Rocky Mountain HIgh again - hotel is at 9100'

Yesterday we left Wyoming and headed south to Colorado.   Most of the day was spent on Interstate Hwys.

We made our first stop at the state capitol building Cheyenne, WY - a spot neither of us had been to before.  We spent some time inside the building viewing the portraits of the governors and the two chambers.  We actually met the WY governor in 1981 on another vacation to WY so we had to look him up.

Eisenhower Tunnel

Then we headed south to Colorado.  We took Interstate 70 west and it is quite a ride - several tunnels, double decker lanes through Glenwood Canyon, past Vail, Copper Mt and Beaver Creek ski areas, and construction, of course.  Very pretty!

Our destination - Snowmass Village north of Aspen.  It is a world class ski area.  We are here for a music festival -



Tonight and tomorrow are both free concerts at the base of the ski lifts in the village on a nice grassy area.  Our friends Pete Huttlinger and Mack Bailey with his wife, Rachel Levy will be playing.  They have done house concerts for us.   We are looking forward to seeing them all !

This is a three night stay for us so we are all unpacked and out of suitcases for the first time.

We will be in the state of Colorado until Thursday, July 24 - stay tuned....

Miles yesterday = 377.  TO = 6911.

No more miles until Sunday....

Three States and Four Presidents

This morning we left Wall, SD pretty early.  Certainly there is not much there to make us want to linger.

After an hour or so continuing west on I-90, we exited in Rapid City and headed south.  After a full day yesterday of seeing the prairie roll by, we were pleased to see the landscape start to change as we entered the Black Hills of South Dakota.  They are mountainous, and heavily treed, not unlike the Sierra Nevada's an hour or so east of home.

Our destination, of course, was Mount Rushmore.

It really is quite an impressive place.  The likenesses of the four Presidents are very well detailed, right down to Teddy Roosevelt's eyeglasses.

We spent a couple of hours there and left feeling like it was definitely worth the visit.

The bulk of our driving today was in the post-Rushmore interval.  We deliberately chose a path that was a bit longer than the quickest route in order that we would have a chance to see some of Nebraska, a state that is new to both of us, and that we would not have otherwise entered.

We were in Nebraska for 3 to 4 hours.  It welcomed us with a brief, but VERY intense rain shower.  On a road with a speed limit of 65 MPH, we had to slow down to about 30 MPH.

Lynne snapped a picture of an interesting pair of fellow travelers out along the roadway.

Tonight we are in Torrington, Wyoming, a town just barely over the line from Nebraska.  We were at the hotel less than 15 minutes after entering this lovely state.

Miles today = 305.  TO = 6530.

Tomorrow we return to Colorado, a state that we passed through and thoroughly enjoyed on our eastbound leg.

♪ ♬ On the Road Again ♪ ♬

Our respite in the Twin Cities area ended early this morning.  At a few minutes after 7:00 AM CDT, we were on the road.

And, it ended in a big way.  Today was our single longest drive of the entire trip - our one and only day of booking over 500 miles.

We spent the morning going south and west in Minnesota, and, somewhere around mid-day, we crossed into South Dakota, a new state for both of us.

A VERY frequently repeating sight along Interstate 90, both in Minnesota and South Dakota, are the billboards for 'Wall Drug'.

The word 'Wall' refers to the town of Wall, SD, which is where we are staying tonight.  We have no idea why the second word is 'Drug', because we visited the store before dinner, and it's really a fair-sized, and very well marketed, mall catering to tourists.  It's a nice enough place, but we never saw any evidence of anything resembling a drug store.

A short distance outside of this town we visited Badlands National Park.  This was not part of our plan, but we made such good time on our long drive, that we decided to drive the short distance out of the way to visit this site.  As it turns out, that was a very good decision.

The sights are very good in the Badlands.  Lovely rock formations with many layers clearly visible.

Definitely worth the time and extra distance in you are taking I-90 in either direction.

Miles today = 523

And, we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone.  That's the last time that we will have to change our clocks until we are almost home.


Tomorrow - Mt. Rushmore!

A very welcome break from life on the road.

Tonight will bring an end to a break from the road, 4 nights and 3 days in duration.  We are enjoying life in a private home, home cooked meals, sleeping in the same bed more than once, and the presence of family.  The hotels and restaurants, while very nice, were getting a bit wearisome.

We have spent the last couple of days playing tourist in the Twin Cities and loafing!

Before dinner Friday night we went to a local park in Eden Prairie for a musical gig in a very nice outdoor amphitheater.  Quite fun!

Saturday we loafed while it thundered and rained HARD outside.  'Twas a good day for grocery shopping and laundry.

 
On Sunday, we took the Twin Cities metro transit lines around town.  The Blue line is only 10 years old and takes you from the Mall of America in Bloomington to the Minneapolis Twins stadium downtown - "Target Center".  If you are not following baseball - it is where the All Star game will be played Tuesday night.  So - we found quite a bit of activity and a very beautiful stadium.  There is an outdoor amphitheater there with a very large screen - we think so you can watch the games for free!

Then we hopped back on Metro to catch the Green line - only a month old - to the capital city of Minnesota - St. Paul.  The train passes the University of Minnesota (the "U"), the capitol building and ends at the newly redone Union Station - which lies next to the Mississippi River.

To get back to our vehicle at the end of the Blue Line we had to switch trains several stops back and had a chance to see where the new NFL Vikings stadium is being built.  It will open in 2016 and host the Super Bowl 2018.

Also today, Lynne took Paula (sister-in-law) with her to get a pedicure - sweet !

Who is tanner?

And we get to stress out Nona the kitty who is not very fond of strangers in her house!

No new trip miles - just around town.....

Tomorrow morning, very early, life on the road resumes.

♪ ♬ Back in the USA ♪ ♬

 

 OK - we slacked and have not blogged in a few days....   but we are back in the USA now.


Thursday, was another point A to point B type of day.  We left White River, ON and headed to Thunder Bay, ON over the north side of Lake Superior.

Aquasabon Falls - Lake Superior

 We expected to see lots of the Lake and did - and it is Superior! - we mean HUGE!

When you take a long road trip you expect to see roadkill.  We saw signs warning of Moose crossings a lot in Ontario.  Well - we did see a moose, but it was on the side of the road if you know what we mean.  No photos....

 
We also saw a moving train - they do exist in Canada!

We saw road signs along the Trans-Canadian highway that were memorials to a "Terry Fox".  We see signs like that at home but they are usually specific to one location.  The Terry Fox signs were constant and then we saw one that said "Marathon ends - Terry Fox memorial".  There is a park located just outside of Thunder Bay in his honor and it was fascinating.  Look him up on the internet - quite a story.

Friday we did head back into the USA expecting to take a boat ride to Isle Royale.  This is a National Park that is an island in Lake Superior.  It is the USA's least visited National Park and we thought - what great fun.  Well - Mother Nature had other ideas.  It was raining and pretty hard so we headed to Duluth, MN for lunch and then to Lynne's brother's (baby bro Ron to Lynne - known as Uncle Dodo to nieces and great nephews) house in Eden Prairie.  That is where we will be for several days.  You know - home cooked meals, laundry, space....

Gooseberry Falls - north of Minneapolis

Duluth, MN

Minneapolis, MN

Miles Thursday = 241.  TO = 5279.

Miles Friday = 369.  TO = 5651.

In the North Country

For the last two days, we have been traveling generally north and west as we move counter-clockwise around the two northern Great Lakes, Huron and Superior.

Yesterday, we left Niagara Falls and traveled to Sudbury, Ontario.  Nothing much to say about that segment.  Sudbury is a pleasant enough town, but for us it was merely a place where it made sense to stop for the night.

The noteworthy thing about yesterday was that, for the first time on the trip, we got a really significant rainfall.  We've had one or two encounters with a gentle mist, but yesterday we got a good, proper, heavy rain.  We were driving through it for the better part of the whole day.

Thankfully, only a gentle rain was falling when we arrived at the hotel, so we did not get soaked as we unloaded the car.

Miles yesterday (Tuesday) = 308.  TO = 4645.

Today we spent the day on the Trans-Canadian Highway, following, as we said, the coastline of Lake Huron first, and then Lake Superior.

We had lunch in Sault Ste. Marie, which is on the St. Mary's River. That is the river that permits Lake Superior to drain into Lake Huron.  Here's a photo from the restaurant.

The bridge that you see links Canada with USA (Michigan).  It spans the river, and the locks that permit shipping traffic to move between the two lakes.

Contrary to our expectations (having consulted the map), we found that, as one follows the shore of Lake Huron, the road almost never gets close enough to the shoreline for one to actually see the lake.  This picture was taken from a site that is maybe 2 kilometers shoreward from the main highway.

Conversely, once you get past Sault Ste. Marie and onto the road around Lake Superior, one sees magnificent views of the lake virtually around every turn. Here is a sample of a view directly from the main road.

That land mass that you see is NOT the opposite shore, but rather an island.  The opposite shore is FAR to far away to see.

Tonight we are in White River, Ontario, population 1,000.  This is the northernmost place where we will spend the night, though tomorrow's path takes us a bit farther north before we curve south.  We are at latitude North 49 degrees.  Compare with Sacramento at 38.5 degrees. So, even ignoring East/West, we are more than 700 miles north of home.  As we post at a few minutes before 10:00 PM, the sun is just touching the horizon.

This town's claim to fame is that it is 'Where it all began', with the referenced 'it' being Winnie the Pooh.

There is a park across the street from our hotel memorializing this fact, with plaques and a statue.  If you are ever passing through this town, it is definitely a 'Must-See'.  In order to do it justice, allow a minimum of 3 1/2 minutes.

Speaking of our motel, this is really a motel in the most traditional sense of the word, i.e., Motor Hotel.  The car is no more than 12 feet away from the bed.

And, when was the last time that you saw one of these?

Miles today = 391.  TO = 5038.

Tomorrow, last full day in Canada.  Then back to USA entering in the great state of Minnesota.

Oh, yeah sure, you betcha'!