05-May-2024. Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Say hello to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abe Lincoln!

Today I went to Mount Rushmore National Memorial and learned that the sculptor selected these 4 Presidents to commemorate the founding, growth, preservation and development of the United States of America. He believes they all symbolize the principles of liberty and freedom upon which this country was founded.

So I’ll let you in on a little secret – my third stop yesterday that caused me to get back to my hotel so late was that I headed over to Mount Rushmore (which was only 35 minutes from my hotel) so that I could be there at dusk as I wanted to see how it looked when it was illuminated. When you approach Mount Rushmore there is a wide walkway that has flags from all the states and territories lining it and then there is a large open area which overlooks an amphitheater below and Mount Rushmore above. Apparently in the summer they show movies and have presentations in the outdoor theater but this time of year there were no presentations …. just the lighting …. and I’d much prefer this time of year to the summer crowds.

There is a 1 mile loop which starts at the visitor center viewing platform and brings you to the base of Mount Rushmore (where all the debris from the rock blasting and carving has landed). I walked that loop to kill us sometime as I wanted it to be relatively dark. Mount Rushmore faces east so the sun sets immediately behind the mountain which means it is back-lit for much longer than when you look in other directions.

It finally got dark enough so that the 4 Presidents were illuminated and you could still see a faint outline of the mountain in the background - it was a clear night and I had fun playing around with some night photography - it’s been a while!

The next morning I returned and was lucky that the sun was shining and the sky was blue - postcard picture weather! I took a few pictures and then went to the visitor center to watch a 20 minute movie about the construction of Mount Rushmore and see some artifacts. The engineering behind how the sculpture was designed and then created is really interesting - it took 14 years to complete - but that’s way better than Crazy Horse which was started 76 years ago and it still a long ways from being done. The sculptor made a model in his studio that was 1/12 of the actual size and then measurements were scaled up (where one model inch equals 1 foot on the mountain) when the carving was done. Men hung in harness swings and chiseled the face of the rock - yikes!

I left Mount Rushmore and headed towards Badlands National Park. The south west corner of the park was only about 2 hours away, and then I travelled diagonally through some Bureau of Indian Affair lands to my destination of Wall, South Dakota. There are 2 interesting things to see in wall: a giant Jackalope and Wall Drug.

The giant Jackalope is only 2 blocks down from my hotel and is there to draw you to a chainsaw art studio. Take a close look at the picture of the Jackalope - it’s exterior is split half logs …. and the coolest part about it is that you can go inside! There is a staircase made of wood and antlers that leads all the way to the top and there is a door and balcony on the rabbits chest. What a really clever work of art! There are tons of bears and creatures and critters on display– so impressive!

Wall Drug is a local store that started as a drugstore but became huge like “south of the border” on the NC/SC boarder of I-95. They’ve got lots of big signs luring you in and all sorts of cheesy souvenirs to buy. It’s basically the only place in town. I didn’t take any pictures of Wall Drug because it’s just a tourist shop. Nothing to write home about.