Mt Rushmore National Monument

The other day we visited Mount Rushmore National Memorial. It is located in the southwestern corner of SD; just off of Highway 244

It is nestled in the Black Hills; formed from Harney Peak granite, which is so hard that it erodes only one inch every 10,000 years. 

The sculpture was started on Oct.4, 1927 by Gutzon Borghum and ended Oct 31, 1941; taking 14 years to complete. Major carving on the sculpture ended in the spring of 1941 when the federal funds ran out and Gutzon Borghum died. The total cost was $989,992.32- nearly a million dollars.

We took this walking path called; the President’s Trail. It circles around through the wooded area and takes a person closer to the mountain. We climbed up and down and up and down. This path of 250 stair steps  was strenuous and difficult for some, but it was well worth the effort to get closer to observe this magnificent work. I also discovered, again, that I am no longer a young lady!

It truly is awesome to think that this was sculptured by a mortal man. The full sculpture is 185 across and 150 ft tall. What talent to be able to comprehend and then form this symbol of America. 

   Borglum chose the above men because he felt that they represented 150 years of American history, including the birth, growth, preservation and development of this country.  Our Presidents: George Washington(birth of country), Thomas Jefferson(expansion with Louisiana Purchase), Abraham Lincoln(Preservation of union) & Theodore Roosevelt(development of Panama Canal).

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Help with Size of Postings?

I need to know just how many photos I can publish in a blog; as I seem to be having problems with this issue; can anyone help? There is a limit to the total size of a post in WordPress; but I don’t remember what it was or how to tell the size of the post that I am working on. I am having trouble publishing posts with several photos attached.

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Round & About

We are currently staying at Rushmore Shadows Resort, a RV Park located in the southwestern part of South Dakota. We are staying in this park as this part of the state has great features for the entertainment of all; we plan to see a lot of it!

Right next door to us is a place called McDonalds Farm. It appears to be a petting zoo of sorts. We have not gone there, so I can’t tell for sure.

 A couple of miles down the road is Bear Country, a wild animal zoo through which you drive your vehicle. 

Driving a few more miles will take you to a huge Reptile House, Mt. Rushmore National Monument, Chief Crazy Horse Monument, Custer National Park, National Museum of Woodcarving, just to name a few of the sights in this area.

I will be telling you about several of them in the future posts- maybe!

Digital cameras are great as I have no control and snap anything that catches my eye. Now I have the monumental task of choosing which ones to keep. The photos will be in the other articles I write about. Now look at the post beneath this one to read about Mt Rushmore.

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