Road Trip: Midwest

Tonight we've finally made it to the Chicago area after 2 days of driving from Rapid City. Last night we stayed in Minnesota on the bluffs of the Mississippi River and I was squealing like a little girl about the bugs. God, give me a good old Washington state slug any day. They grow mosquitoes the size of mosquito hawks in Minnesota and I spent more time hiding in the tent than enjoying the views. I'm embarrassed to say that I have this weird panic thing when I comes to mosquitoes. I have seen bears and huge elk across the trail from me on backpacking trips, held tarantulas, let huge Australian stick bugs crawl all over me, but put me in a cloud of mosquitoes and I panic. Even the clouds of these ugly big moth things in Dubuque today didn't bother me. I know - weird. Anyhow, I have survived my multiple panic attacks and am ready to brave the cockroaches of Chicago tomorrow. We'll be in the area for several days so I'll try to post again before we start the trek back to Wyoming.

The picture above was taken at the Spam museum, which I joked about in a past post. We ended up stopping there and were happily surprised. The place is an amazing museum. I'm not joking! There was all of this history, fun and goofy interactive games, and much more. Even for an anti-spam person like me it was a blast. Seriously! Once you see my waymark you'll believe me.

Road Trip: South Dakota

Today we finished our time in the Black Hills of South Dakota and drove across the state to Sioux Falls, stopping at both natural and unnatural highlights along the way. The natural stops where Sylvan Lake, in Custer State Park near our campground. What an incredible spot - you can climb the huge boulders out in the middle of the lake, and then cool off afterwards with a swim in a pristine mountain lake.

After stopping there we continued east to the mother of all roadside attractions - Wall Drug. We had a blast in this land-o-kitsch. Truly, you have to visit this place to believe it, but be prepared to leave a hunk of cash behind. A couple bucks here, a couple there, and before you know it your wallet is much lighter.

Next we moved on to Badlands National Park. What a beautiful area! If I had it to do over, I'd make sure to hit this area early in the day so we could do a hike before it got too hot. Also, pictures of the formations would be much better with morning or evening shadows. The pic above is from one of the many overlook areas along the loop road through the badlands.

We had a few more adventures in some wild places, but you'll have to check out my waymarks in the next month to see them. Tomorrow we cross Minnesota and camp on the bluffs of the Mississippi River. I'll try to post to the blog in a couple of days when we get to the Chicago area.

Road Trip: Evanston, WY to Devil's Tower

We had a long, hot day on the road and reached our campsite at the entrance to Devil's Tower National Monument with a rain storm chasing us down. The tent was up in record time and we went to the pool for a swim in the rain. Like any good Washingtonians we didn't let rain spoil our fun. The view from our tent looks out over the tower to one side and the red cliffs above the Belle Fourche River about 50 feet to the other side. Amazing! Tomorrow we'll hike the monument early in the morning and then head over into South Dakota. The photo for this post was taken from our campsite looking at the cliffs above the Belle Fourche. We'll be in Custer State Park at Sylvan Lake for the next two days so no wifi until the day after that. Waymarked some incredible stuff today. Can't wait to post the waymarks, but we're too busy having fun. I'll have time to post a few when I'm back at my in-laws in a week and a half. Happy Waymarking!

Way-Vacation Countdown: 1 day

We've reached that final, exciting day before the road trip. I likely won't be able to post for a couple of days because we'll be busy in Evanston, Wyoming shopping for supplies and packing up all of the gear that we sent ahead for the road. We'll probably have internet at Devil's Tower, so I'll try to post to the blog from there.

The toughest part of this trip will be leaving our dog Frodo for 2 weeks. I swear, I wasn't even this bad when my son was a baby. It's ridiculous. Shuttle Express picks us up to take us to Sea-Tac Airport at 4:45 am (I know, it's painful) so we'll be taking him to a friend's house tonight at 7. The hardest part will be leaving her house, because he'll give me that hang-dog look that's so pathetic and then give a little whimper. He works that look - uses it daily at the dog park as he makes the rounds trying to get treats from everyone.

I find though that waymarking is not as dog-friendly of a hobby as geocaching is. Most dogs don't like crowds and urban areas and there's a lot more of that in waymarking. With geocaching (at least the caches we like to find) dogs get to run through the woods and play with wild abandon. So, as much as I would like to bring Frodo along, I couldn't subject him to a plane ride and all the hours in cars and cities. He'll be much happier running around with my friend's dogs and getting to see his pals at the dog park a few times. In fact I'll probably go to pick him up when we get back and he'll look at me like, "do I know you from somewhere?"

Bye for now. Next time I write it will likely be from someplace in cowboy-land.

Way-Vacation Countdown: 2 days

One of the things we'll be doing on our trip is attending Troy's 20 year high school reunion. The reunion is actually located at a spot that I want to waymark - 3 National Registered Historic Places, Train Depot, Carnegie Library, Lincoln Highway Marker. They've renovated the town's old train depot and use it as a rental facility or for public festivals. It is the typical Western town set up - the train depot as the center of town, with the City Hall, Post Office and Library clustered around a public square in front of the depot.

It's interesting the difference between a small town in Washington and a small town in Wyoming. I grew up in a little coal mining town near the foothills of Mt. Rainier, and although it was definitely out in the country it was easy to get to nearby cities, malls, attractions, etc. In Wyoming a little town (and they are all pretty little) has nothing near it. The neighboring town is not 8 miles away, it's 80 miles away, and it's the same size as the one your in. It creates an isolation that is quaint if you are driving through, but not so nice to live with.

The culture is VERY different too. Let me tell you, it's a bit of a culture shock for a gal who grew up in a liberal area. However, the people are friendly as long as you avoid politics and the differences make it very fun to people watch. I'll be doing a lot of that at the reunion - until I wander off to do a little waymarking, that is. :)

The photo is this post is of Echo Canyon, which is actually in Utah on the way to the Wyoming border.

Way-Vacation Countdown: 3 days

Our son has always enjoyed the yearly vacations and bi-weekly camping trips we take over the summer, although at 13 we are testing the limits of how much he'll put up with. Last weekend he went waymarking with us to Point Defiance Park in Tacoma and after about 30 minutes wandering a rose garden and a Japanese garden, you would have thought he had been enduring Chinese water torture for a couple of days. Of course, he wanted to get back home to a new computer game. My hope is the combo of new books to read, his Nintendo DS, and the cash he'll likely get from his grandma and grandpa in Wyoming will be enough to keep him in good humor. Plus, I suppose when you're 2,000 miles from home it's not like complaining is going to get you anywhere fast.

To keep him happy (and therefore keep us happy) he gets to earn itunes credit along the way for good behavior, and we've bought a bunch of his favorite magazines and fun little gadgets and treats to dole out in the middle of the long driving days. He's actually a really great traveller and has been since he was an infant, but he doesn't handle heat well and that will be the problem. We also have a bunch of geocaches planned at rest stops along the way and 3 small squirt guns for water fights when we stop.

I suppose the real problem will be if he reads the blog and sees this post. Then I'll be in trouble. :) The picture in this post is from our most ambitious trip which took place about 4 years ago. All three of us backpacked the Lost Coast of California. We drove out into the middle of nowhere and then hiked about 30 miles along the pristine coast. We saw sea lions, and a herd of elk sunning themselves on the beach. Sea otters would pop up out beyond the surf and watch us playing on the beach. We didn't see a single soul the entire time we were on the trail. Amazing. Here Hunter is playing with a kite we packed along on one of the beaches we camped on. He did a great job as that's a grueling trail and most adults have trouble with it. I know that there's no way he'd tolerate it now.

Way-Vacation Countdown: 4 days

Only 4 days now until we hop on a plane to Salt Lake City, and then in a car to Wyoming. We've been planning the trip for a year now, so it's pretty exciting to be getting so close. I love this time before the trip. Everyone's so excited, things are getting packed, last minute chores getting done (unless of course you spend your time blogging).

We've sent two large boxes containing our backpacking gear to Troy's parents in advance of the trip. This weekend we packed up the rest of it and I was horrified at the amount of clothes that Troy wanted to bring. I told him he packed like a girl, which wasn't taken well. In the picture you see three suitcases. The two small ones standing against the wall are Hunter's and mine. The large one on the floor that Frodo is sniffing questioningly is Troy's - and that's after I had him put back about a third of his clothes. God, it's not like they don't have laundromats in the midwest. It won't kill us to do laundry once on the trip. He needs city wear, hiking clothes, running clothes, 20th class reunion clothes, and driving clothes...

He suggested we take a 4th suitcase, but I put the brakes on that. It will be bad enough dragging 3 suitcases, a laptop and various carry-ons through the airport.

Well, I'd better get moving and get a few of those errands done that I was talking about. I'll be back tomorrow to talk about way-vacationing with a 13 year old.