On our summer sisters’ trip to South Dakota we spent a day visiting the Crazy Horse Memorial and driving through Custer State Park. Crazy Horse, as you recall, was the war leader of the Oglala Lakota Indians and is famous for his standoff with the U.S. Federal Government as white settlers were moving onto Indian lands.
The memorial to Crazy Horse Memorial is being constructed on privately owned grounds which are 
supported by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation. The mission of the Foundation is to protect and preserve the culture, tradition, and living heritage of all North American Indians. To do so, Korczak Ziolkowski was invited by Chief Henry Standing Bear to carve the spirit of Crazy Horse into a 6,000 foot granite mountain, making the monument one of the world’s largest mountain sculpture projects. Ziolkowski’s decedents continue to carve the monument which will ultimately show the leader with his left hand pointing forward. Visitors support the continued work of the Foundation which includes completing the sculpture, housing the Indian Museum of North America, and bringing The Indian University of North America to the site.
We continued on to Custer State Park, where we wanted to eat lunch overlooking one of the sky blue lakes. We stopped at Legion Lake Lodge to eat at the Dockside Grill. Always on a mission, I looked first at the dessert menu and noticed an offering of Pie in a Cone. After verifying that this was, in fact, a pie, we asked the server to bring it on! My sisters are now used to having pie for dessert with me. It took all three of us to clean the plate, and we did not even order the optional whipped cream!
People: Chief Crazy Horse who symbolizes the preservation of the culture of the North American Indian. Because carving the rock is dangerous and the work is funded by donations, the sculpture is still incomplete.
Places: Custer State Park https://gfp.sd.gov/parks/detail/custer-state-park/
After lunch, Jill took the helm driving the scenic Needles Highway. This winding, twisting, turning 14 
mile road snakes through granite rock formations that look like needles, or from other views cathedral spires. In several places, one-way tunnels carved through the rock make for navigational challenges, particularly when sharing the road with goats!
Pie: Pie in a Cone. This is a decadent way to have pie and ice cream. First, the waffle cone is filled with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream, followed by a slice of pie (we chose pecan) inserted pointed end first and topped with another scoop of ice cream. And if this is not enough, you can have it drizzled with chocolate or butterscotch sauce. We had both!
- You can make your own version of Pie in a Cone. Fill a large waffle cone with a scoop of ice cream. Insert your favorite pie pointed end first. Top the pie with a scoop of ice cream with a flavor that compliments the pie. Garnish with sauce, whipped cream, nuts and anything else that spells decadence!
