The reason we went...

 Mt Rushmore!!!

The Shrine of Democracy

Mt Rushmore was carved over a period of 14 years from 1927 to 1941.  Gutzon Borglum was the man who carved Mt Rushmore, and this involved a lot of dynamiting.  Borglum died in March of 1941 and his son Lincoln finished the project in October of 1941.  Originally the idea was to carve Old West heroes into the Needles, what the granite formations are called, but Borglum decided that Presidents would appeal to more people nationwide.  

Washington was chosen because he was the Father of our country.  Jefferson was chosen because he made the Louisiana Purchase which expanded our country.  Lincoln was chosen because he kept our country together.  And Roosevelt was chosen because of his conservation efforts, especially dealing with the creation of national parks. 

400 men worked on Mt Rushmore hanging from seats such as these, and not one died!

The sculpture that was used as a model  for the carving.  Not all of this sculpture made it onto the carving.  There was also supposed to be a tablet and a history time capsule. The tablet never made it, but even though they said the time capsule wasn't completed, I think we know better!

We arrived at Mt. Rushmore around 4:30 and made our trek around the Presidential Trail.

It was hard to not keep looking at it!

Wildlife sighting even at Mt Rushmore!

This is a picture of a picture of a man working on the carving!

We stayed that evening for the lighting of Mt Rushmore and I am so glad we did.  When it became dark and you could not see the carving , a ranger came out and spoke about freedom and liberty.  She was so patriotic and had a powerful American story of her grandparents immigrating here through Ellis Island and becoming Americans.  The woke culture has not made its way to this national treasure!  Then they lit up the carving and we sang the national anthem.  After that, all active and retired military were invited onto the stage and they lowered the flag.  It was a very moving experience!  And it was nice to see so many people loving America!

This was a long day and we had a cozy room at the Powder House Lodge waiting for us!