The Not-So-Hot Hot Springs

Day 4: Sunday, June 29, 2008

We attempted to find the hot springs in Hot Springs. Unfortunately, the locals were wrong and neither the river, nor Cascade Falls provided warm, healing waters.

Next up: a drive through the Black Hills.

Deadwood, which didn't look anything like it does in the HBO series. We spent a little bit of time in the casinos and I was the only successful gambler today: $6.95 from the nickel slots. Score! Lunch at the Deadwood Social Club was by far the best meal and service we have had so far. We've grown tired of the sad Midwestern fair and ice berg lettuce salad bars. (what I'd give for some NYC pizza...)

Sturgis is the site of the annual motorcycle rally, but what we saw today is a far cry from the insanity that will ensue in early August.

And so we leave South Dakota behind and move further westward to Wyoming, Cowboy Country. Yee-haw!

STATS:

Miles covered: 268

Number of successful badminton volleys in the motel parking lot: 35 (approx)

Number of t-shirts purchased in Sturgis: 11

Money lost gambling in Deadwood: $98.02

Enter the Badlands (or, The Never-ending Hike)

Day 3: Saturday, June 28, 2008

The Badlands National Park were named mako sica ("land" "bad") by the Sioux Indians. It refers to ow difficult it is to traval through because of the rugged terrain and lack of water.

In general, I don't think South Dakota really garners much thought from people, but I have to say, the Badlands are pretty awesome--after what seems like endless miles of flat grasslands (it IS the Great Plains and all) all of a sudden there are these deep canyons and tall spires among the Badland buttes. Lots of fossils have been found in the Badlands--the South Dakota state fossil (yes, apparenlty there is such a thing) is the triceratops.

This morning we went on a hike. I vetoed the 10 mile, 5 hour hike and we opted instead for the "moderate" 4 mile, 2 hour hike. Except to get to the trail, we had an addition 1.4 miles each way from the car. This seemed totally fine when we started out, but we were pretty exhausted by that last stretch. The severe wind advisory was no joke either.

Moving on through SD, we made quick stops at two very large stone monuments: Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial. We drove through Custer State Park where we were stopped by a herd of bison (tatanka!) crossing the road and then down to the town of Hot Springs for the night. We had dinner at the hipster hangout and it appears that none of the locals knew where anything was (e.g. nearest ATM, hot springs, etc.)

STATS:
Miles covered: 148
Prairie dog sightings: 50
Bison sightings: a whole herd (bison babies too)

Jackalope sightings: 0
Wind speed in the Badlands: "tornadic" (Vickie), "a million mph" (Christina), 60-80mph (Jamie)

Into the Heart of the Midwest

Day 2: Friday, June 27, 2008

After a quick view of the actual Sioux Falls the city is named after, we stopped by Mitchell, SD to see the Taj Mahal of agriculture, the Corn Palace. Established in 1892 so settlers could display the fruits of their harvest, the building is redecorated each year with 275,000 (or about 1000 bushels) of corn.

The next famous South Dakotan tourist trap we visited was Wall Drug, a block-long souvenir shop. Back in 1936 they began to offer free ice water to travelers and business began booming from there. Water is still free and coffee is only 5 cents a cup.

We spent the evening in Wall and partied with the locals at the Badlands Bar, where we played some pool, confused the wasted bartenders with our exotic orders (e.g. anything other than cheap beer), and learned some party tricks. There was also some practicing of '8s dance moves (video to be uploaded later...)

STATS:
Miles covered: 340
DQ consumed: 0
Games of Solitaire: 0
Souvenirs purchased: approximately 25

Jackalope sightings: no real ones, but a whole hell of a lot of fake ones

Manifest Destiny Begins

Day 1: Thursday, June 26, 2008

Road Trip 2008 begins! After a few days in MN spent shopping, hanging out with old friends, and eating far too much, I went to the MSP airport to pick the Team up. We picked up our rental car where the very strict rental agent told Christina and Vickie that THEY were responsible for ANYTHING that happened to the car as soon as the keys were in their hands. Unless they got additional insurance, of course. We decided to risk it and accepted the responsibility.

To start our journey we went to the mecca of shopping, the Mall of America, for a few hours of consumer bliss. It was my third trip there in 48 hours. And yet I still managed to find something new to buy. From there we continued onto Target to pick up some staples: snacks, cooler, badminton set, etc.

Then we hit the road, leaving my beloved land of 10,000 lakes and headed southwest to the Rushmore State. (Fact: SD was aquired by the USA during the 1803 Louisiana Purchase) We drove late into the night and stayed in Sioux Falls, the largest city in the state. En route we stopped in Blue Eart, SD where they have an 85 foot tall Jolly Green Giant statue conveniently located next to Dairy Queen.




















STATS:
Miles covered: 263
DQ consumed: 2 Blizzards
Games of solitaire played: 0

Go westward, young man!

Tomorrow I leave for my pre-RoadTrip visit to MN. I'm planning on spending some quality time with the Mall of America, seeing friends back home, and eating a Baker's Square French Silk Pie in a very short period of time. Two days later I'll be meeting the the gang and heading out west. We'll be driving over 1500 miles and spending all of our savings on gas.

The itinerary includes Minnesota (actually, just the Mall of America), South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado. The plan is to see as many monuments & state parks as possible: Wall Drug, Badlands, Corn Palace, Mount Rushmore, Sturgis, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, and the story of Jamie's life in Colorado.

We're also hoping for some wildlife sightings, such as bison (Vickie has already expressed her interest in hugging a baby bison while the rest of us stay inside the running vehicle, ready to escape as soon as an adult bison charges), moose, and maybe, just maybe, a mini-donk.

Oh, and if we're REALLY lucky, we'll see one of these:

The famed jackalope.

Legend has it that the jackalope is a hybrid of the pygmy deer and killer rabbit. Jackalopes also have the uncanny ability to mimic human voices, especially to elude capture. For instance, when chased by people, it will call out phrases such as, "There he goes, over there," in order to throw pursuers off its track. Folklore has it that the best way to catch a jackalope is to lure it with whiskey, as they have a particular fondness for this drink (amen, sister). Once intoxicated, the animal becomes slower and easier to hunt.

A brief interlude in the tropics

I went down to PR for a quick jaunt. I was recovering from a weeks-long flu that turned into a sinus infection, so the warm sea air (and the antibiotics) was good for the remainder of my convalescence.

There was not much of note during our trip, although we did get lost one night in Luquillo. We asked many a local how to get to this one restaurant that was written up in all of the guidebooks as good local fare (and we all like good local fare). At one point, we drove by some guy walking down the street with something slung across his back. A minute later we decided he was cute and should have stopped him for directions. Victoria had some concern that instead of what I thought was a yoga mag he was carrying, it could have been a machete, or worse yet, a drum. And then he would have gotten into the car, killed us both with it, and taken our car. So I suppose it is a good thing that when we double-backed to find him he had disappeared into the bushes. We eventually found the restaurant, but it was closed. Alas, we had to drive back into San Juan for our dinner.

El Yunque Rain Forest.


















Gianormous snail in the rain forest!















Rows of food stalls in Luquillo. Mmmmm. Rice and beans.

The LP

We recently went up to Lake Placid again this year, and there was snow this time!

We ice skated:

Aaron shows off his backwards skating moves.

Many angry rounds of Uno (and Taboo) were played at the dinner table.

We even visited the Lake Saranac Winter Carnival. (It's much smaller than the MN Winter Palace.)

But there was the women's Fry Pan Toss competition!

We also attempted, for the second year in a row, to ride the Toboggan Chute, where they push you down this chute....

Onto the frozen lake:




Unfortunately, the lake was not frozen and the chute was closed (and the goddamn Olympic bobsled was supposedly "sold out" for the whole weekend) so we checked out the laser tag joint in town. It was the saddest room we had ever seen.



And so, we resorted to going back to the house to sit in front of the fire, eat way too much junk food, and work on the most evil puzzle ever: