Everybody knows Rushmore. No explanation or description required. It’s a bunch of old dudes carved in rock on the side of a hill, so let’s check this box and move on, right? Wrong. It was one of the best experience’s we’ve had on this trip.

The overall impact, the history, and the presentation itself were all fascinating, starting with the surrounding highway drives. The Needles Highway is a scenic narrow drive toward and through a series of tall rocky spires, which are beautiful in their way, and are popular with rock climbers for obvious reasons.

Along the highway are a few tight one-vehicle tunnels. We expected this, because signs at the start of the road warn that RVs and wider trucks are prohibited. With good reason. Here’s Minnie passing through one the more interesting tunnels.

Technically, the Needles Highway has little to do with Rushmore itself, but apparently the story of Rushmore starts here. As the story goes, in the early 1900s a local artist wanted to carve the images of western legends into the faces of the spires along the Needles Highway. Such carvings might have included Wild Bill Cody and the duo of Lewis and Clark, with the express goal of attracting tourists to the area.

That plan never gained traction, but after changing the site to the current location of Rushmore and changing the images to past iconic Presidents, the project was given a green light. The finished product took 14 years from 1927 to 1941, starting during the good times of the 20s, but stretching through the stock market crash, the Great Depression, and the first part of World War II, and toward the end of which the lead artist passed away, never having seen the final touches.

In addition to the Needles Highway, the area offers another narrow winding scenic road with tight tunnels: The Iron Mountain Road, which leads directly to Rushmore, affording some interesting highlights along the way.

First are these wooden spiral bridges, which are fairly unique. They allow the highway to travel downhill in a tight space, using a 360-degree spiral under/overpass originally made from raw timber (now reinforced in places with steel).

Also along this highway are the first glimpses of Rushmore from a distance.

But perhaps the most memorable aspect of the Iron Mountain Road is the clever narrow tunnel that was intentionally aligned and hewn to afford a dramatic reveal of Rushmore toward the far end of the tunnel.

At the end of the Iron Mountain Road, we finally arrived at Rushmore itself. We were excited that we had already purchased our annual National Parks pass, so we could use it once more. As it happens, admission to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is free, so we did not need our pass. However, parking is $10, and the National Parks pass does not apply. Because, of course. At least the parking garages were relatively spacious and well-organized, so the $10 surprise afforded some convenience.

Within the Mount Rushmore National Monument itself, we were surprised by the overall impact. This is especially true considering everybody knows Rushmore. We had seen images of Rushmore our whole lives – posters, commercials, cartoons, movies, etc. – so we knew what to expect. In addition, we have known family and friends who expressed a nonplussed “meh” about the Rushmore experience, commenting that the actual carvings were a bit distant, so the impact did not live up to the hype.

But for us, as we approached the gallery of flags, the impact immediately exceeded the hype. We had tingles.

While there, we perused the gift shop where we decided to buy sweatshirts, and we also enjoyed cones from the ice cream shop. Interestingly, the shop proudly features a vanilla ice cream allegedly from Thomas Jefferson’s original recipe. We did not try it, mostly because both of us felt a little more than vanilla at the moment.

We enjoyed Rushmore so much that we came back a second time later in the week. One night after work, we drove the half hour to Rushmore to take in the evening lighting ceremony, which we had heard was worth the trip. Honestly, most of the ceremony itself was somewhat banal, consisting mostly of a ranger telling stories. But the ending was a projected video with patriotic music timed perfectly to align with the moment spotlights light carvings. It was worth the return trip.

For those curious, Bella enjoyed a brief trip to the pillars at the entrance, which was the furthest point the furry friends were allowed.