Mt. Rushmore Day 2

What a nice day. Since we are definitely at the end of the season here, most everything is closed. That is a good thing for me as there was no option to do the Alpine Slide, Pee-Wee golf, Helicopter ride or cave exploration. All we could do was SCHOOL! It was good to get some solid hours of work done. At lunch we walked around town which meant walking down one block and up the other side. Even the kids commented, "wow, there seems to be a lot of junk here that is pretty expensive." Apparently the entire town of Keystone (which is about the size of Kensington) closes down in October for six months. There is only one other RV in our campground, and we are adjacent to the Travel Lodge, which runs our RV park. So, we may not have many neighbors, but we are right in the middle of things.

After having lunch back in the RV, we drove back up the 2 mile hill to the memorial. The kids had ice cream and we took another walk about. It was a beautiful day, warm enough for shorts, and the leaves have all begun to turn.

Back in camp we did more school, laundry and took showers. I thought it would be nice to have dinner up at the cafe at the memorial. Turns out the Governor of S. Dakota was there, so there was a big, private dinner for him. We ended up having tuna, PB&J, mango, tomatoes and carrots in the RV parking lot.

Both nights we have been up to see the "retiring of the colors," and both nights have moved me to tears. There's a short talk in their outdoor amphitheater by a park ranger, followed by a film about the 4 presidents. After the film, all present day and veteran service men and women are asked to go down on stage to help retire the flag. They introduce themselves, state what branch of service they were in and honor anyone who has died in Iraq. By the end of the introductions, I was a mess. Tears coming down, with the kids asking, "Mom, are you alright?" It didn't matter if you were Rep or Dem; it was nationalism at its best. And then we all cheered for the service men and women, sang the National Anthem, and then the memorial was lit by lights shining through the trees. It still gives me goosebumps. Rhody, I think you would have really enjoyed it. Lilly wanted to go down on stage in your honor, just so you know.

Tomorrow we'll drive to the Crazy Horse memorial before hitting Cabela's (Jack can't wait!), Wall Drug and then The Corn Palace. Final desination for tomorrow is Sioux City. Making our way across the Northern Plains. We are counting down to Chicago which we should hit Oct 2nd. The kids can't wait, and Jack is very excited about his birthday this Friday.