- September 19 - Portland > Pasco, Washington (near Walla Walla) - Drove along the Washington side of the beautiful Columbia River Gorge, including part of the Lewis & Clark Trail. Saw a WWI memorial in the form of a concrete replica of Stonehenge. Visited with Jennifer's Aunt Ginny and Uncle Ralph at their farm in Pasco.
- September 20 - Pasco > Spokane, Washington - Spent the morning at the farm with several of Jennifer's cousins, whetting our appetites for future visits with her relatives. Drove to Spokane and strolled the city's Riverfront Park with its two-story tall Radio Flyer sculpture and a 1909 carousel featuring hand-carved animals.
Spokane's Radio Flyer! Can you spot Jennifer between the trees?
- September 21 - Spokane > Missoula, Montana - Gorgeous drive along Coeur d'Alene Lake and St. Joe National Forest south to Moscow, Idaho. Beautiful patterns and hues in the harvested wheat fields. Drove down a 2000-foot drop to Lewiston, Idaho via a ten-mile winding road engineered in 1917 (think San Francisco's Lombard Street at a mammoth scale). A long drive along Lochsa River finally brought us to Missoula, Montana.
Russia? Nyet, it's Idaho.
- September 22 - Missoula > Kalispel, Montana - Just missed Clinton, Montana's annual Testicle Festival, a celebration of a delicacy (from bulls, in case you're wondering) that we didn't mind being late for. More appealing were the majestic bison we drove among in the National Bison Range north of Missoula. Also seen in the preserve were elk, Pronghorn antelope and White Tail deer.
Driving through the bison preserve. Visitors are warned to stay in their vehicles when bison are present and watch the tails for signs of agitation (tails held high preceed charging). These bison were tranquil.
- September 23 - Kalispel > West Glacier, Montana - Visited the Mystery House, where gravity does some strange things indeed.
Gravity goes awry at the Mystery House.
- September 24 - West Glacier > Shelby, Montana - Drove through part of the Glacier National Park - snow and ice closed the road near the highest pass, so we had to backtrack and drive around the park. Northwest of Shelby, we drove 40 miles up a gravel road to find land near the Canadian border which had been homesteaded by Jennifer's Great-Great-Aunts in the 1800s. Jennifer and her family still own mineral rights on this property (known to them as "THE LAND"), so we thought an inspection of the oil wells was in order.
Bruce documents THE LAND.
- September 25 - Shelby > Billings, Montana - Took the aptly named scenic route with its snow-capped mountain peaks and plenty of deer and antelope playing, er, rather, grazing.
On the road to Billings, Montana.
- September 26 - Billings > Hot Springs, South Dakota - Spent the day driving across eastern Montana and Wyoming to reach the Black Hills area of South Dakota. Saw deer, antelope, coyote, eagles, prarie dogs and even more bison. While in our five days in Montana we encountered only a few small patches of burned forest, we passed miles of scorched earth upon entering South Dakota.
Burned forest in South Dakota's Black Hills.
- September 27 - Hot Springs - Spent the day in Hot Springs, a small town filled with beautiful sandstone buildings, including our hotel. Had breakfast in a small diner/antique shop among chatting townspeople, shopped for $150 western hats (browsing only!) and walked along the stream which runs through town.
Hot Springs, South Dakota.
- September 28 - Hot Springs > Wall, South Dakota - Monument Day for us in the Black Hills. We started with the Crazy Horse Memorial, a work-in-progress started in 1947 by Korczak Ziolkowski and being carried on by the second generation of the Ziolkowski family. Planned for a height of 563 feet and intended to dwarf the Great Pyramids and the Statue of Liberty, this sculpture of the Native American warrior Crazy Horse will eventually be the largest sculpture on Earth. The 87-foot face alone has taken 50 years to form.
Later we proceeded to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. While smaller in scope than Crazy Horse, we found it even more awe-inspiring. Mount Rushmore was to us almost a place of myth, like Atlantis or Camelot. We could hardly believe we were there.
That evening we entered the outskirts of the famed Badlands, planning a daytime tour the following day. The town of Scenic on the south edge of the Badlands is anything but its name implies; more like a living ghost town.
A 1/34 scale model of the Crazy Horse sculpture in the foreground with the actual sculpture-in-progress seen just to the right of the horse's head. The 87-foot high face can be seen in profile.
Mount Rushmore, the Shrine of Democracy.
- September 29 - Wall > Sioux Falls, South Dakota - Started the day at Wall Drug, the world-renowned drug store / western emporium which advertises with billboards as far as 500 miles away. Drove through the Badlands, a stark area of dramatic and sinister eroded forms in sharp contrast to the richly wooded Black Hills. Visited the Mitchell Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD, an exhibition hall over a century old decorated inside and out with murals made of corn.
Bruce surveys the South Dakota Badlands, referred to by (reference pending) as "Hell with the fires out".
Yes, the designs are made entirely of corn. The birds love them.
- September 30 - Sioux Falls > Mason City, Iowa - Ran some errands in Sioux Falls, then drove east through southern Minnesota before turning south to enter Iowa. Chose this route to a) say we were in Minnesota on this trip and b) to be near Mason City, Iowa, a town with two Frank Lloyd Wright buildings we plan to visit the following day. Oh, yes - also did laundry.