Vacation Post #8

August 19th

Our first stop, just over the border from Wyoming, was Panorama Point, the highest point of Nebraska. It claimed it was near the intersection of Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska, but we couldn't find that point. Oh well.

The high point is on a bison ranch, and although we didn't see any bison here, we did find lots of their poop. And lots of flies, who were attracted to the poop.

We then headed off to Carhenge. What a waste of time! I had seen some pictures and thought it would be cool- Stonhenge recreated out of cars. BIG disappointment.



I thought it would be life size.
Wrong.

I thought it would actually look like Stonehenge.
Wrong.

We got there and Chris and I both kind of looked at each other and though, we drove 2 hours out of our way for this?

Yeah- if you ever think of going to Alliance, Nebraska- DON'T!

Consider yourself warned.

We started the drive towards Kansas but soon stopped to camp for the night. The campground was at a remote state park. Pit toilets and no running water. No big deal about the toilets, but the water was a bit of an inconvenience. There were some people smoking pot in the site across from us. Kind of sketchy place, but nothing else in the area.

And we also sampled "Potato Ole's" from Taco John's, or Taco Juan's, as we liked to call it. I don't remember where it was when we first saw the billboard for Taco John's, but Chris and I both thought it was a small local place. And then we saw another billboard. And then another. And we started to see billboards advertising Potato Ole's. We were starting to get intrigued. So as we left Alliance we stopped to get some Ole's. They essentially were small disks of tater tots. Not what we expected at all! And then by the time we decided we should sample other Taco Juan's cuisine, we were out of the Taco John's area. Oh well. Guess there's always the next road trip.

Vacation Post #7

August 18th

We departed Yellowstone and drove south through Grand Teton National Park- fabulous scenery. In fact, there had been great scenery the past few days.

We came to the town of Dubois (pronounced dew-boys) where I rode my second jackalope of the trip. See, I told you there would be more. This one was furry and actually looked like a "real" animal.

By early evening we came across a sign along the highway for Ayers Natural Bridge. This sounded interesting to us, so we made a detour to check it out. It was rather pretty, but I wouldn't exactly call it a bridge. The pictures of us below are on top of the arch, and as you can see, you wouldn't really use these rocks to travel over the water.

As we were sitting on top of the bridge we noticed the skies darkening. There was some camping at the bridge, but it looked pretty full so we got back in the truck and kept driving. We saw some other campgrounds, but they looked pretty exposed and the skies looked pretty bad.

So instead we spent the night at a motel in Douglas, Wyoming- Home of (what else) the Jackalope! We checked in, watched some tv, checked email, etc and then peeked out the windows. The sun was shining and no storm in sight. Oh well. At least I was able to get some pictures uploaded, so it was somewhat worth it.

Vacation Post #6

August 17th- Yellowstone National Park

I thought this sign was somewhat symbolic of our trip. After all, if Andrew hadn't been hiking the Divide we probably wouldn't have gone on this trip. The Divide passes through Yellowstone and as we were driving we passed it 2 or 3 times.

Unfortunately the day was a rainy one. It would start pouring for a bit, and then let up, and then start pouring again. Considering we hadn't had much rain yet on our trip I guess I can't really complain, but it was frustrating to have to deal with it on our one day where we stayed in one location.

Our first stop of the day was Old Faithful. We got there a little bit before it was due to erupt so we walked around a little bit and then went to get seats for the "show". The bench was wet so we sat on Chris' jacket. Not the perfect solution, but it kind of helped keep us a little dry.

Then a woman sits down next to us and says:
"My grandma told me never to sit on anything wet or you'll get the little bugs going up your yang-yang."
Excuse me? WTF?! Why would you say this to someone? Chris and I were so amused that I immediately found a scrap of paper in my purse so that I could write down her quote. And now Chris and I always talk about yang-yangs. And I made him take a picture of the yang-yang lady. That's her next to me- sitting on a rain bonnet so that the bugs don't go up HER yang-yang. Guess grandma taught her well.

After Old Faithful erupted we drove around more of the park and encountered some wildlife. Here are pictures of a bison crossing the road. There were many of those. It's interesting how people do such stupid things to get good pictures of the wildlife, myself included. Lots of getting out of the car and walking closer. Good thing none of them stampeded. We also saw an elk (that's it on the right) and later a herd of mule deer (below). Lots of the deer were walking around the road so it was easy to get good pictures.

Next up was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Very pretty. Unfortunately it was raining again by this point so we didn't go walking around much, although I would have enjoyed doing so.

And the final picture for this post, here's "home" on the road. This was the only place that we used the covering over the table, but it was very appreciated with all of the rain that we had.

Vacation Post #5

As always, scroll down for earlier posts.
This post covers August 14 - 16.

After leaving Wall on the 14th we headed off to the Black Hills. Our first destination there was Harney Peak, the highest point in South Dakota. This was the only high point of our trip that actually required hiking. The photo on the left is the tower at the top of the peak, and on the right is the view from the top. Harney Peak is the highest mountain East of the Rockies.

It was interesting, because we've been on other high mountains (which apparently were lower elevations than this) and we are always very cold at the top. Not with Harney. It was a rather warm day up there!

Hiking note- there are two common trails used to hike to the top. We had asked the ranger which to use and she suggested to go up one and down the other. Sounds great. Only one problem- we couldn't find the trailhead of the one she suggested. So instead we took the more difficult trail up and the easier one down. No biggie, but a lesson that there should be better signs in the parking area about where the trails are.

After our hike we took a quick dip in the lake at the base of the mountain to wash off some sweat and then we headed off to Mount Rushmore. The roads through the Black Hills are challenging. It looks like it should be a short distance, but they are so narrow and twisty that it took us a while to get to Rushmore.

There was a trail that went close to the mountain, but unfortunately we were tired from our hike earlier in the day so we didn't take it. Instead we poked around the visitor center and watched a film on the construction of the sculptures. Can you believe that most of the "sculpting" was done with dynamite? Those workers became very skilled!

We were supposed to spend the night at a campground in the area, but we had to get to Leadore, ID by the next evening to meet Andrew. So we canceled our reservation and started driving west. We headed into Wyoming. WE drove for a bit and then decided to stop at a motel for the night. What? All the motels in town don't have vacancies? But the next big town is 90 miles away. Back in the truck. We drove some more. We got to the next city. First motel- no vacancy. 2nd and 3rd motels, same story. 4th motel- smoking only. Ick. Luckily they gave us a discounted rate since we didn't want smoking.

The morning of the 15th we got up and hit the road. Soon we were driving through lots of smoke. Guess there were some forest fires. At one point we stopped at a ranger station to see if there were any road closures. There are so few main roads out there (and lots of mountains in the way) that we would hate to drive most of the way to our destination to later have to turn around and go back to get to a different road due to closures.

No roads were closed, but the next day we heard that a town we drove through later needed to have their street lights on in the middle of the day because it was so dark.

Around 4:00 we arrived in Leadore, population 90- and that number may have included the pets. Interesting that such a small town had two restaurants and two convenience stores. Andrew had gotten a room at the motel (which was run by the mayor who was also the taxidermist) and we stayed with him.

There were 7 other hikers in town, so we gave them all snacks and we hung around on the lawn of the motel chatting. After a while we went to dinner. when we got back there was a bit more chatting, and then some TV watching and then bed.

In the morning we all went out to breakfast. Chris and I were rather entertained watching the hikers eat. They really know how to eat! Pie as an appetizer followed by at least 2 full breakfasts, and then maybe some pie for dessert.

After breakfast they did some last minute food shopping at the convenience stores (and bought some corn dogs as a snack) and Chris and I emptied all of our stuff out of the bed of the truck. Then we piled 8 hikers plus their packs into the truck and we drove them the 15 miles to the trail. On the way back to town we came across a herd of cattle in the middle of the road. We didn't know what to do, but luckily there was a truck behind us. He passed us and started driving through the cows, so we followed.

We stopped back at the motel to get our stuff and then we headed off to Yellowstone. We got there early evening, set up camp, and enjoyed not being in a rush to get anywhere.

Vacation Post #4

As always, scroll down for earlier vacation posts

Our first stop of the day was Hawkeye Point, the highest point of Iowa. It is on a farm- pretty much in the owner's back yard. However, the owner is elderly and this year she recently moved elsewhere in town. The land was still being farmed adn the property looked like it was being maintained, so obviously someone is coming by the place. It will be interesting to see what happens in terms of high point access if she sells. (Some owners restrict access to select weekends which is a big pain if you are coming from far away. This was the case with Illinois.)

We then headed off towards South Dakota, where we would spend the rest of the day as well as the next.
Mitchell- home of the Corn Palace. Once considered as a posibility for the capital of South Dakota. This is a building used for basketball games, concerts, etc and the outside is decorated in corn and other plant material. Each year a different design is selected. Unfortunately the decorating was incomplete as they were preparing it for the upcoming festival. It was still pretty neat to see. Inside the building were pictures of other designs that they've had over the years.

After seeing all of Mitchell that we could (and there really isn't much to see other than the Corn Palace) we headed off to Wall, home of Wall Drug. Along the way we saw signs for the Pioneer Auto Museum. We decided to stop. Big mistake. The set up of this place was horrible. And the "informational" signs looked like something put together by a 10 year old. We definitely do NOT recommend this place. I think we left in less than an hour because it was that bad. The General Lee was pretty much the only good thing going for it.

We then continued on our way to Wall. We found a campground in town, about 2 blocks behind Wall Drug. It was a little sketchy looking, but it was cheap and convenient. After setting up the tent we crossed the train tracks and went to visit the Drug Store. Unfortunately, since it was later in the day, a number of the "attractions" seemed to be closed down for the day. That's ok though, we still seemed to get the flavor of the place. And here I am riding my first jackalope of the trip.

And in other news....

Today's non vacation related post is brought to you by the movie, Blades of Glory. Yup, love, love, LOVED this movie! Couldn't wait for it to come out in the theatre, saw it and knew I would be buying it.

Today, it came out on DVD. Chris picked it up on his way home from work and we watched it tonight. So funny!

Vacation Post #3

Sunday morning (12th) we packed up our campsite just before the skies opened up and the downpour came. Luckily the rain didn't last too long- or we just drove through it.

Here's a view of Lake Michigan, taken from the car. As we traveled along the Upper Peninsula we lad Lake Michigan to our left, and later Lake Superior to our right.

So here's Lake Superior. Gorgeous lake. Wish I had taken the time to put on my bathing suit to jump in the water. Instead, while Chris took a potty break, I went down to the water and took a few pictures and waded into the water.



A little after mid-day we reached our next destination- Mt. Arvon, which is the highest point in Michigan. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere and we had to take a number of logging roads to get to the top. Unfortunately the directions in our book were a little out of date as the logging roads had changed in the past 5 years.


When we finally got back to town we stopped at the Hilltop Restaurant for some lunch and a "world famous" sweet roll (to go). That sweet roll was huge! Unfortunately, by the time we ate it the following day it wasn't all that good. Check out the link to their restaurant and please explain to me why they think the baby is good advertising. Personally I think the baby is a little scary looking.

While on the way to our next stop, we drove through the town of Rhinelander, WI. While driving down the street we looked over and saw this. Aaaaagghhh! What is that thing?! Meet Happy the Hodag. WTF is a hodag?



Finally we reached Timm's Hill, the highest point in Wisconsin. We climbed the short distance to the high point, took our pictures, and headed back to the truck.

The Upper Peninsula had taken us much longer than we had anticipated (plus having hit some traffic the day before) and we were feeling a little behind schedule, so we did some extra driving and got a little bit south of Minneapolis before stopping at a motel for the night.

Vacation Post #2

Please scroll down for post number 1.

Welcome to Canada! Our next destination was Mt. Arvon, the highest point of Michigan. From Niagara, the easiest way to get there was to cut across Canada and then up through Michigan to the Upper Peninsula.

So Saturday morning we headed to the border. I don't think the border patrol knew what to make of us when asking what our destination was, what we were doing in Canada, etc.

When we entered Canada:
Q: What's your destination?
A: The Highest Point of Michigan
Q: So once you get there you'll be coming back this way?
A: No, then we head off towards Yellowstone....

When we entered back into the US:
Q: What were you doing in Canada?
A: Just passing through. We were at Niagara Falls this morning.

Pictured at left is Lake Ontario. We were to see 4 of the 5 Great Lakes on this trip.


After a full day of driving we reached Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The pictures here are of the 5 mile long Mackinac Bridge which connects the UP from the rest of the state. And because of this bridge we were able to "claim" seeing two more lakes- Lake Huron was to our right, and Lake Michigan to our left. This would be our only view of Huron, but we would see more of Michigan the next day.


After crossing over the bridge we immediately saw a sign for a State Park so we decided to see if they offered camping. Score! We set up, had dinner, and then walked down to the water. We didn't stay there long because the bugs were biting like crazy. Back at camp we made a fire and I had my stupid moment of the trip.

We had gotten a new lantern to use on this trip and we had just assembled it. After lighting the lantern, part of it seemed to be loose, so I reached up to tighten the screw. OWWW! Yeah- the metal screw was hot! I burned two of my fingers on the second day out. One of them has healed, but the other one still isn't back to normal.

Vacation Post #1

So I think trying to talk about my entire vacation (16 days) in one post would be a little too difficult, so I think I'll break it down over the next few days.

We left on Friday, August 10th. First destination was Niagara Falls. We got to the campground (a KOA) and were utterly shocked at how expensive it was. As a family we never stayed at KOAs but Chris' family had and he had fond memories and I remember Darlene saying that it was their campground brand of choice. However, since I'm a state/national park kind of gal, I was thoroughly disappointed in this campground.

Not only was it $50 a night (for a bare tent site with no hook-ups!) but the sites were so close together. If the site next to us had been full we practically would have been breathing down each others necks. We were to later learn on this trip that not all KOAs are created equal. They vary greatly in price and amenities.

But back to my story....

So we arrive at the campground in the early evening- set up the site, make dinner, etc. Then we headed off to the Falls. For photographic lighting purposes it might have been better for us to wait until the morning to go to the falls, but we were on a pretty tight schedule and since we could go at night we figured we should.

We decided to go on a tour of the Cave of the Winds. Perhaps "tour" isn't really the right word. You take an elevator down towards the bottom of the falls, and then follow some platforms and stairs and get right up at the bottom of the falls. The wind and the water power is amazing! However, since it was night our pictures aren't so great. Without the flash it's pretty dark, and with the flash all it picked up on was water droplets near the camera- not what we were trying to photograph 10 feet away. Oh well. It was still fun and we got a few pictures.

After we were back at the top of the falls we took a few more pictures and then settled in for fireworks, which they have most weekends during the summer. This was a nice treat and I got to test out how the new camera did with fireworks- much better than my old camera!

After fireworks we walked around the park a bit and took more pictures of the falls and then headed back to camp.

I was glad we took the opportunity to do the Cave of the Winds. I've been to Niagara twice before (this was Chris' first time) but both times before we had only viewed the falls from the top. Many people suggested that we should view them from the Canadian side, but we didn't do that. Maybe next time?

There's No Place Like Home

After 15 days and 6901.4 miles, we are back at home! It's so nice knowing that we don't have to set up the tent tonight. More about our trip later, but just wanted to say we're back.

Oh, and about this picture? This is a sign on the Mass Pike in the Western part of the state. A few days later we passed through Oacoma, SD. Unfortunately they don't have a similar sign. :(

Long time no post...

Wow, 2 weeks since my last blog post. So much for trying to blog at least once a week. I kept meaning to get these pictures up, but it just didn't happen.

All of the pictures here are from a trip to Vermont that we took last weekend. I took Friday off from work and we headed up in the morning, and then back later in the day on Sunday. I realized that it takes us longer than I would think to break camp- a good thing to know before our upcoming vacation as I consider our long days of driving and now I know we'll have to get up a little bit earlier so that we have enough time.

Our first stop (not counting a quick stop at King Arthur Flour) was Ben & Jerry's. We took a tour, checked out the "Flavor Graveyard" and had a sample of icecream. And of course took cheesy touristy pictures. Next was a stop at Cabot (mmm.... cheese) and then we headed to the campground.

One thing that my family "collects" are highpoints, or the highest elevation of each state. My Dad started collecting these and as a result I've done a number of them with him. Now I've started doing some others with Chris. In fact, on our upcoming vacation we hope to get 7 more states. So on Saturday we hiked Mt. Mansfield, the highest point in Vermont. It is a mountain that is owned by Stowe Mountain Resort (a ski resort) who has a road up to almost the top of the mountain. In order to get some extra summer income, they charge you to drive up the road. So, we drove as far as we could and then had about a 45 minute hike to the peak. It was pretty cloudy on the way up, and when we were at the top it started to sprinkle, but on the way down the clouds moved away and we got some nice views. When we got back to the parking lot the clouds moved back in. Perfect timing!

After the hike we went stopped by a craft fair and although we didn't make any purchases, I did see a few things that I really liked and am considering getting a custom-made piece as a gift for my brother. Hopefully he'll like it.

As we were heading back towards the campground we saw a sign for the floating bridge. Not knowing what a floating bridge was, we figured we should go check it out, so we followed the signs and here's what we found. Ok, now here's my thing- I can understand creating one floating bridge for the novelty of it. In a small town maybe it could become a tourist draw (hey, it drew us in). And maybe when that bridge disintegrates I can understand replacing it with another floating bridge. But this one was replaced SIX times! At what point do you think that maybe this isn't such a good idea and just create a normal bridge?

Sunday, we took yet another walk to the firetower in the campground (I think we climbed it every single day) and then headed towards home. We made a quick stop in Hanover, NH. The Appalachian Trail goes through town and we were kind of hoping to do some trail magic. However, way too many people and really no hikers. We saw one, but he looked like he was just out for a short hike, not someone we would want to give Magic to.

And in other news, I got just a tiny smidge of scrapping done- one card (didn't scan) and two layouts that you can see here and here. DH slightly complained about my choice of materials on the second layout as I used paper and embellishments of things that he hardly ever uses. Oh well. I still thought they were cute. And now only 6 layouts until I'm "caught up" before my trip. If I'm lucky I'll have a chance to do one of those before we leave on Friday.