Making our way to Minneapolis

Day 181 - St. Paul, MN - Mostly Sunny Mid 60's:

Ahhhhh I LOVE TO SLEEP! We slept in a bit today and woke up VERY slowly. Mostly we hung around the house for the morning. It's the first of two weeks of finals for Hannah (not the ideal time for us to arrive) and so we laid low so she could do some work until breakfast. Jonah had gone into work while we sleeping and returned with muffins in tow not long after we woke up. It was a wonderful treat!! Once Jonah was back we spent out time catching up. For lunch the boys went out and got pizzas for lunch. I tried my first Mexican Pizza. Instead of sauce they use refried beans. I'm not a bean fan but the pizza was so good.

After lunch we headed out to visit the MALL OF AMERICA. Our first stop was at IKEA so Hannah could get some picture frames and so Ben could have his first IKEA experience. From there we headed to the mall and spent some time just wandering through the endless stores before Ben and Jonah made their way to the racing store where they were able to race against each other. Meanwhile Hannah and I made our way to the shoe stores. We caught back up with the boys and then headed out as it was nearing dinner time. We made a quick stop at Trader Joe's so that we could introduce Jonah and Hannah to "two buck chuck" wine. We wouldn't be drinking any until dinner the following evening but we wanted to make sure we had it on hand.

We returned to the house for a bit before making our way to one of Hannah and Jonah's favorite dinner spot Barley John's. We attempted to eat outside but it was just too cold so we moved our party inside. It was a DELICIOUS dinner and after we returned home to relax on the couch. We had to get to bed fairly early as we had big plans for breakfast


Day 180 - Rapid City, SD to St. Paul, MN - WINDY, Overcast and Cool Mid 40's:

We actually managed to get an early start on the day to our delight and were on the road around 8am. We had about a nine hour drive to reach Jonah and Hannah's and had planned to stop at Badlands National Park on our way. The day started out great we had been seeing signs for Wall Drug "America's #1 Roadside Attraction" on the highway for most of South Dakota and so decided to stop as it was the same exit as the Badlands. I'm still not quite clear on the whole story but ultimatley it felt like an old western town. The "drug store" is certainly more than that...it has many different stores within it including a fudge shop, a boot shop, and a drug store. It also has family attractions like gold panning and a restaurant that seats over 500. We didn't spend a ton of time there but Ben did try one of their homemade donuts...just so you know "not as good as Gug's".

From Wall Drug we headed straight for Badlands National Park. I had no idea really what to expect here but I am SO glad we drove through. The park is mostly a driving loop with a few short hikes. Considering our time constraints and the weather we had planned just to drive the loop and head out. The park is BEAUTIFUL. It is so different in terms of colors and scenery than any other park we have seen. While there we even got to see BIG HORNED SHEEP!! We couldn't get a great picture which was disappointing but at least we got to see them. We took lots of pictures as you can see before heading out of the park.

Not too long after leaving the Badlands we hit our own BAD LAND. The land of flat tires. Let's be clear THERE IS NOTHING IN SOUTH DAKOTA!! Here's the story. We got the flat. Ben took out our donut which was a bit flat. We looked to find the nearest city that MIGHT have a tire place and it was fifty or so miles away. Rather than drive on a slightly flat donut we decided to call AAA. We have 100 miles of free towing and figured it was in our best interest. While we were waiting for our tow we called EVERY tire place we could find only to discover that the ONLY place that had a tire in the size we needed was 90 miles away and 30 miles our of our way. After about an hour and a half the tow truck FINALLY showed up. Thankfully Nick was a nice guy because we had to spend quite a bit of time with him. We arrived at WW Tire to get our new tire. The guys were GREAT. We had a new tire and were on our way within twenty minutes.

From there we headed straight to Hannah and Jonah's. It was a LONG LONG LONG drive. We made a few stops for gas dinner and more gas. By the time we were about a mile away we had reached complete sillyness. We were laughing at EVERYTHING...thankfully Ben was driving because I couldn't see I had so many tears streaming down my face. We FINALLY arrived at the Daigle residence at around 2am. Hannah was still up awaiting our arrival and Jack woke Jonah up so he could say HI. We chatted for a minute and then went straight to BED! It was a long day but it ended wonderfully with the sight of familiar faces.

Day 179 - Denver, CO to Rapid City, SD - Snow and COLD Mid 30's:

Today we got up bright and early and made our way out of Denver. The weather was quite different from yesterday as instead of 70 and sunny it was 30 and snowing. Our drive was rather uneventful. We made good time and arrived at the Crazy Horse Memorial around 3pm. Crazy Horse is a memorial being carved in the side of the Black Hills of South Dakota. Much like Mount Rushmore honors the great men of America, the memorial is in honor of one of the great men of the American Indian Nation. Unlike Mount Rushmore though Crazy Horse is being carved without the assistance of the US Government. It is a continuing project solely through the funds of donors and admission fees. The project was started by Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear on June 3, 1948. We were able to watch a video of Ziolkowski work on the mountain as a one man operation. He had wooden staircases to the top and a crank compressor at the bottom to work with...it was an AMAZING feat as he said at times he would have to climb up and down the stairs nine times a day due to the poor condition of his compressor. Ziolkowski has since passed but the project is continued by his wife and children. The museum offers so much history on Native American people including the Indian Museum of North America and The Native American Education and Cultural Center. It also includes Ziolkowski's original home built by hand at the base of the mountain. You can actually tour the home and his studio and view many of his INCREDIBLE sculptures. Ziolkowski was not anyone that I had heard of but his work is some of the most beautiful I have ever seen.

Crazy Horse is no where near complete and likely won't be for many years as funding continues to be an issue but the goal is unchanging. When it is complete the Crazy Horse carving will be 641 feet long by 563 feet high. His head which is already complete is 87 feet 6 inches. The horses head which they are working on now is 219 feet high or the equivalent of a 22 story building!!! Although the carving is the focus now eventually the property will be an entire complex including the American Indian University and Medical Training Center, a new American Indian Museum, a road that allows visitors to drive around the mountain, and improvements and expansion of the visitors center and gift shop. We learned about this place from a friend and although it's not finished, it is a wonderful place to explore and learn about American Indian history and culture.

From Crazy Horse we made the short drive to Mount Rushmore. We knew that the visitor center would be closed but made our way to the park. As we drove we saw MOUNTAIN GOATS! I was so excited!! After parking our car we headed down the walk of nations to the viewing area for the monument. It is such a neat thing to see. I still am amazed as I was at Crazy Horse with the ability of people to carve in a mountain. The monument was smaller than I had anticipated but thrilling nonetheless. The only disappointment was that I was not able to get one of the National Park Brochures to add to our ever growing collection! We spent some time walking around taking pictures before heading out to finish our trip to Rapid City, SD.

We made it to the hotel and quickly unpacked the car so we could eat dinner! We were able catch game seven of the Red Wings/Coyotes series to Ben's delight! We spent some time on computers and visiting the hot tub before Ben headed out to a local casino. To his dismay it was only video poker so he only stayed for a few minutes before returning home. We both needed to get some rest as our longest driving day of the trip so far was just a few hours away!