middle of the road. Tony was able to grab a few pictures before it climbed away. When we pulled into the parking lot, we were impressed. Mount Rushmore looked truly amazing! All of the pictures in magazines and on post cards just don’t do it justice. There were people standing on George Washington’s head! We walked through the hall of flags, looking at the flags of the 56 states and US held territories. We were proud of Sarah for being able to pick out the flag for the great state of Ohio as we walked through! The closer we got to the actual monument the bigger and more impressive it became. The detail that was blasted into the rock was unbelievable. You can make out the pupils in their eyes. When we pulled up the entrance to the monument, I remember thinking that I thought somehow it should be bigger. It is not until you are right upon it that you realize just how big it really is. Washington’s face is 60 feet tall!
We attempted to get a family photo in front of the monument but AJ was having none of it. He was much more interested in trying to look through the 25 cent park binoculars to want to pose. When we finally got him up on the wall, he sobbed the entire time. So much for the perfect Christmas card photo!
We walked most of the president’s trail and got to go right up to the base of the mountain. Along the way there were 3 teepees set up and a ranger was explaining to the kids how the 
Native Americans used all of the parts of the buffalo after they killed one. They had several “parts” on display for the kids to look at and touch. Abby was grossed out by the thought of drinking water out of the bladder! The dorky social studies teacher in me was fascinated to see in person the things I have tried to teach my second graders about Native Americans all of these years!
Native Americans used all of the parts of the buffalo after they killed one. They had several “parts” on display for the kids to look at and touch. Abby was grossed out by the thought of drinking water out of the bladder! The dorky social studies teacher in me was fascinated to see in person the things I have tried to teach my second graders about Native Americans all of these years! After many more photos and some historical background information, we headed to the gift shop to make the requisite “smash pennies” for our penny passports. We headed back to the campground to begin packing up for our move to Wyoming. The kids had some time to play on the campground’s awesome new playg
round while we washed up the muddy jeans! After several days of crummy weather, Tony and I were thrilled to finally get a beautiful day to enjoy seeing Mount Rushmore before we headed out. I think we both would have felt cheated if we had missed this particular monument as it was the main reason we began planning for this trip.
round while we washed up the muddy jeans! After several days of crummy weather, Tony and I were thrilled to finally get a beautiful day to enjoy seeing Mount Rushmore before we headed out. I think we both would have felt cheated if we had missed this particular monument as it was the main reason we began planning for this trip. 
No comments:
Post a Comment