June 3, Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

Last night was one of our last "wish list" attractions.  The illuminating ceremony at Mount Rushmore.  We took the shuttle from the KOA to Mount Rushmore, at 7.00pm, which gave us about an hour an a half of daylight to take pictures and go through the Museum.  At 8.45pm the music began at the amphitheater, to call the crowd, all we needed was the marching band.  At 9.00pm the evenings entertainment began with an opening speech by a Park Ranger.

As he spoke about each of the founding fathers, the lights high lighted the appropriate sculpture.  It told the history of each person, they were George Washington,  Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, they were all Presidents. This was followed by a film about the work that went into the sculpturing and what each person stood for in developing America.

At the end of the film show, the Ranger asked all people who had served in the American Forces or people that represented someone in the forces to come on stage and participate in the closing ceremony.  He chose 6 men to lower the flag, then each person who was on stage gave their name and division and time served.  We were surprised to see how many people actually went forward. Then we all stood and sang the Star Spangled Banner.  Dirk and I sang like true Americans, only because they had the words on the screen.

Tomorrow we are really heading on our homeward stretch of our journey.