Day: May 23, 2015

by

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

After lunch today, the gals and I piled into the truck for the extremely long and tedious two mile drive to Mount Rushmore National Memorial. That’s sarcasm folks; we could see ‘the boys’ from the campground!

Mount Rushmore was conceived by South Dakota historian Doane Robinson to bring tourism to the Black Hills. Yes, it was a meant to be a tourist trap. 🙂 The idea was to carve the likenesses of famous figures from the west, but the idea was refined when Danish sculptor Gutzon Borglum was chosen to execute the project. He chose the site and the figures that would be represented. He selected four presidents who symbolize the principles of liberty and freedom on which the United States were founded. George Washington represents the fight for independence and the birth of the country. Thomas Jefferson represents territorial expansion. Abraham Lincoln represents the permanent union and equality of citizens. Theodore Roosevelt represents the 20th century role of the United States in world affairs.

The whole Black Hills region is a tourist trap, so I wasn’t too sure about whether it would be worth paying the $11 parking fee to get into the memorial when you could see Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson so clearly from many vantage points. I also had a real issue with the fact that the National Parks Service heavily promotes the memorial as being free to visit, making folks jump through hoops and multiple sites to get to information on parking fees. You get a lot of your $11 ‘parking fee,’ which is valid for a full calendar year, so it’s absolutely and totally worth paying it. But tourists aren’t going to differentiate between admission and parking and you can’t really walk to the memorial, so stop saying it’s ‘free.’ End rant.

Entrance to the site.

View from the amphitheatre.

View from the amphitheatre.

You really can’t appreciate the details of the sculptures unless you’re up close. They are so lifelike it is almost eerie!

We got so lucky in that we arrived literally minutes before the statues were socked in with fog!

You can walk the Presidential Trail and climb 250 steps to another vantage point. The angle is just subtly different enough that it seems like the presidents have moved!

Slightly different angle from the viewing platform.

Slightly different angle from the viewing platform.

The compressor that powered all the tools.

The compressor that powered all the tools.

Scale model; one inch here represents one foot on the mountain.

Scale model; one inch here represents one foot on the mountain.

Plaster mould used as a measurement guide.

Plaster mould used as a measurement guide.

Roosevelt was the last head completed.

Roosevelt was the last head completed.

Looking back to the amphitheatre.

Looking back to the amphitheatre.

Look at the detail. His eyes look alive!

Look at the detail. His eyes look alive!

Washington looks alive.

Washington looks rather regal.

Notice Roosevelt's glasses?

Notice Roosevelt’s glasses?

Jefferson is lost in thought.

Jefferson is lost in thought.

Mount Rushmore is such an iconic location. Who can forget Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint dangling from President Washington in ‘North By Northwest’? I’m really glad that I saw the statues up close because you really cannot appreciate the details from afar. They are truly works of art.

Also on site is the sculptor’s studio, where you can see the model that was used to guide the sculptor on the mountain. There is also a really good museum with a movie about the building of the statues and how this impressive feat was accomplished (tons of dynamite and lots of math!). Incredibly, there were no fatalities during construction and no major injuries!

But guess what the icing on the proverbial cake was today? I got to speak with one of the drillers who worked on mostly Lincoln and Roosevelt! He remembers the experience like it was yesterday.

by

Himalayan Indian Cuisine, Keystone, South Dakota

My friend and host Vicki is working in the Black Hills tourism industry this summer, as is another friend of hers. They were doing their thing last night when a local restaurateur invited them ‘and a friend’ to his restaurant today for a free meal in exchange for a review on sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor and, of course, letting tourists know about his restaurant. Lucky for him, the friend they invited is a travel blogger!

The restaurant is Himalayan Indian Cuisine and it is located in the Keystone Mall in Keystone, just a couple of miles from Mount Rushmore. I’m not familiar with the cuisine from that part of the world, so I was eager to try it.

Exterior of Himalayan Indian Cuisine restaurant.

Exterior of Himalayan Indian Cuisine restaurant.

Simple, clean decor.

Simple, clean decor.

We showed up around noon and were greeted warmly. We asked for suggestions and took them, ordering three main dishes as well as an order of plain naan (flat bread) as well as garlic and cilantro naan that we could all share.

These are the dishes we ordered:

1) Vegetable korma: Mixed vegetables and paneer (fresh cheese) cooked with creamy onion sauce and garnished with cashew and coconut powder:

Vegetable korma

Vegetable korma

This had really good flavour and texture. I don’t think the gals were wowed by it, but it’s just because one of the other dishes was so insanely good that it overshadowed everything else. I really enjoyed the vegetable korma and how the sauce seeped into the rice. It was also good mopped up with naan!

2) Tandoori chicken: bone-in marinated chicken leg with onions and peppers

This didn’t feel exotic to me to the way the vegetable korma did. The chicken was very flavourful and tender, with a flavour and bright red colour that I was not accustomed to. It came on a hot grill, the way fajitas come.

Tandoori chicken with onions and peppers.

Tandoori chicken with onions and peppers.

3) Chicken tikka masala: chicken breast cooked in a creamy tomatoey sauce with spices I’d never had before that made it a little sweet. This was our absolute favourite. We pretty much fought over the bowl to mop up the last dregs of the sauce!

Chicken tikka masala.

Chicken tikka masala.

Our meal came with unlimited basmati rice:

basmati rice

basmati rice

And, of course, we had the naan (this is the garlic and cilantro one, I forgot to photograph the plain one):

Garlic and cilantro naan.

Garlic and cilantro naan.

We piled rice on our plates and then added the saucey goodness over top:

Rice and saucy stuff, yum!

Rice and saucy stuff, yum!

The food was so good!!! It had such flavour and was very fresh. Prices were reasonable, too, about $15 per dish, and naan was a couple of dollars.

If you’re heading to Mount Rushmore this summer, do yourself a favour and stop in Keystone for some Himalayan Indian Cuisine instead of visiting the overpriced American restaurants that dot the region. I can’t believe I discovered new flavours in a tourist trap town like Keystone. Thank you so much to the owner for an invitation that was a treat and a blessing!