words and photos: Rachel L. Miller

It's the kind of air that is so clean and crisp that it fills lungs much like love fills the heart. It's the kind of air that belongs only to the night and only in the most quiet, natural places. It's the kind of air that awakens my flesh into thousands of tiny goosebumps and prompts me to hug myself to keep warm.

And it's the air, coolly comforting, that temporarily wards off tears as I whisper the words to the "Star-Spangled Banner." All eyes are focused on the four presidents carved in stone, all lips are moving in synch to the national anthem, and I imagine most of the Mount Rushmore visitors this night are just as awestruck as I am.

The glow from the spotlights poised on the presidents is dim at first, but slowly grows brighter until the carving is illuminated in a brilliant white-orange and is all that can be seen clearly in the deep shroud of night. I try not to cry as the amphitheater erupts into applause for this impressive monument to the American spirit, but I'm comforted by the voice of a nearby woman, "Whew, I'm getting all teary-eyed over here. It's hard not to."

So I don't feel sappy or corny for having an emotional reaction, I just go with it and feel the love. It's beautiful and patriotic and makes me wish I'd made this journey much earlier in my life.

Through a three-day tour of the Black Hills region of South Dakota, I realized the same can be said about the area and its attractions in general. There were many times during my road trip through the region that I looked out across the stunning scenery, thinking, "How was it that I never managed to make it out here?"

Patriotism is high and the Black Hills (in western South Dakota) is home to many uplifting and proud-to-be-American attractions. Add in the fun road tripping possibilities, and you've got an inexpensive, educational, great-for-all-ages getaway. Once you explore the Black Hills National Forest, there's still so much to do (and see), that's it would be virtually impossible to get to everything. So we've put together our own list of must-sees:

The attraction that obviously stands out the most is Mount Rushmore National Memorial, featuring the faces of four American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Nestled in the Black Hills in the town of Keystone, the faces are 60 feet tall and are located 500 feet up the mountain.

Nothing could've prepared me for my first glimpse of the mountain. One of my friends told me (rather cynically) before I left on the trip: "Be warned. It's really not as big as you think it is." Another friend chimed in, "Yeah, it's like the Mona Lisa. Looks much bigger in pictures."

So as we rounded a curve into the park and I caught a glimpse of George Washington's stoic profile, clean against an ice blue sky, I was taken aback. My friends had either lied to me or had completely distorted memories. Mount Rushmore is not small by any means. It is enormous and captivating - in fact the word I overheard the most while exploring the area was a simple, "Wow."

Children, little hands grasping ice cream cones, looking upward at the mountain, said it. Older men, holding canes and cameras and wearing knee-length black dress socks with sandals, said it. And yes, even travel writers, hands full of brochures and notepads, said it. No one, save the unflappable and elusive moutain goat, is immune to the stunning force that is Mount Rushmore. <click to continue the trip>