Jun 30, 20233 min read

The One With The Floating Heads

Chris was getting everyone up and moving quickly this morning. He wanted to get to Mount Rushmore the second it opened. I think he was worried the heads might get up and leave if we didn't see it at exactly 8am. HAHA! So we got breakfast at the house and out the door as fast as we could. Pua got to rest at the house.

The girls were fascinated when we arrived. It's always so fun to see their reactions to new things. I still remember when we took them to Disney World and they turned the corner to see the castle for the first time. We talked about why those 4 presidents were chosen for the monument and listened to a park ranger explain how Gutzon Borglum got federal funding to complete this project. It was started in 1927 and was finished in 1941. The presidents were supposed to be carved from head to waist but due to lack of funding, the construction was forced to end. It's incredible that in the 14 years it took to complete, there were no fatalities!

It was fun to walk down the path with all the flags of our states. The girls quickly found Minnesota but it was a little sad that they hadn't learned that Minnesota had their own flag. So they were confused and we talked about how each state has their own flag and what is all on ours.

We did the walking trail around the front of Mount Rushmore. I asked them if we could climb and go behind the heads to find the Declaration of Indepandance? They told me that wasn't true and the park ranger that was near agreed with my girls. I told them they sit on a throne of lies because Disney would not lie to me.

We checked out the gift shop and Taytum found a super cute sweatshirt. Then it was off to Hill City to check it out. We had the girls do an old time photo. Oh my gosh they had a blast. It was so stinkin cute to see them dressed up in the western wear. We had a delicious lunch at a restaurant called 1885. Chris and I shared a bison burger, Piper had Indian tacos and Taytum had a huge BLT sandwich with fries. Our girls are great eaters and always wanting to try new things. Piper really wanted tacos so she was excited to see what Indian tacos were. The shells were purple!!! She loved them and was so glad that she tried them. Of course, if you are with Piper, you have to have ice cream daily!!

We then went back to the house to hang out with Pua and rest. We had supper at the house and then headed back to Mount Rushmore around 7:30-8pm. It was recommended to us to head back at night to see the light show. And I will say it was incredibly emotional and 100% worth it. You watch a short movie, they light up the faces and then they have all military people come down for us to honor them. After recently being at my uncles funeral that was a military service, when they were folding up the flag, I lost it. When the ceremony was done, we stood in silence for a bit, gave hugs and headed home.