Mount Rushmore, Day 1

Saturday evening we went to Mount Rushmore at dusk. We wanted to see the lighting ceremony, which was really neat!

Wallace was being funny in this picture and trying to hang upside down in the stroller. We tried to get him to sit up, but he thought it was so funny he wouldn't!
It was really cold and it rained, but we still enjoyed it! Everything was so pretty! The flag towers have flags from each of the states and at the base it tells when the state was admitted into the Union.

Inside the exhibit hall there was a mural of the 4 presidents. Each one had a section dedicated to pictures of events that he accomplished during his lifetime. On the other side of the wall was a beautiful marble plaque engraved with a famous quote by each president. We would do well to remember some of these famous words at this time in our nation.

Washington:

"The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people." George Washington, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789

Jefferson:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, libery, and the pursuit of happiness." Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

Roosevelt:

"We, here in America, hold in our hands the hopes of the world, the fate of the coming years; and shame and disgrace will be ours if in our eyes the light of high resolve is dimmed, if we trail in the dust the golden hopes of men." Theodore Roosevelt, Address at Carnegie Hall, March 30, 1912

Lincoln:

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion...that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863

posted by Sarah