Mt. Rushmore

On our first full day here in SD we wanted to see Mt. Rushmore. It was as spectacular as we thought it would be!

It started out as an overcast day, but later in the afternoon the sun came out. And, lucky us, it cooled off into the 70s. This retirement life is great. This is called the avenue of flags, where each state flag is flown with a plaque explaining when the state came into the union. There's a visitor center at the end of the avenue with a large deck for viewing the mountain. There's also a large amphitheater that is used for a lighting show at night.

Inside the visitor center is a theater showing a film on the other parts of the monument, including wildlife and geology. We were at first disappointed because we wanted to learn more on the carving of the mountain. Well, under the theater is a large exhibit hall showing all phases of the carvings, information on the artist and his family and all of the laborers who worked on the monument from 1927 to 1941. One fact that really surprised John was that no one was killed or seriously injured during the entire project! Some of the pictures of the workers using dynamite and hanging in mid air with air drills were scary.

We're planning on going back to the monument to see the night light show while we're here in SD.