I didn’t realize how big of a deal Pioneer Day is in Utah until I went somewhere that it is barely even thought of. We sing Pioneer hymns all through the month of July and they sang Come, Come Ye Saints once on this day. We talk about our ancestors and family stories and they read a sentence or two from journals of people they don’t know. We do fireworks and they joke in Sacrament Meeting about how the Bishop forgot it was Pioneer Day, but one family remembered and their children sang Pioneer Children at the pulpit. Just really different. I’m not saying they are any less devout, just not as focused on Pioneer history as we are in Utah. J Sacrament meeting, Sunday School and Relief Society were just wonderful! I felt my Spiritual cup fill right up and I was so glad we got to be there. We attended a ward in Rapid City, SD.
Coolidge Lookout Peak Tower (I’m not sure of the name, but it was all of these things) :)
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| If you look reeeeeal close, you can see a bunch of our group. :) |
It was best for all if Diana drove on the curvaceous canyon roads because it kept her stomach settled. The hairpin turns on the way to this lookout were especially sharp and she was glad when we got to the top. But she was also glad to stay in the small parking lot rather than climb the tower that was even higher up! Becca needed someone to be by her, right? J Others offered to be the one to stand by her, but honestly, it was just high enough in the parking lot to get the view without feeling like I was going to plummet to my death. Dramatic much? :) It was Gorgeous!! Rolling hills covered in dark green pines as far as the eye could see. Beautiful.
Overheard in the parking lot upon viewing our artwork on the windows, “Every single one of them has a minivan!”
Mount Rushmore
We drove through the Needles to get there. There were several chiseled caves that could fit only one car wide at a time. One so narrow that Geoff and Diana could stick our hands out the windows and touch both walls at once! One was about 200 feet long and all one lane.
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| Three out of our five minivan, one car caravan. |
The view as you walk up the flag lined path towards the carved heads is very grand. Each state is etched into a block on a pillar and each state’s flag flies above. We got there around 4:30 in the afternoon and the light was gorgeous.
The sculptor made a model sculpture and then they took the measurements from it and multiplied by 12 to carve into the mountain. I didn’t know that there were many other heads planned that were never carved. The sculptor died very near the end and his son saw them finished.
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| The 'rock waterfall' behind us is the rock that was blasted away as they carved the faces. |
We ate cooler surprise for dinner in the parking garage. I just happened to have “Black Hills” by Doris Day on the iPod, so we blasted that while we ate. :) We danced around and the kids remembered it as one of their favorite meals. It was like a block party. :D
The evening program at Mount Rushmore was AWESOME! If you only go during the day, you are really missing out. Seriously. We guess there were 500 – 600 people there in bleachers and standing around the edges. All of them standing for the Pledge and later singing the National Anthem were inspirational. They played a movie about what each President accomplished and what he stood for. We sang the National Anthem as it ended and the faces on the mountain were illuminated very, very gradually. It made the heart swell.
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| We were at the top of the amphitheater with Becca's chair and the rest of the family sat down below. |
We almost forgot Porkins’ picture, but got one when Emily had to go back to use the restroom. As we drove back to the campground, we could see the Presidents for a long while through the trees. Set in front of the expansive sky chuck full of stars.
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| Porkins Piggers is our family mascot. It was dark and so Geoff had to work some magic on the exposure, but there he is at Mt. Rushmore! |
We met more buffalo crossing the road… we could hear them snorting in the dark right outside our windows. There was something very sinister about their angry sounding grunting and snorting when all you could see was a few trees eerily illuminated by our headlights. I’m pretty sure with a running start; one of the big ones could have tipped over our van if he’d really wanted to!
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