Boyink and the Kids at Mt. Rushmore

Mount Rushmore National Park is beautiful. There are lots of gift shops and dining places to browse. When we went Mount Rushmore, we bought a magnet to stick on our ever-increasing magnet board. Boyink tried to find a sticker to place on his truck, but all the stickers were dumb and goofy.

The Avenue of Flags was a place that I really wanted to see. There were flags from every state in America. While trying to find our flag (although afterward we saw that all the states were etched into the marble columns underneath the flag) I heard lots of people saying stuff like, “Where’s Colorado?” “Oh, I think this is Oklahoma right over here.” “Hey, look Mom, here’s our flag!” It was a lot of fun. Michigan’s flag was all folded up onto itself, so I couldn’t see it really well. I hoped that it would unfold when we came back.

Mount Rushmore is a really big mountain, and only about a fourth of it has the presidents. I liked seeing them, but I didn’t like that Teddy was squashed behind Jefferson. Teddy is my favorite president.

We went to Gutzon Borglum’s studio. Gutzon Borglum is the sculptor that sculpted Mount Rushmore. At first, the guy who hired Borglum wanted the mountain sculpted with great Indians and cowboys of the old days, like Sacagawea and Chief Red Cloud, but Gutzon deferred, and the four greatest presidents were decided on instead.

In the studio (which was really only a place that had lots of signs about him and a couple of books you could buy) there was a ‘miniature’ sculpture of what Mount Rushmore was supposed to look like. Apparently, Gutzon Borglum was going to make every president from head down to torso, but he decided that it would take too long and there wasn’t enough room on the mountain. If you stood in a certain spot in the studio, you could compare the miniature with the real thing and see the similarities and differences.

After climbing up all the stone steps we had recently descended, Boyink, MsBoyink, Data, and I watched a little film about Mount Rushmore. It took 14 years to start and complete Mount Rushmore. The workers hung perilously by ropes and cables as they labored at their work. Sadly, Gutzon Borglum did not live to see Mount Rushmore completed. His son, Lincoln Borglum, continued and completed the job.

George Washington was put on Rount Mushmore, excuse me, Mount Rushmore, because he was father of our country, first president, and he fought for our liberty and freedom.

Thomas Jefferson was carved upon Mount Rushmore because he handled the Louisiana Purchase.

Theodore Roosevelt was chiseled into Mount Rushmore because Guzvon Borglum was a good friend of his and a great admirer.

And lastly Abraham Lincoln is on Mount Rushmore because he freed slaves during the Civil War. And because, of course, he was honest and not cruel.

We went on a ranger talk who told us about Mount Rushmore. There is a copy of the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address and other important papers in an everything-proof box behind Lincoln in case anything goes wrong.

In the evening my family went back to Mount Rushmore to watch an evening program. We did a little trivia about Mount Rushmore and its presidents and we watched a movie, saw Mount Rushmore lit up, and sang our National Anthem. Then the ranger who was doing the program that night asked all the veterans and people who were still in service to come up. We watched them take down the flag, fold them up, and then they said their name and what part of the military they had serviced in into the microphone. I liked that part.

I liked Mount Rushmore. It was fun to go to.