Chicago

Last leg of the trip! Though we feel pressed for time we wanted to at least put our feet in Lake Michigan and say hello to Chicago.

 

Connor's shot of the famous Water Tower--from the crowded back seat he adds.

 

Connor's last second shot of our amazing breakfast place--it was absolutely good he says. Note the name is Yolk. "Handling your huevos since 2006."

Lesli cooling her feet in Lake Michigan--"the water is fine...for my toes."

Tripping the light fantastic on the lake

And we make a quick stop at the Chicago Nature Museum where TG found some cool bugs.

South Dakota: Crazy Horse, Badlands, Mitchell Corn Palace

Thursday was a long day in the car. But driving across South Dakota, we had to loop around Mt. Rushmore again, drive slow enough past the Crazy Horse Monument to snap a photo, wind through Custer State Park, and then tour Badlands National Park. And all of this before hitting the highway.

Once on the road we couldn't resist a detour through Wall Drug. Its scope/magnitude was very impressive. And what self-respecting Mitchell could have passed the Corn Palace without a quick inspection of this year's theme?

Mt. Rushmore from the car

Crazy Horse from the car

In the Badlands

     

Sometimes the Badlands looked like a moon scape

At other times the Badlands were more colorful

Connor reaching the summit of a majestic Badland mount

Famously self-promoting Wall Drug--how could we resist a 6-foot jackalope?

Mitchell, South Dakota's Corn Palace

The theme changes each year, and this year's theme is travel through the ages. If you click on the small picture,  it will open up to a larger resolution photo and you can see details of the corn murals. It's actually pretty cool up close -- the colors are beautiful.

TG sampling some of the corniness of the Corn Palace. (TG was making a joke about Mitchell's sports team being the kernels, and Connor said, "Man, that's so corny." We cracked up and Connor asked, "What's so funny about that?")

Lesli's photo from the car of the rising moon taken somewhere on the eastern edge of South Dakota

  

All in all it was a good day of sightseeing, but we didn't put away as many miles as we'd expected. We were going to try to get past Sioux Falls, maybe as far as Madison, but that didn't happen.

So Friday we made no stops except bathroom and snack breaks, and we passed through 4 states with no pictures! South Dakota's 1880 pioneer town? Next time. Pipestone National Monument? Next time. Groovy organic and veggie restaurants in the hip town of Madison? Next time. So we boogied instead, and now we're in the outskirts of Chicaco. Hopefully we'll get a few great pics over breakfast in Grant Park, and then onward to Nashville. 

Connor thinks we could get all the way to Decatur today, from Chicago,  but this is from a kid without a driver's license. We'll shoot for Nashville today and then plan to be home Sunday evening.

xox

On to Mt Rushmore

Our day started with a visit to the Little Bighorn Battlefield. A park ranger gave a vigorous account of the battle, including a discussion of the various virtues of Custer's and the Indian's weapons (to which Connor paid close attention).

We passed through the Cheyenne Reservation and made a detour south for a close encounter with Devils Tower (not possessive, so no apostrophe -- long story), or "Bear's Lodge" to the many tribes that regard it as sacred land. We saw lots of Indian prayer bundles hanging in the trees, and June is closed for rock climbing so various tribes can perform ceremonies).

Moving from the sacred to the profane, our next stop was Deadwood, home of Wild Bill Hickok and title of HBO series famous for a word I can't write here. It's still a town of vice, judging by the historic preservation that seems to be funded solely by slot machines (all the buildings contained plenty of them).

We spent the night in Keystone, SD, within sight of Mt. Rushmore. Keystone also cultivates an air of "Old West" cowboys and Indians, and miners and saloons. The cheese factor was high -- neon signs, souvenir t-shirts for Mt. Rushmore and the Sturgis Rally, and old-time photos (yes, we got some of Connor!). We loved it.






The Indian memorial at Little Bighorn National Monument 

Bear's Lodge or Devils Tower

Prairie dogs hanging out next to Devils Tower--they await the arrival of the mother ship.

In Deadwood

At Mt. Rushmore

Connor practices being Presidential 

TG practices being less than Presidential

And now onward to the Crazy Horse monument, the Badlands, and of course the Mitchell Corn Palace!! Woo hoo!!


xox

East from Glacier to the Blackfeet Reservation

   

   

       

                                                                  

Thanks to everyone for the comments -- Kelli, Sharon, and the latest from Mo! (If we could, we would have detoured to see Mo on our travels!) We just realized we had comments on the posts. We have internet access here in Hardin, MT -- teeny town on the edge of the Crow Reservation, but they understand the importance of wi-fi -- and we've had time to a) notice there are comments and b) figure out how to read them. We've also added more detail to the photos in our last posting.

Last night we tried to provide Connor a kind of camping experience combined with cultural learning opportunities. Connor was sorry that we were done with camping once we left Glacier -- he said it's been one of his favorite parts of the trip. So last night we stayed in a tipi on the Blackfeet Reservation, and our host, a Blackfeet artist, told us the history of the Blackfeet after dinner. Fascinating. TG and I had read J. W. Schultz's accounts from the late 1800s of the Blackfeet in Glacier, and we stayed in one of the campgrounds -- Two Medicine -- that he and the Blackfeet regularly traveled. We learned the names and the histories of sacred mountains like Rising Wolf, and while we were in Glacier we could almost feel the steps of the Blackfeet as we hiked the trails.

We're still trying to identify this bird -- let us know if you know what she is. Our hosts said she was a kind of burrowing owl, but we can't find her on the internet. She has a nest close to our tipi and circled around every time we moved in or out of the tipi to keep us away.

    

These guys live on the Rez, and they're part of the only remaining herd of Mustang in the US. (OK, so the pony is not a Mustang, but he wants to play with the big boys.)  The Mustang were the last buffalo runners and prized by the Blackfeet. I tried to give them a graham cracker, but they snubbed me. According to our hosts, their food tastes way better than people food.

 

Here are a few pictures from the Rez looking back at Glacier. I hope we get another chance to visit and explore more of the park. I feel like we just scratched the surface, and between the rain and the spring snows, we didn't get outdoors as much as we'd hoped.

                                                        

  

Saw this sign on our way to Billings, MT. Did a u-turn to get a photo!

We've settled on the name "Ophie," short for Ophelia, for Kelli's Garmin GPS. Maybe she doesn't like her name, though, because she's developing a bad habit. She takes us through the most run-down and dangerous parts of town anytime we get near civilization. In St. Louis while I was driving white-knuckled across a narrow, crumbling bridge, I looked to my left and saw the brand-new bridge sparkling in the sunshine. Why didn't she take us there? Dunno. Then in Billings she took us through the sports arena -- sounds nice, doesn't it? -- and it took us a while to realize that the debris on the road was the roof of the arena that had been ripped off during a recent tornado.

Tomorrow we do more tourist stuff (yay), Little Big Horn, the Black Hills, and the Badlands. Should be fun. Thanks again for the comments, y'all -- it's been great to keep in touch while we're on the road.

xox

Glacier National Park

Our first campsite in Glacier National Park, on the east side, and we loved it so much we stayed here 2 nights: Two Medicine Campground.

 

Running Eagle falls named for the Blackfeet woman war chief who was buried near the falls. 

Connor's becoming a real pro at setting up the tent with TG.

Lesli watching Connor and TG set up camp. ("Looks great! When you're done would y'all carry my backpack inside the tent for me?")

     

Dinner was usually some kind of pasta. TG is an excellent chef in both indoor and outdoor kitchens, and our favorite meals were his mac-n-cheese and spaghetti dinners.

He was just hoping for a little wake-me-up, but instead he got hold of Connor's hot chocolate cup. Instant chocoholic!









This was the dock at St. Mary's Lake. The Going to the Sun Road was still closed at Logan Pass, so we took a boat ride across the lake and went farther along the road than the cars. We saw one glacier (looked like a patch of snow to me -- I don't know how they can tell), and a beautiful waterfall.

           

We looked here for GP and Paul, but they were already gone!!    

 

This was our last spot of the day, Many Glacier. The weather looks great here, but it took a turn for the worse just as we were ready to go hiking!