RUSHMORE (Day 2 - part 5)

The original concept called for each president to be depicted from head to waist, but a lack of funding forced construction to end in late October 1941.

Jefferson was initially started to Washington's right, but poor quality of rock forced them to blast away this first attempt in 1934. He again caused problems when a hole was accidentally blasted in his forehead. Originally higher than Washington, he now had to be moved lower. But then due to a major crack in the granite, he had to be carved looking slightly up instead of straight. The project was continually changing.

We then followed the Presidential Trail which took us along the base of monument, giving us several different angles of view.

George Washington - 1st president (1789 - 1797)

Abraham Lincoln - 16th president (1861-1865)

Chisel marks

Lincoln ... and Theodore Roosevelt - 26th president (1901 - 1909)

Thomas Jefferson - 3rd president (1801-1809)

Lovely fall color

We stopped in Keystone to grab something to eat, but everything was closed! We fortunately finally found Boss Pizza, a quaint little place with a wide array in interesting dishes!

We headed back towards Deadwood...

... to catch a Haunted Tour at the Broken Boot Gold Mine. The ad implied it was more of candlelit tour while they told scary stories. Instead, it was set up as a haunted house where people jumped out to scare you. That would have been fine except that we were not given flashlights and expected to rush to keep up with our tour guide (who DID have a flashlight) over a very bumpy surface in almost complete darkness. I ran smack into a low beam and got knocked flat on my back. Even though we had thin hard hats on, I felt slightly dizzy. Fortunately I was able to complete the tour.

When we returned to town, I was hoping to be able to enjoy a bit more of the evening lights and decorations. But my dizziness had turned into a migraine and I felt I may have even gotten a slight concussion. So I returned to the hotel early to sleep it off, which fortunately worked.

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