Chapter Text
Chapter 10 – South Dakota
With an early night in the hotel room, Tony found the film that was his whole reason for stopping to see Devil's Tower, after logging in to his streaming services account on the hotel television.
"Movie night in the middle of the week," he announced as he pressed the key on the remote to play the film. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind. A classic, and the reason we are going to Devil's Tower tomorrow morning before crossing into South Dakota."
Anthony and Tali noted the older model cars in the film. Tali grabbed the remote and pulled up the info about the movie. "Copyright 1977… is that older than you Abba?"
Ziva smirked, "Older than me, but not older than your father."
"OLD!" Beth and Rivka declared as they settled back onto one of the beds to watch the show. The twins had already claimed the queen bed as theirs for the night in the room the girls would share with their Ima. Tony and the boys were in an adjoining room that had a between-rooms door.
LJ leaned back against his Abba, "Be nice to my Abba!" He scowled at his sisters. "He's a good Abba no matter how old he is."
"Yes he is," Ziva leaned against her husband on the second bed as he put a light kiss on the little boy's head. Anthony was sprawled across the bottom of the twins' bed and Tali was in the armchair on the side of Ziva and her bed.
After the credits rolled, all of the DiNozzos agreed the best scene in the film was the 'Five Tones' scene and they all liked the musical score.
The following morning, the family was on the road with fast food breakfast sandwiches by 0700. Tony wanted to get an early start since they planned several stops that day, including Devil's Tower.
"We are not going to do the around the mountain hike at Devil's Tower," he announced as he turned onto the ramp to the interstate highway. "We have other places where we will be hiking later today."
Rivka pumped her fist in the air and grinned, "NO hike! I like that."
LJ scowled at his sister, "But hiking is the way we get to see these neat things. Don't you like seeing all the different sights in the parks? Like the geysers and the dinosaur bones?"
"It's not like we hike all day or on difficult terrain," Anthony added. "After riding all day in the van to get to a new place, I kinda like being able to walk around exploring. Besides, we won't hike anywhere that Abba's back and knees can't go."
"Truth!" Tali nodded. "If Abba can't walk it, we won't walk it. And think about it, so far, there have been very few places that even Aunt Dee could not go. The walkways at Yellowstone were mostly accessible for wheelchairs."
Beth grinned, "See, I told you last night that Abba is old…"
"Hey!" Tony complained from the driver's seat. "I am not old; just have lots more experience than the rest of you…"
Ziva patted his arm with a grin, "That is your story and you are sticking to it?"
The side trip to Devil's Tower lasted all of thirty minutes. Tony was somewhat disappointed; he wasn't quite sure what he expected, but the giant monolith seemed more interesting in the film.
"It's just a big, weird rock," LJ commented as the seven DiNozzos walked from the parking area to the overlook for the side of the mountain facing the Visitors' Center.
Back on the road, Tony exited the interstate to pass through Deadwood, South Dakota, just because he could. He wanted to say he'd been to the iconic town. From there, he drove a scenic route along US Highway 385 to Mt. Rushmore. The just over one-hour drive had gorgeous vistas of the Black Hills.
Tony turned into the entrance to the park and wound around to the entrance to the parking garages. The kids looked out the van's windows at the entrance to the park's walkways and the main attraction.
"Another big rock, if you ask me," Beth commented to her siblings.
"Yeah, but this one has some really old guys on the mountain," Riv noted. "Older than Abba."
Tali laughed to herself, "I know who they all are, do you?"
"George Washington!" LJ knew of the prominent figure from listening to his parents plan the stop and the information Ziva downloaded to each of their tablets.
"Uh-huh, like LJ said, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and some other dude," Anthony couldn't remember the fourth figure on the giant sculpture.
Rivka looked at the paved walkways to the Visitors' Center, "Are we gonna have to walk here?"
Ziva nodded, "Yes, yaldati. We will see the information about the carving at the Visitors' Center. And we will see the carving from the terrace areas. If the sculptor's studio is open, we shall learn about the man who carved the images on the mountain."
"Ima, I'm hungry," Anthony's breakfast had long been gone. "I could eat lunch now, please."
Tony glanced at the park map, "There is a café on-site, if we want to have lunch here. Looks like the usual burgers, pizza, sandwiches, and similar items. Oh, and they have ice cream as well."
"You had to mention ice cream?" Ziva swatted her husband's arm. She glanced at the menu he'd opened on his phone. "A bit expensive, yes?"
Tony shrugged, "We have already paid our parking fee, and found a decent parking spot. We have two choices as I see it. Visit the park, see what we want to see, and then go find food outside the park; or eat here and see the park."
"Eat here!" Anthony, Beth, Riv, and LJ answered as one. Tali gave a thumbs' up gesture; she was okay with getting some lunch as it was already 1045.
Ziva led the family towards the cafe, "First stop is lunch; then the Visitors' Center. And, yes, we will get ice cream after the main meal."
After lunch, the kids were all impressed by the Avenue of Flags, noting that each state's flag was displayed in alphabetical order as they walked between the café and gift shop area to the Visitors' Center.
"We should get flags for each state that we have visited," Tali suggested to the others. "Not the big flags that fly outside like here, but maybe some small flags that we can have inside. Like the Israeli flag that Ima has on her desk."
At the displays in the Visitors' Center, the family viewed displays about the park's history, the progress of the carvings, and why the sculptor chose the four figures. They learned about the sizes of the faces; and how the figures were formed.
Gutzon Borglum chose Washington to be the most prominent figure on the mountain and represent the birth of the United States. He chose Jefferson to represent the growth of the United States. The sculptor chose Roosevelt to represent the development of the United States. After becoming president in 1901, Roosevelt used his authority to establish 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, four national game preserves, five national parks, and 18 national monuments on over 230 million acres of public land. Gutzon Borglum chose Lincoln to represent the preservation of the United States.
The head of George Washington is 60 feet tall with a nose that is 21 feet tall. Theodore Roosevelt's head is slightly smaller, Abraham Lincoln's is slightly taller. Each of the eyes on Mount Rushmore are about 11 feet wide. Each mouth is about 18 feet wide.
Work on the sculpture began in 1927. Borglum remained devoted to the project until his death on March 6, 1941, several days before his 74th birthday. After his death, the project fell to his son James Lincoln Borglum who in turn put the finishing touches on his father's vision. After the elder Borglum's death, he took on the responsibility of sculptor. From 1941 –1943 he served as the first National Park superintendent at Mount Rushmore.
At the Sculptor's Studio, Tali and Anthony were most interested in the one-twelfth scale model of the carving. They noted the differences in the model and the mountain's sculpture. LJ and Riv were fascinated by the stone-carving tools, noting that the tools were both similar to and different from their Grandpa's wood-carving tools.
At the Gift Shop, the three younger kids bought coloring books of the park. Tali found a book about the history of the carvings, and Anthony got a set of mini-bricks to make a model of the famous landmark.
Pictures made, purchases completed, and sights seen, the DiNozzos piled back in the van to head to the next destination for the day. Ziva drove the short trip to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Similar to Mt. Rushmore in that the carving was on the face of the mountain, the Crazy Horse carving is still incomplete. The Indian Museum of North America and the Mountain Carving Museum explained about the carving, the vision of the original sculptors, and the peoples native to the area.
After viewing the museums, they drove a few minutes further south to Custer to check in to the lodging for the night, a three-bedroom cabin that slept up to ten people. Ziva suggested that the family order take-out foods for dinner to bring to the cabin to eat and that they do some shopping for foods for snacks and the next day's breakfast.
After shopping and dinner, they headed back to the Crazy Horse Memorial to view the nightly laser show on the side of the mountain. After the colorful light show, they wound down with root beer floats and large soft pretzels at the cabin. Two more area sights remained after the penultimate night.