Day 2: Mt. Rushmore lives up to expectations

First sighting - it's amazing this picture is remotely clear as I was jumping up and down in the car.

We can now count ourselves as folks who have seen and conquered Mt. Rushmore. If you read any of the previous posts, you might have gleaned that I was a smidge excited about seeing this national monument. I could try to defend myself here and say it may have been taken too far, but no, it's absolutely the truth. I was that excited. I am happy to report that it completely lived up to and exceeded my expectations and I found a possible future career as well.

And now, on to the photo shoots as promised:

About that future career, I think it'd be fascinating to be park ranger someday, maybe in retirement... It's never too early to plan for that, right Dad? These guys (and gals) are some of the most knowledgeable and interesting people we've met so far. In searching for the National Park stamp at the visitor center we met ranger John Brooks (pictured below) who asked if we'd "heard about Yellowstone" after telling him it was our next stop. As Emmie and I looked ominously at each other, Katie said, "Well, I went there once as a kid..." Not quite what he had in mind as he proceeded to tell us that the Eastern side of the park had 40 inches of packed snow in some areas and was slated to get another 6-10" overnight. The road we were planning to take in was closed and we'd need to re-route through the Northern entrance in Montana. Muchas gracias John.

The second sweet ranger we met was Terry. We joined up with one of the guided ranger hikes to learn more about the monument and were glad we did so. Before the hike took off Terry entertained our group of 40 with some US states trivia. Guess who won that game? That's right, we took 5 of the 8 questions. I think we could've gotten all eight questions but we let a 7 year-old little girl and elderly guy with a big walking stick get a few too. Terry was quite impressed and gave us a gold star from his ranger star pool. Unfortunately his supply was out, so I substituted with silly bandz.

Lesson of the day: Did you know the four presidents on the monument were chosen for very specific reasons? Washington as the birth and foundation of the country, Jefferson for expansion and growth through the Louisiana Purchase, Lincoln for restoration and unification in the Civil War and Teddy Roosevelt for growth in the 20th century. As someone who didn't know much about this Roosevelt before, I'm now intrigued and want to know more about this mover and shaker who got things done quickly, garnering the nickname of a "steam engine wearing trousers".

To add on to that, major props to the park for infrastructure - everything was completely accessible, clean and well organized. They've clearly grown over the years and hired some thoughtful planners along the way.

And yes, Emmie wins the first superlative as I may have teared up a bit during the evening lighting ceremony at Mt. Rushmore. We sang patriotic songs and all the military folks came down...I'm a sucker for a good patriotic time.