(SDA: Day 8)
Today was officially the final day of my mini vacation. We went to some local malls where my older sister was looking for shoes, she found some...and so did I. We then packed everything into my vehicle, which is named Rexy (no one can say Xterra, so its been dubbed T-Rex or Rexy), and headed back for Iowa and my home or I guess it is! I have been gone so long that it is very strange to be back, but at the same time, very good to be back. And that my friends is the end of this adventure!
Until my next adventure Minions!
End day 8 & SDA.
(sorry no stats on this trip!)
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Softball, Birthday, and Chinese...a trio to reckon with!
(SDA: Day 7)
Hello minions! Another quick post for everyone! Today my parents and older sister came down to St. Louis. It being my brothers birthday, we decorated his apartment while he was at work. With that done, we went to some local ball fields where Nathan plays softball for the Boeing league. They also let family members play, and since the team was short a guy, I was able to play. Our team lost in the final inning 14-13, but it was a fun game. I had a couple of miss played balls out in the outfield, but I did catch one! However, I did much better batting. I went 4 for 4 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored! After the game, we went back to Nathan's place and cleaned up, and went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant near by. The food was really good! Sadly, I didn't have much appetite, but I was able to bring it home for a later date. We then returned to the apartment where we sang happy birthday to Nathan and let him open his gifts! Oh, and then we had ice cream cake. YUM! All in all, it was a very fun day!
End day 7.
Hello minions! Another quick post for everyone! Today my parents and older sister came down to St. Louis. It being my brothers birthday, we decorated his apartment while he was at work. With that done, we went to some local ball fields where Nathan plays softball for the Boeing league. They also let family members play, and since the team was short a guy, I was able to play. Our team lost in the final inning 14-13, but it was a fun game. I had a couple of miss played balls out in the outfield, but I did catch one! However, I did much better batting. I went 4 for 4 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored! After the game, we went back to Nathan's place and cleaned up, and went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant near by. The food was really good! Sadly, I didn't have much appetite, but I was able to bring it home for a later date. We then returned to the apartment where we sang happy birthday to Nathan and let him open his gifts! Oh, and then we had ice cream cake. YUM! All in all, it was a very fun day!
End day 7.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Go Cubs Go!
(SDA: Day 6)
Today was pretty uneventful. I spent most of the day updating my blog so you readers can enjoy my adventures and I just relaxed at Nathan's apartment while he was at work. Then, when he got home, we quickly got ready to go to the Cubs-Cardinals game. We had some pretty amazing seats. We sat near the grass area in center field just one row back from the wall. Even though it was at Busch stadium, a lot of people around us were Cubs fans. Everyone to my right in the row were Cubs fans, and a good chunk of the people to our left were as well, plus a few people in the rows below and above us. It was fun to have so many people rooting for the better team! You may think otherwise, but the Cubs did beat the Cardinals 6 to 4, so they have to be the better team!!! After the game, we quickly got back to Penelope (what we have now dubbed Nathan's car) and headed back home, and that is the end of my adventurous day!
End day 6.
(Sorry, we didn't take any pictures at the game. Oh, and previous posts have been updated with pics, so enjoy!)
Today was pretty uneventful. I spent most of the day updating my blog so you readers can enjoy my adventures and I just relaxed at Nathan's apartment while he was at work. Then, when he got home, we quickly got ready to go to the Cubs-Cardinals game. We had some pretty amazing seats. We sat near the grass area in center field just one row back from the wall. Even though it was at Busch stadium, a lot of people around us were Cubs fans. Everyone to my right in the row were Cubs fans, and a good chunk of the people to our left were as well, plus a few people in the rows below and above us. It was fun to have so many people rooting for the better team! You may think otherwise, but the Cubs did beat the Cardinals 6 to 4, so they have to be the better team!!! After the game, we quickly got back to Penelope (what we have now dubbed Nathan's car) and headed back home, and that is the end of my adventurous day!
End day 6.
(Sorry, we didn't take any pictures at the game. Oh, and previous posts have been updated with pics, so enjoy!)
Monday, May 14, 2012
Battery Power Required
(SDA: Day 5)
We were going to wake up at five this morning, but Nathan's phone died so his alarm didn't go off. So we got to sleep in until 7:30. Quickly getting ready, we packed everything back into the car, and grabbed breakfast. The good news, they had CEREAL!! They even had my favorite kind! How did they know! After eating breakfast we hit the road. A few hours later we left I-90 behind us and headed south on I-29. We made it to Kansas City were Nathan and I parted ways with Michelle and Saumya. They were heading for Wichita, and us for St. Louis. By nine that night both groups made it home. And that is the end of our South Dakota Adventure. However, now that I am in St. Louis, it is the beginning of another adventure for me! More posts to come soon!
P.S. Happy Mother's Day!
End day 5.
We were going to wake up at five this morning, but Nathan's phone died so his alarm didn't go off. So we got to sleep in until 7:30. Quickly getting ready, we packed everything back into the car, and grabbed breakfast. The good news, they had CEREAL!! They even had my favorite kind! How did they know! After eating breakfast we hit the road. A few hours later we left I-90 behind us and headed south on I-29. We made it to Kansas City were Nathan and I parted ways with Michelle and Saumya. They were heading for Wichita, and us for St. Louis. By nine that night both groups made it home. And that is the end of our South Dakota Adventure. However, now that I am in St. Louis, it is the beginning of another adventure for me! More posts to come soon!
P.S. Happy Mother's Day!
End day 5.
Highway to Heaven
(SDA: Day 4)
Morning greeted us with cool, crisp air, and a beautiful sunrise that brought the brilliant colors of the badlands to life. With our camp packed up and in the car, we drove back through the park. We took a different route out of the park. This route brought us face to face with buffalo. It was Michelle and Saumya's first time seeing one. We also saw another bighorn sheep, lots of prairie dogs, a burrowing owl, and a MASSIVE golden eagle.
Leaving the badlands behind us, we flew down I-90 toward the black hills of South Dakota. We passed Ellsworth AFB and sadly didn't see any B-1s. We hopped off the interstate and cruised for a while before we came to Mount Rushmore. Both Nathan and I had seen it, but it was the first time visiting the monument for Michelle and Saumya. There are some trails that lead close to the base of the carved faces and we hiked those. We tried to get a picture of Michelle kissing Mr. Washington, but I am not sure that it turned out so well.
Did you know that originally, the presidents were going to have their bodies carved into the rock as well? Unfortunately, it didn't work out because the rock wasn't suitable, so that is why it is just their faces. Although, if you look closely, George has a bit of his coat carved. We all agree though that Abe should have his hat though.
Having soaked up Mount Rushmore, we stopped at a place called Teddy's Deli in Keystone. They had some pretty good sandwiches. Filled with food and energy, we piled into the car (which we had repacked that morning, so now there was a bit more room...key words...a bit!) and started for Custer State Park. I have to say, the road that lead from Rushmore to Custer Stat Park is A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!!! It twists, it turns, it has CORKSCREWS, and then there are narrow tunnels only one car can fit through. And if you look north through them, the tunnels perfectly frame Mt. Rushmore!!!!! I would totally do that section of the trip again...just for the road!!!!
We entered the park and drove the wildlife loop were we saw more buffalo, more prairie dogs, more antelope, and our first wild burros!
At the south end of the wildlife loop we made a jaunt south to Wind Cave National Park, to do a tour of the caves we would have had to wait a couple of hours, so we decided to just skip it (but at least we can say we have been to that national park :) ). We then joined back up with the wildlife loop and continued north to needles highway where we heard that white mountain goats had been spotted earlier. Before we got to that section we hiked Cathedral Trail which leads up rocky terrain to a section of rock pillars. That was an easy and fun hike to do.
Once down we did the only thing you can do. Eat chocolate! :) OK, after that, we kept going and passed through some more cool tunnels. Sadly, we didn't see and mountain goats. Michelle wanted to go to Sylvan lake, so we drove there and stopped. The combination of the deep blue water and massive grey rocks made it beautiful. Other people must have thought so as well, because by the lake, chairs were set up for a wedding that was going to take place later that evening.
Having seen everything that we wanted to see, we left Custer State Park, and drove out of the Black Hills, and got back on I-90 and started to head back east. We made it to Murdo, were we got a hotel for the night. The receptionist was really nice. She gave us a discount and begged us to take all of the cookies off of a platter in the lobby--we obliged.
End day 4.
Morning greeted us with cool, crisp air, and a beautiful sunrise that brought the brilliant colors of the badlands to life. With our camp packed up and in the car, we drove back through the park. We took a different route out of the park. This route brought us face to face with buffalo. It was Michelle and Saumya's first time seeing one. We also saw another bighorn sheep, lots of prairie dogs, a burrowing owl, and a MASSIVE golden eagle.
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| A Bighorn sheep. |
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| Big Buffalo!!! |
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| The Golden Eagle flying away from us. |
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| You know you are in South Dakota when Prairie Dogs outnumber people 10 to 1. |
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| Just barely managed to snap this picture of the Burrowing Owl. It was pretty skittish. |
Leaving the badlands behind us, we flew down I-90 toward the black hills of South Dakota. We passed Ellsworth AFB and sadly didn't see any B-1s. We hopped off the interstate and cruised for a while before we came to Mount Rushmore. Both Nathan and I had seen it, but it was the first time visiting the monument for Michelle and Saumya. There are some trails that lead close to the base of the carved faces and we hiked those. We tried to get a picture of Michelle kissing Mr. Washington, but I am not sure that it turned out so well.
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| Saumya and Michelle enjoying Mt. Rushmore. |
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| Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln all look a little stiff in this picture. |
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| Kissing George. |
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| Nathan and I proving that we really were there. |
Did you know that originally, the presidents were going to have their bodies carved into the rock as well? Unfortunately, it didn't work out because the rock wasn't suitable, so that is why it is just their faces. Although, if you look closely, George has a bit of his coat carved. We all agree though that Abe should have his hat though.
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| Saumya standing by a model of what Mt. Rushmore was supposed to look like. |
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| One of the tunnels we passed through. As you can see, Mt. Rushmore is perfectly framed. |
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| The Burro posed for us. Wasn't that nice? |
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| Being adventurous, I scaled this massive mountain!!!! |
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| OK, as you can see, it wasn't that big! |
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| Several rock pillars on Cathedral trail. |
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| Sylvan lake. |
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| I think they are trying to tell us "the lake is THAT way." |
End day 4.
May The Trail Be With You
(SDA: Day 3)
Well, the morning of the big day. What big day, you may ask. No, not a wedding. No, not a spaceship ride, but that one is close. It's the day I get to go to Badlands National Park! My companions for the trip were still a few hours away from were I was staying with my aunt and uncle, so my uncle and I went and breakfast and coffee. There is nothing like having a couple of eggs, and a giant cup of coffee to get you set to go on a road trip! When my brother Nathan, his friend Michelle, and her friend Saumya finally arrived, we loaded my things into the already stuffed car; we just managed to make everything fit between the trunk and the back seat. Unfortunately for those sitting in the back, the space was pretty small. No matter, excited, we set off!
The trip to the badlands was mostly uneventful. Michelle and Saumya were entranced, maybe even shocked, at the small towns of South Dakota that we drove through. By about noon we made it to the town of Wall, SD, which sits right outside the badlands. For all of you who are scratching your heads trying to think were you have heard of Wall, you probably know it from Wall Drug. Wall Drug is a massive store in the middle of the town. Actually, in reality, its a bunch of mini stores in one, but that is beside the point. Have you ever seen those pictures with some explorer in some random part of the world (like the south pole, atop a mountain, or in a desert) with a sign post that has the name of the towns near it with mileage, and then there is a sign for Wall Drug, SD with how many miles it is until there? Yeah, thats the same place I am talking about. I am not sure how it became famous, but it is! After spending some time there at the stores and grabbing a bite to eat, we made a beeline for the park.
The first lookout that we came to we stopped and enjoyed the magnificent view of Badlands National Park. We also spotted what we believe were Bighorn Sheep.
We then crammed back into the car and drove through the park stopping at different locations to snap pictures. We finally made it to the part of the park that had trails, we stopped and hiked two miles on Castle Trail. Most of that section of the trial was flat, prairie grasslands, but there was the occasional awesome formation. We then decided to hike back to the car and try another trail further in the park. This trail was AWESOME! The start of Notch Trail is filled with a lot of small up and downs at the bottom of a canyon, and then we came to this spot that has about a fifty-foot rock wall where there are twin cables running down it with wooden boards secured between to make a ladder. It starts of gradual at first, but then it becomes almost straight vertical the last fifteen feet. Once we climbed that, we were atop the cliff on ledge with more rock formations on our one side and a drop on the other. We skirted the edge for quite a ways, all the while scaling up and down the rocky path. At one point signs warned us of dangerous cliff area and pointed us up and around it. After a bit more hiking, the area leveled out and moved away from the cliff. We hiked on this terrain for some time before we reached a gradual climb. At the end of this climb was a break in rock around us and a sheer drop. The view from here was magical. We couldn't help but sit and stare.
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| Posing by the entrance to the Badlands. |
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| Our first view from inside the park. |
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| One of the many places we stopped to take pictures. |
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| Enjoying the view on Castle Trail. |
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| Michelle demonstrating how to climb the ladder. |
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| Saumya using her navigation skills to lead us. |
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| The end of Notch Trail; the beginning of a great view! |
After tearing ourselves from there we made our way back down the trail and down that awesome ladder. Almost at the car, Nathan and Michelle stopped to take pictures, Saumya and I walked to the car and waited. While waiting, I noticed a super short trail, so I decided to see what I could see from the end of it. After one look, I quickly waved the rest of the gang over to join me. We were all treated to yet another great view.
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| This picture does not do justice to the amazing view we saw. |
From there we decided to get a quick bite to eat in the small town of Interior, SD. Population? 67. The only place we found to get a bite to eat was the Wooden Wheel Bar, where we all shared a surprisingly good pizza. We drove back out of the town, all the while marveling at various things of the town. For instance, the town jail, which is actually smaller than my bedroom.
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| Proof that we were in Interior, SD and that it really only has 67 people....at least until Michelle and Saumya move there! |
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| Ok, maybe its a bit bigger than I first thought, but its still pretty small. |
With the sun quickly going down, we hightailed it back in the park and found(just in time, i might add) a good view point to watch the sunset.
We didn't stay there long though, we still wanted light for when we set up out tents. Getting a campsite was easy, and setting up camp was just as easy. With the camp set up, we waited for the stars to come out, killing some of the time by talking about previous adventures. With it now dark, we cruised up to the parking lot by Notch Trail and sat and stared at the stars. I am always amazed when I go star gazing. The sky is so majestic and utterly beautiful. We saw a dozen satellites, I saw two shooting stars, and Saumya saw one. With still a big day ahead of us tomorrow, we headed for camp and tucked in for the night.
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| The final glimpse of the sun. |
End day 3.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Clay Pigeons-R-Us
(SDA: Day 1-2)
Hey Everyone!
Since my major adventure last summer I have done some smaller (by comparison) trips. I've gone to Maine for thanksgiving, St. Louis for an auto show, and South Dakota for work and family fun.
For the past few months I have been in South Dakota painting for some former customers that built new homes and wanted us to come back and paint them. As of Tuesday, the job is done. What does that mean for me? V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N-! Yesterday, I spent most of the day with my grandpa. It was an enjoyable time of listening to stories of his adventures in WWII, filling in crossword puzzles, and trying to get pieces put in his jigsaw puzzle. I then spent the rest of the evening with my aunt and uncle. I had a lot of fun with them. We played guitar and went trap shooting! It was my first time trap shooting and I actually did OK. I shot two rounds. The first round I hit 14 out of 25 clay pigeons, and the second round I didn't keep count, but I know it was a lot worse than my first round. Oh well, it was a very fun experience that I hope I can try again someday.
There is not a lot planned for today, other than catching up on rest, for tomorrow with be the start of a busy adventure that starts with visiting Badlands National Park!!!!
Until my next post munchkins!
Hey Everyone!
Since my major adventure last summer I have done some smaller (by comparison) trips. I've gone to Maine for thanksgiving, St. Louis for an auto show, and South Dakota for work and family fun.
For the past few months I have been in South Dakota painting for some former customers that built new homes and wanted us to come back and paint them. As of Tuesday, the job is done. What does that mean for me? V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N-! Yesterday, I spent most of the day with my grandpa. It was an enjoyable time of listening to stories of his adventures in WWII, filling in crossword puzzles, and trying to get pieces put in his jigsaw puzzle. I then spent the rest of the evening with my aunt and uncle. I had a lot of fun with them. We played guitar and went trap shooting! It was my first time trap shooting and I actually did OK. I shot two rounds. The first round I hit 14 out of 25 clay pigeons, and the second round I didn't keep count, but I know it was a lot worse than my first round. Oh well, it was a very fun experience that I hope I can try again someday.
There is not a lot planned for today, other than catching up on rest, for tomorrow with be the start of a busy adventure that starts with visiting Badlands National Park!!!!
Until my next post munchkins!
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