Independence Day at Mount Rushmore

Is there a more apropos place to observe America's birthday than at Mount Rushmore (except for maybe Philadelphia)?

That's where we headed Friday, along with tens of thousands of other people. The national monument is only about 20 minutes from our home and is known for its impressive Fourth of July fireworks display. The show, however, is always on July 3rd. I forget why.

Because we had passes, we had the luxury of waiting until later in the afternoon to head up. Otherwise, if you wanted a seat inside the amphitheater you had to be there by about 9 a.m. As it was, we arrived at about 4:45 p.m. and waited for about five hours for the fireworks to begin. Thousands of others parked for miles around the mountainside and watched from the sides of the roads and other mountaintop views. All throughout the day, the park puts on a series of entertainers to keep everyone peppy.

The day started out quite overcast and it even rained some. Everything was kind of iffy for much of the day, I think. But by the time we arrived things were looking up, as you can see from the photos. We were able to get some cute pics of the kids with the stone faces behind them.

But right about 7:30 p.m. or so something awful blew in quick. It never really rained again, but it suddenly got chilly and windy and cloudy and foggy and sort of misty. It felt like it was about to be a thunderstorm, and we were prepared to run for cover. The rain and thunder and lightening never really came, but unfortunately the fog settled in. And it never did clear up.

Everyone continued to wait and hold out hope for a couple more hours but the fog hung thick and very low, just barely above the amphitheater's roof. Normally, the faces are spectacularly illuminated at night. But they were well covered, and we couldn't see squat.

The park folks decided to go ahead with the fireworks show, anyway. People "oohed" and "ahhed" over loud booming sounds and fog that turned pink, orange, red and green. It was kind of disappointing, but yet it was good quality family time spent together.

We were lucky enough to see a B-1 Bomber Flyover before it got dark. Those pictures of the kids looking up will be obvious.