Natural Wonders of the West

I remember this rather depressing show from about ten years ago that details what will happen to the buildings and monuments humanity leaves behind after we're all dead. This episode of TravelTalks actually reminds me of this, but only because of one thing they mention towards the end. In this installment, Fitzpatrick goes to various locations in the western United States in order to visit such wondrous attractions as the Grand Canyon in Arizona and Devil's Tower in Wyoming. The latter is very visually impressive since there's absolutely nothing of comparable height anywhere near it. It's just standing by itself in the middle of a forest, being about 1000 feet tall. Looks like something you'd see in a fantasy movie. It's also completely flat on top, which raises questions as to how it was formed. Also showcased are mountain ranges, which are so old that some estimate they've been there for 40 million years or more. The real highlight though comes in the closing minutes, when they show Mount Rushmore. Very interesting, it's not even completed yet. Roosevelt's face is nowhere to be found, but the other three are in various states of completion. Predictably, Washington was the one they finished first. The reason why this part reminds me of that tv program I mentioned is because Fitzpatrick says 100 thousand years from then, the monument will still look basically the same. In that unimaginable amount of time, everything people have ever made will be long gone, but because erosion is such a slow process, things like Mount Rushmore will basically be there forever. I thought this short was good and stands out among the other TravelTalks because of the Rushmore footage.