Mount Rushmore. . .

July 28th, our next stop. . .

I remember visiting Mount Rushmore when I was in the 5th or 6th grade. The youth leaders from our church took a group up there and I invited a friend of mine from school. I still have pictures from that trip and many memories are still very vivid. I've read stories to Emma about the memorial, so it was fun to actually take her there and show her the famous landmark. Until recently, I wasn't aware of some of the controversy surrounding the memorial. Read about it. It's interesting to say the least.

The girl loves rocks. I think she'd live in one if I let her!

Controversy aside, it's actually an amazing place to visit.

I loved finding this place between two rocks.

For the past several years, one of my favorite sights is watching Kevin walk hand-in-hand with Emma. Adri is a little more free-spirited so she doesn't hold his hand as much, but Emma has always loved putting her hand in his. I love watching them skip together. Anyone watching usually smiles.

Mount Rushmore was a quick stop. I mean, you can really only look at four big heads for so long! We headed west again and drove through some amazing landscape! It was beautiful and so different than what I had ever seen!

Just as the sun was setting, we had a close call with a deer on the road. After that, we were much more alert. Kevin was driving and I had my eyelids peeled, looking back and forth for danger on the road! That's how I spotted this pronghorn antelope. He, or she, was fast and I tried so hard to get some good pictures. It's a little blurry, but I'm glad I captured it!

We stayed at the Historic Greybull Hotel in Greybull, Wyoming that night. It was seriously one of the most awesome places I've ever stayed. I felt like I was in a different time period.

Below is the dining room/lobby. I didn't get any pictures of our room, but it felt like it was straight out of the 1800s! The bed was one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in! The atmosphere reminded me so much of my grandparents home from when I was a kid. Thick oak trim lined the hallways and the floors were solid oak. The bathrooms had dual-handled faucets and our room even smelled of the old days! The closets were small and ours even had a pull-string light switch. I wish we would have had more time there because I would have explored every room possible. I loved being there! Some day maybe we'll visit the hotel again!