Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library...

We accomplished so much during our brief stay in Medora, North Dakota, that I'm blogging in two parts. I'm beginning with what brought us to this little town (pop. 167)- the $450 million Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.


"Inside, immersive exhibits trace Theodore Roosevelt's remarkable life while exploring the enduring ideas of leadership, citizenship, and conservation. Galleries blend historic artifacts, multimedia experiences, and moments for reflection, inviting participants to learn with and from Roosevelt—not just about him. Whether exploring the campus, discovering the exhibits, or venturing onto the prairie, every path offers an opportunity to connect with the landscape and ideas that continue to inspire generations."

We were warned that tickets were selling out, having just opened on our Nation's 250th birthday. Since we really didn't know what time we'd be able to go, we bought ours late, with the earliest time available being 3 PM. Due to our tight schedule, we were only able to spend 2½ hours there. It was woefully inadequate. We will have to return. That said, what we did see was absolutely fantastic.
At the heart of the experience are more than 40,000 square feet of immersive exhibits and audiovisual technology that carried us through Roosevelt’s life from his boyhood collections to his presidency and beyond. This library exists to bring his story together in one place, telling it in a way that meets the public where it is and advancing the values Theodore Roosevelt championed, putting the lessons of his life into the hands of citizens, students, leaders and visitors of every background. WOW.
This is not like any museum or library we have ever visited. It was very, very interactive. When we entered, we received an RFID-enabled wristband in order to create a personalized, museum experience. Steve didn't want to participate in this part of the experience but I thought it was beyond amazing (and truly difficult to explain). As we meandered through, I tapped my wristband at different interactive stations and multimedia exhibits. What I found super fun, as most who know me would understand, at various sections, I was able to take photos during the era that TR was living. I'll include them at the end of this post. I absolutely loved that.
Roosevelt’s early years were shadowed by severe asthma. As a result, he showed a natural curiosity to the outside world and became a serious naturalist. By his early teens he had established what he grandly termed the “Roosevelt Museum of Natural History” in his bedroom and throughout the family’s house: preserved birds and small mammals, insect specimens, skeletal materials, careful notational records. The museum recreates this space through reimagining the boyhood specimen collection.




One of the most emotional rooms in the Library was called Loss. It centers on the devastating double tragedy of February 14, 1884, when Roosevelt lost both his wife, Alice, and his mother, Mittie, on the same day. The only artifact on display in the darkened space is Theodore Roosevelt's actual diary on loan from the Library of Congress, opened to the famous February 14 entry where he drew a large "X" and wrote the poignant words, "The light has gone out of my life".
When Theodore Roosevelt first came to the North Dakota Badlands in 1883 to hunt bison, he discovered more than wildlife—he found “perfect freedom” and a rugged lifestyle that would shape his future. What began as a hunting trip turned into a lifelong bond with the Badlands, where he invested in the Maltese Cross Ranch. After losing his wife and mother in 1884, Roosevelt returned to the Dakota Territory to heal and built his beloved Elkhorn Ranch.
In 1902, TR wrote in his book The Deer Family, "My ranch itself derived its name 'The Elkhorn' from the fact that on the ground where we built it were found the skulls and interlocked antlers of two wapiti bulls who had perished from getting their antlers fastened in a battle." This dramatic duel to the death appealed to TR, and the interlocked antlers served as the basis for his famous Elkhorn Ranch brand.


Steve struggled to herd 30 head of cattle. It's harder than it looks.
We felt as if we were out on the range with these three cowboys as they shared stories of TR's ranching bravery, compassion, and strength.
I have read a bit about the man who became our 26th president. This exhibit about his time in Cuba and his formation of the Rough Riders shared even more detail.
The Rough Riders became a cultural phenomenon, catapulting TR to national stardom and helping redefine American masculinity and heroism. TR exuded a bold energy and a daring commitment to action.

In addition, we learned even more about the Battle of San Juan Hill which proved to be the location of the "greatest victory" for the Rough Riders, as stated by the press and its new commander, Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt returned to New York and was promptly elected governor. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001 for his actions in Cuba and became the only U.S. president to receive the award.
Rough Riders appeared on everything from children's toys to cigarette packaging. Their growing celebrity status among the public made them one of America's most legendary fighting units.


In November 1900, Roosevelt had become vice president to William McKinley. The museum highlights this through two touchscreens that explains his eventual path to presidency. Additionally, I was able to make my own campaign poster and have a photo session at a caboose, replicating a famous moment in his campaign.



The museum memorializes his election through the creation of a White House Facade that displays projection mapped content of his time at the White House accompanied by speaker narration.
We could even ask TR questions in real-time!
The post-presidency was, by ordinary standards, four lifetimes. Roosevelt led the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition collecting specimens that filled the Smithsonian for decades. He toured Europe, meeting kings, delivering speeches, and arriving at the funeral of Britain’s King Edward VII. In April 1910, at the Sorbonne in Paris, he delivered the speech popularly known as “Citizenship in a Republic” — the source of the “Man in the Arena” passage that has become his most enduring single contribution to American civic life. How wonderful to hear/see it.
I had read about this but couldn't believe it was exhibited. "As TR greeted a crowd from an open car outside the Hotel Gilpatrick, John Schrank, a mentally ill bar owner, shot him at point-blank range. The bullet pierced the written speech TR had in his coat pocket and deflected off his metal eyeglass case before becoming lodged in his chest. He forced himself to cough and, seeing no blood, knew that no vital organs were damaged. Despite his injury, TR proceeded to the Milwaukee Auditorium to deliver his scheduled address. He spoke for an impressive eighty minutes to an enthusiastic crowd of thousands before leaving the stage to go to the hospital." What a guy!



In 1914, Roosevelt and his son Kermit led the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition through the Brazilian Amazon, including the first descent of the unmapped river the Brazilians called the River of Doubt and later renamed the Rio Roosevelt. He nearly died of fever and infection before arriving back to Sagamore Hill permanently weakened.

In the museum's Amazon exhibit, multiple projectors work in concert with an immersive audio system to recreate Theodore Roosevelt's harrowing expedition through the Amazon. The panoramic visuals and sound transport visitors into the heart of the journey, offering a vivid glimpse into the dangerous conditions and extraordinary hardships that the Roosevelts narrowly survived. So dang awesome.



This is my favorite. It looks as if it was taken by Dorothea Lange in the style of his Dust Bowl images. AI at its finest.
This one not so much but I do love that I'm in Cuba with TR. That's cool.


At the time he became the 26th President, Roosevelt credited the Badlands as “where the romance of my life began.” He famously said, "I never would have been President if it had not been for my experience in North Dakota." His experiences here inspired landmark conservation efforts, including the creation of national forests and wildlife sanctuaries. By the time of his death, Roosevelt had become a legend that lives on in North Dakota. This presidential library is an unbelievably perfect tribute to a man who has done so much for America. Oh, we still have so much more to learn. Next time!

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Mount Rushmore National Memorial...

Mount Rushmore is one of those places where once you leave, you are always drawn back. The last time we were here was while we were on our Empty Nest Escape of 2009.

For those unaware, Mount Rushmore National Memorial features the 60-foot faces of four American presidents — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

Carved first and seen first, George Washington greeted us and we responded with audible "Wows".
The Memorial is host to just over two million visitors a year from across the country and around the world. They come to marvel at the majestic beauty of the Black Hills of South Dakota and to learn about the birth, growth, development, and the preservation of our country. Over the decades, Mount Rushmore has grown in fame as a symbol of America... A symbol of freedom and hope for people from all cultures and backgrounds.
While somber and reflective, it is also fun. This is my favorite 'Denise-style' photo so far!

We traversed the Presidental Trail to begin our day with a Ranger Talk.
Before doing anything else, we needed to learn all we could about Mount Rushmore's creator and his artistic process. To do just that, our morning's destination was the very informative Sculptor's Studio, the historic on-site workspace where sculptor Gutzon Borglum worked and refined his designs from 1939 to 1941.
The building itself houses the ninth, and final, original 1/12th-scale plaster model of Mount Rushmore, which represents the monument at one-twelfth the size of the actual carved faces. In 1939, this structure was built as a second on-site studio for Gutzon. Unique plaster models and worker tools related to the sculpting processes are displayed in this studio. But we were there for the studio talk by Ranger Steve on the thrilling and complicated mountain carving process.
Built between October 4, 1927 - October 31, 1941, Mount Rushmore is a project of colossal proportion, colossal ambition and colossal achievement. It involved the efforts of nearly 400 men and women. The duties involved varied greatly from the call boy to drillers to the blacksmith to the housekeepers. Some of the workers at Mount Rushmore were interviewed, and were asked, "What is it you do here?" One of the workers responded and said, "I run a jackhammer." Another worker responded to the same question, " I earn $8.00 a day." However, a third worker said, "I am helping to create a memorial." The third worker had an idea of what they were trying to accomplish.
The workers had to endure conditions that varied from blazing hot to bitter cold and windy. Each day they climbed 700 stairs to the top of the mountain to punch-in on the time clock. Then 3/8 inch thick steel cables lowered them over the front of the 500 foot face of the mountain in a "bosun chair". Some of the workers admitted being uneasy with heights, but during the Depression, any job was a good job. The work was exciting, but dangerous. 90% of the mountain was carved using dynamite . The powdermen would cut and set charges of dynamite of specific sizes to remove precise amounts of rock. During the 14 years of construction not one fatality occurred.

My lingering question was still trying to answer "How?" Building all the necessary infrastructure on and around the mountain constituted a major project in and of itself. But when the workers got into their harnesses, how would they know where to direct their jackhammers into the rock? To guide them, Borglum adapted a mechanical technique used by ancient Greeks to copy statues, a “pointing machine” that could “measure specific points on a sculpture relative to a reference point,” making a three-dimensional shape transferable from one sculpture to another.
Borglum designed a large-scale pointing machine that could be installed atop the mountain and positioned to show workers where and how deep to drill. Though the system worked well, the team could only make progress so fast: after fourteen years, Mount Rushmore remained incomplete when Borglum’s death and World War II put a stop to it altogether. His son Lincoln had finished it to the Memorial we see today.
Ranger Steve shared some really amazing photos of the construction process and I asked him who had taken the pictures. At the Visitors Center I found my answer. Lincoln and his wife Louella were both very interested in cameras and film types. Both contributed to the Memorial's deeper story of the Carving Era. Lincoln's images and films depict the day to day processes, the people and their work. While not as numerous, Louella's images assist in telling the story of Lincoln himself. Louella gives us Lincoln as seen in film over the faces, operating equipment, discussing tasks with workers, examining and directing beside the Master Sculptor, his father. So dang cool.
After exploring the grounds, learning all we can, we stopped for coffee in a very special setting.
I worked the entire time on my Junior Ranger Badge, something our sons earned on our very first trip to Mount Rushmore in 1998.
Ranger Steve checked over my work and had me recite the Junior Ranger oath. "As a National Park Junior Ranger, I pledge to do my best to protect and preserve our National Parks, respect all plants and animals, and share what I have learned with others."
It may seem silly to work to become a Jr. Ranger but the truth is, the activities that are required help you look deeper at the Park. I loved this activity.
Lastly, sculptor Gutzon Borglum said in his introduction for the dedication of Jefferson's image, to FDR, "I want you, Mr. President, to dedicate this memorial as a Shrine to Democracy; to call upon the people of the earth for one hundred thousand years to come to read the thought and to see what manner of men struggled here to establish self-determined government in the western world. With the prayer that it shall not perish from the earth." Sums it up.
And just for fun, I'm sharing the postcard I had made from that previously mentioned 2009 trip. What memories!
Home for the next two nights is in the darling little town of Medora, North Dakota. For those curious, we have traveled across 2,318 miles of America since leaving Tahoe on August 27th.

"Road trips are the equivalent of human wings.
Ask me to go on one, anywhere.
We’ll stop in every small town and learn the history,
feel the ground and capture the spirit.
Then we’ll turn it into our own story
that will live inside our history to carry with us always.
Because stories are more important than things."
-Victoria Erickson

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