June vacation

I'm finally doing a post! Can you believe it? June was a whirlwind of a month and so far July has been pretty crazy too! I'm probably going to do these updates in parts so stayed tuned because there is more to come.

For my mom's first official vacation in about ten years she decided that she wanted to visit Mt. Rushmore. She thought it would be fun to meet us there. She also requested that we bring the pop-up camper (which is technically her camper, but she is letting us borrow it) so we could camp while enjoying the different places to visit around Mt. Rushmore. We left Utah on June 17th and stayed in So. Dakota for about a week.

6/17/09:

To get to Mt. Rushmore we drove pretty much the entire length of Wyoming. I've never seen Wyoming so green!

We just happened to drive right by Martin's Cove where many of the LDS treks leave from to follow along the trail that the early pioneers took to head west.

6/18/09:

There are lots of little lakes in that corner of So. Dakota. Very pretty!

On our way to a museum to learn more about the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore (Gutzon Borglum) we could see the profile of George Washington. It had been raining so George looked like he was crying!

We were both amazed by how pretty it is there! This is a little divided highway we drove on through the mountains and pine trees.

At several of the lookouts along the small highways you could see Mt. Rushmore off in the distance.

Dave, the biologist, has to stop and take pictures of the beautiful flowers whenever we travel.

6/19/09:

On our way to the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial we saw a couple of mountain goats along the highway so we had to stop and take pictures!

The girls (my aunt Cathy, me & my mom) at the entrance to the memorial

Dave & I posing for a picture

Cathy & mom

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt & Abraham Lincoln

Panorama shot of the entire mountain

There is a trail that goes along the base of the mountain so you can get right under the carvings. Cathy, Dave & I took the trail all the way around. Here you can see the rubble left from carving the mountain.

Dave was texting his family while we were on our hike and Jake requested that we get an "up the nose" shot, so here you go Jake! Hope you enjoy it!

Posing by some gorgeous rock formations!

Along the trail was a little building that had a small replica of what the finished project was supposed to look like. Gutzon died before he finished. Here you can see what his vision was. I think they should hire someone else to finish it! LOL!

6/19/09 to be continued...