{Road Trip} Day Seven - Mount Rushmore and The "Street Corner" Presidents

I have to admit that Mount Rushmore is one of the places that I've always wanted to visit...

and with B's interest in the presidents still prevalent, we decided that this landmark should be one of the most important stops on this summer's family road trip...

We all enjoyed the visit, but B kept walking around ~ "This is the best day ever.  This is like a once in a lifetime experience!  Thank you for planning this trip for us, Mom."  He is a big ball of energy, and there are definitely plenty of days when he wears me thin, but he really is such a sweet, sweet soul, and he loves, loves, loves his presidents and his states and capitals!

We walked the Presidential Trail along the base of the mountain...

and continued to the sculptor's studio where we got to see the model that was made before work on the mountain began.  It was so interesting to learn about how the sculpture was created, and it was so interesting to learn that approximately 400 workers worked on the sculpture and that about 90% of it was done with dynamite of all things!

{Working on their Junior Ranger badges, getting some questions answered}

As a native Georgian, I was surprised to learn that the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, was actually the original sculptor of Stone Mountain, though he left a couple of years into the project...

One of the highlights of the morning was getting to meet one of the original 400 workers, a driller, Nick Clifford...

From Mount Rushmore, we headed into Rapid City to grab a late lunch at Firehouse Brewing Co...

 

and took a tour of the street corner presidents, stopping to snap a photo with each and every single one, of course...

A big thank you to good college friend J for sending me an article on them earlier in the year.  They are honestly so spread out, taking up about 10 blocks or so up and down (on both sides of) two different streets, we might not have caught on that they were ALL there had we not known about it in advance...

 This pretty much sealed the deal on making this a fabulous day in B's book!

We couldn't leave South Dakota without swinging by the capitol building in Pierre.  We woke up a slumbering B so that he could run up those steps.  Who knows when (or IF) he'll ever be back in South Dakota again!

More {Road Trip} 2014 Fun

Day One - Indianapolis, IN

Day Two - From Springfield to Madison

Day Three - Playing Games and Winning Sights

Day Four - To the Northwest Angle and Back

Day Five - Winnipeg and the Center of North America

Day Six - Bismarck, Theodore Roosevelt and the Center of the Nation

Day Eight - Cruising Through a Few Capital Cities

Day Nine - St. Louis and HOME!

{Road Trip} Day Six - Bismarck, Teddy Roosevelt and the Center of the Nation

We began our Tuesday with a trip over to the North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck.  With the tower rising 19 stories, it is actually the tallest building in all of North Dakota!

All three of the littles ran up the steps ~ I just love how the girls have embraced their brother's quirky challenge...

From Bismarck, we continued west to the little town of Medora.  It was so amazing to see the landscape change (literally) right before our eyes, from vast farmland and prairies to rock formations and canyons...

We stopped at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and visited President Roosevelt's first cabin in North Dakota, the Maltese Cross cabin, where he retreated to find solace after the untimely death of both his first wife and his mother (they died on the same day)...

We slowed down and enjoyed the beauty of the park, taking the scenic loop drive where we saw a couple of buffalo, a group of wild horses (in the middle of the road) and countless prairie dogs...

From there we headed back to the Painted Canyon stop for a truly unparalleled view...

We left North Dakota and crossed into South Dakota on a wild search for the true center of our nation...

You know, I can't really remember how exactly I even heard about this place, but when I did, I knew that we had to try our best to get there.  Afterall, we'd already been to a couple of other weird extreme geographical points on this very trip, so why not???

So, I couldn't find all that many accounts of anyone actually making the trek...  I mean, you do have to drive down an isolated dirt road in the middle of what looks like abandoned farmland until you happen upon it...  Of course, my luck, it was actually in the middle of an occupied cow pasture...  I guess I should be thankful that the cows were far, far, far off in the distance!

Well, anyway, we did it...  Donned in our red, white and blue, Hubby and I climbed through a barbed wire fence, lifted each of our three littles over the fence, and traipsed through an overgrown pasture, dodging cow patties (carrying the girls AND a tripod) to the true center of our nation...

{He's a really good man, that Hubby!}

Measured and marked a couple of years after both Alaska and Hawaii joined the United States, there's a small, round disc imbedded in a slab of concrete to prove it...

and we've now been there!

You know, I'm not really that much of an outdoorsy person or an adventurist, but I will say that I am a completest (to a fault, for sure) and now that we have been to a few of our country's extreme points, I just have to try my best to get to all of them - for both the lower 48 contiguous states, as well as all 50 states...  I do love to travel and love exploring both our own country, as well as our world ~ I will go most anywhere that I've not yet been before (as long as it is safe), including a cow pasture.  Ha!

The best part of all was the ride on to Belle Fourche, South Dakota (the closest actual town to the true center) and recounting with each other our crazy little adventure.  Mosquito bites and all, it's something we did as a family, something most families that I know have not done and most likely won't ever do (and probably don't even know about), and that's just neat...

For a bit more information on this center of the nation, click here...

On to a famous South Dakota spot tomorrow!

More {Road Trip} 2014 Fun

Day One - And We're Off!

Day Two - Indianapolis, IN

Day Three - From Springfield to Madison

Day Four - Playing Games and Winning Sights

Day Five - To the Northwest Angle and Back

Day Six - Winnipeg and the Center of North America

Day Eight - Mount Rushmore and The "Street Corner" Presidents

Day Nine - Cruising Through a Few Capital Cities

Day Ten - St. Louis and HOME!

{Road Trip} Day Five - Winnipeg and the Center of North America

We decided to spend most of the day in Winnipeg and started out downtown in and around the area called The Forks. 

 

We walked across the Esplanade Riel...



and dined on traditional French cuisine in the Saint Boniface area of the city...

After lunch, we crossed back over the bridge and drove a short way over to Assiniboirne Park to spend a few hours at the Nature Playground. 

I initially planned to stop at this playground because it included a statue immortalizing Winnie the Bear, a real bear cub that inspired A.A. Milne to create his character, Winnie-the-Pooh! 

  

It's a neat story that you can read more about here, but it could actually be said that Winnie-the-Pooh's name was derived from the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada!

The park and grounds are absolutely beautiful, and the playground is fabulous...

We absolutely loved spending our afternoon there...

We left Winnipeg and headed south into North Dakota and the center of our continent...

We traveled on to Bismarck to spend the night, cruising through Minot on the way...

Minot...  BOTH Hubby and I had heard of it before...  Hubby, because he'd met people stationed at the Air Force base there through his work with the Army and me, well, I knew I recognized it for some reason...  It's the home of actor, Josh Duhamel, my favorite...  Yes, I know...  Hubby humored me and drove around looking for a sign to honor old Josh as I'm like - "If there is a sign with like..."MINOT - Hometown of Josh Duhamel",  we HAVE to stop and take a picture!", and Hubby is like - "If there is a sign like that here, I'd be really surprised..."  Way to crush my excitement...  :)

Well, he was right as far as we could tell, but we did find the restaurant that he owns with a couple of his childhood friends, 10 North Main...

and would've stopped, but it is closed on Mondays.  Maybe next time...

More {Road Trip} 2014 Fun

Day One - Indianapolis, IN

Day Two - From Springfield to Madison

Day Three - Playing Games and Winning Sights

Day Four - To the Northwest Angle and Back

Day Six - Bismarck, Theodore Roosevelt and the Center of the Nation

Day Seven - Mount Rushmore and The "Street Corner" Presidents

Day Eight - Cruising Through a Few Capital Cities

Day Nine - St. Louis and HOME!