mt. rushmore
As one of the most iconic images of the United States, Mt. Rushmore was very different from my expectations. Everyone sees the typical view above (although not in HDR) but most people don’t see the entirety of the monument depicted below. Located in the gorgeous Black Hills of South Dakota, the monument is strange. I expected the carving to be on a massive rock that juts out of the flat earth, but in reality you have to drive up the mountains to reach it. These really are mountains, not the Rockies or the Appalachian but definitely mountains. The nearby town of Keystone is nothing more than the town that Rushmore built. My visit to Mt. Rushmore was definitely the most touristy thing I did the whole cross-country roadtrip. And that is saying something, I also went to the 18m (~60ft) Jolly Green Giant.
