Between the Swirl and South Dakota is Wyoming...or part of it anyway. It is grassy, green, empty, and almost flat...like the scene in "Dances with Wolves" when the camera pans away from the Muleskinner's wagon to show the audience an ocean of prairie. It takes the majority of the trip to get across it. There was a rest stop where they warned us about water being just for washing and drinking. What that meant was that there was no water for flushing. You enter a very clean, modern restroom but the toilets were just porcelain fixtures over a dark open pit...very disconcerting to the uninitiated. Smelly, too. Sort of a "perma-potty", I guess.

Once you're into the Black Hills, the scenery changes to granite outcroppings, piney forests, steep grades, and narrow roads. It is some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen; I was moved.

We stayed in the town of Keystone, the nearest to Mount Rushmore. It was familiar, a small town that lives mostly on the tourist trade in the season and stays weathered-in for the balance of the year. It was old-timey, full of antique and gift shops, restaurants, and ATMs in every other storefront...and prices about 25% higher than they should be. The people were friendly, mostly. But for all the incovenience and discomfort of the drive, the next part was amazingly worth it.

The next morning we headed up the hill to the monument. On the windy road you can catch glimpses of the faces, but it isn't until you get to the parking lot that you get a full view.

I never thought that I would see Mount Rushmore in person, I mean, I saw "North by Northwest", so I know what it looks like. I just didn't see me driving all that way to look at carved rocks; besides, there is no one up there I want to visit. So I was totally unprepared for the impact that the place would have on me. When you go up the walk to the visitor's center, there is a twenty-to-thirty-foot wide avenue flanked by square granite pillars, each with four state flags on them. They frame the monument in the distance. It is just awesome. On the balcony, the place where people from all over the world have stood to take pictures, the view of the mountain and its carvings is just an absolutely marvelous sight.

We walked through the displays, read the literature, strolled the walkway below the images, ate lunch in the cafeteria, bought souvenirs in the gift shop, and did all the touristy things touristy people do. But nothing of the tourist variety we did could overshadow the feelings we experienced while gazing at the carvings. Just thinking about the undertaking, the years of toil, and all the determination required to produce that monument raised goosebumps.

Now if you want to know about how it was done, the ingenius methods used to get accurate portrayals, and all the beautiful quotes of the four honored presidents, you can google it and read all about it. I just wanted to share with you how I felt as I looked upon one of our greatest national monuments...I was jazzed. I was awed. I was glad that my oldest boy and his family brought us along to share in this discovery with them. I will never forget it. And I recommend it to all. It's worth the drive.