a PRESIDENTIAL Experience

"On many occasions, when a new project is presented to you on paper and then, later on, you see the accomplishment, you are disappointed: but it is just the opposite of that in what we are looking at now. I had seen the photographs: I had seen the drawings and I had talked with those who are responsible for this great work, and yet I had had no conception until about ten minutes ago not only of its magnitude but of its permanent beauty and of its permanent importance.

Mr. Borglum has well said that this can be a monument and an inspiration for the continuance of the democratic-republican form of government, not only in our own beloved country, but, we hope, throughout the world.

This is the second dedication. There will be others by other presidents in other years.When we get through, there will be something for the American people that will last through not just generations but for thousands and thousands of years, and I think that we can perhaps meditate a little on those Americans ten thousand years from now when the weathering on the face of Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln shall have proceeded to perhaps a depth of a tenth of an inch – meditate and wonder what our descendants, and I think they will still be here, will think about us. Let us hope that at least they will give us the benefit of the doubt – that they will believe we have honestly striven every day and generation to preserve for our descendants a decent land to live in and a decent form of government to operate under."

-President Roosevelt at the dedication of Mount Rushmore

We left Badlands/Wall SD around 2:00pm, driving for one hour (Aaron took a nap :)), and arriving in Rapid City SD around 3:00pm. As mentioned previously, I was disheartened to find out the day before that all of the hotels in the city were completely booked! Of course it was Labor Day weekend, but I never expected every single room to be booked at all the hotels (there are a lot!) I had researched hotels a few weeks prior, but did not book a room because I still was not sure of our itinerary.

Desperate for a place to stay, I quickly googled campgrounds (after all, we do have a tent!), and found a nice KOA with two sites left. Just two! I booked one, mourned for the hot hotel room shower and cozy bed I would no longer have, and focused on our adventure again.

As soon as we arrived at the campground, I found reason to mourn the hotel again.....the temperature was 104 degrees! In September! In South Dakota! Does that even happen?!?!?! (I guess so!)

Aaron and struggled to quickly set-up the tent again. Because we would only be there one night, and the temperatures were not going to go below 70 degrees that night, we did not pull out the sleeping bags or blow up mattress - only the cot, our two sleeping pads, and blankets/pillows. (the pic below was one I took later that evening after it cooled down.)

Although I had planned to be relaxing in a hotel room a couple of hours before a casual dinner downtown, the heat was pretty unbearable. So we made a last minute decision to hightail it to the mountains by moving up our visit to Mount Rushmore to this afternoon.

I have to say, we were all (even Brie) filled with anticipation to see Mount Rushmore. I feel like the engravings on the side of the mountain are not something you would normally plan an entire vacation around....but it is something that you read about all your life and see pictures of it, so when you are nearby, what a cool thing to visit!

As we drove deeper into the mountains, we kept straining for a "first look" of the carvings. Finally, Brie burst out "I see it! I see Mount Rushmore!" Sure enough, we turned the corner and there it was. Such a cool view!

The whole experience was a bit more commercial than I had anticipated though, starting with parking. There is an entire parking garage to navigate, and then walking to the monument. But once you approach the monument, you see flags of every state with the monument at the end! The crowds were crazy FYI.

The museum at Mount Rushmore actually WAS open, and it was fantastic! There is so much information and it is wonderful to read everything and see the exhibits. Brie also did the junior ranger booklet at this park too!

After Mount Rushmore, we were starving! Even though I had dreams of eating at some "cool" downtown restaurant, I was persuaded by my crew to stop at Taco Bell (haha). After eating though, we decided to explore downtown Rapid City where I had read they have a statute of every President!

First though, Brie had spotted a playground on our way to Mount Rushmore. Because she had been such a good sport this entire trip, I thought a playground visit was warranted. :) And what a cool "playground"! I put the word in parentheses because it is actually not just one playground, but an entire set of about five different playgrounds located in about a .3 mile span! Each playground has a different theme and completely different equipment. It was SO COOL! One playground even had a digital "game" where you have to be the first to slap the color that appears.

After the playground, my ever-exploring heart was pulled towards Rapid Creek, which runs through the park. And was it ever so gorgeous! Aaron and I both agreed Fayetteville needs something like this :) There were a lot of people out walking and fishing as the sun was setting. And the weather had finally cooled down!

After the park, onto more of a PRESIDENTIAL experience - running around downtown finding all the presidents' statutes! Also called - learn that my husband knows way more about all the presidents than I ever thought possible :). Ya'll, he probably identified 95% of them without even viewing their nameplate....we are talking even the obscure 1800's presidents most people have never even heard of :) It was extremely impressive!!!

Brie had fun doing different poses with each one too :) How many presidents can you identify!?!?