South Dakota has many beautiful and famous tourist sites. One of the most acknowledged state parks is Mt. Rushmore. Mt. Rushmore lies in the heart of the Black Hills. It shows the faces of 4 of the most famous presidents of the USA.  George Wahsington, Tomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosvelt.  Gutzon Borglum began to work on Mt. Rushmore on August 10, 1927.  Sadly Borglum died before seeing his dream fulfilled. His son Lincoln Borglum carried on with his father’s work. The four presidents are carved in a scale of 1 inch to a foot. George Washington symbolizes the leadership he demonstrated by signing the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson’s figure symbolizes that he is the writer of the Declaration of Independence, and that he purchased the Louisiana territory. Lincoln’s form stands for the preservation of the Union in 1865, while Theodore Roosevelt’s face represents the completion of the Panama Canal in 1904. The colossal heads of the four presidents are visible from 60 miles away. They cover over 10 acres of granite. More recently the 5th figure in the Black Hills started emerging. The figure will be that of Crazy Horse’s. Crazy Horse will be the larges sculpture in the world, and it represents all the Indian tribes of South Dakota. Crazy Horse will be 563’ tall and 641’ long. Only his head will be nine stories tall, and the horses head will be 22 stories tall. Korczak Ziolkowski was invited to carve Crazy Horse. Korczak started working on May 3, 1947.  In 1982 when Korczak died his wife and his children went on with the sculpturing of Crazy Horse and they also managed the visitor complex. Until the day of today the memorial is still not completed, but the Korczak’s are still working on it. The Black Hills show a beautiful scenery of streams, mountains and gorges. Before the white men occupied the Black Hills, the Indians held them sacred and only came to fish, hunt and to get tepee poles. Once the settlers appeared they thought of the Black Hills as a place of adventure and romance. They cover an area of about 100 miles North and South and 50 miles to the East and West. In the center of the Black Hills lies Custer State Park. Here you can enjoy the beautiful panorama, and the amazing wildlife of elk, deer, buffalo, and dolly sheep. The Badlands are located in the South West, and they consist of 244,000 acres of jagged eroded hills, pinnacles, and large prairies of grass. The black footed ferret (the most endangered species in North America) lives here in the Badlands. This National Park is co-managed with the Oglala Sioux tribe. A 1880 train is located near Mt. Rushmore, and it is still in use as a tourist attraction. The train makes a 2 hour long trip around places that miners and pioneers used to explore. It goes through Hill City and Keystone. Bear Country USA is where you can go to explore and view the interesting ways of wild animals. You take a 3 mile drive around this wildlife park, and as you drive, animals (mostly bear) are walking around. Sometimes the bears get so close to your car that you think they might tear it apart. You can also enjoy the black bear cubs. They are all placed in a separate area from the big bears and they are the cutest things in the world. One of South Dakota’s most popular recreation areas is Angostura. Angostura has beautiful hot springs. You can also find beaches, and campers go very often to fish. The sports played in South Dakota are basketball, baseball and American football. The official South Dakotan team is the Coyotes. 

   The similarities and differences of tourism in La Paz and in South Dakota are that the tourism in South Dakota is much more organized. Here in La Paz anything can happen to you while your are in the middle of your trip. So it is more of an adventure!