cross country 2007

well, everyone, i made it! got here a week ago saturday, 11 august, after a whirlwind cross country adventure! the trip was great, sophie the cat was very well behaved, and joseph turned out to be an excellent partner in crime. by crime i mostly mean traveling...

click the post name for more pics!

8.5.2007 we left late sunday night after a rather chaotic packing of the car... i wasn't quite organized, but it all eventually fell into place. we drove all night to my parents' house in belleville, IL -- somehow it took 16 hours instead of the 13 it once took... not sure what happened! when we got there, around 2pm monday, it was at least 100 degrees and fantastically humid. sophie got out and explored my parents' house, she was a big hit with everyone, my parents came home and cooked a delicious feast, and my sister, her boyfriend, and his son came over, as did my grandmother. it was a very brief but sweet visit.

8.7.2007 tuesday we headed across missouri, took a short tour of downtown kansas city, drove up through iowa, took a shorter tour of dt omaha, dinner at a perkins in souix city, IA, sleep in souix falls, SD. i think we drove 600+ miles that day... not a very exciting day, but we made progress through the 'boring' stuff.


8.8.2007 wednesday we headed across SD on 90, stopped in mitchell to see the infamous(?) corn palace, which they apparently use as a recreation center. the entire outside is decorated in corn, and the design changes every year. then on to the badlands, which reminded me nothing of the movie but then i haven't seen the movie in years. sophie ventured out when we had our little makeshift picnic. she's a brave kitty:) then on to wall drug, the greatest tourist trap ever -- just tons of little shops stuck together. but hey, 5 cent coffee and free water! then on into the black hills down to custer national park, which is just south of mt rushmore.

side note: we happened to be driving the week of the sturgis motorcycle rally, so there were thousands and thousands of bikers everywhere... i'm not exaggerating! they were taking up the hotel rooms, and making the twisty mountain roads that much more ... challenging... to drive. luckily, joseph was kind enough to do all that nerve-wracking driving...

anyway, after a severely twisty mountain road called iron mountain road or something like that, we got into custer national park and saw a loan buffalo in the middle of the road at the bottom of a hill. dunno what he was doing down there by himself, but after gawking for a while, we tentatively drove past him so that we could see the rest of the park before dark. we saw some antelope, and a larger herd of buffalo later. then on to the town custer, where we spent an hour searching for the cheapest hotel room possible, showered, then headed to 'town' for dinner. we had a couple beers in the local bar, complete w/ sawdust on the floor, locals, and bikers, and met an overly affectionate native american woman and an elderly man who claimed to be a millionaire. a biker named lance gave me his sturgis bandana. it needs to be washed. we were clearly 'what's wrong with this picture' but it was definitely entertaining.

8.9.2007 thursday: rushmore in the morning, a drive through a biker-packed deadwood and sturgis to see what all the fuss was about. one of the funniest things in sturgis was the overly busty mannequin at one of the stands... unfortunately i didn't manage to get a picture! then a quick drive to devil's tower in wyoming, and in the evening a great mountain pass through the big horn mountains. we stopped in this great salmon colored rocky gorge w/ a waterfall and stream/river running through it, but it was a surprise and i unfortunately didn't have my camera on me! plus light was dwindling and we wanted to get to cody by night fall, where we again scrambled to find a hotel room, and then dinner b/c everything closed after ten pm but, thank goodness, granny's diner.

8.10.2007 friday was yellowstone, all day. lots of buffalo and beautiful natural wonders... colorful and smelly geysers, and of course old faithful and some elk. sophie cat accompanied us in her smaller softer carrier through our tour of the old faithful geyser area, and she was quite well behaved, only a few protesting meows. we managed to time everything just right, and saw old faithful blow twice, once from the viewing area from high up, and once when we were walking back from the inn after a quick lunch -- it just happened to be blowing again when we left! it was a little more impressive the second time, when we were closer.

next the tetons, which we saw w/ the sun setting behind them, so not the best light. the pictures do not do them justice. but they were still quite an amazing mountain range. spectacular, just like the guide books said. :)

then, in our disheveled low blood sugared state, we passed up the one available hotel room in jackson wyoming, b/c we weren't expecting to find one, it was $134 and we we so very convinced that idaho falls would be waiting with ample hotel room space at half the price... but alas. there was not one single available room from idaho falls to salt lake city. well, salt lake city might have had some, we were told, but that was not at all in the direction we were going. so, tired and fairly miserable, we slept for a couple hours at a gas station in nowhere idaho. then pushed on through the night... poor sophie was stuck in her crate for a long time, but she came to sit on my lap for a while, and was otherwise mostly sleeping.

8.11.2007 we made it to portland by 2pm saturday, less than 6 days after leaving new york! unfortnately, no bed, so no naps...

8.12.2007 we drove along the columbia river gorge, on the scenic road, and hiked to the top of multnomah falls. we tried to see the salmon jumping up the ladders at the bonneville dam, but there was a barge moving through and it was a 45 minute wait and we had to turn in the car so... but the gorge was beautiful and it was a nice little hike to the top of the falls, which i think are the fifth highest in the country.

and that was the trip. :)