Mount Rushmore National Monument
One of the first National Park sites I ever visited was Mount Rushmore.
A trip to South Dakota was on my family’s agenda the summer before I entered the 6th grade and it was the first real vacation I can remember taking. The highlight of the trip was a stopover at Mount Rushmore.
As we drove up the mountain I kept looking out the car window, hoping to be the first of my family to see the four presidents memorialized in granite. Instead it was little brother, Dan, who announced, “There’s George.”
In my subsequent visits to Mount Rushmore, I announce to everyone in the car “There’s George” whenever I first spy the monument. I even did it this past August when I was traveling by myself. I don’t have a lot of travel traditions, but that’s one of my favorites.
One of other “traditions” at Mount Rushmore is going to the cafeteria to find the spot where Eva Marie Saint shoots Cary Grant in the Hitchcock classic “North by Northwest.” Unfortunately I can’t get on top of the monument like that duo does in the movie’s climax.
There are several things to do at Mount Rushmore besides just viewing the monument from the Visitor Center. During this trip I walked the Presidential Trail that takes you on a loop route with its close-up views of the mountain sculpture.
The Visitor Center itself is wonderful, with a 14-minute film describing the construction of Mount Rushmore. There are great exhibits with wonderful period photos of the sculpture in the making.
And if you have time, visit the Sculptor’s Studio where Gutzon Gorglum worked on this scale model of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt.
Maybe one of these activities will become your own Mount Rushmore tradition.
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