Mount Rushmore

 The day began bright and early. We had to get to 8am Mass in Fort Collins and then be on our way. There was a 5 hr drive still ahead of us. So after throwing everything into the car (except for at least one thing that was forgotten), we drove on to St. John XXIII Catholic Church. It was a very nice Mass, lots of young families and it looks like a good community. 

We ate a quick, early lunch at Costco and went on our way. The drive is so beautiful with the mountains, rolling hills, prairies, wildflowers dotting the side of the road, and the wild horses. As we drove on, we noticed the sky looking pretty angry in the distance right in the direction we were going. It didn’t start raining on us until we were close to Keystone. Then it looked like the road and surrounding spaces were covered in snow! It was not snow. It was hail. Pebble sized hail thickly blanketing the ground. Thankfully we missed the hail falling and only drove through afterward. We knew the storm looked intense. An F2 tornado went through about an hour east of us. 

Finally, we made it to Mount Rushmore safely! It was spectacular! It rained a little and the weather was in the 60s. We all thoroughly enjoyed our visit and learned a lot. South Dakota has easily been a highlight on our trip and we’re glad we spent 2 nights.