Mount Rushmore.

One of America's most well-known sights, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is located at Keystone about 35 miles from Rapid City. Mount Rushmore is a memorial to the birth, growth, preservation and development of the United States of America. Gutzon Borglum sculpted busts of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.

Visitors can partake in ranger or self-guided tours of the mountain sculpture. Stroll along the presidential trail for an 'up-close' look. The sculptors studio contains some original sketches of the designs for the mountain. This park also contains the Lincoln Borglum Museum and a visitor's information center. The most spectacular program at Mount Rushmore is the evening lighting ceremony held in the new amphitheater, 9:00 PM sharp, a must to see when you are touring the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. A $56 million redevelopment was completed in 1998 with the addition of a new parking structure, amphitheater, museum/theater complex, Visitor Orientation Center, Presidential Trail, gift shop, bookstore, and dining facilities. To complete your Rushmore experience, view the evening lighting ceremony.

I first visited Mount Rushmore way back in 1977 and I was quite taken back by the sheer size and beauty of this sculpture symbolizing America's ideals of freedom and democracy. I have returned with friends in 1982-90-94 to share in the sheer beauty of this magnificent sculpture once again.

Here is some interesting facts about this beautiful work of art, it was dedicated as a national memorial in 1927 and completed in 1941. And has more than 2.5 million visitors per year. Mount Rushmore represents the largest work of art on earth. Each face is 60 feet high, compared to the head on the Statue of Liberty, which is 17 feet tall. The presidents' noses are 20 feet long, each mouth is 18 feet wide, and each eye is 11 feet across. Had they been carved to their toes, the figures would have been 465 feet tall.

Here is America's most famous mountain, Mount Rushmore! And nearby, work is in progress on the world's largest sculpture, the mountain-sized Crazy Horse Memorial. There's the eerie landscapes of The Badlands. The huge wild buffalo herds that roam Custer State Park. More than 6,000 square miles of picturesque, pine-clad mountains! This is the recipe for exciting vacation sightseeing! The beauty of this region is accessible to all who wish to enjoy it. You are invited to be our guests and explore the many opportunities we have to offer. If the great outdoors is what you're looking for, you've found it! Right here in the beautiful Black Hills and Badlands region of South Dakota.

For a taste of the Old West, you can join a trail ride, sample a chuck wagon dinner or visit towns like Deadwood, where two of the West's most colorful characters, Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane, are buried. Experience the drama of life and the meeting of cultures at frontier sites such as Wounded Knee, located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and the Sioux Indian Museum in Rapid City.

Dining and shopping are varied in this land of contrasts. Home cooked meals using states local products, including buffalo meat and Black Hills rainbow trout, are widely available in relaxed settings. The memories can go home with you in the form of Black Hills honey, prairie-grown popcorn and native American artwork and crafts.

The Badlands.

With an area of 77,615 square miles/200,000 square kilometers, and a population smaller than Boston's, there's plenty of room in South Dakota. Room to explore, as the early trailblazers Lewis and Clark did in 1804. I first visited South Dakota on 1977 and have been back another four times in 1982-90-92-94, there is alot of beauty to see in the Blackhills and the Badlands, I know I will be visiting South Dakota again in the near future.

Lewis and Clark had their first dealings with the tribes of the Great Sioux Nation, who dominated the Great Plains, in South Dakota. The tribes of the Sioux Nation still call South Dakota home. Five tribes have lands or reservations along the Missouri River: the Yankton Sioux, Crow Creek Sioux, Lower Brule Sioux, Cheyenne River Sioux and Standing Rock Sioux. Perhaps more than any other group, the men and women of the Lakota Nation (better known as The Sioux) -- with their graceful tipi's, fast horses, warrior societies and richly feathered regalia -- have become the international symbol for all of America's native peoples. The Sioux gained control of the Northern Plains in the 1700's, and developed a unique culture based on the abundant buffalo of that era.

But South Dakota is far from an empty wilderness. There's history and culture here at the "Shrine of Democracy," as Mount Rushmore is known. This granite monument to four American presidents draws more than 2.5 million visitors a year to western South Dakota.

Sioux, Native American.

Faces and places in Sioux history are legendary: Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, American Horse, High Hawk, Gall, Hump, Rain in the Face. Bloody landscapes like the Little Big Horn River and Wounded Knee Creek. Even a modern novel and movie called "Dances With Wolves." Today, thousands of Lakota Sioux (about 11% of South Dakota's citizenry live in the shadows of the Black Hills on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations, and in the cities and towns of western South Dakota. The cultural influence of the Sioux extends to South Dakota's citizens, arts, mass media, fashions, jewelry, architecture, interior design, religion and politics.

South Dakota's dramatic terrain was shaped eon's ago by powerful geologic forces. Today, visitors can witness sculptural wonders in soaring Black Hills rock formations, as well as underground in one of the worlds largest cave systems. Two of the worlds longest caves lie beneath the Black Hills at Jewel Cave National Monument and Wind Cave National Park. The Black Hills and Badlands region of western South Dakota is an outdoor recreational paradise, covering over 10,000 square mile of vast prairies, grasslands, badlands landscapes, and rugged mountains. Year round opportunities abound, and beg to be explored and experienced. Whether an individual excursion or a group adventure, solitude and nature await, to invigorate your senses and revitalize your soul. Home to seven National Parks, Monuments, Memorials, Forests, Grasslands and many State Parks and Recreation Areas, this is definitely a very public place. Elevations in the region vary from 2,500’ to 7,242’. A variety of hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, horseback riding, snowmobiling and ATV trails criss-cross the region. Scenic Byways and Wildlife Loops offer driving excitement and panoramic vistas of South Dakota's great outdoors. The beauty of this region is accessible to all who wish to enjoy it. Come and explore the many opportunities this beautiful land has to offer. If the great outdoors is what you're looking for, you've found it! Right here in the beautiful Black Hills and Badlands region of South Dakota.