Last Saturday, it was snowing in Black Hills, South Dakota. The day before that, my friends and I thought the temperature will be above zero degrees Fahrenheit. We were wrong. Just an hour before we will reach our destination, the snow began to fall so heavily.
We were all worried. From Brookings, we drove 5 hours to the Black Hills region just to see Mount Rushmore, the monumental granite sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents: George Washington (1732-1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). Why only them? Americans considered the four to be amongst the greatest of Presidents they ever had.
As I've mentioned, we were all worried about the weather condition bothering our view of the mountain. With the snow falling like crazy, expect the view to be hazy or worse, the mountain to temporarily vanish from sight. We sacrificed our work for that day just to see the 4 faces we only read about in books when we were still in the Philippines.
Thank God, when we reached the top, the snowfall started to subside.
My first impression upon seeing the Mt. Rushmore is this: it isn't as huge as I expected. Maybe because we were far away from the mountaintop. We only stayed at the area where tourists are allowed. Nevertheless, whoever carved the faces did a very good job. Imagine carving the faces 5,725 feet or 1,745 m above sea level!
I had a very good time. Finally, I've seen the memorial that attracts approximately two million people annually in South Dakota.
Thanks to my Filipino friends - Cel, Ping, Janet and Minae - who made every second of our trip memorable.
See all Mt. Rushmore photos here.
Labels: Tourist Attraction
3 Comments:
its a nice trip obviously, what urges mo to post a comment is that im really excited to see the four faces also, the woman on the picture beside that man is very pretty and sexy i think, hope i can get her email addredd or friendster account..have a nice day ganda talaga ng girl na to..im robert from panglao, bohol
March 26, 2008 10:05 PM
Thanks for the comment Robert..but the girl in the picture is already taken. Sorry... :-)
March 26, 2008 10:13 PM
Gutzon Borglum carved the mountian and the four presidents that were carved were selected for thier roles in creating the nation--yes, they were great presidents! So happy you enjoyed your trip. You should check out the book, The Carving of Mount Rushmore, written by Rex Smith. Be well.
February 22, 2009 8:53 AM
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