Patriotism Swells In the Hearts of an American Pair

As wonderful as Portland was/is, the trip home also provided Rob the chance to show Erika his home state, the majestic South Dakota (easily the better of the two Dakotas).  Surprisingly, Erika had never been to South Dakota before, so Rob really wanted to impress her with all the state had to offer.  Wasting no time, we headed from the massive (not really) Rapid City Regional Airport to the greatest symbol of South Dakota, found on the state quarter and every license plate: Mount Rushmore.  

Now, Mount Rushmore is a curious thing.  Carving the likenesses of our leaders into a mountain seems like an ancient civilization kind of thing to do and you can't help but wonder about future civilizations debating the meanings of each face- "Well, there are four gods, one for each of the seasons?"  But, when you visit Mount Rushmore, you are struck by its beauty and scale and you do get that sort of grade-school sense of civic and national pride, which for us was augmented by the dozens of 2nd through 4th graders running around, identifying each president or finding their state flag along the viewing area.  We even listened to a park ranger give a talk about the carving of the monument and while he was mostly speaking to the rows of little kids sitting cross-legged on the floor, it was pretty cool for the big kids, too.  

He's standing in front of the old working model of the monument, which is beautiful in its own right.  You'll notice that the presidents were modeled from the waist up, which was the original intent.  But, if you look at the first picture, notice the dark rock at what would be the belly of Washington (near the tree line).  That black rock is not suited for carving and so they decided to just stick with the heads. 

Mount Rushmore was beautiful, but just the start of Erika's journey into the heartland of America.  More to come, including giant Native Americans, palaces made of corn, and of course, prairie dogs.  Bonus points to anyone who gets the reference in this post's title.