Mt. Rushmore in lovely South Dakota

         Back from vacation with lots of photos! This year we made it a 3-part trip with a stop at Mt. Rushmore, a tour through the Wind Cave and then camping in the Rocky Mountain National Park. The trip lasted 2 weeks with about half of it in the car, but we saw a lot of beautiful scenery along the way.
        After a 2-day drive, we stopped near Keystone, South Dakota where we stayed at the Happy Holiday Inn. Usually the places we stay in are pretty run of the mill mediocre, but we lucked out at this one. It was a small motel with charm and the innkeeper sent us to a local restaurant just down the street called, Shipwreck Lee's. If you ever find yourself in the area make a point to stop there! They have great food and friendly service. You can also find them on Facebook: Shipwreck Lee's Neighborhood Bar & Grill. There's also a lot of really quaint shops in Keystone. We stopped at the Black Hills Glass Blowers where you can watch artist, Peter Hopkins, at work. If you're looking for a nice souvenir that's a bit different then their studio is worth the stop (and right near Mt. Rushmore) Black Hills Glass Blowers.

         Once we got to Mt. Rushmore (the sun was out, thank goodness!) we stopped at the main balcony where you get a really great view of the faces. I didn't realize though that you can also get a bit closer to the mountain by walking the Presidential Trail. It's about a 1/2 mile and is mainly short staircases that give you different viewpoints of Mt. Rushmore. Here's a photo when you're walking through the entrance under the flags:

The next two photos were taken near the beginning of the Presidential Trail:

Near stop 16 on the Presidential Trail there's a really cool rock formation you can walk into where George Washington can be viewed clearly through the crevice:

Abraham Lincoln at stop 17:

You get a nice & close look at them at stop 18:

I'm really glad we were able to check this off our bucket list and it was a great afternoon. The area we drove through beforehand was one of those areas you wouldn't mind living in. Not to mention you'd have Reptile World right down the street :)