We started our day driving through Custer State Park. It has one of the largest herd of Bison in the United States and yet we only saw two of them. We saw goats walking along the road, prairie dogs popping up everywhere and burrows sticking their heads in people's cars (that's what happens to you when you feed the wildlife). I told the boys that they had to stop playing on iphones and enjoy the scenery. Matthew said to me that he didn't have to because he wasn't going to remember it anyway. I told him that he has a very good memory, so he would be fine. His response to me, "no, I'm out of room." That boy really cracks me up. After driving through the park we continued on to Crazy Horse. It is amazing how little they have completed in all these years. They refuse to take any government money for their project, so everything they have is donated. It makes you wonder if they will ever complete it in our lifetime. Matthew said he wants to come back in 50 years to see if it's finished. Our last stop of the day was Mount Rushmore. If you have never been, put it on your list. You will not be disappointed. It is absolutely amazing. We spent several hours at the monument because we wanted to see the lighting ceremony at 9 pm. We took an audio tour of the Presidential Trail, which Jack found fascinating, but Matthew got bored of halfway through. The audio tour is definitely worth it because otherwise you don't learn any of the history behind Mount Rushmore. After eating dinner in the restaurant we staked out seats in the amphitheater to watch the lighting ceremony. We had a little pre show with thunder and lightning, which freaked out Matthew. He wanted to leave because he was afraid it was going to start pouring, but we convinced him that we would be okay. We were glad that it didn't actually start raining, because it was a very moving show with a film about the four presidents that are carved into the mountain and why they were chosen: Washington because he was the first president, Jefferson because of the Louisiana Purchase, Roosevelt because he was the founder of National Parks and Lincoln because he saved the union during the Civil War. Matthew got emotional when were leaving and said that he was going to miss Mount Rushmore. It is the only time on the trip so far that he has said he wants to go back to the next day to see it again.
