Today was the big day when we’d finally get out to see Mount Rushmore. This was a bucket list trip for both of us, and we were both excited to have finally made it. First up was a tour of the city, however, and our first stop was, believe it or not, two fragments of the Berlin Wall and the memorial to its fall.
Neither of us had any idea this was here until we looked up the sights to see in Rapid City. It didn’t hold much water with my sons, but I remember how strange I thought the idea of a city separated by a wall was when I was young, and Kelly was actually there the night the wall came down, so it was a strangely poignant and unlooked for pleasure for the two of us.
After that, we found the presidents walk. On each street corner along Main Street, there is a statue of an American President. We mugged for the camera at many of them. As you can imagine, the boys had a good time with this, and I wish I could post the many pictures of them with the presidents.
From here we boarded a trolley that took us to a couple more points of interest, including the Dahl Arts Center, the Journey Museum of Native American Culture, a dinosaur park, and Stavkirke Chapel, a gorgeous little chapel in the hills, which is a reproduction of one in Norway.
Really beautiful, and worth a stop. It’s surrounded by lavender, and we happened to be there as it was in bloom, so the entire place smelled of it and cedar.
After our tour, we enjoyed some ice cream and a little break before heading out to see Mount Rushmore at sunset. It was a perfectly clear day, warm and yet cooling as the evening approached. We caught our first glimpse of the sculpture from the road on the way in.
We drove a little further and parked at the monument, walked up the stairs, and were presented with the most glorious view:
We’ve seen this picture or something like it on textbooks and news programs and television shows and in magazines for our entire lives, but nothing- NOTHING captures the feeling you get when you’re standing in front of it. We were expecting kitschy, but there’s a grandeur that overwhelms everything else. We spent some time milling with all the other people from everywhere (seriously! Just about every state was represented judging from the license plates we saw in the parking lot), and then settled in for the evening show, which was a story by a park ranger about her American journey, a short film which talked about the presidents emblazoned on the mountain and why they were chosen to be there, and then a lighting of the faces just after dark:
No picture will do it justice. The crowd went wild upon lighting. We had a great time being a part of the crowd. We ended up going back to Rushmore two more times. It was just that great. It isn’t the easiest place in the world to get to, but it is absolutely worth the effort.
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