Mt. Rushmore and Deadwood, SD

Mt. Rushmore and Deadwood, SD

The idea of carving heroes on the side of a mountain in South Dakota was the brainchild of an early 1900’s marketing guy to increase tourism in the state.  The talented, but difficult guy who designed it, chose which Presidents to carve, and ran the operation was happy to take the job since he was wanted in Georgia for destroying the models of Robert E. Lee for Stone Mountain after a “disagreement” with the Daughters of the Confederacy.    The restaurant featured in the Alfred Hitchcock movie North by Northwest was gone!

We visited Mt Rushmore with our older children in the late 90’s.  The experience has changed!  It is a little more controlled (no surprise there), but they built a board walk that takes you closer than you could go before.  They also have a Ranger walk that informed us of the first 2 facts above.  We just had a really hard time getting past the very sweet Central Michigan University intern who continuously called the sculptor a sculpture.  No, we didn’t mis-hear.  We were really in a silly mood when she told us that the sculpture couldn’t be as complete a planned because of the black mica schist under Washington.  We can be very juvenile…

They have a great collection of models at the end of the walk, and some info about the vault that Borglum built for archives that the government chose not to use.  We also found out that the lake featured in the movie National Treasure 2 was actually Sylvan Lake, where we climbed the day before!

We finished the day by watching North by Northwest ($25 at the visitor center- ouch!)

Sheriff Becca

We visited Deadwood in the 90’s too- well, actually, I slept in the RV with the kids and Bob went and lost $ at Saloon No. 10, where Wild Bill Hickok was shot. 

We spent a full day there this time, and had a great time.  They re-enact the shooting, have gunfights in the streets, chase and arrest the shooter, and have a trial every night at 8 PM.  It is all done in fun, and volunteers- mostly kids- are card players, jurors, and sheriff.  The trial actually has a short musical performance by the judge, attorneys, bailiff, and bad guy!  Not sure how long they will keep doing it- the judge badly needs a hip replacement.  Becca got to be the sheriff, which made her experience unforgettable. 

Becca and I called it a day and Bob contributed to the local economy.  Fun stuff!