The Trip West: The First Three Days

Friday, October 12, we said good bye to Nick and Cassidy in St. Paul, and began our trip westward.  We would take eight days to get home, and pack in a lot of life list stops along the way.



After a late start, we arrived in Mitchell, SD, and drove by the Corn Palace before finding a place to stay.  The palace, created in 1892, is redecorated each year with large murals and hundreds of thousands of ears of corn.  Besides being a tourist destination, it serves the community as a stadium, concert hall, and other functions.

The next day, Saturday the 13th, we spent the afternoon driving and hiking around The Badlands National Park.  There was very little traffic and the landforms were otherworldly.

Gail looks like a serious group leader in this pic.!

We took a trail-less hike in this area.  There were numbered signs placed about every 50 yards to keep people from getting lost.

 

Interesting juxtaposition!

 

 

We took a trail hike and appreciated the silence and lack of people. 

 

These bighorn sheep didn't seem at all shy.  This male appeared to be looking out for his "girls".

 

This area was particularly colorful due to minerals in the earth.

 

The exit of the park led to Wall Drug, which advertises with billboards on I-80 about every mile for a hundred miles in each direction.  It is supposed to be the world's largest drug store, but seems like a slick tourist trap to me.  Paradoxically, it has shops with toy guns, slingshots, mounted animals and then a chapel!  We drove on to Custer City where we would stay the next two nights.

 

In the morning, Sunday the 14th, we got up early to explore Custer State Park, known for it's wildlife.

We learned that that the trees and wildlife are highly managed as a "resource", with logging, raising of bison for meat, and hunting allowed to cull the deer, antelope, elk, and other game.

 

It was still a thrill, though, to be close to the bison.  This bull was trying to get into this corral to be with the herd.  Every fall, the herd is rounded up for vaccinations, branding, and the sale of about 500 animals to ranches or for slaughter.

 

Some herds were roaming much more freely.

 

The pronghorn antelope is not really an antelope, but the only surviving member of the family Antilocapridae of  which12 species once roamed North America.  Five species still existed when humans first entered North America. They are the second fastest animal in the world next to the cheetah, and can run upwards of 70 m.p.h.  They can sustain high speed much longer than a cheetah, and are much faster than any of their North American predators.  This is thought to be due to the fact that there was a North American cheetah that is now extinct that was a very fast predator.

 

By this time, Blue had become a complete mess.  Although we are fairly casual in our lifestyle, it was beginning to be a problem finding things.

 

Later in the morning, we took a several mile hike up French Creek.  We saw no people except a couple who were close to the parking area.  It was a glorious fall day, with turning leaves and warm breezes.  We had seen a golden eagle earlier in the day, and then could hear it or another one as we hiked up the canyon.

 

We passed below this red cliff.  A few minutes later, we saw two deer in an adjacent meadow. The larger one started coming towards us stamping the ground with it's front feet and lowering and raising it's head.  It also was making a loud hissing snort. We backed away, as this deer really wanted us out.  We aren't sure if it was a buck and a doe, or a doe and a fawn.  We didn't see antlers on the agressor.

In California, the deer run away from you, but not here!

 

There were several flocks of wild turkeys in the area.

 

This turkey was lagging behind and became lost.  He made sad and pitiful sounds calling to his lost flock that I have never heard a turkey make.  After a few minutes he found his buddies, although they never answered his calls.

 

The remnants of an old dam made a large pool.

 

 

Passing the tall red cliff on the way back down, I spotted an area of white guano below a cave high up on the vertical wall. Gail noticed a large nest of sticks just below the entrance of the cave.  It looked like an eagle nest to us.

 

Even though pronghorn are fast, they are poor jumpers, and have trouble getting over sheep fences.  In some areas, ranchers are replacing the bottom strand of barb wire with barbless wire to make it safer for them to go under - which they can do at speed.

 

Bison in the distance and pronghorns up closer.

 

The drive out of Custer State Park towards Mount Rushmnore led us through several tunnels, barely big enough for one car.

 

The entrance to Mount Rushmore has become quite grand over the years, with a flag for every state and territory.

 

We had a great ranger guide who had us swelling with patriotism by the end of her tour.  A very lovely afternoon.

 

The next morning, Monday the 15th, Gail had a major burst of energy and entirely organized Blue before we headed out to drive the Needles Highway and travel on to Wind Cave National Park.

 

The Needles Highway was built at great expense as it has numerous tunnels, pigtail curves, and huge spires and hoodoos to pass through. Many South Dakotans called it "The Needless Highway".  It is a stunning 14 mile drive through the tops of the Black Hills.

 

 

Mountain goat Gail checking the stability of the tunnel before we pass through.

 

Close by is The Needle's Eye.

 

Blue going through!

 

Spires everywhere!

 

Spires or hoodoos - I'm not sure.

 

After a few more miles, we entered Wind Cave National Park.  We stopped at a roadside kiosk and started seeing evidence of bison, as seen above.  Less obvious was bison hair around the stone wall of the kiosk, which the bison must use as a scratching post.  Gail happily collected hair, as she loves nest materials and hair.  We took a little walk to see what was over the hill, and we saw...

 

bison!  We enjoyed seeing them here because there were no fences and corrals, and the bison seemed to be free ranging.

 

We had a deal that if one of us saw a bison first, the other had to write a haiku.  I wrote my haiku , but Gail wrote one anyway just for fun. They were taped to Blue's dashboard for the remainder of the trip.

 

After a long drive the rest of the day down into Colorado and past Denver, we found the best motel of our trip - by far!

 

The Sundance Mountain Lodge is in Monument, just north of Colorado Springs.  This is the dining room...

 

... and the bar.

 

The swimming pool was unbelievable - bathwater warm! We swam for a good hour late in the evening. 

 

There was a waterfall just outside our room back door, making the room very un-motel like.

 

The waterfall eventually ran into this little lake...

 

which made the ducks very happy.

 

Well, four more days to go as we head down into the Southwest.  More to come!

 

 

 

 







Images of St. Paul / Minneapolis

This is Chapter Two of the big trip to Minnesota and back. Gail joined me for a few days while we occasionally helped Nick and Cassidy get furniture, etc.  We also had time to wander around St. Paul and see some sights.  Our timing happened to coincide with the foliage colors, and the weather wasn't too bad either.

We had time to walk from our motel to the Como Park Conservatory. It, the museum, and the zoo are free.

Looking across the Mississippi River at night towards Minneapolis.

The next morning, Gail and I walked along the Mississippi River and went down the bank to check out Shadow Falls.  In this picture we are standing behind the falling water looking outward.

After a few blocks we walked by Andria's and Dave's old apartment on Montrose Street.

This is the street in front of the apartment.

Another view of the Mississippi River, with a rowing team in training.

We saw woodpeckers and robins in these trees along the river.

Our hotel at Bandana Square was quite unique.  It was an old train maintenance building made into a hotel.  That is the lobby down below, with old tracks running across the floor.

The night before we left, Nick, Cassidy, Gail, and I went to a concert at the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown, Minneapolis.  Since I failed to take pictures, I grabbed a few pictures off the net for illustrative purposes.

It was a very cool venue, elaborately sculpted and decorated in kind of a retro/Alice in Wonderland way, with shades of Madonna Inn.  The sound and lighting were top notch.  (Picture stolen from net.)

The opening group was Faun Fables (minus the 2 little girls).  They were a duo out of Oakland who were refreshing in their creativity.  (Picture stolen from net.)

Then came Rasputina, who blew our minds with their cellos, drums, voices, looks, and music unlike anything we've heard before.  So talented!  In the middle is Melora Creagar, the founder and directress.  She has kept the group going for 20 years with various musicians coming and going.  Rasputina's music seems perfect for the Steampunk movement.  (Picture stolen from the net.)

On our last morning, we took some pictures of Hamline University where Gail's mother taught art for a short time after graduating there.

The Hamline campus is very Ivy League looking.

This is a sign you don't see too often!

Nick's and Cassidy's neighborhood has some neat old family run businesses that really make you feel at home.  We loved the mural on the outside of the little drug store just around the corner from their apartment.  This is just part of the whole mural.

Well, we finally had to say goodbye to Cassidy and Nick, and begin Chapter 3 of our road trip - a meandering drive back to San Diego through the Great Southwest.  Post coming soon!

Nick's and Cassidy's Big Move to St. Paul

Nick and Cassidy moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, this month.  I was pleased they accepted my offer to help them move.  I packed Blue with a van load of their possessions and we began the adventurous drive to their future home.  After arriving in St. Paul, Gail joined us for some Minnesota fun before she and I drove back across the country on our own.  This is Chapter One of the big adventure.

In Cassidy's family driveway, getting ready to push off.  Her family's country home in Atascadero is surrounded by oaks and pastures.

Almost in her neighborhood is a house I used to live in in 1970-'71 when I was a psych tech at Atascadero State Hospital.

One of our first road breaks was at a "farm" before Tehachapi at the southern end of the Central Valley.  I believe this is the area where the Jodes of "Grapes of Wrath" were so elated as they looked down into The Valley and saw endless orchards and the promise of work.

This is the view I would see for the next 5 days (and even in my sleep) - the back of their  '87 Honda. This is I 15, heading towards Vegas.

Pulling alongside for a different view.

Looking at the sunset, heading east on I 15.

We were terrified when this wrong way semi came hurtling at us in our lanes. Just kidding - it was being towed backwards.

On the second day, we reached Salt Lake City late in the afternoon.

We stopped for the most delicious Nepalese food at The Kathmandu Restaurant.

In Wyoming, we started running into snow from the night before.  We also began seeing numerous prong horn antelope and deer.

I loved the wide open Wyoming "Big Sky" country.

Nick and I can NEVER resist a chance to throw snowballs at each other.  I scored first with this shot.

However, I lost big on the next snowball.

When Cassidy heard about Jackalopes, and the world's second largest, we made a special detour for her to Douglas Wyoming.  He was magnificent - even with snow on his nose!

Love at first sight!

We all loved the big fella, and especially enjoyed the time out of the cars.

Nick makes friends wherever he goes.  Here he fakes playing cards with his cell phone.

On the 3rd night, we stayed in Custer City, South Dakota.  We had a better than average dinner at the Buglin' Bull.  This area is close to Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore, and Wind Caves National Park.  The rock spires, cliffs, and forests were an abrupt change from Wyoming.

The next morning, it was 20 degrees outside our motel.

Across the street was this Flintstones Theme Park. 

We headed out of Custer and soon came to the entrance of Chief Crazy Horse.

Since the private enterprise was charging $10 per person to have a closer look, we made a u-turn out.  It doesn't look like much progress has been made since I last saw this in 1986.

Mount Rushmore was glorious, with white granite against clear blue sky.

Nick Clifford, who is now 91, worked on the heads from 1938 to 1941.  We chatted a little, and I bought his book.

At a roadside stop we had fun watching these prarie dogs.

 

Another attempt to catch the sunset in a rearview mirror - with unintended results.

 

We rolled into St. Paul after 5 days of travel.  Nick's and Cassidy's apartment is the upper left of this building.  It seems to be in the best spot for the building, and in a very friendly, clean neighborhood.

 

Relieved and pleased with the new apartment!

 

Two days later Cassidy picked up her "new" bike - a '70's Raleigh 10 speed in super condition with original paint and decals.

 

The next chapter will feature some highlights of the few days spent in St. Paul.  Stay tuned!