Monumental

Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial

Day 19

Our first stop in beautiful South Dakota was visiting what the local news station calls the “Shrine of Democracy.” (Local news station actually came out to do a story about our group…see it here at http://www.newscenterone.tv/stories/1714.aspx ) For those of you who have never seen the real Mount Rushmore…don’t get your hopes too high. It’s probably not as spectacular as you were expecting. However, part of the experience I did enjoy was when Jenni and I sat off to the side and observed the families who were visiting this historic monument. We saw a little boy about 9 years old being quizzed by his mother about why Abraham Lincoln was important to America’s history, and he was actually able to answer her question. His little sister chimed in with more questions about “the other guys up there” and what they had done to deserve a giant carving of their face on a mountain. Viewing Mount Rushmore as a tool for families to engage in a dialogue about our country’s history that otherwise might not have happened gave the monument a bit more charm than it had held at first sight.

We ate lunch in a small town named Hill City (where we had to visit 4 separate restaurants because 3 didn’t take credit cards….gotta love small towns…) and then headed on to see the unfinished monument of Crazy Horse. This was a bizarre experience. The work on Crazy Horse, which was designed to be the largest statue in the world- many times larger than Mount Rushmore- has been going on since the 1940s and it is not even half-completed. The elders from the predominant Native American tribe in the area, the Lakota, recruited a well-known Polish sculptor in the 1940s to erect a statue of the Lakota warrior hero Crazy Horse, because, in their words, they wanted the white man to know that “the red man has heroes too.”

It is my gut instinct to respond negatively to this project. On the one hand, it seems a reactionary response to the construction of Mount Rushmore in the Lakotas’ sacred Black Hills and to “white man’s history” in general. It seems to go against the traditional Native American value of preserving and protecting the Earth and the very humility of Crazy Horse himself, who is often described as a humble man who regularly retreated into nature to meditate. On the other hand, there is no denying the fact that the Native Americans’ stories have been left out of American history and continues to be. I can certainly understand the desire to erect a large public monument to one of their heroes simply to finally gain some kind of recognition for their past suffering- the Lakota elders who commissioned the work even says that the monument is supposed to speak for all Native North American peoples. Of course, that presents another issue- why is this Polish family responsible for creating a monument for Native American history?

At this museum that accompanies the unfinished monument, they show a video. I was excited at first to see it because I thought we were going to see a film about Crazy Horse himself. Silly me – it turned out to be this ridiculous documentary about the history of building the monument, focusing on this sculptor, Korczak Ziółkowski, and his vision for the whole project and how he recruited his children from a young age to help him in completing it. No joke, part of this film was a minutes-long montage of dynamite explosions, and you might be interested to know that there is a laser light show that is displayed on Crazy Horse on summer nights. While I am absolutely in strong favor for promoting education about Native American history, this whole monument project seems to be a strange way to go about it. The good part of the whole scenario is that once the monument is finished, there will be a cultural heritage center, a university and a medical center at the site as well, and honestly, the biggest statue in the world probably will be quite a tourist draw, so maybe if the end result is greater education, resources and appreciation for Native Americans, then the outrageous nature of the Crazy Horse statue shouldn’t matter. I haven’t made up my mind. Thoughts?

And bringing this back to the larger theme of the trip, how do monuments like these speak to what it means to be an American, maybe specifically, who are our heroes? What does one have to do in order to have your face carved into a mountain? Andi made a great point in the car on the way to Mt. Rushmore- why is it that we commemorate only the presidents (and a select few at that) on things like mountains and even our money? What about the everyday heroes who really did the most to build this country, the people who get no credit- the farmers, the small business owners, the street sweepers, not to mention women in general, slaves, immigrants, etc. etc. etc.?

I have more to say about this day, but I’m trying to cut down on blog length. I’ll write a post about our visit to Pine Ridge as soon as I get a chance. Again, I apologize for being so behind! Keep reading, and I love any and all feedback you’d like to give.

Where Some Wild Things Are

Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks

Day 17 & 18

For this trip and especially in visiting the national parks, one of the themes we were asked to think about was the idea of wilderness and if this country still offered any “wilderness” these days. So as we drove on paved roads, used established campgrounds, and walked on cleared dirt paths through some of the most beautiful land I have ever had the pleasure of seeing, I wondered about this concept of wilderness. In my mind, the term evokes feelings of solitude, wonder, rawness, silence and freedom. Though I had an incredible experience seeing and being in Glacier National Park and what little of Yellowstone we could see, our experience really didn’t offer anything close to being in true wilderness.

In Glacier, we tried to arrange a cookout over a campfire at the campgrounds, but both the rain and other campers and rangers apparently concerned about a lack of a permit to use the fire pit put an end to that plan. (We had to settle for microwave hotdogs and s’mores, which was okay with us.) A few of us went on a scenic drive up the mountain in one of the rental vans and we saw some truly beautiful sights despite the cloudy and sometimes rainy cold weather. Seeing the areas where fire has ravaged the land but things have begun to grow again as they always do, nervously eyeing the wall of snow that borders the highway once you get to a certain altitude, the incredible view from the rest stop thousands of miles above sea level that looks out over the river, snow-capped mountains and gigantic evergreens – all of it does make you feel insignificant in the best way possible. Seeing the vastness of it all made me forget a little the irony of seeing all of this natural beauty from the comfort of our heated rental van. We weren’t alone and the occasional passing car periodically disturbed the silence, but the feelings of awe and wonder I associate with the notion of wilderness were certainly there for all of us. Even though it is government-owned and –protected land, I like to think there is still some wilderness out there, miles and miles where no one has yet walked and won’t ever walk.

On another random note, we had a great breakfast before we set out for the park at this cute little pancake diner. As someone with a fondness for small towns, I always love to go to those restaurants where you’re the only one who isn’t a regular, the waitress calls everyone else by name, and you can taste the years of the cook’s experience. Though we joked about definitely seeming out of place and getting a few strange looks from the locals, most of who were bearded men in flannel downing cups of coffee, I still immensely enjoyed the authenticity of the experience, as well as the delicious (and calorie-laden) food. It’s a privilege that this trip allows us not only to get a glimpse of the character of our destinations, but also momentarily observe all kinds of people’s daily lives.

For our day in Yellowstone, we actually didn’t set foot on the national park land but instead saw some of it from a river raft. We had arranged to go white water rafting from a town called Gardiner on the edge of the park. It was my first time going white water rafting (Mom, I survived!) and I had a fantastic time. We saw some beautiful landscapes and our raft guide told us some interesting stories about the area. After we finished our rafting adventure, we decided last minute to go to a nearby hot springs someone had told us about. Having never been to a hot springs, I was expecting some hot water in a hole in the ground, nature’s rough version of a hot tub. Instead we got a very crowded warm fresh water pool. But it was still nice to have some time to relax and make good use of their public showers.

All in all, I loved our trip to the national parks. I don’t think the touristy quality of our experiences lessens the value of spending time enjoying America’s natural beauty. This year, Ken Burns is set to release his new documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. After visiting the Grand Canyon, Glacier National Park and Yellowstone, I think I may agree- it’s certainly one of America’s greatest ideas. These parks and others are the most accessible way for most Americans to escape city life or suburban life and recreate that “traditional” American dream of exploration. I have lots of fond memories of going to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with my family, parking the car and hiking together. I think designating land to be preserved was one of the greatest foresights of our government, because as more and more land is getting developed- since I moved to Williamson County 10 years ago, I’ve witnessed an incredible amount of land bulldozed for suburban development- I think it’s so important for us to have a commitment to protecting our national parks from development. Not to get sentimental and cheesy, but I think we really do owe that to future generations, to ensure that there remains parts of our country that, despite paved roads and wildlife signs, largely appear untouched by man.

After a couple of days of (somewhat) relaxing in nature, we headed onward to one of America’s most recognizable tourist attractions- Mount Rushmore.

Seattle -- Land of a Million Starbucks

Our day in Seattle began in the most predictable way – with a visit to Starbucks. Plans for visiting a church didn’t work out, so we got our coffee and headed over to Pike’s Place Market. It was interesting to compare this bustling market to the one we had just visited in Portland. This market had more options and a permanent structure but less community. More tourists fresh off of the nearby cruise ship, fewer neighbors and families. Still an interesting experience. Unfortunately I missed the famous fish throwing stand, so that’s a reason to return in the future, I suppose.

In the afternoon, we went on a rather strange underground tour of Seattle. I guess I was expecting in an underground tour lots of creepiness but the tour mainly focused on (depending on your sense of humor) funny stories about the less than respectable past of Seattle, with a bizarre emphasis on bathroom jokes. In a way, I was a bit turned off at first but then I thought that it was kind of nice the city didn’t take itself too seriously, that unlike other places we have visited on this trip, the people running this tour were willing to tell the less-than-glamorous parts of the story. Essentially, the city had undergone a significant restructuring late in the nineteenth century, and had basically raised the entire city a level, so there is a whole underground that used to be mostly saloons and brothels. It was very strange, because the tour guides have not revamped this underground at all for their tour, other than adding a boardwalk for customers to easily maneuver their way around the wreckage of decades of history. It was a strange experience but in a way gave a more authentic feel for the history there than just viewing relics in some fancy museum.

A few of us ended traversing quite a bit of the city in efforts to find a place to eat dinner, and we ended up settling on a very trendy new restaurant called Icon. Even though I was completely exhausted after our trek, walking around the city definitely is the best way to get a feel for it, in my opinion. We ended our day with a visit to the Space Needle, which offered an absolutely incredible view of the city and the bay at sunset.

I got a similar sense from Seattle as I did in Portland – all the perks of a big city, like good shopping, diverse culture, beautiful buildings without the intimidation and busyness you feel in other major cities. I enjoyed Seattle quite a bit, especially that view from the Northwest coast…there’s nothing like it. The ubiquitous Starbucks aside, Seattle had a homey yet exciting feel to it and I would love to visit again.

Portland, Oregon

Day 15

We had a lot of hype about Portland before we got there. Only a few of us, including Shirah, who was the ambassador for this city, had been to Portland before and those of us who had not been had fairly high expectations for it. We began our day with a visit to the funky little donut place of Travel Channel fame (Anthony Bourdain visited it on his show “No Reservations”) called Voodoo Donuts. Its fun, laidback atmosphere combined with reasonable prices and scandalously-named delicious donuts, the long wait in line was actually worth it. We headed to Portland’s market, which featured local food and craft vendors. I loved the atmosphere of this market- it called to mind the street fairs of my hometown, Franklin, where everything is busy and crowded, but there is a friendly and leisurely feeling to the event overall, and for the most part, people are there to enjoy the community rather than just get some shopping done, like at a mall. As someone in the group mentioned, one striking thing about Portland was that the homeless seemed to be a part of the community, compared to other cities we’ve been, like Salt Lake City where across from the nice Italian deli we ate at, there was a crowd of what appeared to be homeless people just alone in a park. Here in Portland, homeless people sat all around the edges of the market, some of them selling newspapers, some of them playing music for tips, but definitely more visible than in other communities.

After the market, we visited the International Rose Test Gardens, which had around 8,000 different kinds of roses. The gardens were beautiful, but I had great fun reading the different names for the roses – apparently they ran out of ways of describing the color or appearance of the rose in the naming process because as you move further down the paths, you start seeing roses named after a very random assortment of celebrities, including Maria Shriver and Barbara Streisand.

We were able to explore the city in small groups after that, which was really nice. I feel like I was able to really get a feel for at least the city, if not the people, of Portland by having some time to wander around.

I liked the feel of Portland a lot. I felt like it was a relatively clean and pretty city, with the perks of a big city without it feeling busy or crowded at all. Most people we encountered seemed to be friendly and not in a rush or too preoccupied with their errands to take the time to smile at us. You definitely saw a diverse assortment of people, too, which I appreciate. Portland’s population, or what we saw of it, definitely did seem to fit my preconceived notions- relatively young, into the whole alternative music scene, indie-trendy fashions, and embracing the organic/green movement. One surprise of the day came when we stopped at “Nike Town,” the largest Nike store in the country I think, and saw their T-shirts and signs supporting the Portland gay pride movement. Not something that I would have necessarily expected from one of the largest athletic supply stores, but that was exciting and spoke even more of Portland’s progressive nature. We had dinner at a restaurant called Salvador Molly’s that served international food, while a couple of the group members met up with some friends. See Chris and Rashina’s (upcoming) blogs about their cool experience seeing some of the neighborhoods in Portland up close. I certainly was not disappointed by Portland and would love to visit again. Along with San Francisco, Portland was a city I felt I could spend a good deal of time in and look forward to visiting again.

The Other Face of California

Crescent City, CA - Day 14

We had originally planned to stay in L.A. for 3 days, but somewhere along the line, we had to change our itinerary to 2 days in L.A. and arranged to spend a day instead in the California redwood forest outside of Crescent City. We ate breakfast at the ubiquitous Denny’s and definitely got a taste for the local culture, which was your classic Small Town U.S.A. for sure, which was an interesting side of California to see after L.A. and San Francisco. We got to spend some time driving around the forest and then were able to set off on our own on foot for some rare alone time in one of the most beautiful settings I’ve had the pleasure of seeing. There’s nothing like being surrounded by trees at least 70 feet tall to make you remember how small you really are.

However something about driving paved roads through this absolutely beautiful landscape brings to mind the line from Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”- “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” On the one hand, it seems a tragedy to develop this land at all, because the redwood forest is truly one of nature’s treasures. It seems like paving the roads, marking out trails and posting up signs all through the area cheapens the experience a little. But on the other hand, I can kind of understand the point behind it, because by ensuring there are a minimal number of roads and trails, the government is able to control when and where people go, to a certain extent. And it makes the forest- at least a small part of it- easily available for public use, which is what national parks are supposed to do. Developing this land for hiking and driving allows people who might not have the time or money to plan a rustic camping trip to have a leisurely, simple experience in this beautiful place. So this brings mixed feelings for me- I can understand it but I still think development looks out of place in a setting that feels so timeless and still.
But overall, the absolute silence of the woods was more than refreshing, especially after the hustle and bustle of Vegas, L.A. and San Francisco back to back. After our afternoon in the woods, we cleaned the bus, got some laundry done, made a shopping trip and had a much-needed productive day. We then traveled on to Portland, one of the most anticipated cities for many of us.

Forgot those flowers for my hair...

Day 13- San Francisco

Our plans for San Francisco had a wrench thrown in them when we had bus trouble for a couple of hours the night before (all is well now, no worries) but we arrived in the city several hours behind schedule and therefore were unable to complete the service project we had planned. As soon as we arrived in the city, we hopped on the public transportation system, the Bart, and traveled to the Castro district, which is one of the largest (if not the largest) gay and lesbian districts in the country. Before we made it to the Castro though, we got off the Bart in the Mission district, which was supposedly a pretty rough part of town. It was so interesting that just by walking a couple of blocks, we saw the buildings turn from rundown to painted with beautiful urban murals to finally, the trendy colorful little houses of the Castro district that were stacked practically on top of one another. The people turned from homeless to urban chic in a matter of 8 or 9 blocks.

I thought for the most part San Francisco was a really beautiful city compared to L.A. I had a delicious lunch at a place called Café Mystique, which served some type of African cuisine and then we traveled on the Bart to North Beach. We walked through the financial district with its giant skyscrapers, then onto the famous City Lights, where the Beats read their poetry. City Lights is still this quaint little bookstore that was hard to leave once you realized what important literary history was made there.

We then visited the Beat Museum, which was a great relatively new museum with a very thorough exhibit about the history and works of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsburg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and others involved in the Beat Movement. It was very cool to learn about this movement that has shaped this city’s reputation, and gave me a new perspective on a city known for being relatively “green,” gay-friendly and liberal. We walked around Chinatown for a while, which was interesting because, as I learned in a children’s book about San Francisco while in City Lights, San Francisco’s Chinatown is the largest Chinese community outside of Asia.

We met up with Rashina’s brother, Roshan, who is a graduate student at UC Berkeley and he kindly showed a group of us around Berkeley’s campus, which was beautiful. After the campus tour, we ate dinner at a trendy little vegetarian-friendly organic place that fit right in among all the political graffiti and trendy college record shops surrounding campus. From our day in San Francisco, I definitely felt like it was a place I would love to visit again, that it was a place where you could find your niche and meet friendly people and that it was definitely more my speed than busy L.A.

Out of touch...

Just wanted to update and say that we are spending our next few days in national parks (Glacier, Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore, as well as Pine Ridge Indian Reservation) and may be out touch and unable to update our blogs during this time. Actually, this provides a good excuse for me to catch up on my posts- by the time we are done experiencing some good ol' American wilderness, I will try to have the blogs for San Fransisco, Portland and Seattle done and ready to post. That is, as long as I survive my first white-water rafting experience.

Thanks and keep reading!