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Mount Rushmore Coloring Page and Photos
Our Mount Rushmore Coloring Page is a version of this picture.Right-Click here to download the Mount Rushmore Coloring Page pdf file. (or just click to view in another window.) Our trip to Mount Rushmore was a road trip from Northern Colorado. We left mid-afternoon, stopping to eat a picnic lunch at a playground. We arrived at the cottage we rented in Rapid City a while after bedtime, tucked everyone in, and started out early Saturday to Mt. Rushmore. It's about a half hour drive from Rapid City to Keystone. Traveling with the kiddos, we like getting to generally crowded tourist locations really early in the morning. We avoid lines, take snacks, create something fun to do as we enjoy the attraction, and then get out. I would say that this ’strategy’ is the key to our enjoyable travel with small children. I can honestly say that all four of us enjoyed our short visit to the monument, but that there were a lot of children who were NOT enjoying the trip. We recognize when our children are approaching the end of their ‘patient rope’, and do not take them beyond where it would be torture for us AND them. 
SO, we paid the $10 to park the car, which is only paid in cash to the Mt. Rushmore Monument Society, and hop scotched’ up to the main viewing area on the beautiful tile walkway. No, we didn’t go into the Mt. Rushmore museum, or spend an hour reading every name of the stone workers on the wall…BUT, we spent about 30 minutes climbing around the bleachers of the outdoor ampitheater, which is just beyond the viewing area for the monument. We *did* stop briefly to take pictures at the viewing area, but spent a bit more time cracking up, while staging some of our own shots in the less crowded area of the ampitheater. OK, so the 'staged' pictures were to play with perspective and squish the president's heads, and put my husband's head on the mountain. We tend to bring our own fun to any location. This area at the ampitheater was nearly empty, and gave the kiddos a place to walk around freely. My daughter and I ended up playing ‘puppy on a leash’ all the way back to the car, with my wrap I use to carry our 2 yr old (5 yards of fabric), because it was funny, and occupied her when she started to whine about wanting to leave. We were out of the park by 10:00, and on to our next adventure, singing in the car down the mountain. If we really need the ‘full experience’, we’ll go back when we are retired. For now, we’ll enjoy each other, our kids, and the travel experience they enjoy as well…since then EVERYONE can enjoy it. If I had thought to print out a Mount Rushmore Coloring Page before we left home, I would have had the kiddos color it on the way to the monument. Instead, we read some of the fact sheets we brought with us during the drive, and asked the Kindergartner what else *she* had learned about it.
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The other fun locations we visited while in South Dakota were the fun for tots Storybook Island, and the city of Hot Springs, which featured the Mammoth Site, the archaeological site of a sink hole with many mammoth remains. Also in Hot Springs was a fun indoor/outdoor recreational pool structure, which features warm water from the mineral springs in the area.
