Mt. Rushmore –-

There are a lot of famous spring break spots – South Florida, Cancun, San Padre Island, Las Vegas and much more. Normally they all have a couple of things in common – they are warm and there are a lot of other kids as well. Because of so many kids, there are always a few that are willing to do anything – I mean anything. This is the last place parents want to take their kids - if the kids wanted to go the last people they would want to be seen with would be their parents. But there are tons of other locations that would suffice – there are thousands of miles of warm beaches.

One spring break we came up with the perfect location and mode of transportation. We decided to make the great America trek that everyone should do in his or her lifetime. Mt. Rushmore – now because we have a big family and grandma and grandpa decided to tag along with uncle Donny we didn’t want to take two cars. Thus the reason we rented a fifteen-passenger van. One of our kids was overseas for a schooling experience, so there were nine of us. We could have gotten away with a smaller van but the extra space was a wonderful blessing – can you say sleep city baby? Because the adults were willing to sit up front and close together it left the back four rows for five people.

The problem in the Rocky Mountains and driving to the Black Hill of South Dakota is the weather in that area of the country doesn’t know if it’s spring or not. The problem my daughter saw is that this trip was headed north not south. From our house this trip is a dozy – farther than Disneyland and the sunny beaches of Southern California. Which would have been higher on most of the children’s – check that - all of the kids list of possible locations.

We stopped a couple of times each way and stayed twice in Casper Wyoming. It a little over half way from home, but most important is that I got a great deal on the rooms. We stopped at Independence Rock - kind of a cool spot that explorers and pioneers stopped to carve their names in the rock and to see if there was a message from those that went before. It got it’s name because those headed west needed to be there before the fourth of July in order to make it safely through the mountain passes ahead before winter storms could over came them.

The second day was a shorter dive into the Black Hills – we drove northeast and stopped at Jewel Cave. I love exploring any cave that has an elevator that takes you to the bottom. This is also when the weather started to be a factor on our journey. It started to snow as we approached the cave and then after the couple of hours under ground we returned to the surface to find a couple of inches of white stuff in the parking lot and on the van. Our then fourteen year old still talks about her lack of enthusiasm - sunny beaches or snowy canyons? We then drove to our home base Rapid City – we stayed at a new Hampton Inn that was really nice, I got a great deal on the rooms. Maybe that’s because there was no one else there – they had all gone south or had checked the weather reports. The indoor pool was great and the huge waterslide was a big hit. The only problem was that the water was cold – oh well I spent the whole time in the hot tub.

The next morning it was time to finish the journey to this massive American icon. We drove the thirty some odd miles passing all the tourist attractions and shops that were all closed since no one come to Mt. Rushmore at this time of year. We’re almost there! More than fifteen hours of driving, not to mention the ride home that is still ahead. Grandma and Grandpa had driven seven more hours just to get to our house to start the trek.

It’s kind of cloudy – but we’re having fun! We paid the entrance fee and went to the visitor’s center. Wait where’s the carving of the presidents? Behind the clouds! – Really? We couldn’t see a thing – nota – nope – nothing. We sat though a couple of films and displays – most of which I slept through. The rangers told us there have been times it stayed this way all day. Wow – did you really have to say that?

After about an hour and a half we found out that there is a trail that goes to the base of the monument – let’s do that maybe we can see something. We took a couple of pictures to prove that we saw a cloud on a mountain. As we made our way to the base – there I think that’s George Washington. It started to clear and yes it’s magnificent - we could see all four of them.

By the time we got back to the lookout it was as clear as a bell and we could now see the monument in its full glory. We had planned one day to see the mountain, we could have changed our plans and spent another, but that would have been a long ways to see a cloud! Our trip ended up being great, most of us still talk positively after all this time except our then fourteen year old – I think her friends came back from spring break with tans not frost bite.