June 8, 2014
We slept in a bit for Hyla’s sake, as well as for all of us. It had been a rough night all around. Once we finally were ready to venture out, we decided to return to downtown Rapid City to investigate the numerous statues that graced all the corners. We suspected they were presidents, and closer observation proved us correct! It turns out Rapid City is the “City of Presidents.” The statue I stopped to see was Harrison, by the way. Good times!
After our brief stop here, we headed east on I-90. We had to stop at the world famous Wall Drug, just to gawk at it all. It really is a spectacle. The main attraction in the small town of Wall, SD, Wall Drug is a tourist “mall” of sorts, consisting of various gift shops, restaurants, and gimmicky tourist activities all run by a single family. We had lunch/breakfast (brunch?) at their main restaurant, got a post card, and looked at all the touristy gaudiness like a replica of Mount Rushmore, old west statues, and a T-rex that “feeds” every 20 minutes. Hyla did great with the scary dinosaur and watched intently as he roared and snarled. Sadly, it was pouring rain, so we didn’t get to pose with the jackalope statue on display in the play yard. Still, I’m glad I was able to share this unique place with Nate and Hyla.
From here we headed south and drove through Badlands National Park. Almost as soon as we entered we were greeted by bighorn sheep! They were just foraging on the hills beside the road. Since the rain was pretty intense, we opted to only do a few short hikes, mostly enjoying the scenery from the car. The geologic formations are really fascinating, but much to our surprise, they were mostly just mud and not really rocks. The rains created a good amount of runoff, eroding away at the large buttes, making it evident that these formations wouldn’t last very long in a geologic scale of time. It makes sense that this makes for good fossil hunting, however. I would love to come back and be involved in a dig! Maybe one day. We did the boardwalked fossil hike, which was interesting, but it was really too rainy to do much more with little Hyla, so we continued on to the visitor center and got her passport stamp before continuing on our way. We tried to visit the Minuteman Museum on our way back to I-90, but it was closed this day, so we’ll definitely do that next time.
Once back on the highway, we stopped at 2 rest stops for Hyla breaks before arriving in Mitchell, SD. We stopped at Hitchcock Park, a nice-sized place, to snag 3 of 4 geocaches and so that Hyla could play on the swings, her favorite activity. It was peaceful and lovely, and I’m so glad we stopped. Then we scooted over to the Corn Palace, the main purpose of our visit to Mitchell. We’d arrived as they were changing the façade, so we only saw some snippets of its corny glory. Unlike the time I visited with my mom, this time the building was open to the public, so in we went! It was a large auditorium, versatile in function allowing for basketball games and other sports, as well as theatrical productions on a large stage. The walls were decorated with murals of corn art, too. The area currently served as a fair-sized gift shop selling all things souvenir and corn. We browsed a bit until it was time for our “tour,” which mostly consisted of a movie on the Corn Palace’s history. Sadly, Hyla was getting pretty antsy, so we weren’t able to stay for the entire thing, nor discover if a walking tour was, in fact, part of the fun. Still, I’m glad we were able to experience what we did. What a neat place! SD does love their corn.
With dusk settling in, we continued east to Sioux Falls where we checked into another Super 8. We ordered a pizza and got our little one to bed eventually. Yet another busy day on the road!
June 9, 2014
Got up around 6 and hurried to get ready. Always in a rush, we have so many things we want to see and never enough time. Our first stop was Falls Park, which showcase the falls which give Sioux Falls its name. It was a lovely riverside park with a manicured lawn, a watch tower, and of course a series of waterfalls. We explored the area awhile, avoiding mean Canada geese and enjoying the light drizzle.
From there, we wanted to hit Hawkeye Point, Iowa’s state highpoint. I convinced Nathan to take the route through Minnesota, which was just slightly longer than the more direct route, just so Hyla could say she’s been to that state as well (her 15th). Hawkeye Point was one of the more interesting of the flat highpoints. It consisted of a marble marker, flags, some informational postings, a silo, and a small barn that you can explore. We didn’t spend too much time here due to the rain, but it was obvious that the people who tend to Hawkeye Point really care for it. We snagged two geocaches while we were there, and hit the road yet again.
It rained all the way down to our next stop, Le Mars, IA. We stopped for “breakfast” at the flagship Blue Bunny Ice Cream parlor. Nate and I shared a “pick six” in which we got to choose 6 flavors of ice cream and absolutely indulge. It was ok. Blue Bunny really isn’t my favorite brand of ice cream, but it was still a fun experience. We had arrived just in time, as some day campers were seeking refuge from the rain and pretty much took over the store from there. We did have a chance to explore the small museum of Blue Bunny paraphernalia upstairs before braving the rain back to our car again. While driving through Le Mars, we did get to enjoy ice cream sculptures that graced the sidewalks all around town. A very nice touch.
Cold and wet, we continued down to Omaha for our next adventure. Luckily, by the time we arrived the rain had stopped and the temperature had risen into the 70s. We arrived at the Henry Doorly Zoo and managed to explore the entire thing. They had some phenomenal indoor exhibits and a pretty stellar insectarium, too. This was certainly one of the best zoos we’ve seen, and I’m so glad we were able to finally visit. We grabbed dinner at the Upstream Brewing Co., which had decent food and good beer. Then we continued east en route to Des Moines. Luckily Nate was driving since I was so tired, and I fell asleep for a little while. We stopped briefly for gas and picked up some McDonalds since that was really all we could find. They forgot meat on my burger, of all things! Ahh, Mickey D’s. You make me laugh, ‘cause otherwise I’d cry. One of many reasons I rarely eat there. We finally made it to Jeanine’s house around 10 pm, so glad to finally stop and so excited to catch up in person. After a lovely evening, we nestled into the basement and passed out around midnight.
June 10, 2014
We accidentally slept in and woke up around 9 when Hyla started stirring. We’d considered visiting a hot air balloon museum, but decided not to after reading less than stellar reviews. I mean, Iowa has nothing on New Mexico ballooning anyway. Maybe we’ll try to visit the next time we’re in the area, though. Jeanine had to make some phone calls this morning, so Nate, Hyla and I decided to search around for some geocaches. This turned into a rather frustrating endeavor since accessing the parks was a lot more difficult than it appeared on the map. And once we found an accessible park, it was next to impossible to find any caches. On top of that, it was way more humid than we were accustomed to, and the mosquitoes were awful. Oh, and then there was the poison ivy, yet another eastern entity I’d forgotten. One of the cache owners thought it would be fun to place a cache in a bed of poison ivy. Now, I’ve never really been sensitive to it, but with Hyla around, I really didn’t want to risk finding out if she was. Eventually, after finding one cache, we made our way back to Jeanine’s.
We decided to head to downtown Des Moines to grab lunch at the Court Avenue Restaurant and Brewing Co. The food was pretty good, as were the beers, but we were less happy to discover that they charge $3 to split a meal. It would have been nice if the waiter had told us this when we ordered. Annoying.
After lunch, we drove down to Winterset to explore the six remaining bridges of Madison County. They were really beautiful, and the settings were great, but they were all almost identical. Not much individuality between them, but they were still fun to explore. At each stop, we would find swarms of cicadas buzzing in the trees and milling about. We just happened to arrive during the area’s 17 year periodic cicada outbreak. How exciting!! Hyla enjoyed meeting the little guys, too. One of the bridges was set in Winterset’s City Park. This was a huge, forested park, so we decided to hike around a bit. We attempted a few geocaches (Iowan caches are hard to find!), climbed Clark Tower, and snaked our way through a hedge maze with a sundial in its center. Fun times! While out and about, we also encountered a large group of volunteers learning about the various bridges, and we happened upon John Wayne’s birthplace smack in the middle of town. What fun!
Once we’d seen all the bridges, we were pretty tired. We made our way back up toward Des Moines where we stopped for dinner at Samurai Sushi and Hibachi in West Des Moines. Their mackerel was great, but the spicy tuna was nasty. Like, prechewed nasty. Bleh. Still, the atmosphere was good, and we really enjoyed ourselves.
After dinner, we went back to Jeanine’s and settled in again. We decided to watch “The Bridges of Madison County,” since we’d just experienced them and were excited to see the places on screen. Nathan and I hadn’t seen it before and didn’t know anything about the plot. We laughed our butts off, it was so cheesy. I found myself annoyed by it, after all was said and done. All the characters were just irritating, as was the plot. Oh well. It was good to see the bridges yet again, though!
June 11, 2014
We left Jeanine’s at 10am after making sure we had ALL of our stuff. It had been wonderful seeing her, and we were sad to say goodbye. The next leg of our journey was a 3.5 hour drive to Decorah, IA, in the northeast. Oh my gosh, was that ever a long drive! Lunch was another disgusting Mickey D’s that forgot a whole SANDWICH this time! “It happens,” I say…”Always!” I think. Haha. Our destination was Heritage Farm, the headquarters of the Seed Savers Exchange. I had been getting most of my heirloom seeds from them ever since Barbra Knight, my fifth grade teacher and friend, introduced me to them. We were curious to see their operations. Set on a beautifully wooded country road, a barn, farmhouse, and visitor center were the first things we encountered. We explored the gift shop a bit, oohing and aahing at all the varieties of veggies we could get, but holding off since we had such a long journey in a hot car ahead of us. We visited the barn and chicken coop, sad to see that no animals were present this day. We also wandered around the small gardens, just wishing we had enough land to grow all they can here. We took a hike through the woods behind the farm house and discovered the main operations in the fields beyond. Many large greenhouses were the production sites. We weren’t sure if we could go in or not, so we just enjoyed walking by. It was really a neat place. Maybe next time we could get a tour.
We spent maybe an hour here before decided we had to hit the road if we were going to see all we’d planned to. Our next stop was supposed to be the Field of Dreams filming site, but Nathan noticed that we’d be passing near another national monument on the way, so we decided to veer off and see that as we went. Effigy Mounds National Monument is set on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River just north of Marquette, IA. Driving through, I was excited to see that this was the same town I’d visited with Jenny and Alexandra many years ago when going to Pike’s Peak State Park. Such a cute little area, dotted with antique shops and Victorian homes and little cafes that are built into rocky hillsides. Love it! The National Monument centers around a number of animal shaped burial mounds scattered around the area. You really can’t get a feel for the shapes unless you’re above them, but they were interesting to see at ground level, too. We hiked a steep trail into the heavily wooded forests. On occasion, the trees would part, offering an incredible view of the great Mississippi River. It felt like the sacred place it was. We were really glad to have visited, even for a short while. We made sure to get Hyla another stamp, and were shortly on our way.
Back on the road, we headed toward the Field of Dreams site, which was just outside of Dubuque. We arrived about an hour after they closed, but we were still able to see the house and baseball field from the road. I guess they were setting up for a big Father’s Day event, one of many they do throughout the year, often with Kevin Costner present (this was really starting to feel like a Costner-centric vacation, what with the Tatanka site and all!). If we’re ever in the area again and time it right, I’d love to see the baseball player ghosts emerge from the cornfields. How cool that would be!
We headed east through Dubuque, onward past Galena, eventually stopping for the night at a Super 8 in Freeport, IL. We got dinner at Wendy’s which included a weird salad that incorporated both strawberries and onions. We had a lovely, quiet night with nary another guest nearby, and were lulled to sleep by the sound of cricket frogs chorusing outside the window.
June 12, 2014
Slept in quite by accident, getting up around 9. We must have needed it! We were out of the motel room by 11 and decided to make our first stop Krape Park. This was a rather large city park in Freeport with lots of activities for people of all ages. We hiked around in search of geocaches, battling mosquitoes and stinging nettles as we went. Out of about three searches, we only found one. On the way we admired an impressive manmade waterfall, a disc golf course, a statue garden with a dragon that Hyla loved, and a large playground. There were also lots of hills and trees, a carousel, and swan boats. It was a really neat park! I’d love to return during a less humid time of year, though.
Next we stopped at the Fossil Winery just north of town to do a tasting. They had a nice selection, and we opted for one of their rhubarb wines (which didn’t really fare well on the drive home, we later discovered). For lunch, we attempted to find a brew pub in downtown Rockford, but it was closed, so instead we wound up at the Stone Eagle Tavern, an interesting looking restaurant on the outskirts of Rockford. It maintained a castle type theme despite being in an area full of strip malls and box stores. The sign stated that this was NOT a chain restaurant, and it had been in business since 1976. Intrigued, we decided to try it. The menu was quite varied and reminded me of the nice old lounge restaurants we used to frequent while I was growing up. Sadly, the food wasn’t that great. I had the shrimp de jonghe, and it was just awful. Instead of tasting garlicky, it was full of onions and tasted like that. Bleh!!! Their “famous” creamed spinach was less than stellar, too. Regardless, it was still fun to try a new place, and I’d give it another shot, but definitely try something else in the process.
Continuing up the road, we made it to Schaumburg about an hour and a half early for our meeting with Jenny. Nate had never been to an Ikea, so we decided to check it out. It was pretty much as I remembered it. I always joked that if I wanted furniture made out of cardboard, I’d just cut up a box. Now, I know that’s a bit harsh. They do have some interesting things! My favorite was a stuffed wolf with a grandma inside! What?! Haha! I’d heard good things about their meatballs, so I decided to try them. It was a bit weird eating in such a sterile-seeming place – it almost felt like the food wasn’t quite real. The meatballs were decent, however, and I’m glad I tried them. Then we got a call from Jenny – she was early, too! So we finished up and rushed out to meet her at Cheesecake Factory.
We met up with her, George, and Desi, and we had such a great time catching up! It was so odd to be there with our daughters, too! How wonderful, though. We didn’t have nearly enough time to catch up sufficiently (we never do), but I’m so glad we were able to. It was great to see them all. Eventually, they had to leave, and the three of us hung out around Woodfield Mall a while, mostly just geocaching around the parking lot. We did walk through the mall at one point, where I got a lot of strange looks presumably because of my oudoorsman vest, but oh well. My fashion sense is just too cool, I guess.
We headed out as evening sunk in, making our way to the Super 8 in Elk Grove Village, nestled between the strip club and the dirty book store. I was surprised at how nice our room was, despite this. It was strange to be back in Chicago and to not be able to just crash at my mom’s place. It started to really sink in that Chicago isn’t mine anymore. For all the years that I forsook it, it really made me kind of sad. Such mixed feelings. With that, I bade the world goodnight.
June 13, 2014
Got ourselves out of the hotel by 10am and made it over to my mom’s house where we pored over what was left of our items in the garage and debated what we wanted to do with everything. Our tenants are doing such a nice job fixing things up, and we were so happy to see the progress they’ve made. It was good to talk with them, too. After our visit, we had a lot of time to kill, so we geocached around Norridge a while and drove around some which made me incredibly sad. Seriously, I grew up hating that town, but it still harbors a lot of good memories despite it all. I’m sad my mom isn’t there anymore, though I’m elated she’s with me. It’s weird and so full of conflict. I felt very strange after spending time there again.
We decided to get lunch at Gino’s East, home of the best deep dish anywhere. It was delicious as ever! Then we ran over to my eyebrow threading place where I got a girl I didn’t recognize. She must have been new, and she missed a number of hairs that I ended up plucking later. She claimed they were supposed to stay, but I had my doubts. Oh well. Then we stocked up on some Fannie May Candy to bring back with us in the cooler for my mom (which was a big disaster, ultimately, but she ate them anyway). From there, we geocached around Lutheran General Hospital before enjoying a Hyla-centric picnic lunch at Golf Mill Park. She actually ate her first entire jar of anything this time, in this case, pears. Way to go, kiddo!! Hyla enjoyed playing on the trains and slides, too. I just wish the old rocket slide were still there.
After all these mini adventures, we wandered around Babies and Toys R Us and then grabbed two more geocaches before it was time to meet Monica, Mike, Joanna, and Barbara at Jason’s Deli in Uptown Park Ridge. I was actually glad not too many people showed up because it was so much easier catching up with a small, intimate group. We had such a nice time catching up with everyone. It’s too bad we can’t get together more often, though.
Once we all parted, we had to make a quick run back to Babies R Us before hitting the road up to Jamie’s house. It was wonderful catching up with her one on one for a bit. We stayed up chatting until 1am. It was so nice of her to let us stay there, too! It felt just like old times when we were roommates.
June 14, 2014
Slowly got up with a big morning planned. We hung out at Jamie’s for a while before running out to get our 200th Illinois geocache as well as one in a park just over the border in Wisconsin. Then we rushed back to Jamie’s where Nate gave Hyla a bath, and I took a shower and got ready for Dave and Kristen’s wedding. Shantel and Stephan showed up, and by 1:35 we were on the road. We got to the church with about 15 minutes to spare, so we had some time to meet with everyone we knew. The ceremony was very nice, though Nate had to leave with Hyla during the processional. She couldn’t understand why everyone was looking at the lady in white and not her. After the ceremony, we ran back to Jamie’s to grab a few things we forgot. Then we dropped Hyla off at Jennifer’s (Jamie’s sister) house. This was the first time we’d ever had a sitter for her, and we were so nervous. Thank goodness she was with someone we knew, at least. It was hard to leave her, but she seemed quite uninterested in us and more concerned with the other kids and what was on tv. Jennifer texted us very shortly on letting us know that she was doing her signature “snorting” and cracking everybody up. We were so glad to hear that! That’s our girl!
The reception was nice, though I always forget how long they last. It was almost 9 by the time the dancing started. We only had time for a few dances before Nate had to run off and get Hyla. I stuck around and spent the night tearing up the dance floor with Sharon and one of Kristen’s cousins. The music was great, and we had so much fun regardless of how silly we danced. It really was a good time, and I’m glad we made it out. We made it back to Jamie’s around 1, and Hyla was fast asleep. All went well, and it was a wonderful day.
June 15, 2014
We hung out with Jamie, Shantel, and Stephan for breakfast before hitting the road. We had plans to meet Stacey, Elo, and Stacey’s new boyfriend Michael for brunch or pie at Baker’s Square. We were about 15 minutes late, but it all worked out. It was really nice catching up with them again. They all seemed very happy, so that was good to see. A little after noon we struck out again for points east. I was glad to get out of Illinois. It just has too many weird feelings for me. It was sad to leave so many friends behind, though. We drove through the city and downtown, over the Skyway, and into Indiana. I had very little sleep the night before (I woke up at 5:30 for some reason), so I napped a little bit before taking over the driving. Our first stop was Fun Center at Paige’s Crossing. I ran to the ticket booth to ask if adults could ride their roller coaster, and they said yes, so I bought my ticket, awash with glee. For a kiddie coaster, it was pretty intense and even dove into an underground tunnel! I had the whole train to myself, so I sat in the back row as it went around three times. Then we walked around the park some and let Hyla play on the frog and elephant slides. She loved it!
From there we headed down to Fort Wayne where we looked unsuccessfully for some geocaches. Then we decided to stop into Coney Island, the city’s famous hot dog joint. Nate was wise and got a burger, but I had to go and get one of their “famous” hot dogs against my better judgment. It wasn’t Vienna beef, after all, so I should have known I’d find it sub-par. It came with mustard and chili. It wasn’t terrible, but I wouldn’t get it again. I did really like the service there, though – everyone was very genial.
Next we headed south through Amish country, stopping at a park in the town of Berne to admire its enormous and stunning clock tower. Then we continued down to Hoosier Hill, Indiana’s high point. Shrouded in the woods, it was a quiet, peaceful location in the midst of endless cornfields. While there, we attempted to find a geocache, but Nate said he detected poison ivy (he tingles when it’s so much as in the vicinity) and I definitely detected mosquitoes, so we only looked for so long, unsuccessfully. After throwing in the towel we continued east into Ohio where we drove through Urbana, which just so happens to be situated in Champaign County, just like in Illinois! What a neat town, full of beautiful Victorian homes. In fact, most of the towns through which we drove were just lovely. It seemed a shame to only see them in the dim evening twilight. We made it to Marion about 11pm. It was so nice to see Nate’s Grandma and catch up some. Even though it was so late, she was wide awake and glad to talk, as well as to meet her newest great granddaughter. It was great to spend time with her and also to settle down for a few days.
Oh!! And this was Nate’s first Father’s Day as a dad! We really didn’t celebrate much, but I made sure he got his card. What a special day!
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