Day 9 (Part 2) - Mt. Rushmore National Memorial, Keystone, SD

EDIT: This post was written much earlier, but due to limited cellular data connectivity in the states of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana, it was not uploaded until much later.

The Badlands National Park was incredibly scenic and unlike anything we have ever seen. In the morning we took a drive around the park's main attraction, which is a 31-mile loop on a road surrounded by nothing but large mountainous rock formations. Along the way, there were a few viewpoints where people could stop and take pictures. We took full advantage of these opportunities and even ventured out on to some of the large rocks!

Then, just like that, we were off to see Mt. Rushmore in Keystone, SD. The advertisements and signs for the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial started about 70 miles from the actual location. When we drove into Keystone, we were all surprised to see how busy and lively (mainly full of tourists like us) the town was. The town looked exactly like you would imagine a historic western town.

As were driving up to the mountain we saw a sign saying "A 30 minute stop...experience of a lifetime," and that probably sums it up for most people. We learned that the monument was initially intended to be a memorial for frontier heroes, but sculptor Gutzon Borglum opted to display the presidents instead.

Once we finally parked, walked out, and caught a glimpse of the mountain, our reaction was: there it is, exactly as it appears in every picture you would have seen, except smaller than you would think (kind of like the Mona Lisa at The Louvre in Paris). We appreciated the precise sculpting and took a few obligatory pictures attempting to catch a shot in which we could align our heads with those of the presidents.

After the memorial, we grabbed some pizza at nearby Big Time Pizza, which was better than we expected for South Dakodian pizza. During our meal, we tried to map out our plan for getting to Yellowstone National Park tonight. We have to drive through part of South Dakota and ALL of Wyoming on the I-90 West.

On a side note, we had been talking about this trip since March and originally contemplated doing only 2 weeks of traveling, obviously seeing less. Experiencing what we have over the last 9 days, we're all thrilled that we opted for the longer trip. Stay tuned!