I loved Mt. Rushmore. I like learning the background of the who, why, where, when, etc... I'm glad tooo to be able to say that I've seen the fireworks at Mt. Rushmore. That's a once in a lifetime thing for a Tennessee Girl.
Thank goodness you all gave me the heads up about them being on the 3rd or we would have missed them all together. So... when we visited Deadwood on the 2nd asked a local about the show, they gave me the good advice about going up early. Otherwise we would have missed them again.
Sure enough, we started driving up the mountain at 10:00 in the morning and STILL had to park two miles away on the side of the road, then... had to find a sitting spot for the next 9 hours. Unfortunately, we didn't have the blankets, chairs, coolers, cards, and all the other stuff required for a long wait that everybody else hauled up. Next time (if one) we'll visit the shrine on a regular day and keep the plans to meet up with you and Ally at Keystone.
We also had to get a Sturgis T-Shirt when we drove through there, drove through the Bad Lands and shopped at Wall's Drug Store on our way to Sioux Falls.
Overalll... the trip was great. My girls favorite thing was spending the day at Mall of America in Minneapolis. I like just being able to say that we are now at 38 and counting.
Heads up LS and Darlene... Our next trip may be through the New England states with Boston being our point of entry if we fly.