South Dakota

Beaded Horse Regalia: The Daily Spur

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Beaded Horse Regalia

This Beaded Horse Regalia is part of the exhibition at The Indian Museum of North America®. The beaded horse is on display at the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota. Douglas Fast Horse, Oglala Lakota, created this piece. He makes a point of creating work that replicates “historic Lakota regalia as a way to honor his heritage and help tell the story of Lakota Oyate.”

I’ve always admired beadwork such as this. This Beaded Horse Regalia piece shows what can be accomplished with many tiny glass beads, and a lot of patience.

The Daily Spur – Exhibition

Birch bark canoe: Wordless Wednesday

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Birch bark canoe

Birch bark canoe at The Indian Museum of North America® at Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota

Wordless Wednesday

Bison & Bikes YIKES!

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In early June, while driving the roads in Custer State Park, South Dakota, we saw these bison & bikes in front of us. YIKES!

It ends up we were driving through the Ride Across South Dakota (RASDak) annual event. The route for this six-day event changes every year. The part we saw had participants riding 37 miles from Hot Springs to Custer, South Dakota. Mileage of each leg of the 330-mile route varies by day.

Though a RASDak support vehicle parked nearby, I would be nervous being this close to bison with calves. In fact, visitors to Custer State Park are advised to “remain in your vehicle or stay at least 100 yards from bison, elk, and other animals.” I admired the bravery of these bike riders.

Bison & bikes

I’m sure the participants saw amazing sights along the entire route, but they were probably glad to get past this bison & bikes roadblock. What a great way to see the state!

Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Roads

Crazy Horse sculpture: LAPC

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The sculpture of Crazy Horse in South Dakota stands out along the horizon as you drive north from Custer. We visited the site earlier this month, near the date of its 75th anniversary, to view the progress on the immense sculpture.

Crazy Horse Sculpture

Crazy Horse Memorial

The Crazy Horse Memorial includes a Welcome Center, a gift store and restaurant, the family home of the sculptor, rotating exhibits, indoor and outdoor sculptures, the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, and the Indian Museum of North America. I’ll feature photos of the Museum in a later post. The nonprofit also manages the Indian University of North America.

One of my favorite things was a 1/34 scale model of the Crazy Horse sculpture. The size of the finished sculpture carved into the mountainside will be 641 feet long and 563 feet tall.

Close view of scale model

If you stand in just the right spot, you can capture an image that includes the scale model and the current sculpture.

Crazy Horse
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