Mount Rushmore

When I found out that we were passing so close to Mt. Rushmore on the way home, I told Joyce that I would really like to stop there. We stayed in Billings, Montana and then drove to Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore. Unfortunately, it was raining on that particular day, but the rain stopped when we reached both of the destinations and we were able to see each of them. You can see above that Lincoln had been rained on and had stripes of water on his face.

I had always seen photos of just the carvings and did not know how large they were in proportion to the surroundings, so I made sure I took some photos that had the surrounding area in the shot.

On display are the flags from each of the fifty states as well as the order they became states. There is an amphitheatre where they have a light show and fireworks in the evening, but we did not get to stay for that. We went on and stayed in Rapid City that night and had a long day of driving to Kansas City the next day. I have never seen so much construction on interstate as I did coming across South Dakota and in Iowa!

Above is part of the old original viewing stand. They area they have now is much bigger. Below, you can see the rain had begun to dry. We just missed going into the museum where they have the models for the carving. They closed at five and she was shutting the doors just as we walked up.

On one of Ellen's silly games she has on her show, one of the questions recently was in what state is Mount Rushmore located? The contestant had no idea.

I am glad I was able to see this monument as it is such an icon of Americana!