Monday, June 16 we did the purpose of our trip. We saw Mount Rushmore!
On our drive to the Memorial, we took the scenic road through the Needles Highway and the Iron Mountain Road. The drive was so beautiful!
The mountain in the distance is Harney Peak, the highest peak in the Black Hills (and the highest point east of the Rockies). On the very top is a rock house used as a lookout I think. We heard that from the top of this peak you can see multiple states; North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and I think Montana. I was wishing we could have done the hike to the top but we just ran out of time on our trip. Next time...
So you are probably wondering why I took a picture of the dirt. Well the picture does not do it justice but everywhere you go in the Black Hills area (maybe other parts of South Dakota too?) the ground sparkles! Literally! The dirt is full of mica which is clear minerals/rocks that shimmer in the sun. It is so cool to see. It make you feel like you are walking on gold, Black Hills Gold.
Here are some more pictures along the Needles Highway. If you look closely at the bottom right picture you can see Mt. Rushmore in the distance.
As we drove the Needles Highway, we came to the "Needle's Eye" landmark. This was a cool sight to see! The Eye was formed through wind and water erosion as well as frost wedging. You can actually repel down the side or even in the Eye. That would be fun.
The Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road have six one lane tunnels cut right out of the rock:
This tunnel was near the Needle's Eye and one of the smallest tunnels. It was only about 8.5 ft wide and 12 ft tall. The kids loved going through the tunnels and hearing the honk of the horn.
We also saw some more wildlife. This antelope was not afraid at all to cross the street and stop traffic.
One of the awesome things about this road besides the tunnels were the three pigtail bridges. As you can see in the pictures above, these bridges were amazing and required some pretty amazing engineers to design them. The bridges were curved and the road going over the top curved down to then go under the bridge. So they were like a circle as you can see in the aerial photo I got off the Internet. They were so cool. The Iron Mountain road is considered the most crooked 17 miles you will ever drive as well as a road construction work of art.
As we drove up the Iron Mountain Road, we were getting closer to Mt Rushmore. These are some photos we took along the way. And then:
We finally made it to Mt Rushmore!!! This Memorial is so spectacular! We loved it. Add it to your bucket list if it is not already there.
Walking up to the Memorial, we walked through the Avenue of Flags at the entrance. This walkway has every state flag posted on a pillar according to when they became part of the United States. Here we are standing under the Utah flag.
Here is our proof that WE WERE THERE!!
We also got a picture of our whole group under the Presidents. Aren't we a good looking bunch?
Especially these cute kids. I especially love that picture of Colby under Rushmore.
We took a walk around the Presidential Trail and got to see different views of the great sculpture:
We were right under their noses! The whole sculpture is amazing but I think my favorite is the face of Teddy Roosevelt. There was so much detail on him. You could see the rims of his glasses and there was even a cave in his eye.
This is just a fun picture of Tyrel and Colby inside a Tepee. Along the Presidential Trail, we listened to a park ranger talk about the Indians that lived in this area and the items they made out of the land's resources.
We also walked through the different museums at the Memorial. We saw the original model of the sculpture and the sculptor had originally envisioned carving not just the busts of the presidents but also the torsos and arms:
Above is the bust of the sculptor of Mt Rushmore, Gutzon Borglum. What talent and vision he had. As we walked through the museums, I got a better understanding of the meaning of Mt Rushmore as well as the amount of work that went into creating it. The museum had journal recordings and things from the Memorial carvers and workers. The workers were only paid like $3 a day and the job was so dangerous and difficult! One worker said he was so scared after one day of work that he could not even sleep at night. The next day he asked the foreman if he could be moved to another position and so he was and worked there until it was finished. We watched a video on the history and creation of the Memorial too. It was very informative and explained why each president was chosen. If you cannot read "The Meaning of Mount Rushmore" picture, it says:
"The four American Presidents carved into the granite of Mount Rushmore were chosen by the sculptor to commemorate the founding, growth, preservation, and development of the United States. They symbolize the principles of liberty and freedom on which the nation was founded. George Washington signifies the struggle for independence and the birth of the Republic; Thomas Jefferson the territorial expansion of the country; Abraham Lincoln the permanent union of the States, and equality for all citizens; and Theodore Roosevelt, the 20th century role of the United States in world affairs and the rights of the common man."
This was definitely worth our trip to South Dakota. Before we left on our trip I had a few people tell me not to have high expectations because they were disappointed when they visited the Memorial. Well I will tell you right here and now, We were not disappointed! I thought it was so awesome! (Yes, I was full of awe.) I loved reading the histories of the workers, the sculptor, and just the history and meaning of the Memorial. Was it a place for little kids? Well maybe not the most fun for kids but Emily and Colby still talk about "seeing the faces on the mountain." So I think they had a good time too.
After spending a few hours at Mt Rushmore, we decided to eat lunch and then check out a few of the other sites nearby in Keystone. We spent a little bit longer in the museum than the others so we left after everyone else. We found a note on our truck saying that they went down the road a ways to find a picnic area to eat. We drove to where we thought they were and they were not there. Since our phone didn't work in South Dakota (don't ask...) we could not find them. So we did our own thing the rest of the day and had a blast.
Our first stop was the Big Thunder Gold Mine:
This was an actual gold mine used during the gold rush. Our guide, Matt, was really cool and told us all about the history of the mine and the conditions of working in the mine. He also told a lot of funny stories about the original owners of the mine. The miners only found about $200 worth of gold in this mine which they had to split half with their sponsor company so the two miners only got $50 after like 30 years of mining! Not that great of a payout.
Matt also showed us some of the tools and equipment used in mining. The kids got to push down the dynamite trigger box which is harder than it looks. We also saw the first ever port-a-potty used in the mine. This would come by the miners only twice in a 16 hour day. Yeah I do not want to be a miner.
Matt also showed us how to properly pan for gold. Emily, Colby and even Logan loved panning for gold. Mostly they loved playing in the water. We were successful panners and we came away with a few flakes of real live gold!
Leaving the Gold Mine, we found another note on our car saying everyone had gone to the Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns and Bear Country. We had wanted to go caving too but we didn't know what cave to go to because there were so many. We had narrowed it down to Rushmore Caves or Crystal Caverns so we decided to go to Crystal Caverns to see if we could catch up with the others. We didn't find them but we had a good time anyway. Here we are before the tour:
These are some of the cool formations inside the cavern. This cavern is the home to the largest dog tooth crystal. The ceiling and floor were covered in dog tooth crystals and different colored crystal and rock formations. The tour guide was really informative on how the cave was formed.
Some of the spaces were tight fitting and some were short but we made it through and I think it was worth seeing. One downside though was the steep stairs:
We went down the equivalent of 10 flights of stairs. These were not your typical stairs either, they were very steep. We had to go down these stairs and then back up them to get out. Russell had to carry both Emily and Colby down and up because they were too scared to go by themselves. So Russell did the descend and climb twice carrying an extra 30 plus pounds. I carried Logan in the carrier which added 30 pounds to me too. Coming up was a killer and we are in pretty good shape. I am glad the people we went with on the tour were understanding about kids because we went pretty slow. They even offered to help take one kid but neither Emily or Colby would go for that. Otherwise this was a really cool cave that I am glad we went to. The guide told us that we were about 100 feet under ground from the gift shop but at the end of the cavern, we were under the highway so we were about 300 feet underground at that point. (I'm not going to lie, that made me a little claustrophobic...)
After leaving the Crystal Caverns, we headed back to camp for dinner. That night we had a little birthday party for Jack. He turned 5 today. He opened presents, we ate cake and ice cream, and all the kids had sword fights with the sword glow sticks they got in their party bag.
What another great day!
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