The four presidential faces, carved 60-feet high in the granite of Mount Rushmore, comprise one of America’s most revered images.  But many visitors cannot help thinking of Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 thriller North by Northwest, where he and Eva Marie Saint clamber across the monolith pursued by Communist spies.  The shot was actually filmed in a Hollywood studio, but it convinced millions of people that they too could climb the patriotic monument.

This is not the case: Access to Mount Rushmore has been blocked by a high-security fence ever since the artist Gutzon Borglum died in 1941 and work on the giant sculpture ceased.  But according to his original plan, Borglum had intended that the public be able to reach his giant faces via a splendid stone staircase.  In the late 1930s, he even began work on a splendid vault buried within the rock for tourists to visit – called the Hall of Records, it was planned as a repository for the original Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.  Worried that future generations might find Mount Rushmore as enigmatic, Borglum also wanted a museum to store information on the four presidents – Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt – and an explanation of “how the memorial was built and frankly, why.”

The vault was never finished.  Today, it’s simply an ever-narrowing passage that stretches about 80 feet into the rock, and one can run one’s fingers over granite walls still honeycombed with drill marks.  Still, Borglum’s wish would be partly fulfilled.  In 1998, the Park Service inscribed 16 porcelain panels with historical data about Mount Rushmore, secured them in a titanium-lined casket, then buried them in the incomplete Hall of Records – the last work ever expected to be done on the site.

Watch for wildlife, as elk, moose, mule deer, and bison are commonly seen by visitors throughout the country’s many national parks including Yellowstone National Park.

The Rockefeller family’s association with Jackson Hole has continued to the present day.  In September, 2007, their private holiday home, the JY Ranch, covering 3,000 acres of the finest terrain within the valley, was donated to the United States government as a new addition to the Grand Teton National Park; today it is open to the public for the first time in over six decades.

The transition began in 2001, when the 90-year-old Laurance S. Rockefeller – John D. Jr’s son, who had honeymooned at the ranch in 1934 – announced that it would become the “LSR Preserve,” and include a state-of-the-art Visitors Center crafted from recycled native woods.

Hikers can now take a four-mile loop trail to the crystalline Phelps Lake, passing through spectacular mountain landscape that has not changed since the Shoshone Indians roamed here over a century ago.  What visitors won’t spy are the 30 log buildings that once made up the JY: Before the Rockefellers bought it in 1932, it had operated as Wyoming’s first dude ranch, but as part of the 2007 donation, all man-made structures were carefully removed along with seven miles of asphalt roads and 1,500 tons of building materials, to return the lake to its pristine state.

Even so, it is easy to imagine the JY in its heyday, when a string of rough-hewn cabins with wooden furniture and stone fireplaces stood above the alpine lakeside.  To this idyllic frontier outpost, Rockefeller family members would arrive from the East every summer to indulge in hiking, swimming, fishing, hunting and horseback-riding – outdoor pursuits not so very different from those enjoyed by the Shoshone in warmer months.

The sheer magnitude of the Grand Canyon is the most overwhelming sensation you’ll receive from your visit. Billions of years of erosion have created a geological history lesson told through the multifarious layers of rock. Sunsets here set the canyon walls aflame with a crimson hue that will stay forever burned in your memory.

Today, the raft journey through the Grand Canyon is one of the West’s great  white-water thrills.  But it’s hard to imagine just how daunting the trip must have been in 1869, when John Wesley Powell decided to attempt it.  Back then, the canyon was utterly unexplored – it existed on maps as a blank spot in the desert southwest.

Powell was a geology professor from Illinois who had lost his right arm as an officer during the Civil War.  Despite this handicap, he got together nine men, mostly from his own friends and relatives, and transported four wooden boats to Green River in Wyoming, the start of the navigable route.  Waving goodbye to a few well-wishers by the riverbank, they set off to face 1,000 miles by river through Utah and Arizona.

As Powell himself put it: “What (water)falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls rise over the river, we know not.”

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Explore the captivating canyonlands on this unforgettable vacation to Bryce Canyon National Park, where years of erosion have carved colorful sandstone into thousands of spires, arches, and mazes.

Travel from the rolling green hills of the Emerald Isle back to the States, and prepare to relive the days of the Wild West exploring stunning natural wonders at some of the nation’s most well-known national parks.

Join us over the next month as we discover the majestic parks and historic lodges of the American West.  We will visit America’s first national park and the geothermal home of Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone, tour the final resting place of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane in the western town of Deadwood and stand at the rim of the Grand Canyon to take in a spectacular sunset.

On this tour, you will see some of the West’s classic lodges, breathtaking scenery, and historic sites.

Pack up your hiking shoes and camera as we travel through our nation’s National Parks.

Enjoy the breathtaking sights of Ireland as StorySuitcase celebrates St. Patrick’s Day.

Saint Patrick’s Day has been observed as a religious holiday for over a thousand years.  The holiday falls during the season of Lent.  Traditionally Irish families attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon dining on a meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

The first St. Patricks Day parade took place in New York City on March 17, 1762.   Today the holiday is celebrate by people of all backgrounds across the globe.  The most unique and celebrated way to recognize the holiday is in Chicago where the Chicago River is dyed green with 40 pounts of green dye.

For more information on the history of St. Patrick’s Day visit The History Channel’s website.

Discover the rich history, legends, and myths of Ireland with the History Channel’s All Things Irish Quiz.

Test your knowledge of The Emerald Isle – Take the Quiz now!