We left the many lakes and rivers of Minnesota and continued westward to South Dakota. What a change in landscape! The Great Plains cover most of the western two-thirds of South Dakota. Along the way my caregivers said we were stopping at Mount Rushmore. I am not sure what that meant, but I am always up for an adventure. Completed in 1941, the sculpture’s roughly 60-ft.-high granite faces depict U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Over 3 million people visit Mount Rushmore every year!
I have yet to meet a president so to meet 4 at one time was really exciting. My handlers must have been thinking the same, since they carefully combed my coat and then they put on my vest. I couldn’t contain my excitement, my tail was wagging so fast when I left the car. We quickly left the parking lot and made our way up the long sidewalk. There were a lot of people heading the same direction so I knew we were on the right path. Boy, I was thinking how the introduction to the presidents would go. I am trained to be very calm when I meet someone, but could I keep it together.
We continued along the sidewalk and when I looked up there was a very nice lady. She stopped to meet me. I heard her talking to my handlers and she was really excited to meet me. She came all the way from New York and said she has met fellow LCC K-9 Comfort Dog Sasha who lives and works in South Carolina. How cool is that? Here we are on the Great Plains meeting someone from East Coast who follows Sasha down south. God is always working to connect you and I to others. My handlers tell me that this wasn’t by chance, but rather God putting in our path the people He wants us to meet.
We continued our walk and met some very nice children who were vacationing with their family. I guess we weren’t the only people traveling across the USA. Eventually my handlers came to a stop and began starring upward. Was it a flock of birds, a hot air ballon, an airplane? They seemed to be really enjoying whatever it was. I looked up and there it was…the largest men I have ever seen. Wow, they had giant heads but no bodies. What was this all about? I heard people around us saying, can you believe somebody carved these faces out of the granite mountain. Hmmmm. I needed a clue. Finally it happened, when someone said look at those great presidents faces. Where, are they here? Wait a minute, the presidents are on a side of mountain.
Okay, I wasn’t going to get to meet them in person, but wow they must have been really great people to get their faces on a mountain. I gazed upward and they seemed to being looking back at me. It was so cool to see the monument!
Stay tuned for my next blog as I adventure into Montana.
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