Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore was pretty cool. However, I was amazed to learn the idea was simply a tourism gamble. South Dakota was suffering economically from the Depression and Dust Bowl, and the gold strikes were striking out. So, politicians and business folks found a way to fund the project and—BOOM! Or, actually, lots of booms, and you have an economic engine that generates over $300 million annually for the area!

There are lots of flags waving and a movie inside that tells the creation story. You can buy Thomas Jefferson's ice cream (whatever that means) and any number of tourist trinkets for sale in multiple gift shops and "bookstores."

It is certainly a been-there-done-that sort of thing.

I'm glad we went. I got some fun photos.

And I really wanna rewatch the Cary Grant movie, North by Northwest:
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