Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

I have wanted to visit Mount Rushmore for as long as I can remember. In my mind it always seemed spectacular, a special monument carved from a mountain. It was the shear feat of it – 400 men and women worked on the project over the course of fourteen years and not one died – that intrigued me. Then again, I’d seen “North by Northwest” more than once and remember the daring scene played across Lincoln’s face.

The approach to the monument is similar to the approach to the Crazy Horse monument. You’re driving along in the Black Hills, turn a particular curve, and there it is looming in front of you. It’s enough to make you forget you’re on a winding road that demands attention. You slow the car and stare. That first sighting is etched in your mind.

Over the course of the next three hours, Earl and I viewed an excellent film on the creators of the monument, visited the museum, and took a guided tour with a park ranger who explained how the four presidents were chosen by sculptor Gutzon Borglum.

Washington was chosen to represent the founding of our country; Jefferson its expansion as represented by the Louisiana Purchase; Lincoln its dark days that saw us still as one nation instead of two; and Theodore Roosevelt for his efforts in supporting the common man, championing conservation, and curtailing monopolies. In essence, as Tom Brokaw states in the introductory film, “This is a uniquely American monument.”

Mount Rushmore is considerably more “touristy” than Crazy Horse. Not only has the sculpture been completed for more than fifty years, but there is also a lovely Avenue of the States leading to it, where Americans can find their state flag and foreigners can try to figure out why we have fifty states in the first place. In addition to the museum, there is Borglum’s studio with scale models, an auditorium, and – of course – the requisite gift shops and cafes.

What I was most taken with, however, was the number of people who were already there when we arrived at 10 AM. Even more amazing was that every one of them – adults and children alike — seemed to have a camera. Of all the places we’ve visited, none has drawn as much photographic attention as this “uniquely American monument.”