Our first stop was Mt. Rushmore. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. We spent a lot of time in the information center. I love to read about things like that. But sensing that everyone else was getting bored, we did the President's walk. It was a nice little walk around to get different views of the monument. I was a little disappointed that there was not much information on the walk to read about. You had to get the audio tour for that. I would definitely do that if I go back.
While we were there, there were people from all over the world. But I have to add a little commentary about the education system in America. And hopefully a chuckle like it gave me. I guess I can do that since I'm a teacher. Basically, I don't know what to say, other than, "wow" Are people really that ignorant? Coming from children, it would be cute, but adults? Here are a couple of comments I overheard:
When you enter the monument, you walk through a walkway with the flags of all 50 states lining the walkway. One lady says, "I wonder what the significance of all these flags is?"
Then while on the presidential walk, there is a little information on each president on the monument. One lady tells her husband, "Wow, I've only heard of Washington and Lincoln. I've never heard of these other guys." Ethan and I had a good laugh on that one. But that's when I thought, man, the education system in America needs to focus a little more on American history. It was scary.
Anyway, the monument was absolutely gorgeous and I could have spent most of the day there.
After Mt. Rushmore, we went to a lake called Sylvan Lake. It was probably one of the prettiest lakes I have ever seen. Not like an Arizona lake at all. I wish we knew what to expect and had fishing poles and some chairs. We walked around the lake and took in the beauty. These pictures don't do it justice:
We were supposed to go see the Crazy Horse monument, but decided to pass on this since we had seen it while we were driving a couple of times and we were tired. Stan had really wanted to go "zip lining" from a billboard he had seen, so we went looking for that attraction. It wasn't what I would call a real zip line. It was pretty short and you sat in a seat. I didn't particularly want to do that so I watched Stan and Nikki do the ride, which lasted less than a minute.
After the zip line experience, we went back in to town for some lunch and back to the lodge for a nap. All of that driving at sight seeing is exhausting!
Later in the evening, we drove back to Mt. Rushmore for the lighting ceremony. I was able to connect with my friend, Kerry, whom I haven't seen in probably 18 years, and meet her daughter Jasmine. Nikki and Jasmine kicked it off instantly and Kerry and I were able to talk like we see each other all the time.
The night time lighting ceremony was awesome! The ranger came out and gave a little presentation and then there was a movie about the monument and the impact each of the four presidents had on America. At the end of the movie, the monument was lit up. I tried to get a photo, but couldn't get my camera to turn off the flash.
I think one of my favorite part was after that, though. America the Beautiful played in the background and it was neat to hear the audience sing along. I love that song. Then after the Star Spangled banner, where everyone sang along, members of the military and veterans were asked to come up to the stage. It was neat seeing so many of them. They walked up and without being told formed perfectly straight lines. They folded the flag and introduced each and every one of them. Then the audience gave them a standing ovation.
What a wonderful end to the day! More driving tomorrow as we head east. I'm so glad we made the trip here.
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