Wednesday, July 11, 2012

I know, I know, you’ve all been sitting at your PCs, MACs iPads, iTouches, iPhones, etc.. wondering what happened to us over the last three days with no new posts.

Well, as it turns out we’re on vacation!  We’ve been out so late the last three nights that all we could do is return to the hotel and collapse!

It’s a good collapse though after three days of ridiculously indescribable experiences. 

Our destination on Wednesday was Mt. Rushmore so we headed out toward Keystone right after breakfast. 

On the way we saw a glass blowing shop and decided we would stop.  Upon entering the shop I moved ever so slightly to take a picture of the glass blowing couple when the man barked at me “No pictures!”

Those kind words set the tone for the better part of the morning.

Reese enjoyed watching them but after the kind reception we left with no purchases.  So there!

Shaking off that encounter (but not really because when I say I’m letting it go, I’m really not) we headed down through Keystone, a very small town with tourist trap restaurants and shops. 

Tom was the first to spy President Washington’s profile up ahead, and I have to say, it was awe-inspiring.  I don’t know how you can see it and not feel you’re in the presence of something great.

I know Mimi said we should be prepared to be disappointed, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.  Sorry Mimi!

I snapped pictures like crazy, only to find that the camera was set wrong.  All the pictures came out black.  I was thrilled!  First Mr. Mean Man at the glass blower shop, now this. 

But wait, it gets better!

Figuring out the camera snafu, we entered Mt. Rushmore Park and continued to take in the sites and sounds. 

Stopping at the ranger welcome station we picked up a Junior Ranger booklet for Reese.  She was none too pleased.  Apparently she’s too old for that kind of stuff.  Anyway, being the adult, I forced her to do it.

The kids get a booklet they complete while at the park and when completed, they turn it in and get a shiny plastic ranger badge.  Cool Right?  I thought so!

From the ranger station we walked through the Mall of Flags to the viewing area.  Here’s where it gets dicey again.

A little background info first…

We have a little stuffed monkey that I got Tom when we were dating that we named “Monkey Love”.  Snicker, snicker, I know.

Anyway, Monkey Loves travels with us everywhere, and when Tom travels alone Monkey goes with him. 

Monkey has been photographed all over the world and the US in places like Paris, London, Scotland, Washington DC, Disney, the Senate Chamber at Illinois Capital building in Springfield, you name it he’s had his picture taken there.

At first I thought I had left him at the hotel, but then I remembered that I had brought him and put him in the backpack.  Lucky for us right?  Just wait.

I promptly looked for the perfect spot to take Monkey’s picture and settled on a pedestal for one of those binocular things they have that you put a quarter in.  Well this one must have been out of order so they removed the top part entirely and it was now just a hollow tube.  Get where I’m going with this?

I placed Monkey ever so delicately on top of the tube and stepped back to take the picture when, you guessed it, Monkey fell down the tube.  Did I mention that it’s a long tube?  Longer than my arm as it turns out?

So, I sent Tom on his way through the National Park to find something to get him out.  I was confident a stick would do it but in a massive forest with thousands of trees, none were to be found.

He came back with a discarded bungee cord with hooks on the ends.  It was long enough but I couldn’t get the hook to take hold of poor Monkey. 

By now we were a bigger tourist attraction than the four presidents, who were now staring at me from the mountain disapprovingly.  Stranger after stranger stopped by to see what in the world I was doing.  None provided any help.  I love America!

So off Tom and I go looking for a Ranger while we put Doris and Reese in charge of guarding Monkey.  I don’t know what I thought could happen that would be worse than what already had, but you never know.

I found a custodian, explained the predicament, and proceeded to escort him to the scene of the accident.  He took one look down the tube and one look at Reese and shook his head.

Now at this moment I had a choice, let her take the blame since she’s young and probably won’t remember that her mother threw her under the bus, or be an adult.

I chose adult and took the blame on both shoulders.

While the custodian went to get something to help us out, I continued to no avail, to try and use the bungee.

He returned with a stick covered in tape and a “grabber” used to pick up trash etc… in the park.  He tried with the stick a couple times but since the tape wouldn’t even stick to my fingers, it certainly wasn’t going to stick to Monkey.

When I offered to try with the grabber, Mr. Ranger wasn’t too keen on surrendering it to me, afraid that I would loose it down the hole as well.  I instilled confidence in no one.

On the second try I’m happy to report that a little monkey’s head popped from the tube and our little Monkey Love was saved.

I thanked the custodian repeatedly and then took a nice photo of him and Reese together.  Before leaving us he wondered aloud if it might be a good idea for him to put something over the top of the tube.   Good thinking…yesterday!

The family now reunited and Monkey rescued just in time for us to catch the next Ranger tour, we headed out to learn more about Mt. Rushmore (other than the fact that it is not a safe place for monkey’s).

Our Ranger guide was very informative and we learned a lot about the sculpture and it’s history.  It was VERY hot on the tour and Reese was melting by the time we walked the 200+ steps down to the sculptor studio and 180 steps up from the sculptor studio.

Since everyone was doing it, we grabbed some ice cream and took a break.  A note on the ice cream: first, when I say everyone was having ice cream I’m not exaggerating.  Practically every hand had a cone or cup in it.  Second, they gave you so much ice cream that Reese couldn’t even finish it.  The rest of us soldiered on and were able to consume the whole thing as to not waste of course.

We joke now that we should go to Mt. Rushmore for ice cream since it’s clearly the best!

On the tour we were informed that there are only two known living men who worked on creating the monument still alive today.  One of them as it turns out visits the monument quite frequently and was on site that day.

I was eager to track him down after being awestruck during the tour.  While Tom and Reese went to turn in her Jr. Ranger booklet (I filled in most of it because she was just too hot to do it.  I should keep the shiny badge for myself), Doris and I hit the gift shop.  Wouldn’t you know it but Doris spied Nick, one of the last remaining workers, sitting in the gift shop with his wife.  I was giddy!  It was akin to what girls must have felt like when seeing the Beatles or Elvis for the first time. 

Not only did I get to meet and talk to Nick, but he also signed his book, “To Reese” and was gracious enough to let me get my picture taken with him.  Nick was 17 when he started at the mine and one of the youngest, if not the youngest, man working there.  He is now 92 years old God bless him.

I shook the man’s hand and felt better for having met him.

We left Mt. Rushmore to catch the 1800’s Train tour from Keystone to Hill City at 2:30 p.m.  To this point all we had had to eat was breakfast and ice cream.

The train tour lasted 2 hours and took us through some beautiful countryside where we saw deer, turkeys and lots more cows.  Being warned that anything that may fall out of the train on the trip would be lost forever, Monkey stayed in the bag.

We added popcorn to our list of food consumption during the tour and upon departing decided that we needed to have a decent meal.  In Keystone that’s not too easy but we stopped into Ruby’s which was not so bad.

We had plenty of daylight left so we headed to the Crazy Horse monument.

I have to say that as impressive as the statue was, our tour guide’s enthusiasm, once engaging and quirky, soon turned tedious and repetitive.  We were so ready to get off that bus I can’t even tell you.

There were some other nuances about our time there that left all of us a little disappointed at the experience, but it sparked lively conversation on the way back to Mt. Rushmore.  I’m not sharing our conversation and opinions with you here because I think everyone should experience it if they choose to.  I also think our experience would have been different if not for our tour guide.

I shared what I hope is a little nugget of wisdom with Reese after this experience that I’ll share with you here: “I hope someday that you find yourself doing something that you feel as passionate about as this man does about his job, I just hope that you have the wisdom to channel that enthusiasm in a positive way and recognize when it’s time to tone it down.  If you don’t know when to stop, I’ll remind you.”

Mt. Rushmore is illuminated at night and we wanted to catch the ceremony, which was scheduled for 9 p.m.  We arrived just in time and enjoyed listening to one of the Rangers quiz the audience on Presidential facts.  Guess which Presidents.  She then talked about the sculpture and it’s history and gave quite the patriotic speech.  This was followed by a movie, that was equally if not more patriotic, or I’m sure it would have been if we had seen it all.  You’ll see…

As this all took place a lightening storm had started to the west of the monument.  It was incredibly cool to watch the night sky illuminate behind the Presidents, unless of course you’re Reese and then it’s terrifying.

We stayed, gently and then not so gently reassuring Reese that it was OK, until I heard what sounded like a waterfall, getting louder and louder.  Until now, no one in the audience moved to leave.  So when I looked at Tom and said, “It’s time for us to go”, it may have seemed a little premature.  No one was thinking this as the minute we got in the call a huge rainstorm began!

Although we managed to get to a safe dry place before the rain came, we still needed to navigate the dark, winding, and deer infested roads, back to Rapid City.  It was very tense for a while but Tom got us home safe and sound to the hotel where not a drop of rain had fallen.

As of the time we left Mt. Rushmore they had still not turned on the lights.

We collapsed when we got back so hence, no blog Wednesday night.

So now I’m two days behind, which I’m sure now I will remain because Thursday was so incredible there are no words to express it.

Stay tuned!