We started out our day by heading to Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
Heading up the path to go in.
Getting ready to walk through the Avenue of Flags. We didn't realize how lucky we were to be doing this as earlier this summer they actually shut this area down for renovations.
Here is an update from the National Parks website in case you are thinking about visiting this year or next year. Due to the opportunity to address deferred maintenance projects, the Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center, amphitheater, Avenue of Flags and a short section of the Presidential Trail are not available for the rest of 2019 and early 2020.
Here is an update from the National Parks website in case you are thinking about visiting this year or next year. Due to the opportunity to address deferred maintenance projects, the Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center, amphitheater, Avenue of Flags and a short section of the Presidential Trail are not available for the rest of 2019 and early 2020.
Delaware was the first state admitted to the Union of the United States in December of 1787. Garrett was representing that flag!!
Then of course we had to find New York for Linda to represent!!
Garrett and I representing Ohio!!
Walking into the Grand View Terrace Area where the amphitheater is.
The faces after walking through.....Wow!!
Our family photos in front of the presidents.
This picture Garrett actually took with my phone. He's actually been taking pretty good pictures :)
We then headed back because we wanted to go and check out the Borglum View Terrace and the Sculptor's Studio.
The area is very beautiful and I had Linda, Tim and Garrett sit in front of this huge rock so I could take their picture!!
The area is very beautiful and I had Linda, Tim and Garrett sit in front of this huge rock so I could take their picture!!
Tim took some scenic pictures as well. It's amazing that plants can grow out of these rocks!!
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Grandma Sutton was helping Garrett keep his balance while walking along the wall.
One of the things Garrett had to do for his Junior Ranger Badge book was hug a tree!!
And embrace the nature around you!!
Trying to get a family photo on the pathway.....wasn't working too good.....
Garrett and I had no problems with taking our selfies, LOL ;)
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Continuing on to the Borglum View Terrace. Lots of stairs!!
Phew, we made it!!
Our view of the presidents from here....
Coming down to the Sculptors Studio area. They had ranger talks down here that we stopped and listened to. During the talk they actually showed some of the tools the workers used and the equipment they used to dangle themselves in front of the mountain to carve. It was pretty neat. Afterwards we had Garrett's book signed by the ranger for listening.
Linda stayed here while myself, Tim and Garrett walked on the Presidential Trail which included another 250 steps one way. Garrett was loving it!!
Garrett and these two other boys were checking out a bug along the way.
The intricate detail that went into these faces is absolutely amazing!!
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We made it up to the top, woohoo!!
While Tim was taking pictures Garrett was playing with another little boy from China. The family was taking a month long trip throughout the United States and this was one of their stops. It was very interesting talking with them!!
Our view from this area!!
Tim taking pictures and Garrett just soaking it all in....
Time to head back down!!
Not sure what happened to this tree, but definitely different!!
Lots of stairs and stuff to look at. We were constantly showing Garrett something new as we were going along!!
A picture with Dad!!
Working on his Junior Ranger Book....
Sometimes cool spots to take pictures are right in front of you!!
Heading back up the stairs=lots of rock climbing!!
Some different shots Tim had taken. One is panoramic and the other was coming down the pathway what our view was of the heads.
Garrett getting some additional facts before finishing up his Junior Ranger booklet.
Garrett playing while Tim takes some pictures....
Garrett was having fun playing with this little girl he met!!
Garrett finished up another Junior Ranger Booklet and got his badge. To celebrate we got some ice cream that was Thomas Jefferson's first ice cream recipe in the United States. It was super yummy!!
This was a really interesting place to visit. Here are some cool facts we found out about Mount Rushmore while we were visiting:
The presidents were chosen for their significant contribution to the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the country. George Washington was chosen because he was our nation’s founding father. Thomas Jefferson was chosen to represent expansion, because he was the president who signed the Louisiana Purchase and authored the Declaration of Independence. Theodore Roosevelt was chosen because he represented conservation and the industrial blossoming of the nation and Abraham Lincoln was chosen because he led the country through the Civil War and believed in preserving the nation at any cost. The carving of Mount Rushmore began in 1927 and finished in 1941. The actual carving was done by a team of over 400 men. Remarkably, no one died during construction. 90% of the mountain was carved with dynamite, and more than 450,000 tons of rock was removed. The drillers and finishers were lowered down the 500-foot face of the mountain in bosun chairs held by 3/8-inch-thick steel cables. Workers at the top of the mountain would hand crank a winch to raise and lower the drillers. If they went too fast, the person in the bosun chair would be dragged up the mountain on their face. Each president’s face is 60 feet high. In 1938, Gutzon Borglum secretly began blasting a Hall of Records in the mountain behind the heads. The Hall of Records was meant to be a vault containing the history of the nation and vital documents like the Constitution. Congress found out about the project and demanded Borglum use the federal funding for the faces, not the Hall of Records. Gutzon reluctantly stopped working on the hall in 1939, but vowed to complete it. Funding ran out and the monument was declared complete on October 31, 1941. Overall, the project cost $989,992.32 and took 14 years to finish. In 1998, Borglum’s vision for the Hall of Records was realized when porcelain tablets containing images and text from the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and biographies of the presidents and Borglum himself were sealed in a vault inside the unfinished Hall. The Grand View Terrace is at the end of the Avenue of Flags; it has flags from all 50 states, one district, three territories, and two commonwealths of the United States of America.
On our way out we stopped by this lake to take pictures. It was really beautiful and there were people out there kayaking on it.
The presidents were chosen for their significant contribution to the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the country. George Washington was chosen because he was our nation’s founding father. Thomas Jefferson was chosen to represent expansion, because he was the president who signed the Louisiana Purchase and authored the Declaration of Independence. Theodore Roosevelt was chosen because he represented conservation and the industrial blossoming of the nation and Abraham Lincoln was chosen because he led the country through the Civil War and believed in preserving the nation at any cost. The carving of Mount Rushmore began in 1927 and finished in 1941. The actual carving was done by a team of over 400 men. Remarkably, no one died during construction. 90% of the mountain was carved with dynamite, and more than 450,000 tons of rock was removed. The drillers and finishers were lowered down the 500-foot face of the mountain in bosun chairs held by 3/8-inch-thick steel cables. Workers at the top of the mountain would hand crank a winch to raise and lower the drillers. If they went too fast, the person in the bosun chair would be dragged up the mountain on their face. Each president’s face is 60 feet high. In 1938, Gutzon Borglum secretly began blasting a Hall of Records in the mountain behind the heads. The Hall of Records was meant to be a vault containing the history of the nation and vital documents like the Constitution. Congress found out about the project and demanded Borglum use the federal funding for the faces, not the Hall of Records. Gutzon reluctantly stopped working on the hall in 1939, but vowed to complete it. Funding ran out and the monument was declared complete on October 31, 1941. Overall, the project cost $989,992.32 and took 14 years to finish. In 1998, Borglum’s vision for the Hall of Records was realized when porcelain tablets containing images and text from the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and biographies of the presidents and Borglum himself were sealed in a vault inside the unfinished Hall. The Grand View Terrace is at the end of the Avenue of Flags; it has flags from all 50 states, one district, three territories, and two commonwealths of the United States of America.
On our way out we stopped by this lake to take pictures. It was really beautiful and there were people out there kayaking on it.
We then headed out to Custer State Park. Here we are entering the Black Hills National Forest.
Lots of very narrow tunnels in this area!!
Entering Custer State Park.
Tim and Linda got out of the car to take some pictures and Garrett was having fun taking pictures of Grandma :)
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Garrett was telling me about something out of his window....
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Heading into the Custer State Park Visitor Center. This place was Awesome!!
The exhibits they had inside were so cool. The first one you could measure yourself against how big a bison was and how many bones they had.
Then they had one that showed you the signs and signals a bison would make if you got to close and what noises they would make and what they meant.
On this next one it shows how you weigh compared to what the bison weighs. This was so cool!! You can actually see the little yellow on the bottom of the hoofs, that is what Garrett's weight is. So he would be about the weight of their hoofs, LOL. Yikes!!
Who doesn't love a good rock climbing wall!!
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After we got done with the visitor's center we headed out to check out the animal loop. As soon as we got on it we had a bad storm come through. We had pulled over to wait it out and this was after it was finished. Thankfully it didn't last too long!!
It cleared up pretty quickly and was beautiful again!!
We started driving and saw this Pronghorn Antelope in the distance.
Next up were the Begging Burrows. These guys were so cute!!
Then we saw a mama deer.
A prairie dog giving us a show :)
Then we hit the jackpot with a herd of bison that had all traffic stopped. There were mamas and babies, big male's that were huge!! It was so awesome. They were literally inches away from the vehicle, close enough where you could reach out and touch them (no we didn't). It was simply amazing to watch them. Something I will never forget!! To give you a picture of how big the males were, look at this one!!
Garrett was really enjoying watching them!!
Then a mama and her baby were playing in a dirt mound. Was so cute to watch!!
Then we saw these Bison playing in the mud.....
Such a beautiful drive back to Hill City, SD!!
Where we stopped for dinner at Desperados Steakhouse. Garrett had to wrangle his dinner, LOL.
Was a really awesome and amazing day!!