Mt. Rushmore

We left Billings and headed towards South Dakota, with the intended destination of Mt. Rushmore. We stopped along the way and saw The Lttle Big Horn Monument, the site of Custer's Last Stand. We had visited this on more than one occasion in my childhood. It was different visiting it as an adult, with a greater understanding of what transpired there. From there we headed down into Wyoming, stopping at Devil's Tower which was massive and impressive. We had purchased a National Parks pass on the first day of the trip, so we were able to stop and see many sites along the way on this trip. We were anxious to get to Rushmore before dark, so we didn't stay too long at Devil's Tower. But, long enough to get some nice pictures.


We arrived in Keystone, the town just outside of Mt. Rushmore late in the afternoon. It was crisp and chilly with a cloud cover as we entered Rushmore. Luckily we were able to see it before the rain started. It was awesome! I have ALWAYS wanted to see it and was not disappointed, although I have to say that it was smaller in real life than I had imagined it. But, not disappointing in any way. We were actually surprised by the Black Hills area in general. It was gorgeous. Neither of us had realized that the area was so mountainous and forested. Beautiful!


It started raining shortly after we arrived, so we spent some time in the gift shop. As the rain subsided we headed back out and got these shots. We were surprised to note that it looked like Washington and Jefferson were crying. It was actually fairly touching.
We left the park for a while and had dinner and shopped the little stores in Keystone, returning after dark for the evening program. It was wet and chilly, but worth the effort. They had a great patriotic program in the amphitheater at the base of the monument, followed by a moving video that reviewed the lives of the 4 presidents. As the video came to a close the lights gradually came up, lighting the monument. Unfortunately, it was cold and dark enough that my camera struggled with the lighting, so I got fairly fuzzy pictures. I am including one so that you can see it--but know that it was much more impressive in real life.