It started with a female range who did some quick trivia about Mt. Rushmore. Then she moved into a beautiful and very patriotic presentation. She actually recounted a Red Skeleton performance where he talks about each word & phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance. It gave me goosebumps to really think about what those words mean. Then we all had the chance to stand and give our Pledge of Allegiance to the greatest nation on earth. The ranger then sang a beautiful rendition of a patriotic song i had never heard but was stunning. By the time she was done, the stadium was nearly in tears.
The ranger then started a movie about Mt Rushmore that went into detail about each president represented (Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Lincoln) and why they were selected. it was a little long for the kids but beautifully made and well done.
After the movie, the ranger stepped back on stage and asked for all of the veterans to come forward on the stage. of course, papa went down, along with dozens of other people. It was amazing to see the number of people in the audience who are veterans or currently serving. She picked 4 and they lowered and folded the flag. The stadium was cheering, shouting "Thank You" and "Our Heroes" while each veteran filed past and touched the folded flag, held by the ranger. Colby in particular was so proud of his papa that he met him at the stairs with a big hug. Dad said that people came up to him afterwards (in the gift shop) and told him thank you for serving. I guess he was easy to pick out with a big white cowboy hat.
The evening ceremony really brought the patriotism to life and while we didn't get a lot of time to tour the museum after the show, we really got the true meaning behind the monument.
On our way out, the sky lit with lightning, a powerful tribute to this beautiful monument to democracy.
1 comment:
I was fine until you got to the veteran's part. Now I'm bawling. So, so proud of our service people and their families.
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