Disclaimer #1: This will be the first and the longest blog, in attempts to accurately recount the last 2 weeks. I had all the time to write this while we drove through the endless plains of South Dakota and Montana.
Saying our Goodbye's in Philadelphia!!
This entire traveling experience for both of us has been great so far. We have been able to see, live, and experience cities up and down the eastern sea board. Now, we have taken our travels west for the first time. After attending Scott and Gail's amazing wedding in Philadelphia, we went into the city again to visit our friends Tiffany and John from Naples, as they were in the process of moving into their new place in the Old Liberty building in Philly. Their apartment was awesome. We met Tiffy’s sister and John's mom, and went down to eat at a Stephen Star restaurant near 13th and Chestnut called El Vez. We had a great Mexican meal. The food was outstanding!! Then we went to the King of Prussia mall to run some errands and hurried back to the Ward household to organize and pack the car to prepare for departure the next morning. After burgers and hot dogs with Mr. and Mrs. Ward, Grams, me and Amy, and Steph we got to work. Around 2 am we finished packing everything and the next morning around 10 am we left. Actually, I didn’t help pack the car much. As many know, Amy has her own thoughts on spatial orientation of her vehicle, so I helped move the bags, and hummed the Tetris theme song as she meticulously organized and filled every nook and cranny of the car.
The first day of our Trip - June 18th 2008.
As we started our journey, Amy took the first leg of the drive. We didn’t plan on where or when to stop, but figured we would go by what landmarks we could see and visit vs. how fatigued we were. We first drove to Fallingwater, a magnificent architectural masterpiece designed by the famous Frank Lloyd Wright via Amy’s suggestion. Of course, tours of the interior were closed on Wednesdays, but we still got to tour the outer grounds of the estate. It was a pure treat to see how he used innovative techniques to blend nature into the architecture. From Fallingwater we drove…..and drove….and drove. The story doesn’t get too interesting from here. For the next 24 hours we drove. I took the wheel after Fallingwater and drove straight through Minnesota. At 2 am on Thursday morning, Amy took the wheel until 5 am, and then I woke up from a quick nap and drove again. Nothing to account here, other than periodic stops for the bathroom and crappy road food. We stopped at Perkins at 7 am on Thursday in Fairfield, Minnesota. It still amuses me that we continue to drive and stop for things but ultimately, because we follow the “purple line” of the GPS, we have no idea where we are. Anyway, I stopped at Starbucks before continuing our trek west and ordered a double shot of coffee or something. All I know is that I don’t drink coffee often, and that drink I ordered probably amounted to all the caffeine I had ever ingested.
South Dakota!
I sipped that coffee all day and before we knew it we arrived in South Dakota. The highway is riddled with livestock littered, wide-open green plains and rolling hills underlying a mountainous background. We were able to see many billboards advertising stops (as well as religious propaganda) along the route, in order to promote tourism. Amy found it necessary to stop at the Mitchell Corn Palace. A building completely decorated with different colored corn cobs and kernels creating murals inside and outside of the building. We took a 15-minute tour led by a socially awkward 16-year-old kid with a severe speech impediment and a knack for using any and all corn related puns. E.g. Thanks for popping in guys and lending your ears. Honestly, after a few of those, I was ready to put him in a microwave, but Amy thought it was cute and giggled along. She even added all her shouts of “Hey” when we saw bails of hay, or “holy cow” when we saw multiple cows. I then threatened to leave her at the Corn Palace with the awkward teen. We left the tourist trap with pictures and some good laughs and planned our next destination. The Badlands National Park in the middle of South Dakota. As we continued our way, there were many signs for other tourist traps like, see the real General Lee used in the Dukes of Hazard, or see where Kevin Costner was filmed in Dances With Wolves. Not much out here folks, so I guess they try to get tourism any way they can. Again, the landscape of these Great Plains is amazing in itself, but driving through it is probably enough, unless you have some odd fascination with cattle, grass, or some mixture of the two.
Badlands National Park
After another few hours of driving, I was getting exhausted, so I felt great when we came across the Badlands National Park. We explored around and stopped and took pictures of what I can only describe as a Grand Canyon on a smaller scale. The rock/clay mixtures protrude from the ground like spikes while water/rainfall carve their own niches inside the rock. It is quite the site to see and experience. Again, I hope the pictures tell the true tale of this park, as words fail me in explaining the true vastness of the valleys and magnificence of the rock formations. From the badlands we took a scenic drive up a winding road through the national park where we came across more vast plains of green. Resting among the fields were hundreds of little prairie dogs that Amy took much pleasure in seeing and photographing. From the badlands our next idea was to stop for the night, as sleeping in the car was not efficient for resting. We decided to maximize our time and found a hotel next to our next planned stops of Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse National Park. We found a quaint Best Western, checked in, and grabbed a quick dinner at the Captain's Table as their promotion with the hotel was a free glass of wine or beer. We had asked the girl at the desk where we could find some good eats, and when she told us that there was a small pizza place, with the best pizza she has ever eaten, we realized that she probably had never left this small town in South Dakota, so we took her advice with a grain of salt. We both agreed to order food that didn’t swim, as we were quite far from any ocean. I had a prime rib, and Amy had a buffalo rib eye. Both were crappy. The beer and wine were the best things we had all night. We then went back to the room, showered and tried again to anchor down housing options as our planned housing in Seattle had just fallen through due to a dispute with the owner. We had a good night's sleep and woke up early the next morning. After taking advantage of the continental breakfast we visited Crazy Horse National Park.
Crazy Horse National Park and Mt. Rushmore
Never hearing of it prior, I was absolutely amazed at the shear size and duration of which this project has taken on. Started in 1947 the mountain looked very primitive with only a face on the mountainside. After over 60 years of work, I expected it to be further along, but after visiting, I learned that they only rely on funding from visitors, and that the original sculptor was very adamant about free enterprise and twice declined $10 million donations from the federal government. I commented that they should get the big laser from the move Richie Rich to expedite completion. If you haven’t seen the move Richie Rich, please ignore last said comment. Now, his FLK’s continue the project a little at a time. Afterwards we made a quick drive to Mount Rushmore! We pulled up and there they sat, staring down on us, Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. We took some great pictures, rather, Amy took some great pictures as I ran around like a 7 year old with ADD checking out all the views of the monument. After enjoying all tours and speeches Amy rewarded herself with a large soft serve ice cream cone and we started driving to Devils Tower in northeastern WY which hails to be the first of America’s monuments since 1906. Devils Tower
Old Indian lore states that 7 girls climbed onto the rock and prayed that a oncoming bear would not get them. The rock then grew to a height that the bear was unable to reach, but he clawed away at the mountain, explaining the vertical lines that scar the rock face. The 7 girls then are supposed to be the 7 stars of the Big Dipper. A bad storm was looming as we entered the park, and we asked the ranger at the gate if it would be O.K. to still venture to the tower. She responded saying, "Of course! We get a storm like this daily, and the baseball sized hail is normal." Great....thanks lady. Amy and I then took an expedited hike around the 1.5 mile radius of Devils Tower. The tower, however, is a great site to see. Rising high in the air, it apparently is a result of lava flow that cooled too soon before reaching the earths surface, so it basically just pushed up, kind of like a zit. As the pictures hopefully show, the face of the tower is marked with vertical lines from top to bottom, marking where the cooled lava was pushed and basically scratched from the hard earth's surface as it continued to grow. As the dark clouds continued to roll in, I felt it was quite fitting to witness the so called named Devils Tower with an adequate background.
Montana/Wyoming/Idaho/Washington!
Nothing much to report until we get to Washington. I did get to have a potato in Idaho, and it was ok. The drive through these states was really.........long. Especially Montana.
Until next time, we explore Seattle!
