Mount Rushmore

After even more driving, we headed to Mount Rushmore!!

LONG POST WARNING!!! We took a TON of pictures. This is really only a small amount.

This part of the trip wasn't really planned. We may or may not have gone had we actually thought ahead. You see, starting in about Cheyenne, we started noticing quite a few motorcycles. But, it's Cheyenne. We don't live there. Maybe that's normal. As we got closer to South Dakota, we started seeing more and more motorcycles. Maybe outnumbering cars two to one. It was Wyoming back country. Maybe motorcyclist like this part of the country. Thank goodness for Dave's iPhone so we can look important stuff like this up on the road. We soon found out why there were so many motorcycles. It was Sturgis. Last year, 60,000 motorcyclists attended this massive convention. It's like a pilgrimage for motorcyclist. It was crazy! I've never seen so many motorcycles in my life!!

More about Mount Rushmore. I was a little worried about going. I heard that there really wasn't very much to do. My thought was that we would just pull over on the side of the road and take a quick picture. I hoped that wasn't true. We had driven a long way! Thankfully, it isn't true. There is TONS to do at and around Mount Rushmore. We could have spent days in the area with plenty to keep us busy.

My honest first impression when we first go to Mount Rushmore is that it is a lot smaller than I had envisioned. It's really not small at all, but I had this idea of a huge mountain and that takes up the face of it. In reality, it's a peak at the top of a huge mountain. But, the more we learned, the more I really could see the gigantic-ness in it.

Just in case you are already getting bored of this post, here's a picture:

There is so much to do at Mount Rushmore! Leading up to the Grand Terrace, there is an Avenue of Flags. Every state (plus the six commonwealths/territories/districts) is represented in the Avenue with their flag and an inscription. It was fun finding the states we knew.

It's such a patriotic sight!

Of course, we found Idaho!

At night, all lit up:

And, here's a picture of Mount Rushmore (because we have so many!):

The sculptor of Mount Rushmore was Gutzon Borglum. This sculpture was done by his son Lincoln after he died.

Borglum was incredibly hardworking and dedicated to his vision. He was also very arrogant. Some argue that it was his arrogance that enabled him to sculpt such a huge monument. The idea wasn't actually his, but the state of South Dakota commissioned him to make some sort of sculpture in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He chose Mount Rushmore. When he found it, he climbed it and right then and there declared it a National Monument. Of course he had no authority to do that. Another interested fact is that his family immigrated to the United States with Mormons. Borglum was born in Idaho and raised in Utah. Kinda cool.

There is a trail that goes up closer to the monument. Some of the things along the trail were closed by the time we got there. We didn't even pull in until almost 5:00 pm. But the trail was open and we took a little walk around it.

The view is different the closer you get. One of my favorite things about the sculpture is the eyes. Each president looks like he has a white twinkle inside. It makes the eyes look so real.

It was a cloudy day, and eventually the clouds turned to rain. It was so pretty because the sun was still shining too.

 We took a little break from walking and let the kids play for a while.

I absolutely love this picture! Logan was doing his One, Two, Three Run! thing again. Look at Max. I love it!

 At the end of the trail is the Sculptor's Studio. These are the smaller sculptures that Gutzon Borglum used as a scale model for the sculpture on the mountain. This is an idea of how Borglum wanted to finish the mountain. He never got to finish completely. He died and his son Lincoln took over. With funding problems, Lincoln was told to wrap up the project.

Look at the kids next to the scale model. The model was constantly changed during the construction and is proportionate to the actual sculpture. It was designed so that every one inch equals one foot on the mountain. It's pretty big when you look at it in this proportion!

This is a rendition of the Hall of Records that is located behind Mount Rushmore. Borglum wanted to have a vault included to house records about each president and about our nation. Discoveries like Stonehenge and Easter Island included no records and today no one knows for sure why they were built. Borglum wanted to avoid the same fate. With the Hall of Records, the monument could be identified thousands of years in the future. Borglum said "You may as well drop a letter into the world's postal service without an address or signature, as to send that carved mountain into history without identification."

The Hall of Records was actually never completed. In 1998 a small titanium vault was placed at the entry of the Hall of Records to complete Borglum's original dream.

There is so much to learn here! My guess is that 90% of you readers are just looking at the pictures. That's okay. I just get so fascinated by history when it is brought to life!

Here's a little bit about each President:

George Washington was the first to be carved. He, obviously was chosen because he was the first president.

Thomas Jefferson:

Thomas Jefferson was the second. Some interesting facts...Jefferson was actually supposed to be carved on the other side of Washington. They actually carved most of his face, but there was such a large crack that they decided to move him on the other side. They blasted away the original sculpture. Borglum chose to sculpt a younger Jefferson (closer to the time he wrote the Declaration of Independence) as opposed to the older Jefferson that was the president. Some people believe that Borglum sculpted Jefferson gazing higher up than the other presidents because he was such a visionary, but in reality it's because of the structure of the mountain.

Theodore Roosevelt:

Roosevelt was not actually part of the original plans, but when Jefferson's face had to be moved, it opened up room for one more face. Borglum was actually friends with Roosevelt. He helped campaign for him during his re-election. I think it attests a lot to Borglum's feelings about the character of Teddy Roosevelt that he chose him to be represented on the mountain. The coolest thing about the sculpture of Roosevelt is his glasses. It's amazing the way he carved them.

Abraham Lincoln:

I think the reasons Borglum chose Lincoln are as obvious as those of Washington. But, Borlum really had a love for President Lincoln. He admired Lincoln so much that he named his only son after him. Borlum also carved a marble bust of Lincoln that is on display in the Capitol. He debated on how to carve him and originally was going to carve Lincoln younger with no beard. I'm glad he didn't.

Are you still with me? We're almost done. After walking the trail, touring the Sculptor's Studio, walking through the Museum, watching a movie, at eating dinner in the cafe (the buffalo burgers were yummy!), we decided it was time to find our seats for the evening program.

The kids were absolutely exhausted by this point and Logan was pretty bitter that we put him back in the stroller. But, we didn't want to miss out on the lighting ceremony!

The program was run a lot like a fireside. They showed a movie and afterward asked all of the veterans to come on stage for the flag ceremony. It was hard not to feel an overwhelming pride for our country!

Then, with patriotic music in the air, they slowly lit up the mountain. So breathtaking!

It was truly amazing visiting Mount Rushmore! One of my fears with going is that I had already seen so many photos of Mount Rushmore and it wouldn't be anything different. But, it really is. It was amazing!

(In other news...because we went during Sturgis, the rooms were upwards of $250.00 per night! We had to drive 4 hours to Casper, Wyoming to find an affordable room. After leaving Mount Rushmore at 10:30 pm, it was a long night!!)

If you stuck with me on this record setting post! YAY!! And, thank you!!