Mt. Rushmore

End of day one. Whew!!

After Bear Country and Alpine Slide, we headed over to Mt. Rushmore. Not as big as I thought it would be but still quite impressive. They have a really nice gallery of state flags leading up to it & nice overlooks & viewing areas. The girls used their throw-away cameras and took goodness knows how many pictures of it...kind of feel like you have to when you're there though. Me too...






After exploring a bit, we went to the gift shop (of course) and checked out the restaurant...grody looking food so we left and went to nearby Keystone where they have a 'main street' with little restaurants, candy stores etc. and found something decent. After dinner, we headed back to Rushmore for the night-lighting ceremony. There was a talk by a ranger, a film on the history of America & then they invited any veterans or current military members up on stage. They asked for 5 volunteers to help take down the flag. Afterwards, they all stood in a line (about 40 of them) and handed the folded flag down the line to each other...saluting as they passed it. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house (except for the Italians sitting behind us)...it was very moving & dramatic...which was surprising to me. And then they light up the heads which are way more impressive lit at night than during the day--maybe because of the ceremony but I was so glad we stayed for that--well worth it. Even the girls watched the movie intently & clapped for the veterans etc. Really neat!

We got lost on the way back to the hotel on account of the no street lights and all but we finally made it back around 10:40(!!). Julia fell asleep in the car holding her dream catcher but we all fell asleep quick once we got all tucked in.

Today, we're staying in & going to the water park attached to the hotel--it rained last night (and hailed 4 inches in 10 minutes they are saying). Supposed to be high 50's today & clearing up tonight--when we're supposed to go check out Crazy Horse...