Images of Mt Rushmore National Memorial – South Dakota, taken in July 2017.

It took 16 years (1925-1941) and less than a million dollars for sculptor Gutzon Borglum to complete the carvings at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Borglum, who also sculpted the Confederate memorial in Stone Mountain Georgia, died only months before work on the last presidential carving (Lincoln) was completed in 1941.

I’ve been here twice before but never have I had such incredible weather accompany my visit as I did on this day; not a cloud in the sky and a high of 85 degrees. I actually arrived at about 6 a.m. to catch the early morning sunlight on the memorial. This had a secondary benefit of saving me $10 as the parking booths don’t open until 7 a.m. The light on the sculpture was a beautiful golden color but there was one drawback, the Roosevelt figure, which is recessed, was in the shadow of Lincoln. I walked the Presidential Trail and by the time I got back to the Grand View Terrace it was obvious that if I stuck around long enough the shadow over Roosevelt would pull back far enough to reveal the sculpture to full sunlight. I waited until around 9:30 a.m. to get my shots spending my time watching the tourists come and go and marveling at their attempts to look like they were a fifth president or holding up the presidents in their selfies and portraits. It’s hard to believe that they don’t know that this has already been done about a zillion times before but they did it anyway and they always looked silly doing it. Then again people watching can be entertaining whether at an airport, in a mall or a sacred National Memorial.