You'll Be Seeing Great Sights!

For me, Mount Rushmore lived up the hype.  And it wasn't because of the magnificence of the sculpture.  It is, thus far, one of the more moving moments of my life.  The Spirit of America burns so strong here.  When we walked onto the main viewing platform an army band was performing in the amphitheater below.  They were so talented as they played one patriotic selection after another.  We listened for a bit and then started the Presidential Walk to all of the viewing platforms situated around the monument.  We could hear the band for most of our walk.  At one platform I started talking to another family that was taking pictures.  They were from California and had been travelling for  a few weeks.  They went as far eat as Milwaukee and were slowly making their way back to CA.  They planned to be gone 6 weeks!!

When we got back the main platform the band had finished.  We found seats to wait for the lighting ceremony.  Then I heard clapping that slowly grew.  I looked around and a few of the musicians were walking up the stairs,  The people in the audience clapped and shouted out thanks to all the soldiers that passed by.

The ceremony itself was quite interesting.  It consisted of a speech by the park ranger which talked about eh promise of the "unborn millions" of Americans that were influenced by the four men depicted on the mountain.  We then watched a short film about the their lives.  The history buff in me rejoiced at the educational aspects of the movie.  But the best part of the night was yet to come.  At the conclusion of the film everyone was asked to rise as the National Anthem was played.  Everyone joined in the singing.  Then the park ranger asked for all military personnel,  past and present, to come up on stage.  Despite there being a few thousand people in the amphitheater you could have heard a pin drop as dozens of people came forward. When the last person made it up the applause began and went on for at least 2-3 minutes.  They then lowered the flag, again with the crowd watching in respectful silence.  As each man and woman left the stage they stepped forward and spoke their name and branch of military.

It was a beautiful end to a spectacular day!