bmac’s blog

We left Sioux Falls and headed to Fargo, North Dakota today.  But first we stopped at the Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet.  OMG!  It was one of the highlights of the trip for me!  I read the Little House books in 3rd grade.  I remember the librarian at my grade school, Mrs. Shaughnessy, suggesting these books to me, and I was hooked.  I stayed up late many nights reading them, a bad habit I continue until this day.  And when the tv series started, I was a fan from the first episode.  The homestead has a replica of the house the Ingalls lived in, their barn, and their well.  And also a dugout, shanty, school and garage that represent life on the prairie during that time.  The people who staff the homestead really enjoy what they do, and have a passion for sharing the stories and facts from that time. I was worried that this would be a big disappointment, but it was the opposite of that.  The visit was a real joy!

Dave and I headed to Deadwood on the 5th day of our adventure.  We both enjoyed learning about this town, its very colorful history, by taking a walking tour.  Gambling is legal in South Dakota, the vast majority of shops, hotels and restaurants have slot machines.  The gambling profits were and are used to fund historic preservation.  I like the karmic balance of this!  I learned that Deadwood is called Deadwood because when the first miners arrived, the gulch was filled with dead wood, trees that had fallen down the slopes and amassed.  I always thought it was related to the killings that occurred.  Also, the main street has been restored to what it looked like from the turn of the century.  It is not a street of wooden buildings, like one would expect, but a town of bricks and mortar because it had been rebuilt after 3 fires and 2 floods.  So it does not look like a western town ala a western movie.  We saw a gunfight reenactment, and it was pretty cool!

The 6th day we went to Mt. Rushmore.  Wow!  It is as spectacular as I imagined!  The walking tour around the base that frames the sculpture and the various faces is great!  And learning all about the history of the creation of this monument is inspiring.  I wonder if this kind of monument was proposed today, would it occur?  We then went on the Needles Highway, with its hairpin turns, one car tunnels, and views of Mt. Rushmores.  We took it slow and easy, and had a fabulous time.  Lastly, we went through Custer State Park again, and saw BUFFALO!  We got up close and personal with one, and heard it roar, bleat, or whatever it is called that they do when the talk!  We also saw burros.  They came right up to the car and wanted to get in! 

Today we left Rapid City and drove to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  Along the way we stopped at Wall Drug.  I love the story of Wall Drug, and the fact that it is still family-owned and operated.  We had donuts, free ice water, and coffee that cost only 5 cents.  Then we toured the Badlands.  It is hard to not overuse this word, but truly, the terrain is amazing! We stopped again and again to walk to the edges of the canyons and take pictures.  This was a beautiful drive!  Finally, we stopped at Mitchell's Corn Palace.  I did not know beforehand that this was a civic establishment, I thought it was named after a person, like Farmer Mitchell.  So again, I am very impressed that this tradition is almost 120 years old, and that it was created by the town of Mitchell.  We finally arrived at Sioux City, and a hotel that has a much more powerful internet connection!

Random thoughts:

We've had idyllic weather on this trip.  Today it rained a short time while we were in the Badlands, but the storm created very pretty cloud formations which made the views even more amazing.

There are DQs in every town in South Dakota!  I've always found it odd that Chicago does not have more ice cream establishments. And there are lots of other local ice cream places.  Ice cream and summer - the perfect combination!

I play dj with xm while Dave drives.  I kid you not, Coldplay is being played on 2 or 3 stations at every minute of the day.  C'mon, they are not all that!

Today we ate lunch at the GTO Cafe, www.gtodiner.com, in Murdo, South Dakota.  A taste of Americana!

Almost everyone we have interacted with in South Dakota, cashiers, park rangers, wait staff, etc., have been SO NICE.  It is refreshing to my big-city, cynical self, and has even inspired me to smile and have more patience with the world.  (Sometimes I need reminding!)

The second day of our trip we traveled for 12 hours.  (We miscalculated the distance from Missoula to Rapid City by 100 miles.  The last 2 hours were L-O-N-G.  Thank goodness for 75 mph speed limits!)  We learned that two back-to-back days of 11+ hours in a car are not really fun!  But the scenery was amazing!  The mountains were awe inspiring.  The sky lived up to the Big Sky name.  There were ranches and horses and cattle and farms.  Every minute of the ride was beautiful.  We arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota at 8:30pm Thursday night. 

Friday we slept late (yea!), did laundry, and explored the quaint downtown of Rapid City.  The downtown is full of statues of the presidents on street corners, following the theme of Mt. Rushmore.  There is an alley called Art Alley where all the walls are covered in murals.  And there was a visiting exhibition about Pope John Paul II, in part created by Xavier University.  We also made time to see the Hellboy II movie - which was great!  We rested so that we would have energy for the next day.

Today we got up and hit the road early.  We went to Jewel Cave and toured it for 1 1/2 hours.  It was incredible!  We had a Park Ranger tour guide, Shay, who was charming and lovely. Then we went to Flintstones Bedrock City for lunch. This area is filled with fun and kitsch vacation spots, and we like to try a few of them!  Next we went to Crazy Horse.  This place is awesome and inspiring, to say the least.  The project is in its 60th year, and still faces a long uphill battle before it will be completed.  Finally, we toured Custer State Park in the hopes of seeing buffalo.  We did spot prong horn deer, but no buffalo.  Then we headed for our temporary home.

Quirky experiences:

We went to Wal-Mart in Missoula, Montana for batteries for the camera.  We went in the 20 items or less check-out aisle.  Two women with a baby were ahead of us.  They must have had over 100 items combined, far exceeding the limit.  The guy directly in front of us with 2 items was rightfully put out.  We exchanged rueful looks and comments, and when he got to the cashier he did make a comment. The cashier told him that it is "illegal" for her to deny service or send the person to another line.  Hmmmm....illegal?  Then why bother having these designated lines?  Missoula lost its charm for me right then.

Dave and I prefer to dine at local estabishlishments and experience the flavors of the region when traveling.  Some of the fun places so far have been Zips in Ritsville, Washington, Colonial House in Rapid City, South Dakota and Sanford's Pub & Grub in Rapid City, South Dakota.

On day 2 I had my first scrape, literally.  I tripped and fell in a gas station parking lot in DeSmet Lake, Wyoming because my shoes were not tied.  I have a huge strawberry on my right shin as a result!  Very pretty!

Rapid City, South Dakota has many streets named for saints, St. Ann, St. Patrick, St. John, etc.  We also saw a Saint Onge street!  Neither Dave nor I realized the prevalence of Catholicism in this part of the world. 

Dave and I packed the rental car and hit the road by 8:30am this morning.  Our goal was to drive from Portland, Oregon to Missoula, Montana, approximately 9 hours.  We made great time, and had amazing weather!  It was a beautiful, sun-filled, gorgeous day!  Although we were both tired by the end of the drive, we were really glad we did it.  The terrain we saw today was amazing.  Leaving Portland and driving along the Columbia River Gorge it is forested mountains on both sides.  We were expecting this, but it still was beautiful to see.  Then the topography changed to rocky, brown crags, Dave described it as "moonlike."  And then it was desert-like.  And then it was irrigated farmland amidst the desert.  This was amazing to us because neither one of us expected this kind of land formation.  Both of us were expecting forests and mountains, and a few green valleys, so were astounded by the sights and colors.  From Oregon we drove into Washington.  Spokane was the only place we encountered slow traffic due to an accident.  Spokane looks like a fun city, but we did not stop.  Then into Idaho.  Idaho is gorgeous!  We drove through the northern part, and it is a beautiful, mountainous, striking place.  This is a place worth further exploration in the future.  And finally we came to Montana.  Also beautiful and moutainous, before coming to the valley that holds Missoula. 

Quirkier notes from our day:

We stopped at two rest stops along the way, one in Oregon and one in Idaho.  Both were surprisingly clean! 

We saw the biggest Panda Express sign that we've ever seen.

We saw folks dressed as homesteaders pulling a cart across the land.  I think they are following one of the homesteading trails and reenacting that experience. 

The Broadway Inn in Missoula is good for one night, but not more than that.  It's a little run-down and ragged, but it does offer free wi-fi, and a casino.  (I hope our next Hotwire hotels are better.)  As Dave would say, there is not enough Purell to induce me to use the pool or hot tub here, or the laundry facilities. 

In a departure from the original purpose of this blog, I am going to post about the 2008 vacation adventure Dave and I have embarked upon!  I thought about creating a new blog, but that did not make much sense.  So here goes!

Dave and I left Chicago on Thursday, July 10th heading to Portland, Oregon.  We booked a car sevice to take us to Midway, and that was a great experience.  Our driver was very friendly, and she quickly and efficiently got us to the airport.  We flew Southwest, and it too, was a great experience.  Free curbside check-in!  Two bags checked with no additional cost.  Security was a breeze!  And we had time for lunch at Manny's deli.  From now on, it will be Midway as the preferred airport for this traveler!

It's a 4 1/2 hour flight to Portland.  We met others from Lexis, Michael Saint-Onge and Dianne Chambers, at the airport and took a cab to the hotel.  Dave and I had dinner that night with Michael and Cindy Spohr, at a wonderful place, Red Star Tavern.  http://www.redstartavern.com/.  It was lovely to eat outdoors and not have to deal with mosquitoes or other bugs, and the temperature was perfect, not too hot.  The next day I attended a day long meeting while Dave had a few adventures.  We had dinner with my team in the Pearl District at a tapas restaurant, Andina, http://www.andinarestaurant.com/.  It was fabulous!  We walked back to the hotel to pay for our indulgences, and stopped at Powell's book store.  Many librarians found their way to Powell's during this conference!  http://www.powells.com/  I brought 4 books with me, so I limited myself to only 2 more.  Saturday Dave and I went to Voodoo Doughnuts, http://voodoodoughnut.com/about.html with Liz Peoples and Elizabeth Cavendish, we also tried Stumptown Coffee Roasters, http://stumptowncoffee.com/.  True tastes of Portland!  Then Dave and I visited the Portland library, which is actually the Multnomah County Library.  It is a beautiful building!  And the interior is filled with warm wood and natural lighting.  And it was hopping on a Saturday!  That night it was back to work for me.  The next 3 days were filled with booth duty, programs and receptions connected to the AALL Conference.  I rode the light rail a lot going to and from the Oregon Convention Center.  One event was at the Portland Art Museum, and I did get a chance to eat at Jake's Crawfish Restaurant.  But other than that I did not get to see much more of Portland.  I would like to return when I have no work obligations!  It is a great walking city!  The conference had its high points, and that includes seeing friends like Julie Pabarja, Deb Rusin, Megan Butman and Holly Riccio.  But the real adventure began today! 

This is the book that inspired the tv series, Dexter.  I have enjoyed the tv show, so I was interested in reading this.  Surprisingly the book is not overly graphic in its descriptions of the murders.  And like the tv show, the ambiguity of how to feel about this lead character is there, he is a murderer, but he has been taught to kill those who are bad and evil.  Does the end justify the means?  And it also raises the question of nurture vs. nature.  Would he be a killer if not for the traumatic event in his life?  Could any of us be a killer after such a traumatic event?  And after that event, to be raised with love, care and affection, it does not save him, but it does affect him.  A very good book!

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

A friend of mine was moving to Australia, and passed along a number of books to me.  This was one of them.  Frank Capra is one of my favorite directors, but honestly, that doesn't mean I know much about him as a man.  So I was excited to read this, and finally committed to it.  It is a long book, 655 pages.  Immediately I was hooked because his story is an immigrant story and the story of the Los Angeles and Hollywood.  Capra was a man with personal struggles and demons, and often times he didn't follow the noble path, like his film protagonists, Mr. Smith or Mr. Deeds.  In the end I still admire his work, but am full of sadness for a life so conflicted, many of his own making.

Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success

This is the third in the Cork O'Connor mystery series.  And I am hooked!  A great story!  I want to travel to this part of Minnesota because of the amazing descriptions in these books.  And I am forcing myself to NOT run out and pick up the next book, I want to savor the stories.  At times the story is more graphically violent than my taste runs, but I can accept it as part of the pace and part of the place of the story.  

Purgatory Ridge (Cork O'Connor Mysteries)

I picked up the hardcover a few years ago on the sale table.  I was intrigued by the name and the synopsis of the story.  Finally read it and was really entertained!  Also, I found the story eerily parallel to my own life at times, some of what she said could have been straight from my mouth.  Which also made the story uncomfortable.  I debated whether or not I want to keep this book.  Or should I pass it along.  But for the moment I am going to keep it because it is prompting me to recommit to my own writing.

Children of God Go Bowling

After reading Chasing Vermeer, I found the second book by Balliett in my pile, and promptly read it!  The story involves the same children and again takes place in Chicago, and focuses on a Frank Lloyd Wright home.  Again, I was hooked!  I am curious as to what Chicago landmark her next mystery will feature!

Wright 3