What is your most underwhelming tourist destination? That place you were excited to go to and then you got there and found it was no where near the hype you expected?
For me, it is Mount Rushmore. I've been there a few times now and keep holding out hope, but it isn't improving.
Last time I was there was June 2019. We were on a cross-country trip from Maryland to Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore was our first big highlight of the American West. As we entered the state of South Dakota from Iowa, we stopped at the visitor center for a bathroom break. Talking to the lady at the counter, she told us all the great things to see across the state, mainly the Corn Palace. Telling her we were going to Mount Rushmore, she said the lighting ceremony was worth going to. During the summer, the ceremony was at 9PM. We flew across the country at 85 MPH with a ginormous duffel bag on top of the car causing us to get horrible gas mileage.
We arrived just minutes before the ceremony and rush across the parking lot to get a spot to watch this spectacle. At 9PM, the lighting ceremony started. A park ranger gave a short talk expounding on President John F Kennedy's remarks in his inaugural address, Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. He talked about how the 4 Presidents on the rock before us as done just that. He closed asking us to do the same, including those who weren't American. We sang the National Anthem and then, the big moment arrived. The lighting of the faces.
That's it. Some white spotlights washing out any detail of the faces.
Mount Rushmore is not impressive.
You drive out all that way and it's just some faces, an incomplete carving in the mountain. And the lighting ceremony, well, maybe they should look into something like they do at Stone Mountain in Georgia. George Washington talking to us might make it pretty worthwhile.
Now don't get me wrong, Custer SP is great and I love the Black Hills, but Mount Rushmore, #notimpressed.
For me, it is Mount Rushmore. I've been there a few times now and keep holding out hope, but it isn't improving.
Last time I was there was June 2019. We were on a cross-country trip from Maryland to Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore was our first big highlight of the American West. As we entered the state of South Dakota from Iowa, we stopped at the visitor center for a bathroom break. Talking to the lady at the counter, she told us all the great things to see across the state, mainly the Corn Palace. Telling her we were going to Mount Rushmore, she said the lighting ceremony was worth going to. During the summer, the ceremony was at 9PM. We flew across the country at 85 MPH with a ginormous duffel bag on top of the car causing us to get horrible gas mileage.
We arrived just minutes before the ceremony and rush across the parking lot to get a spot to watch this spectacle. At 9PM, the lighting ceremony started. A park ranger gave a short talk expounding on President John F Kennedy's remarks in his inaugural address, Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. He talked about how the 4 Presidents on the rock before us as done just that. He closed asking us to do the same, including those who weren't American. We sang the National Anthem and then, the big moment arrived. The lighting of the faces.
That's it. Some white spotlights washing out any detail of the faces.
Mount Rushmore is not impressive.
You drive out all that way and it's just some faces, an incomplete carving in the mountain. And the lighting ceremony, well, maybe they should look into something like they do at Stone Mountain in Georgia. George Washington talking to us might make it pretty worthwhile.
Now don't get me wrong, Custer SP is great and I love the Black Hills, but Mount Rushmore, #notimpressed.
