Well, November and most of December has come and gone. The Presidents from Mount Rushmore were busy in November with their trip to the Big Apple. Here’s a nice recap video of where they went and how much fun they had. Check it out!

We have also announced a winner of the Mount Rushmore’s American Pride Vacation giveaway. Becky has accepted the prize and will be traveling to South Dakota sometime in 2012 with her husband and two children exploring the beauty of this great state.

Thanks for following along as the Presidents visited New York City. Next year is the third and final year of South Dakota Dept. of Tourism’s partnership with Macy’s, we look forward to revisiting this campaign then.

The Presidents of Mount Rushmore recently visited New York Cityto celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the completion of Mount Rushmore National Memorial. South Dakota also had a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – Mount Rushmore’s American Pride. Neil Diamond performed on the float this year, and did a fantastic job. He sang “America” on the float. His songs had the crowd engaged and singing along. What a great choice for this float, the song and the backdrop of the fauxMount Rushmore on the float moved the crowd!

The Presidents had another exciting element to their trip to New York City. They are giving away an exclusive vacation to see the real Mount Rushmorein South Dakota! It’s a vacation for four, with airline tickets provided by American Airlines, rental car, lodging, and great choices of attractions to visit while on vacation. The people we met in New York Citywere very excited to hear about the vacation giveaway, and we have a surprise for you…you can register too! Entries will be open for a few more weeks, closing around the 16^th of December, just in time to give away a vacation around the holidays. Visit www.travelsd.com/macys to register to win this great vacation giveaway!

Here are a few photos and videos from our trip to the east coast with the Presidents.

A special thank you to our sponsors: Black Hills, Badlands and Lakes Tourism Association, Rapid City CVB, Sioux Falls CVB, Wall Drug, Reptile Gardens, Black Hills Power, Mount Rushmore National Memorial Society, Black Hills Central Reservations, American Airlines, Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, Deadwood CVB.

Question – What entertainment will be on the Mount Rushmore float at the Macy’s Day Parade?

Answer – The world-famous group, Mannheim Steamroller, will ride on the Mount Rushmore float and perform holiday classics during this nationally broadcasted parade!

So, we’ve been talking about the parade for quite awhile…but tomorrow millions of people from across the United States will tune in to watch the 84th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The Parade airs on NBC stations throughout the country from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. What time zone you might ask? Doesn’t matter – it is scheduled to air from 9-12 no matter where you are tuning in from – think of it like The Today Show, which is on at 7 a.m. no matter where you’re at in the country.

With that being said, since we really want to make sure you get to see this beautiful, grand, brand-new float…we’re letting you in on the specific time to peel your eyes off that dressing and turkey! Make sure you watch from about 10:15 – 10:35 - before the Mount Rushmore float will come Ronald McDonald’s Big Red Show Car & Balloon.

Inflation Eve – takes place the night before the parade every year on 77th & 81st Streets between Central Park and Columbus Ave. Spectators can view the inflation of the balloons from 3-10 p.m. tonight!

Happy Holidays to all of our readers and safe travels! Tune in tomorrow morning and let us know what you think of South Dakota rolling down the streets of New York!

Trivia Question: Who will be the talent on the Mount Rushmore float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year?

Answers can be found here tomorrow! We hope that you will all have safe holiday travels this week. If you have a South Dakota adventure for Thanksgiving, share it with us here!

Remember to stay in touch with this blog, twitter (travelsd) and our Facebook account (South Dakota Tourism).

Trivia Question #5 – How many years did it take to carve Mount Rushmore?

Sumbit your answer in the comment section and stop back tomorrow for the answers to the trivia questions asked this week.

Also, a few fun things to share with you today. Here are some additional videos with footage of the Mount Rushmore float! Enjoy!

Macy’s Unveils New Floats for Thanksgiving Day Parade on My Fox New York shows off the Mount Rushmore float and shows a few of the costumes that will be on the float.

Macys unveils seven new floats for Thanksgiving parade on Star Ledger NJ.com mentions the Mount Rushmore float.

And the Wall Street Journal features an article stating that Mount Rushmore is one of the new floats in the 2010 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Trivia Question #4 – How many steps did the workers at Mount Rushmore climb every day to work on the mountain? And how much was their daily wage?

Also, tune in to the Today Show at about 9:22 a.m. this morning! John Piper, a Macy’s Representative, will be on top of the Mount Rushmore float! Take this chance to get a sneak peak at the float – let us know what you think when you see it!

Answers will be posted to the blog on Thursday – stay tuned!

Another week brings more Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Mount Rushmore triva questions. Again, the answers to the questions will be revealed on Thursday this week.

Question #3 – After whom was Mount Rushmore named and where did he live?

Thanks for checking in to see what the answers are for the two trivia questions we asked this week. There were several people right one and several more in the ballpark.

Question #1 – Approximately how many people watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from their homes each year?

Answer – About 64 million! There are about 55 million that watch the parade on NBC and 10 million on CBS.

Question #2 – About about many people line the streets of New York to watch the parade live?

Answer – Around 3.5 million!

Wow, those are huge numbers! Stay tuned for more updates, pictures, and trvia questions about the Macy’s Day Parade and Mount Rushmore.

Question #2 – About how many spectators line the streets of New York to watch the parade streetside?

Over the next few weeks we will be asking a series of questions about Mount Rushmore and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This week, you will find the answers on this blog on Thursday.

Question #1 – Approximately how many people watch the Macy’s Day Parade in their homes on Thanksgiving each year?

You can post your answer in the comments section of this blog, on our facebook account (South Dakota Tourism) or via twitter (travelsd).

We shared the video from the press conference at Mount Rushmore last week. Check out these photos from the press conference. We’re getting excited to see the float on TV in just a couple of weeks, are you?

Mock up of the float:

Interview with John Brockelsby of Reptile Gardens.

The balloons on the viewing deck at Mount Rushmore. The huge ballooons make Mt. Rushmore look relatively small! This was a great setting for the annoucement of this great partnership.

Nort Johnson,President of the Black Hills, Badlands and Lakes Tourism Association.

(You can listen to his comments and the comments of Melissa Miller and John in the press conference video in a previous post.)

Melissa Miller, Director of the South Dakota Office of Tourism.John, a member of the Macy’s Day Parade staff making some great comments about how excited the crew at Macy’s is to have chosen South Dakota as a new float for the parade this year.

John and Nort present the preliminary stages of the floats design – stay tuned for production photos in a few weeks.

Thanks for checking in to see what is going on with this exciting partnership. Good luck with the trivia questions.