Badlands and Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota

We reached the Badlands National Park on Friday after driving west through Minnesota and most of South Dakota. The highway was an almost perfectly straight line through hundreds of miles of relentlessly flat and unchanging prairie land.  It was a relief when we reached the Badlands to see something other than fields of grasses or fields of crops.

From a distance, the Badlands appear like sharp peaks rising out of the prairie floor, but when you're driving through the park, it feels more like a canyon carved in to the land.

A two lane road weaves through the park, with pull-offs every few minutes.  Some people opted to stay in their cars and cram together in the windows to peer at the scenery through binoculars.  A lot of people had binoculars, which I didn't really understand since the Badlands seemed like more of a macroscopic than a microscopic attraction.

Since we'd made good time and reached the Badlands earlier in the day, we elected to continue on to Mount Rushmore, which is only a couple hours drive farther west.

While there are numerous campgrounds in the Black Hills National Forest in which Mt. Rushmore is located, we camped for free in the Wrinkle Rock camping area.  Lester did not mention that there were campgrounds with water, showers, and flush toilets in the area, only that where we would be staying did not have any.  Despite what it lacked in amenities, the campsite did have great views and easy access to rocking climbing.

During the night, a huge thunderstorm rolled through overhead; there was an unbelievable amount of lighting flashes and the accompanying thunder echoed off of the hills for long, loud seconds.  The weather cleared up by morning and we were able to visit Mt. Rushmore before the crowds arrived.

In the afternoon, we went rock climbing nearby (technically, Lester is rappelling in the picture below). 

We camped out the following night in Gillette, Wyoming, where, not to be outdone by South Dakota's huge thunderstorm, we had a brief hailstorm after dinner.

Our next stop is Yellowstone National Park.

New Ulm, Minnesota

On Thursday, we detoured briefly from I-90 for a small town excursion in New Ulm, known mostly for being the most German town in Minnesota.  The number one attraction is the town's monument to Hermann the German, the man who engineered an alliance between German chieftains to defend Germania from the invading Roman legions around 9 AD.

We climbed to the top of the memorial for a panorama view of the flat, sun-beaten town and had lunch in a cafe on the main drag.  Interspersed with hair and nail salons were a few gift shops selling German flags and garden gnomes.  We found a used book shop and bought a couple of books to hold us over for the rest of the trip westward.  While we shopped, we discovered that Mid-westerners have a surprising preference for romance novels, as evidenced by the number of shelves filled with books by Danielle Steele.

Chicago

We arrived in Chicago on Tuesday evening and left about 24 hours later, which is more of a statement about the lure of Yellowstone than the appeal of the city.  Although, $44 a day for parking isn't exactly a strong selling point for loitering about.

We fit as much in to our 24 hours as we could, starting with drinks and dessert 1460 feet above sea level (see the above picture).  On the left-hand side, you can just see the edges of Lake Michigan.

The next morning we went for a run through Millenium Park and made some new friends.

We also saw the bean and took some pictures before the rest of the tourists showed up, but before the homeless person living under it had cleared out.

Our remaining hours were spent at the Chicago Field Museum, which was generally very fun.  We had our picture taken with Sue the Tyrannosaurus Rex and perused the exhibits.  We paid particular attention to the wildlife and reptile exhibits, which housed the stuffed poisonous snakes and large brown bears that we hope not to encounter in the parks.

Leaving the city, we drove north into Wisconsin and camped at the Lake Kegonsa State Park for the night.  The park had a very nice lake (see below) and a tremendous amount of mosquitos.  We ate dinner in the tent and I squashed two mosquitos against the inside of the car windows.  I left them for the night as a warning to their kind.

We've crossed the Mississippi River in to Minnesota, which is even flatter and more full of corn then Indiana.

Mammoth Cave National Park

We arrived at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky on Sunday after a relatively short drive northward from Atlanta.  We skirted Nashville despite the allure of the Opryland hotel.  I was told by a co-worker that it is the world's largest hotel, but Wikipedia tells me that my coworker is a liar and that it is only the 29th largest hotel in the world.

Instead we opted for Mammoth Cave National Park, which, according to our guide, is the longest known cave system in the world with over 400 miles of discovered passageways.  Wikipedia has confirmed the truth of this statement.

We took two separate tours; the historic tour, in which the guide spent a good deal of time apologizing for slavery, and the new entrance tour.  Lester preferred the new entrance tour as it felt more "cave-y".  The latter tour had more of a geological focus and more interesting limestone rock formations, like the Frozen Niagara.

We camped out two nights at the Mammoth Cave National Park campground; the weather was pleasant and Lester only had to kill one hornet.

We're on our way to Chicago now and passing through Indiana.  It is amazingly flat.

Packing Our Lives Away

We spent the day packing all the of the stuff that we think we'll be needing for the next several weeks. Needless to say, there is a lot. We've consolidated most of it, and hopefully it'll all fit in the car. Here is a picture of most of what we're bringing before the loading of the car began. This picture is still missing most of our clothing. In hindsight, we're probably bringing too much camping gear. We'll see tomorrow if it all fits!

The cats will be vacationing in Connecticut with Beckie's parents for the rest of the summer.  They had a harrowing 16 hour drive from Atlanta to Torrington, most of which BeaBea spent wedged behind Lester's head.  Gracie was inconsolable and would not leave the litter box.

New Car!

In preparation for the trip and all the gear that we'll need to be bringing, Beckie and I got a new car! It's a 2014 Subaru Forester. The first car purchase for Beckie and I and a significant update to the '98 Civic.