Today we got to see South Dakota in the daylight again. The flatness that everyone talks about, due to the lack of mountains in the distance was not so noticeable to me, since I was doing the driving and more focused on my immediate surroundings.
We headed north off the interstate right after we crossed into Minnesota. This was a better chance to get a feel for the area and take a better look at the scenery. It was clear that the main enterprise was agriculture; there were fields everywhere we looked, primarily corn and soybeans. We had to slow down unexpectedly and pass a few tractors moving between fields or hauling giant cylindrical hay bales. We also found that Holland is filled with windmills. Who could have guessed that? I found it to be very fitting, anyway. They were not the traditional Dutch levee pumpers, either, but the gargantuan tri-blades I described earlier in our travels.
Walnut Grove, when we arrived, was a small little town of less than 400 population. We had lunch at Nellie’s Café, which had excellent food even though Delia was extremely and vocally disappointed that the building was not painted yellow. It just wasn’t right, in her mind. See was also distraught that Dean Butler, who played Almonzo Wilder in the NBC Little House series, would be in town this coming Saturday, and Allison Arngrim, who had the role of Nellie, would be there the week after, but we wouldn’t be able to stay that long. Not the first nor last time on this trip that we would not see something we would have liked to had we unlimited time.
We did wander through the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum, and I learned many things I hadn’t known before. For instance, there was a minimized pedigree chart shoeing how Laura was related to the royal house of England. Most surprising was that I saw a common ancestor, William de Warenne, on her line, so I guess I am related to her as well. I knew that Laura’s daughter was also a well-known writer, but I did not know that she was their only child.
After the museum, we drove out of town to see what was left of the dugout home on the banks of Plum Creek. What was left amounted to a discernible indentation a few yards from the water. While there, Pam noticed some plantin growing there, which we used to remove the itchiness from yesterday’s mosquito bites. It works wonders! Mica had it the worst, of course. She’s such a sweet girl that the bugs just can’t leave her alone, whereas I am such a sourpuss that I didn’t get a single poke.
I believe I can live with that.
After that, we hit the road again, plotting our course through Sleepy Eye, just so we could say we’ve been there. As it was in Laura’s day, Sleepy Eye is a bigger town than Walnut Grove, but not exciting enough that we thought it would be worth going to Mankato as well. Instead we headed south and a little east to get to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, our stopping point for the night. We took longer than planned in Walnut Grove by a little bit, and we started late, of course, after not getting to bed last night until nearly 2:00. Tonight we are all turning in by midnight, so hopefully we will get back on track after this.
15 July, 2010
13 July, 2010
Day Three: Monday, 12 July, 2010
Today was the longest scheduled drive so far, which took us from western Montana through northeastern Wyoming and all the way to eastern South Dakota. It’s not often that you get to use all four directions in the same sentence. Maybe I should blog about it…
So, due to the lateness of our arrival in Bozeman, we allowed an extra half hour of sleep more than the plan called for. That meant that we were two and a half hours late leaving town. Don’t ask me how that works. Maybe the problem is that I made the schedule, without considering how long it takes three girls to shower, dress, get made up and eat breakfast. Especially if they’re cranky from not getting enough sleep. If we ever make it out on the road on schedule on this trip, THAT will be worth blogging about.
Delia wanted to swim in the pool before we left, so she raced out first thing this morning. That still left her needing a shower afterward. By then Mica was up, so they had to fight over who was first. Hmm. I wonder if I threw them both in the pool, then in the car, if that would be sufficient. It would make it more likely that we stayed on schedule, at least.
The first major attraction of the day was in Livingston, just fifteen miles from our starting point. A friend of mine that lives in Montana said that the scenery in Livingston was breathtaking, but I really wasn’t seeing it. I mean, it was pretty. In fact, it was very similar in appearance to some of my favorite places in Oregon. Rolling hills, green fields, sprinkler pipe spraying rotating arcs yards across, occasional horses and cattle; all great, but none of it out of the ordinary for me. That was, until we actually got to Livingston.
We came around a bend and there was a blue-black wall of mountains, sharp white caps portraying how they got their name. The Beartooth Mountains. And wow, did they ever live up to their billing, truly breathtaking.
Originally, our plan had been to turn south there and go to Yellowstone Park.
Alas, there just isn’t enough time to see everything you might want to. We would have only had about six hours in the park, and that really isn’t sufficient to do it justice. Besides, YP is close enough to home that we may have a chance to visit there in the future and give it a whole week. We’re giving as much time as we can to sights in the east, which we will definitely never see again.
We stopped in Billings for a short (very short) visit with a college buddy and lunch to go. From there, I-90 turns south and heads toward Wyoming. Before we left Montana, we passed another place I would have enjoyed seeing; the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn. I also saw a town with the oddest name. I don’t know how it’s pronounced, since I didn’t have time to stop and ask the natives. I don’t know, maybe Baauxuwaashe is said just like box-wash. And I thought Racetrack and Opportunity were unique names when I saw them yesterday.
One of the notions that Pam and I were keen on for this trip was discovering those things that are so commonplace to the people that live in a place, yet completely foreign to outsiders. For instance, a number of years ago we took our family vacation in Fairbanks, AK in June. Two things that we discovered in that category were shutters to completely cover windows because it was never getting dark at night, and twenty foot chain link fences around stores and parking lots to keep moose out. I also heard that in Fairbanks they never celebrate Independence Day with fireworks because it’s not dark, but I didn’t stay long enough to verify this firsthand.
Anyway, we discovered a couple of those things today in Montana and Wyoming. I had not previously known that there were several petroleum refineries in this area, nor that I would find small, medium and large oil rigs bobbing up and down and drawing “Texas tea” out of the fields.
Another startling discovering I have made is that, while summer is the generally accepted time for long vacation, it also happens to be the prime season for road construction projects. Both yesterday and today, such projects contributed to our delinquency. Especially today, when it took us nearly two hours to travel fifty miles on our way to Mt. Rushmore. We did eventually make it, and I have the pictures to prove it, but we wound up having to leave before very long and continue our trek.
We stopped for dinner in Rapid City, another grab and dash event. It was dark by then, so we missed out on all of the scenery of the badlands. We crossed into the Central Time Zone about 11, which instantly transformed it into day four. There still remained an hour and a half of driving before we got to our reserved hotel. We’ll see how that affects tomorrow. I mean later today.
We also had bad luck with animals today. The park in Billings where my friend and his family met us was inhabited by 42,000 geese, who believed that we were put on the earth just to provide them a meal, as well at 42 billion mosquitoes which were of the same opinion. Then driving down an all but deserted I-90 tonight, we hit two small animals, species undetermined. Thankfully small, else I’d be writing this from the hospital.
More later.
So, due to the lateness of our arrival in Bozeman, we allowed an extra half hour of sleep more than the plan called for. That meant that we were two and a half hours late leaving town. Don’t ask me how that works. Maybe the problem is that I made the schedule, without considering how long it takes three girls to shower, dress, get made up and eat breakfast. Especially if they’re cranky from not getting enough sleep. If we ever make it out on the road on schedule on this trip, THAT will be worth blogging about.
Delia wanted to swim in the pool before we left, so she raced out first thing this morning. That still left her needing a shower afterward. By then Mica was up, so they had to fight over who was first. Hmm. I wonder if I threw them both in the pool, then in the car, if that would be sufficient. It would make it more likely that we stayed on schedule, at least.
The first major attraction of the day was in Livingston, just fifteen miles from our starting point. A friend of mine that lives in Montana said that the scenery in Livingston was breathtaking, but I really wasn’t seeing it. I mean, it was pretty. In fact, it was very similar in appearance to some of my favorite places in Oregon. Rolling hills, green fields, sprinkler pipe spraying rotating arcs yards across, occasional horses and cattle; all great, but none of it out of the ordinary for me. That was, until we actually got to Livingston.
We came around a bend and there was a blue-black wall of mountains, sharp white caps portraying how they got their name. The Beartooth Mountains. And wow, did they ever live up to their billing, truly breathtaking.
Originally, our plan had been to turn south there and go to Yellowstone Park.
Alas, there just isn’t enough time to see everything you might want to. We would have only had about six hours in the park, and that really isn’t sufficient to do it justice. Besides, YP is close enough to home that we may have a chance to visit there in the future and give it a whole week. We’re giving as much time as we can to sights in the east, which we will definitely never see again.
We stopped in Billings for a short (very short) visit with a college buddy and lunch to go. From there, I-90 turns south and heads toward Wyoming. Before we left Montana, we passed another place I would have enjoyed seeing; the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn. I also saw a town with the oddest name. I don’t know how it’s pronounced, since I didn’t have time to stop and ask the natives. I don’t know, maybe Baauxuwaashe is said just like box-wash. And I thought Racetrack and Opportunity were unique names when I saw them yesterday.
One of the notions that Pam and I were keen on for this trip was discovering those things that are so commonplace to the people that live in a place, yet completely foreign to outsiders. For instance, a number of years ago we took our family vacation in Fairbanks, AK in June. Two things that we discovered in that category were shutters to completely cover windows because it was never getting dark at night, and twenty foot chain link fences around stores and parking lots to keep moose out. I also heard that in Fairbanks they never celebrate Independence Day with fireworks because it’s not dark, but I didn’t stay long enough to verify this firsthand.
Anyway, we discovered a couple of those things today in Montana and Wyoming. I had not previously known that there were several petroleum refineries in this area, nor that I would find small, medium and large oil rigs bobbing up and down and drawing “Texas tea” out of the fields.
Another startling discovering I have made is that, while summer is the generally accepted time for long vacation, it also happens to be the prime season for road construction projects. Both yesterday and today, such projects contributed to our delinquency. Especially today, when it took us nearly two hours to travel fifty miles on our way to Mt. Rushmore. We did eventually make it, and I have the pictures to prove it, but we wound up having to leave before very long and continue our trek.
We stopped for dinner in Rapid City, another grab and dash event. It was dark by then, so we missed out on all of the scenery of the badlands. We crossed into the Central Time Zone about 11, which instantly transformed it into day four. There still remained an hour and a half of driving before we got to our reserved hotel. We’ll see how that affects tomorrow. I mean later today.
We also had bad luck with animals today. The park in Billings where my friend and his family met us was inhabited by 42,000 geese, who believed that we were put on the earth just to provide them a meal, as well at 42 billion mosquitoes which were of the same opinion. Then driving down an all but deserted I-90 tonight, we hit two small animals, species undetermined. Thankfully small, else I’d be writing this from the hospital.
More later.
12 July, 2010
Day Two: Sunday, 11 July, 2010
Today we had a chance to visit with Pam’s grandmother, who lives with Pam’s aunt and uncle. There was lots of catching up to do. Pam’s cousin also had lots of stories to tell as well. She has the family history bug, and has clearly spent thousands of hours collecting stories and pictures of hundreds of relatives. She’s put together family history albums that are fascinating.
We had so much fun there that, once again, we were late leaving. But we know how to stay flexible. Semper Gumby!
Pam has a friend from high school that lives in Missoula, so we stopped there and ate taco salad at her house. Pam had a good visit and her friend’s daughter hit it off immediately with Delia. They jumped on the trampoline and gossiped like little girls. Wait. Nevermind.
From Missoula, we jumped back on I-90 and crossed Clark Fork yet again. We had seen signs announcing it at bridges seven times prior to Missoula. It was 11:30 when we crossed over the continental divide, just past Butte, but it was still almost another hour before we got to our beds in Bozeman. Which would, I suppose, make it day three…
We had so much fun there that, once again, we were late leaving. But we know how to stay flexible. Semper Gumby!
Pam has a friend from high school that lives in Missoula, so we stopped there and ate taco salad at her house. Pam had a good visit and her friend’s daughter hit it off immediately with Delia. They jumped on the trampoline and gossiped like little girls. Wait. Nevermind.
From Missoula, we jumped back on I-90 and crossed Clark Fork yet again. We had seen signs announcing it at bridges seven times prior to Missoula. It was 11:30 when we crossed over the continental divide, just past Butte, but it was still almost another hour before we got to our beds in Bozeman. Which would, I suppose, make it day three…
Day One: Saturday, 10 July, 2010
The first day of our trip across the country did not start out quite as expected. We’d spent literally months working on our itinerary, yet item number three, “Hit the Road”, didn’t happen until three and a half hours late. And because of all the work we put into preparing for the trip, we had purchased discounted gift certificates for specific restaurants along the way. So the late start meant also that lunch was not until 3:00.
I know, “Wah, wah, wah.” You don’t want to hear about the little hiccups. I’m done now.
We left home about 11:30 am. Fortunately, this wasn’t supposed to be one of our longer days of driving, so even with the late start we made it to our destination before the sun had gone down. Well, okay, at least before full dark.
We headed east out of Portland on I-84 through the Columbia River Gorge. Pam is usually not fond of this drive because it always seems to be rainy and/or windy there. In contrast, today was sunny and quite warm. We listened to music our daughters didn’t like and had a grand old time singing along and clicking off the miles. Mica and Delia did their best to ignore us, made all the easier with Mica’s new iPod Touch and convenient headphone splitters. I’m not going to insist that they participate with the rest of us while we’re driving. There will be plenty of shared experiences at all of our stops along the way.
Speaking of new technology, Pam also got a new toy, one of the new Droid phones. At one point she told me that she is hooked now, and will never be able to not have one. This was while looking for a particular address in Spokane. Her phone allowed her to plug the address in and bring up a map with directions. Yes, nothing new about that if you have a navigation system in your car, but handy enough for those of us without, plus the phone and looking things up on the internet. More on that later.
I drove as far as Umatilla, but then I was ready for Pam to take over. I had been up late arranging things that I was leaving behind, and I had been feeling drowsy after eating. Unfortunately, Mica wound up taking the wheel, and since I wanted to nap, Pam needed to be in the passenger seat. So I folded my 6’ 3” into the back seat. It actually wasn’t that bad, even in a Sentra. Pam scooted the seat up and all was well. It certainly was comfortable enough to begin sawing logs shortly after entering Washington.
Much of the drive today was filled with large farms and hills empty of anything but grass, fence lines, and occasional small cattle herds. There have been some changes to the gorge since the last time I went through. I saw at least a hundred of the giant three-bladed windmills harvesting wind energy.
We ended our drive north of Coeur d’Alene in a small town called Careywood. Aunt Carol Ann, at whose house we stayed, described it as nothing more than a post office, but she was exaggerating. They have a fire department too. She greeted us with pie, we visited for a while, then we all headed to bed.
Delia’s addition:
We rolled out about 11:30. Then we played mad libs in the car. We were running pretty late, so we had a late lunch at The Desert River Inn and Restaurant in Umatilla, Oregon. Then we went and took pictures at the Spokane, Washington Temple. Then we drove to Uncle Chuck and Aunt Carol Ann’s. We got there around 9:15. Then we ate yummy peach, cherry, or apple pie. Then we talked and updated and then I had a shower and we all headed for bed. The end!!!
I know, “Wah, wah, wah.” You don’t want to hear about the little hiccups. I’m done now.
We left home about 11:30 am. Fortunately, this wasn’t supposed to be one of our longer days of driving, so even with the late start we made it to our destination before the sun had gone down. Well, okay, at least before full dark.
We headed east out of Portland on I-84 through the Columbia River Gorge. Pam is usually not fond of this drive because it always seems to be rainy and/or windy there. In contrast, today was sunny and quite warm. We listened to music our daughters didn’t like and had a grand old time singing along and clicking off the miles. Mica and Delia did their best to ignore us, made all the easier with Mica’s new iPod Touch and convenient headphone splitters. I’m not going to insist that they participate with the rest of us while we’re driving. There will be plenty of shared experiences at all of our stops along the way.
Speaking of new technology, Pam also got a new toy, one of the new Droid phones. At one point she told me that she is hooked now, and will never be able to not have one. This was while looking for a particular address in Spokane. Her phone allowed her to plug the address in and bring up a map with directions. Yes, nothing new about that if you have a navigation system in your car, but handy enough for those of us without, plus the phone and looking things up on the internet. More on that later.
I drove as far as Umatilla, but then I was ready for Pam to take over. I had been up late arranging things that I was leaving behind, and I had been feeling drowsy after eating. Unfortunately, Mica wound up taking the wheel, and since I wanted to nap, Pam needed to be in the passenger seat. So I folded my 6’ 3” into the back seat. It actually wasn’t that bad, even in a Sentra. Pam scooted the seat up and all was well. It certainly was comfortable enough to begin sawing logs shortly after entering Washington.
Much of the drive today was filled with large farms and hills empty of anything but grass, fence lines, and occasional small cattle herds. There have been some changes to the gorge since the last time I went through. I saw at least a hundred of the giant three-bladed windmills harvesting wind energy.
We ended our drive north of Coeur d’Alene in a small town called Careywood. Aunt Carol Ann, at whose house we stayed, described it as nothing more than a post office, but she was exaggerating. They have a fire department too. She greeted us with pie, we visited for a while, then we all headed to bed.
Delia’s addition:
We rolled out about 11:30. Then we played mad libs in the car. We were running pretty late, so we had a late lunch at The Desert River Inn and Restaurant in Umatilla, Oregon. Then we went and took pictures at the Spokane, Washington Temple. Then we drove to Uncle Chuck and Aunt Carol Ann’s. We got there around 9:15. Then we ate yummy peach, cherry, or apple pie. Then we talked and updated and then I had a shower and we all headed for bed. The end!!!
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