Not Mushmore, Rushmore!

As part of our family vacation this year we headed to South Dakota with Mom and Dad Dudley to visit Mount Rushmore. We loved it! Firstly the Black Hills are gorgeous!! Secondly the effort, artistic ability, design, ingenuity and love that went into Mount Rushmore is astounding. And finally the park is very well designed and set up for visitors. As we continued on to other locations Ashton kept on telling everyone that we went to Mount Mushmore. Not sure how he came up with that alteration of the name but it was kinda cute. Here are some pictures  and captions that will sum up our visit.

Ashton standing on a rock at the front of the visitor center. He was scared to death on top of that rock and only stood straight up for a fraction of a second to get the picture.

Here it is in all of its glory. It is not finished and may never be finished. The funding was pulled at the beginning of WWII. The original artist is dead but his son still lives and would love to finish it.

We are a happy family!

It just so happened to be Mom and Dad's anniversary! Happy Anniversary!

An up the nose view.

Jace and Sage playing with a few Native American Tools.

Mount Rushmore had a Native American interpretive setup on the loop around the park. It was fun to teach the kids a little about the them.

Look mom bones!

Son and Father.

Jace thought Lincoln was Jesus.

This is the window from inside the studio where the artist spent most of his time planning his next move.

Next to the window is the model of the sculpture. As you can see it is no where near finished.

This man does not scare me...

On our way out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though the drive was long and HOT (the compressor went out on our way up), Mt. Rushmore was well worth the 13+ hour drive. Our family would highly recommend it.