Mt. Rushmore

So, after about a month of living 1300 miles apart, Linzi was able to come out to Utah for the last week that I was working out there. It was definitely nice to be together again...we're both big fans of actually being able to live with your spouse. We decided that for the drive home we'd split up the trip, add a few hundred miles to the route and stop by Mt. Rushmore (Linzi for some reason didn't want to do an 18 hour drive like I'd done going out to Utah).

I'll have to admit, our initial glimpse of this monument was rather unimpressive. We were winding up the road to the parking lot and came around a corner and it popped into view. It seemed so small. We both kind of glanced at the other and thought "It better be better up close." And it was...it really was. For those of you who haven't been there, you park, they have a big visitor's center/museum, and an amphitheater in front of the monument where they do a little program each night when they light up the monument. There's also a little walking trail that goes up to the base of the monument that has information on each of the presidents and good spots for pictures. As you might guess, I didn't get to read as much as I would have liked on the path and at the museum, but I think Linzi and I reached a happy medium. Up close you could really appreciate the size of these sculptures (they're scaled at ~450 ft tall), and the difficulty with which they were carved. I'm still perplexed at how something like this could be done (and I wish that they would have been able to finish it according to the original design).

All in all, I'm really glad that we stopped and got to see the monument, something we've both wanted to do for many years. We'd like to go back someday on Linzi's birthday and see all the festivities that go on then.

The only thing that dampened the trip (besides 23 hours driving), was some chipped-tooth police officer in South Dakota with a "state of the art, precise Laser gun" with which he caught me speeding. It was just a few miles from the border too. I guess it was lucky that it was one of my slower moments on the road, so the fine was less than it could have been if I'd been caught elsewhere. I know I was speeding, and did so for the vast majority of the trip...I'm just upset that I got caught...he ruined all the time I'd made up by going so fast. And then after being pulled over, he explained about how his amazing gun had caught me speeding, then made me go back to his car with him while he wrote me my ticket. He didn't catch my hints about being poor students...maybe I should have cried. Linzi tried to take pictures of the event, but none of them turned out. Sorry.

Despite their police force, I would highly recommend driving through South Dakota if you have the chance...very beautiful rolling hills, sunflower fields, quaint farmland...a MUCH better option than Wyoming and Nebraska...SO much better.