Mt. Rushmore

Yesterday was great. Boyd and I worked and Caden did her school work for most of the day. We took a little break to go to lunch at the little restaurant at the Hill City KOA. It was great food. We all think this is our favorite KOA so far, and we have missed out on most of the fun, as they close almost everything at Labor Day. In fact, this whole campground will be closed in less than one week. It is a real destination and one a family or group of families would really enjoy.

One of the coolest things is the summer program they have where many of the positions are filled with Christians. The organization that puts it together is called SummerShine Resort Staffing Ministry and it was founded in Myrtle Beach, SC in 1979. At the KOA here in South Dakota, there were 10 Christians college students, living, working and playing.

At about 6:30 p.m., we headed to Mt. Rushmore. We were able to see it in the daylight and then stayed for the evening program. During the evening program, there was a trivia portion about the mountain, the four Presidents, and the sculptor. There was a little debate when one of the questions posed was, "In what state was our current President born?" After that, one of the Rangers gave us a little history and then we watched a 20 minute video about Mt. Rushmore and the Presidents.

Then, there was the National Anthem and during the National Anthem, the face(s) of Mt. Rushmore lit up. It was breathtaking.

For the grand finale, they called down all former and current military personnel to retire the flag for the evening. It was very moving to watch five people take the flag down and then have it passed from person to person. There must have been 50 people who were up there on the stage. It was probably about 1/4 of the people who were attending the evening show.

Today, we are back at work, but hope to do some more sightseeing this evening and will tomorrow and part of Sunday, for sure.