Crazy for Crazy Horse

Review for Crazy Horse Memorial

Badlands and Black Hills, SD

Crazy Horse Memorial in Badlands and Black Hills, SD

by swjohnsonla November 19, 2007 | Daughter: Age 6 | Santa Monica, California

Babies

Toddlers & Pre-K

School-Age Kids

Pre-Teens & Teens

What we loved:
Overall vision and grandeur

What we didn't love:
Over-emphasis on the "privately funded" nature of the enterprise

The most striking thing about the Crazy Horse Memorial is it's overall hugeness, even in its incomplete state. I guess it was a mistake to go to Crazy Horse first because Rushmore looks tiny in comparison.

What's amazing to see with kids and Crazy Horse is how there's still room for imagination. It's not done yet, so your mind finishes the work. So much in a kid's life is polished, pre-packaged and complete, that the work-in-progress nature of the monument helps kids see that there are still great things that are still to be accomplished -- it's a dream under construction.

What's also refreshing is that it truly honors another side of American History -- one that wasn't always fairly acknowledged. A visit here, plus a trip to the Custer battlefield, and it's almost a certainty that your child will never want to be the "cowboy" when he or she plays "cowboys and indians."

In an age when Xtreme sports glorify the rebel and the underdog, who wouldn't love "Crazy Horse"!

The Visitor Center is unbelievably well-appointed -- gawdy even. The unglorious shilling of memorabilia is a hazard with almost any destination now, but this gift shop feels like a kick in the stomach.

The other nagging thing about the whole place is the grating way they shove its status as a non-governmental enterprise down your throat. I realize they're trying to appeal for funding, and they probably get a lot of traction with the anti-government types out West, but it feels like too much of a hard sell.