Rushmore to Montana

Yesterday was a wonderful day!  Well, all the days on this trip have been full of great surprises and wonderful times, so... what can I say?

The day started with an early morning side trip to see Mt. Rushmore.  I figured I'd beat the rush by getting there at around 6 a.m., and I was correct.  It was as amazing and quirky as I always thought it would be... I took a few photos and went back to the hotel, the lovely and comfortable Big Sky Lodge up on a ridge overlooking Rapid City.  (I highly recommend it.)  Repacking the car was helpful and fun -- I discovered some things I'd been looking high and low for, like the chargers for my Sansa Fuze (tiny mp3 player with a ton of good music) and my camera, and a lot of empty space that could be put to better use.  On my way out of town I checked out some sculptures that I had noticed on my way in on Thursday night.  They are placed at the street corners in the downtown area, and the first one I noticed on Thursday as I was stopped at a light looked like it could be JFK.  I was right, and it turns out that Rapid City is considered the City of the Presidents (probably because of Mt. Rushmore being nearby?) 


















The next part of my travels took me winding around the edge of the Black Hills (beautiful!) and then north on state and US highways to North Dakota. I made a couple wrong turns but discovered them quickly.  The scenery was beautiful... at one point shortly after I got into North Dakota I saw two or three horses standing way high up on a hill, looking like they were posing for their portrait.  Also passed some deer (or...they had interesting markings so I thought maybe antelope?) along the way, and lots and lots of horses and cows of course. 

My goal was to get to Theodore Roosevelt State Park (hereafter TRSP) and then get as far as possible into Montana, and both of those were achieved. TRSP was amazing!!  It is in the North Dakota Badlands, and is full of wildlife and color.  There are several prairie dog towns which are so funny to stop and watch for awhile, and horses lots of places along the way...

The third and fourth photos of the park, above, are taken from a place called Buck Hill, which is about halfway through the 36-mile South Loop through the park.  (You can access a map of the loop here.)  There is a place to park at the bottom of the hill, then a short but steep climb leads too a flat, rocky top with a 360 degree view of the park and points south.  It was the quietest place I have ever been, when the wind died down.  I could have stayed there for hours.  And when the wind blew, it really blew, and made me feel so alive and energized.  I needed that, because I wasn't even in Montana yet...  Anyway I highly recommend a visit to TRSP -- it's a gem!

The rest of the trip was uneventful (by comparison) but the views continued to be stunning the whole way to Forsyth, where I am now.  Frances helped me find a hotel, and the Restwel Motel is quiet, clean, and cheap. 

Today:  more of the Montana adventure!  I've wanted to see Montana all my life, since my dad brought me back a copper horse bank from here, and sent postcards as well. 

[Music for the day:  Liz and Tom's wedding mix tape, George Winston (Montana: A Love Story), Joshua Bell, John Denver, Arlo and Pete (More Together Again)]

Wall Drug

Hello from the Gold Standard of Tourist Traps, Wall Drug, in Wall, SD!  A truly phenomenal experience.  Plus they have wi-fi in the Prairie Food Parlor,  in the "backyard." (It's closed for the day -- no food service -- but the wi-fi still works fine.)   Now headed to Rapid City with hotel booked :-)

It's been a beautiful drive today through southern Minnesota and across South Dakota.  This is a beautiful country with very friendly people.  I stopped to see the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD -- that was interesting!  I never saw so many weird corn and popcorn products in one place!  Plus the Palace itself, with its motifs made from real corn and corn silks, was pretty amazing.  I didn't realize they do it over again each year, which made it that much more awesome.

Towards the end of the day, I began to be driving through the Badlands, which are quite beautiful, in a desolate and mysterious sort of way.   I'll try to post photos of this tomorrow as I didn't get any real good ones today. 
  

Minnesota!

Hi, all!  I've had so much going on (lots of driving and visiting) that I haven't had a chance to start this blog until now.  But hopefully I can keep it updated from now on so those of you who expressed interest in hearing about my trip can know where I am and enjoy the trip with me.  Feel free to comment, ask questions, etc.  (I will have my comment security settings rather high to avoid being spammed but if you post a comment it will show up within a day.)

So far I have traveled about 1630 miles.  I'm currently in Duluth, Minnesota, visiting folks here and basking in the mostly cool weather.  I've been staying with Katie and Bob -- this is the view out the window of the room I am staying in.  (Yes, that's Lake Superior in the back yard.  By the way, this house is for sale -- spread the word, it's a beautiful house due to a lot of sweat equity and superb decorating!) Yesterday we made a side trip to my father's hometown, Two Harbors, which is just up the road a little ways. It was great to be back there again.  In addition to walking around and seeing some of the new things they have done near the lighthouse, and visiting the Edna G. and so on, we spent some time in the archives room of the library, where they have the actual newspapers from the town for the past 100 years or so, and we looked for articles about my dad and his family.  I wish I had a week to explore them; I have been there one other time and found some really interesting stuff.  Yesterday's search didn't turn up much but it was fun to look through the papers anyhow. 

I'll have to work backwards in my posts, I guess -- I need to get on the road now for one last visit with folks here and then a visit to my mom's hometown, Pine City, on my way to the Twin Cities to visit friends and family there.