Road Trip Day 4
Seems like all the days have started or ended exactly like this. Can’t you just hear the Beatles singing, “The Long and Winding Road.”
Well I can…and it’s beautiful.
We did get a cute little guidance truck to tell us how to maneuver the road construction. They must not have known that we’re from UTAH MAN! The road construction capitol of the universe–and we are detour savvy.
It was a nice gesture though.
Then, all of a sudden these hills started popping up, from out of nowhere. We were entering South Dakota!
Did you know that South Dakota has real, live buffalo hidden away in their hills? I had no clue! Where did I get the idea that they were extinct? Oh no—they have been simply kicking back in SD all these years!
I must be out of the endangered species loop. Can I just tell you–these dudes are ENORMOUS!
Suddenly, the hills turned into bigger hills…small mountains even.
Which was a good thing because where we’re going needs to be a big, BIG mountain.
And it did not disappoint. In fact, Mt. Rushmore was positively breathtaking. I wish I could show you up close how cool this place is. President Roosevelt even looks like he has glasses on. It was amazing.
We had to take the token “stand HERE and snap your picture” shot–you know–for posterity. See all that rubble at the base of the Presidents? There’s a really great film you can watch in the museum that told us that the rubble is from all the dynamite they used to carve this out of the rock.
In fact, they said that 90% of the actual carving was done with dynamite. How does that work? The rest of course, was done and finished and smoothed out with chisels by men hanging down in swing type things. Those guys were soooo brave. Another thing I learned is that the fellow who made it–with 4oo other workers–died before it was finished. They actually had plans for the collars and lapels of Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln–not just Mr. Washington.
The history was positively fascinating.
The ice cream was glorious.
The company was wonderful.
We’ll remember this place–the “Shrine of Democracy” at Mt. Rushmore, for the rest of our lives.
Launi, I am thoroughly enjoying seeing your travels. We have seen Mt. Rushmore, and it is wonderful. We haven’t seen Carhenge, though, and I have to admit, I really enjoyed the pictures that you shared. Thank you for sharing all the joyful moments.
I love Mt. Rushmore! I remember going there as a kid and getting goosebumps. Now as an adult looking at the pictures I still get the goosebumps!
Sounds like you guys had a great time! What a fun memory!
We sure did have a good time with this stuff! I’d never seen Mt.Rushmore before and I was amazed at how beautiful it was.
Thanks so much for your kind words. They mean so much to me.
This was our first time to see it. So amazing!
Dang…dang…dang fun!!
And then there was the cute part where we were leaving and Lily started to cry saying she wanted to see the “silly faces on the mountain”. Uh. Pretty sure we still could! 😉 Kids are great and Mt Rushmore is AWESOME! *:D*