for that perfect picture.

I must admit that this town had a lot of photo opportunities and upon a return visit we plan to take full advantage of the $5 costume rentals and take lots of “period” photos—and why not, we’ll be back out that way when we drop our son off at college.

What was lacking, however, was the entertainment. Whether they choose to hire a few stage hands or ask for volunteers who perform for tips, they need to provide a little more for the entrance fee. A shoot out between gun fighters, a saloon act, a hay ride, something… Heck, a few hands-on crafting and/or baking classes from that period would be great, too!

It would also benefit the place to include a restaurant within the town where guests can enjoy old favorites: homemade pie, barbecue ribs right off the grill, and sarsaparilla. Currently, they have a snack stand that serves pop, popcorn, and jerky within the renovated hotel and a 1950s train diner outside the town but due to the hours of operation, it was closed when we arrived—which was a real downer! We had already been on the road for several hours and were ready for a nice dinner, the only food offered was prepackaged crap at the local gas station—not something you want to eat on a road trip/vacation.

Until next time…

Disclosure: I paid for this attraction. This is “my opinion”. I was not paid to give a positive review.

Posted in SD Transplant | 2 Comments »

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