Day Ten - The Dalles (OR)

I figured out a new way to remember how to pronounce the name of our current location. Rhymes with "gals." Or "pals." Or "Sal's!" I like rhyming. That is one of the many reasons I don't much cotton to modern poetry. Much of it doesn't rhyme. Just like slime. Oh look, a dime! :)

Day Ten was a kick back and relax day. We didn't rush to get somewhere. No 400 miles of driving. Just puttering around, getting things done and having a nice day. The weather here in The Dalles was dandy. A little windy, but I could live with that.

No breakfast at the Oregon Motor Motel. Nothing. Nada. You don't get what you don't pay for, I guess. We could have stayed at a Motel 6. I think they have a loyalty program too. Oh well. Hindsight is looking backwards and that isn't really helpful when trying to move forward. Anywho, we got out of the room fairly early. First stop, laundry.

I sort of like doing laundry at a laundromat. There is the possibility of human interaction that is missing when doing laundry at home. Sure, it is a hassle lugging laundry, remembering all of the accoutrements, getting quarters, etc. But still, I do enjoy it, mostly. The Wash n Shop was fairly small. And I stuffed a little too much laundry in the single load machine. And I washed two pens (which, fortunately, did not ink the entire batch of clothes). While it was doing its thing, mom read and I wandered around buying stuff (there was a Dollar Tree next door). First, laundry detergent. Next, adapters for my computer plug - yes, the lovely Oregon Motor Motel has some plugs that are still two pronged. And lastly, some pens. To replace the ones I washed. Sigh.

While we were there, we chatted a bit with the attendant. She gave us an excellent suggestion for where to lunch - Windseeker. But before we headed there, we went to get the oil changed. I have never heard of and never visited an Oil Can Henry's before. Has any one else experienced this place? If you haven't, I would highly recommend it. We had a PIC (person in charge - ranks after Manager and Assistant Manager) named Matt who was working despite his upset stomach. The employees kept talking with one another and double teamed the car. Customers get to stay in their car while the work is done, which was pretty fun. They gave us a newspaper, which mom wanted to keep (I think she is becoming a bit of a kleptomaniac...) and Matt allowed. We got new wiper blades (mine were pretty beaten up) and were on our way in a short time. Yay!

Next stop, food. I figured lunch was a good idea, especially since we hadn't eaten anything for breakfast. The place that had been recommended was far off the beaten path. I doubt we would have ever tried it (though there were road side signs) if it hadn't been recommended to us. The GPS took us right there, of course. They had a lovely little garden and was right on the edge of the Columbia River! Great view from the seats we were given. Victoria, our server, was very friendly and personable. Mom had salmon, I had a lunch special that consisted of half of a roast beef sandwich, salad, soup and a piece of peach pie. Everything was good and enough food to keep me happy. And I had two beers.

After lunch we took a very short stroll through the garden. Very pleasant.

We headed back to the hotel to relax a bit before heading to the movies. I ended up napping a little - though I did think about working on Flippety. I have some graphics tweaking I ought to do. When I changed the sizes of the tiles in the last go round, it messed up the work I had done resizing before. That is the way it works with computer applications. One tweak here means six or seven tweaks need to be made there. Sigh.

We went to the theatre and watched Madagascar 3 - not in 3d, though I could tell some of the scenes were designed with 3d in mind. Fun movie! Mom really enjoyed it. Maybe for Christmas, I will get all three of the movies for her collection. Then again, maybe not. Finances will tell. :) Post movie - back to the hotel to watch Tiger struggle and fall behind in his tournament. I must admit to being a Tiger Fan. I know it isn't as popular a stance as it was - I bet he is not a very nice human (never really has been). Oh well. I still keep hoping for him to dominate. I was inordinately pleased that Rory McIlroy missed the cut. Again.

Eventually we headed out to dinner. I had decided we would try the other beer place in The Dalles (Pals), RiverTap. I am glad we did. A much better experience than we had in Clock Tower Ales, all things considered. The three women there worked together to make sure that everybody was well served. They had iPod touches that acted as their own POS, making ordering much more efficient. Lydia brought us water, Debbie brought me beer, Nora just kept wafting past and smiling at us (there was nothing she needed to do for us in any case). Learned a little about Debbie and Lydia - something which always makes me feel like my visit was a good one. Mom learned a little about the Wind Turbines of which she has become enamored thanks to Lydia. I had a taster of beer - five 5 ounce pours (a little expensive, but not horrendously so). I was worried about the delivery though. The five samples came on a huge slab of wood that had no handles and no indentations for the glasses. Seemed really precarious to me. But it arrived unscathed! Yay for unscathed beer! For food, mom and I shared a hummus plate and some barbeque wings (a bit too much sauce but tasty). All in all, I would definitely go back there again.

Back in the motel, it was time to wind down. Not a lot on television, so mom read and I watched Star Gate Atlantis and FB communicated with a friend. Fun!

Laundry ready to be washed

Matt at Oil Can Henry's

Mom in the garden at Windseeker

The beer list at RiverTap in The Dalles

Day Nine - Boise (ID) to The Dalles (OR)

There is no right or wrong, good or bad. There are only choices. Value comes from judgement. Just thought I would share...

Day Nine was a day like and unlike any other. Life is weird that way. Every instant is unique, yet every instant is just an instant like any other.

Yup, for some reason, I am feeling philosophical today. Maybe it is because I am up really, really early here in the West. I first woke up around 5 am. For some people, this may be the norm. I am a night person. I generally prefer going to bed at 2 in the morning. Oh well. It is what it is. I have accomplished most of my daily electronic tasks (like Daily Challenge) and now I am left with working on my daily blog post. Maybe I will take a nap... (Speaking of Daily Challenge - I am 18 points from my next tree! Yay!)

We got up and went to breakfast because it was a hot one! Yippee for hot breakfast! As I was wandering around, I noticed that a woman was working a skillet - I asked what she was doing, and she said "making eggs over easy" and would I like some? I said yes, because I enjoy my eggs over easy. I didn't realize that she was making them for her mother until, in Spanish, she apologized to her mom for giving me her eggs (before making her mom another set). See, my Spanish class did come in handy! They were yummy!

After breakfast, I still had some work to do on the blog (yes, blogging is work...). And of course, packing up. We got out at about 10:30 am, though check out time wasn't till noon. I really liked that place. Sigh. Maybe we should have stayed in Boise for the next few days instead of coming here. Or gone on to Portland. Anyway...

The GPS thought the trip would take 5 hours. And it did, not including the stops we made. The first was for lunch at the Smokehouse in, er, someplace, Oregon. Mom and I split a rueben - not the best rueben I have ever had. It didn't seem to have any thousand island dressing on it at all. They did though provide what they called "fry" sauce in a squeeze bottle - ketchup and mayonnaise mixed together. I had never heard of it. Anyone else? We had tater tots instead of fries. Living the wild life! Mom had forgotten about the existence of tater tots, insisting that she had never eaten them before. Who am I to try to convince her otherwise?! She ended up buying three more postcards. I think we are up to 20 or so at this point. And she has yet to write one...I promised no one postcards on this trip. When I did my trip to all 50 state capitals (in 63 days) I sent probably 50 postcards to people. Not including the 50 that I sent to myself (one from each state). God that was an awesome trip, if I must say so myself. It seems like I had more friends back then. Where have they all gone? What did I do to lose them all? Moving on..

The next stop was at a scenic overlook. I really needed to stretch my legs - even though we were only 45 minutes from our destination. Well our first destination. The original plan was to drive to The Dalles (pronounced like "The Dolls") and reserve a space for post-wedding. Then to drive to Hood River and scope out where the wedding was going to be. Then drive to Portland where we would hang out Friday night and all of Saturday. Sadly, I listened to my mom. Yes, I blame all decisions that appear to be "bad" on her. She obliquely (as is her wont) (well, sometimes not so obliquely) complained of being in the car so much. She often couches her complaints in ways that appear on the outside to be concerns for someone else - like me. Anyway, it occurred to me that we could just stop in The Dalles and never go to Portland at all - as long as our basic needs were met - laundromat, oil change and movies. And as long as the room was habitable.

Let us (I always think of lettuce when I say that) examine some of the pros and cons of the two major options - because as any logically thinking person knows, the true options are pretty near infinite considering all of the minutiae.

Pros: Less driving, less gas used, less tiring, less moving about for mom
Cons: Small city, not the best accommodations, no bonus points for staying at this place

All in all, it seems like a wash to me. In any case, I chose to stay rather than to soldier on. Maybe it was fatigue of the mind or soul. Whatever. We stayed.

The room is teeny! Shaped in an L. There is a sliding door to the bathroom - and there is a walk-in shower. Hopefully I will be able to coerce mom into taking a shower while we are here. Only one person can really see the television. It is funny. Mom complains when people thump around above her head and complains if she has to go up stairs to a second floor room. Win win! Anyway, we relaxed for a couple of hours before doing a little survey of the town. Found gas (it is expensive out here in Oregon), couldn't find the laundromat, found an oil change place and then gave up and went for dinner.

Clock Tower Ales serves craft beer. Their food menu was not particularly inspired - and they don't make their own beer. But the Thai Chicken Pasta we had was ok. And the beer taster I put together was decent. I picked six beers - they were out of three, so I went for others. And they had a Hell or High Watermelon beer on "Drain the Keg" special, so I had a pint of that. Not as good as the Thomas Hooker Watermelon, but pretty good. Our server was not the nicest or the best, though she did split our entree for us. Another server was much more personable but we didn't have her.

After dinner, we headed back to the motel for a little TV for mom and an episode of Stargate for me before drifting off to sleep.

Reuben with tots

Mom is fascinated with the things

Clock Tower Ales

Day Eight - Idaho Falls (ID) - Boise (ID)

First day of a new week of travel. Day eight was pretty great, all things considered. Since we made good time getting across the country so far, we didn't travel a great distance yesterday. And a good thing too, since we had a lot of slow going through construction on Interstate 84. But I am ahead of myself once again.

One of the big differences between the low level motels in the Choice chain and the upper level ones is breakfast. In the former, it is continental. In the latter, it is fuller breakfast - with hot stuff! At this one it was scrambled eggs (not so great), sausage (ok) and waffles that one makes oneself. I had a strawberry one. With cream cheese! And a kiwi! Mom had a yogurt and a sausage link. But since neither of us eats breakfast all that much, we felt full!

Getting packed up and ready to head out is getting easier, or so it seems at least. And this place had a cart for me to stack so I only had to make one trip. But the car seems fuller for some reason. We haven't really been buying a lot of stuff. Collecting some paper - which will need to be handled at some point. And mom has been collecting pens. Three and counting so far. I wonder where her fear of not having enough pens comes from...

The trip was broken up with a couple of stops. The first was a spontaneous decision on my part to go to a scenic attraction mentioned on the highway: Shoshone Falls. It was a little out of our way, but what is a roadtrip without taking little excursions like that? Hmm? And I enjoy not always driving on super highways. We drove off into the countryside and eventually came to a park entrance - I didn't feel like paying $3 to drive through the park especially since we weren't going to linger. There was, though, a scenic overlook and mom and I looked over the scenic, er scenery. A very pretty set of falls on the Snake River indeed! Well worth the drive!

We also took a rest break at a rest stop. I was surprised that the Idaho Flag wasn't flying. Instead they had a POW/MIA flag - haven't seen one of those in a while. And of course, there was all of the slow, construction area traffic. We did, eventually, arrive in Boise. I found a shady spot to park in and called Choice Reservations. I spoke with a nice young woman named Angie who had moved from South Florida to South of Buffalo recently. She helped me to use my points to get a free night at the motel that evening! Yay! I like free! After securing a place to rest our weary heads that evening, we headed to a beer place for a snack.

Boise is making a much different impression on me this time than last time I was here. Last time, ten years ago, the place seemed kind of drab and unhappy. This time, it seems much peppier and more cosmopolitan.

The beer place we patronized was called Bitter Creek Ale House and it was in the middle of downtown. We actually, gasp, sat outside. I know, scary! Luckily we were in a shady spot. I had two samplers of local beer - all brewed within 5 miles of the bar. And we had a delicious sweet potato quesadilla. Lyndzee, our server, was very attentive, which I appreciated!

After a bit, we struck up a conversation with our next door table mates. Amy and Brett were fairly recent transplants to Boise (two and four years, respectively) and seemed to be happy about being there! We talked about this and that, and ended up talking about politics - Amy was curious if I really intended to run for president in 2024. It was great to actually talk about some of my political thoughts for a change. As we were getting ready to leave, Larissa, Amy's roommate joined them. Sadly, we didn't get to talk with her too much. Oh well. Life is like that sometimes. :)

Mom and I headed to the hotel and I was really pleasantly surprised. It is a 2 star motel but acts like a four star one! We had a teeny patio and I was able to unload the car (and mom) directly from the parking lot into the room. Yay! Less walking for mom and me too!

We rested up for a while in the room - I watched a couple episodes of Stargate Atlantis and caught up on some email. I even thought about Flippety a little. I need to add some credits someplace but not sure how I want to do that, yet. Eventually we headed out again.

Our dinner destination was Highlands Hollows - a place that was recommended for its food and beer. I ordered some clams and a dish of shrimp scampi for mom and me to share. Barbara, our server brought me a taster of 9 beers. Sadly, only one of them was remarkable - not in the sense of being awesome, but in the sense of being worth remarking on. None of the beers was terrible, they just weren't great. The ginger wheat was the most interesting one. Ok, the porter was pretty good as well. The artwork for the logos of the beer was pretty cool! I might try to get it for Flippety!

After dinner we headed to Goody's - suggested by Amy and Brett - an old fashioned ice cream parlor. We got there at the same time as about 15 other people, so we had a little bit of a wait for our ice cream. Mom had a coffee bean ice cream cone which she thought was good but not great. I had an ice cream bar that was pretty good. Loved the people watching there!

Back at the hotel, I decided I wanted to explore the attached lounge. I am happy I did. They had a decent stout on tap (can't recall what it was), music (which was pleasant) and a free, 4x8 pool table! Luckily, a guy named Trey was up for a few games! God, I am out of practice. Still, lots of fun!

Back in the room, I went to sleep pretty quickly and mom read for a bit. Yay!

All in all, a great eighth day! Onward!

Breakfast in Idaho Falls

Shoshone Falls

Bitter Creek Ale house

Brett, Amy and Larissa

Our patio-let

9 Tasters

This was pretty good!

Me and Trey

Day Seven - Cody (WY) to Idaho Falls (ID)

Sometimes, believe it or not, I just don't feel like blogging. I can understand that you don't believe it, but it is true. Today is one of those days. It doesn't have to do with the content of the blog, the reluctance doesn't stem from lack of material or crappy occurrences. I just don't want to do it. But I am going to soldier on and write anyway. Lucky you.

First, a little bit about plans. We got across the country in plenty of time for the wedding. Heck, if we had been invited to the Friday night festivities, we could have made those. Instead, we will take a free day in Portland on Saturday. Maybe do some laundry, maybe catch a movie (probably Madagascar 3 - move is liking those movies) maybe drink some beer, maybe get the car's oil changed. Chillax a bit.

More on plans - it looks like we might have to take two days driving from Portland to Sonoma. Google Maps says the trip is 11+ hours. I haven't checked on the GPS yet. But that is a little too long to keep mom in the car, I think. We shall see - it is still a few days off...

Mom came with me to the office to warn Brenda, one of the owners of the Budget Host in Cody, about the potential hazards of the television (can't think of the word - the thing that the TV is on that allows it to swivel and such) - anyway, mom almost bonked her head on it a couple of times and thought it was scary. She bought more postcards and was surprised when Brenda told her that there were actually stamps just for postcards! The stamps were almost as expensive as the cards! When did that happen?

We hit the road and started West once again. Our main goal was Old Faithful in Yellowstone, with the hopes of seeing some wildlife as well. Yellowstone is huge! I just never really remember that. When I think of a park, I think of something like Central Park in NY or Washington Street Park in Geneva. Something fairly manageable. It took us more than an hour to get from the East Entrance of the park (which we entered free, thanks to mom being old and us having gotten a lifetime pass back at the Badlands) to Old Faithful. We got there at the perfect time. About an hour's wait until the next eruption. Time to use the facilities, eat something and find the perfect viewing location.

Old Faithful did not disappoint! We had a great vantage point and saw the whole eruption. From its little false starts through its large leaps into the air! Great stuff! We shared our vantage point with a very nice couple, Jill and Victor, from Indiana. She had a much nicer camera than I had. And Victor's hotdog looked great, even though mom and I had already eaten!

After Old Faithful, we spent a few minutes in the visitor's center. I asked a lovely young Ranger about all of the fire damage we had seen. She told me that the park has a lot of wildfires (mostly caused by lightning) every year. And that the last large fire (where 36% of the park burned) was in 1988. Did I mention that the park is huge? We did see a little wildlife - a raven, a mom and baby elk and a mule deer. Yay!

Off again, on the road, our next planned stop was Idaho Falls. I was surprised when we entered Montana for a bit. I hadn't't realized that it overlapped with Wyoming that way. So far we have touched 11 states! Goodness gracious. And many more to go. I wonder what the final tally will be.

It didn't take long to get to Idaho Falls. When we arrived, I asked the GPS to tell me where lodgings were - it found a Comfort Inn, so I drove there and parked, gave Choice Hotels a call and booked a room. I get points that way - eventually a free night or two even! I hope...

When I went in the lobby to check-in, I asked the woman for a room on the first floor since my mom was 82 and didn't like stairs. But they didn't have one. A man waiting his turn said that if his reserved room was downstairs that he would swap with us! How awesome was that?! I told him that if I were rich, I would pay for his room. Sadly, I am not, so the thought would have to suffice. Mom later thanked him as well. She felt a little guilty for thinking bad thoughts about the two people on the motorcycle, since he had been one of them!

The room is nice enough, not too exciting. But Comfort Inns are just generally more comfortable than other Choice Hotels. And right near everything. We had to go to Walmart for a bath mat. Mom is afraid, rightly, of slipping in a shower without one. While we were there we also got her some much needed new socks and a pair of shoes to go with the dress that she is wearing for the wedding on Sunday. Has anyone else noticed that all Walmarts basically look the same? :)

After Walmart, we headed to the Brownstone Restaurant and Brewery that I had found on the internet. It wasn't there - well, the building was, but the ownership had changed. It was now Snow Eagle. Inside they had no hostess. We were told to sit anywhere so we did. Desiree was our server and was pretty good. I decided to just go ahead and order for both of us, stuff to share. The beer battered mushrooms and onion rings were both very good. The chicken sandwich wasn't awesome. The beer, all four styles, was actually quite tasty! Much better than the "beer" I had back at the Firehouse in Rapid City. I really liked the brown - it was a lot more complex than most browns - way better than Newcastle!

Back at the hotel, I fell into bed. I found Back to the Future on TV and watched a bit of that - (I had mostly forgotten the movie's contents) before passing out. Mom watched the whole thing and was underwhelmed.

For some reason, the song "Plant a Cabbage" from The Fantastiks is running through my head. What is that about?

Old Faithful doing its thing!

Mom chilling outside the Visitor Center

One of many awesome views!

Nummy beers at Snow Eagle in Idaho Falls

Day Six - Wall (SD) to Cody (WY)

A day that was winged just a bit. Sometimes those are the best ones. Sometimes not. This one worked out pretty well.

I did have a plan, to go to the Devil's Tower National Monument and then to Yellowstone National Park. One out of two isn't bad. It turns out that Wyoming is a pretty windy (as in twisty) state in places. More on that later.

We got up and started in a timely fashion. I had spent a good hour or so getting the blog post written - writing it in a text document in the room before heading to the office to upload it and the photos. The main manager was there and while I was in the lobby, she called her IT people to take care of making the internet work throughout her property! Good for her. A little late for me, but oh well.

Mom had gotten up and gotten dressed and started to pack by the time I got back. I had made her some coffee, and we decided to also partake in the provided continental breakfast. I am glad we did, as I got to speak with some more of the other guests. I like speaking to people in passing. Breakfast was not all that exciting - we both had some applesauce and a piece or two of doughnut - not a great doughnut, though. I took a picture of mom that makes me very sad - it will never see the light of day - neither here nor on Facebook - at least until mom passes.

On that note, I would like to say that I miss my autonomous mom. Not that she is completely unable to make decisions or to do things for herself. But she doesn't make decisions easily. And I feel she is needing more help in basic decisions - like whether or not to take a sweater. Jumping ahead a bit, I asked her to make a suggestion or two from a list of dinner options and she fought the entire notion. I don't know if that was solicitousness, the desire not to be "wrong," or just plain fear of making a decision. It makes me sad.

We got on the road, stopped for gas in Rapid City - where I cleaned a few days worth of bugs off of the car's windshields. First stop of the day, as planned, was Devil's Tower. It was only a couple of hours drive and was well worth the visit! The park ranger at the gate was great! I mentioned that mom was looking for a pit-stop and she suggested an alternate set of restrooms that were rarely used. Good thing, because the ones at the visitor's center were down about 30 steps. Mom would have hated that, big time! I would have liked to have done more walking - maybe hiked up to where I could have touched it, but that didn't happen. On these sorts of stops, I am torn between sticking mom on a bench somewhere and doing what I would do alone, or doing what mom can do with her and moving on. The latter usually wins. We bought a couple of postcards, stared at the pair of climbers making an ascent and then got back in the car and headed off.

Having put Yellowstone into the GPS, I knew that it was a long way away - time-wise. So we weren't going to accomplish two adventures in one day. But I didn't have a clue where we were stopping or what the options were. So we drove a little way and stopped for lunch in Gillette, WY at a Village Inn. I didn't realize it was a chain, otherwise I might have looked further. But it was a decent place. Kind of like a Denny's or a Perkin's. Mom and I shared a sausage crepe (Sarah the server's suggestion). It was pretty good! And the hash browns were great. I wish I could make hash browns like that. I wonder what their secret is. Hmm... Later mom and I shared a piece of peanut butter pie! It was pretty good (apparently Sarah's favorite).

I didn't really focus on the food, though. I was trying to plan our final resting place - for the night, people! With a combination of my phone, computer, GPS and Atlas, I ended up deciding to wing it and drive to Cody, WY and hope for decent, not too expensive accommodations. The one Choice property in town - a Comfort Inn - was fully booked. Oh well. I am sure we will eventually stop somewhere else and get points and stuff.

The drive was boring for the first bit - a lot of freeway - Route 90. Eventually, about 9 miles shy of the Montana Border, we got off the Freeway and got onto Route 14. We had been eying some snow covered mountains to the West for quite a while. Mom kept hoping that we wouldn't have to cross them. Hahaha! Of course we would have to! Before we did that, though, mom was super worried (she gets that way sometimes - daily) about the possibility that I might run out of sunflower seeds. So when we stopped for gas, I also got two bags of sunflower seeds. There were about 8 varieties there - the most I have seen in a long while and I was tempted by a few of them. I opted for regular and dill flavored. We shall see if they are any good. Or just sticky, like the flavored ones I tried a long while ago. I don't like sticky too much.

The drive to Cody was half just about the twistiest roads I have been on in a long while and half the straightest roads I have been on in a long while. The windy ones took us up into the mountains and a national forest - I will, perhaps remember which one sometime soon...I think the highest we got was 9000 feet. Snow was still present up there. Mom didn't recall having seen high dessert before. I think we actually saw a few moose grazing. Very pretty - amazing views! The drive down the other side got mom a bit nervous. I thought it was fun.

The next bit was the straight bit. I swear we had at least 5 miles in a row without so much as a slight swerve in the road! Still, I like the the scenery up there. Reminds me of the Southwest, actually. But higher.

We eventually made it to Cody. I stopped at the Comfort Inn, thinking I would ask them if they could squeeze us in somewhere, but someone else happened to be asking just as I got there and that was definitely a no go. So I wandered to the Hilton next door - they also were filled, as were the Cabins in the property next door - where I think Mark and I stayed back in 1997 when we stopped in Cody. But a gentleman there suggested the Budget Host down the street. Good thing he did. Very nice place - the owners were from Salem Mass and the desk clerk was a nice guy, I am guessing from Wyoming. The internet is strong, the room pleasant, beds comfortable. All in all, a lucky find!

Our dinner location was hesitantly put forwaed by mom - Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant. It was only a block away, but I drove it anyway. We had a great time! I spoke a little Chinese, we had some crab puffs - mom asked me six times if they had any crab in them (no, not really very much at all) and a happy family entree to share - chicken, shrimp, scallops, fake crab and lots of veggies! We had a nice chat with the owner, Jennifer who had been in the US for 20 years and has learned most of her English at the restaurant. She gave mom a hug as we left. Mom was curious why people seem to want to hug her (other people that is, not me...).

After dinner, I got mom settled and took a little walkabout in Cody. The main drag is less than a mile long - but there was a lot there. No place called out to me, so I just walked out and back. It felt good to get some exercise! Back in the room, mom and I watched Dead Reckoning starring Humphrey Bogart on TCM. Fun stuff!

All in all a good day.

Wow!

Yum

Wow

Comfortable!

Dinner

Day Five - Wall (SD) - Various Sites

(Warning - there is some kvetching in this post)

Day five was a sightseeing only day. Technically, it was terrible. And I do mean technically. The badness started early in the morning. I had written a lovely blog post. Some people’s writing gets better and better the more often they do it, mine usually peaks on the first draft and gets a teensy bit better with editing. The internet was flaky in my room and I should have known better, but I blithely went to add pictures to the post. And kazam! Kazowie! A modal window on top of my post that I didn’t know how to remove. I went down to the office where the internet is strong and tried everything I could think of. I even surfed some pages that showed me how to open the console in Firefox, but I didn’t know enough javascript (any) to allow me to get rid of the window and save my post. Sigh. Grrr. So I clicked the tab closed and lost an hour’s worth of work. Well, it felt like an hour’s worth of work. It probably was less. But still...Yay and good morning!

I did have fun in the office, though, chatting with various other hotel guests and the counter person, Hazel. Turned one guy onto the possibility of getting extra points for his stays, commiserated with another about the sketchy internet, chatted with a third about this and that...But all of this put me behind again. Glarp.

Back in the room, I started mom on the road to up-and-about-ness. And got my GPS out of my car to program the first stop. Low and behold, the GPS no longer functioned. At all. Nada. Zilch even. I tried every trick I know to get it to work - no reset button, so various long holds of the power button, using the power cord, not using the power cord. Letting it sit for a long time. Etc. Nothing. Rien! Nichts! Poop! Since I have become entirely emotionally dependent on the GPS (that is what not having a relationship will do to some people) I was irked to say the least! Yet we headed off into the West anyway. The trip must go on.

First stop was a surprise for mom. She had seen a billboard for Bear Country USA and had been surprised to find that there were places that one could drive their cars through to see animals up close. She forgot about it off and on and I didn’t tell her that was our first destination. Despite the lack of the GPSs reassuring guidance, we made it in a timely manner to our destination. It was ludicrously expensive but certainly a good experience otherwise. There were maybe 15 different habitats and many of the animals were visible a stones throw away. The largest was the beer enclosure. And the bears certainly had no fear of cars. I swear that I have bear fur on my car from one of the bears rubbing up against it! Of course, as soon as I turned the camera on, the battery indicator started flashing red. And despite my efforts the night before (or because of them?) and the crash of iPhoto, the memory card thought that it was 98% full despite only having one or two pictures on it. Yay! So I was a little less profligate where picture taking was concerned. Poo. Oh, and the path was not intended for people with cars with standard transmissions. I hope I didn’t burn anything out.

We got to the end point, where the gift shop, snack stand and baby/small animal enclosures were. The highpoint there was the bear cub enclosure. There were probably 14 of the little cuties cavorting around! Yay! Before we headed out to see this area, though, I did take the time to fix the camera. I took off the pictures that I had accumulated and reformatted the memory card! And I started charging the battery! Yay!

Next stop, Mount Rushmore. I didn’t really know where it was, but there was good signage. It wasn’t too far from Bear Country, actually. The whole area is stuffed with tourist activities. If I were traveling with kids, we could have stayed in the area and dropped thousands of dollars and quite a few days going to them all. But, we are on a mission and something of a schedule, so Mount Rushmore was our only stop.

What a cool place! Sadly it is mostly a walking site, so mom wasn’t pleased. I tried to minimize the pedal distance required, but we still got a teeny bit of whinage. Oh well. We eventually made it to the cafeteria, which was very crowded. Bad timing on our part. Oh well. We had some bison chili and some coleslaw. Tables were being readily shared, so we sat with a family. Turned out it was grandparents with the two children. Nice couple, though the guy kept wanting to show off his travels. I refrained from adding much, just being polite and asking questions and correcting mom when she said she had taught in China for 3 years - more like 7 or 8. 


Speaking of which, I am thinking of making a mom-chronology. A book of 82 pages, one with each year of mom’s life in it. I will be soliciting information as I only know so much - hopefully mom will be able to help a little bit before her memories go away. And I promised her a book of the trip if she stopped complaining about walking. I don’t think it will work, but it is worth a try. My next thought is to suggest that before she say anything, she examine it to see if it is a negative or a positive - if a negative, to see if she can think of a way to rephrase it into a positive. Again, it won’t work (gee, that’s positive) but it is worth a try (see, got there, eventually!).

They left and were replaced by three Chinese exchange students from Guang Zhou. We chatted about this and that and somehow I regaled them (well, I am a raconteur - at least my card says I am) with the story of my being a Chinese Television Star (star might be a bit of an exaggeration...)

We toddled off and headed to our next stop - also a surprise to mom: Deadwood! I thought it would be more kitschy and maybe have some old storefronts or something. It was just a city. Well, town. 1800 people I think. But we did stop at the cemetery where Wild Bill Hickock is buried. Mom didn’t go, cause it was quite a hike (or would have been for her). I zipped in, paid my dollar to the beautiful but dour (I couldn’t get a smile out of her) ticket seller and loped up to Bill’s memorial. Fun stuff!

Next stop, Rapid City. First order of business, get the blinkety blank GPS dealt with. I had found a Best Buy in Rapid City on my phone, and as we were driving into town, I saw it! Yay! The ex-mercenary sniper who had been shot too many times was very helpful, discovering that Best Buy could, in fact, just replace the unit! Huzzah! I had been imagining all sorts of scenarios, but that wasn’t one of them! It took some time, but I was really pleased with the outcome! Hopefully this one will work for a couple of years. Maybe longer even! That would be nice...

The next order of business was to get to a used bookstore. Mom has been bookless for a couple of days, having finished the one book she brought with her - a Judge Dee mystery novel. I had located a used bookstore in Rapid City, so I programmed that into my GPS! Yay! Got there and mom found four Tony Hillerman mysteries to re-read. And I found an old (2008) spiral bound atlas that ought to keep mom entertained in the car now and then.

Firehouse Brewery happened to be about a block away, so evil torturer that I am, I forced mom to walk all that way. I don’t know if it is the same place that Mark Sanford and I stopped at years ago (I think it was 1997) but I am glad we went. The beer was terrible, all really watery and basically tasteless, but the food was good. Sadly, as we were leaving, I saw a place called Independent Ale - I could have lived there. Sigh. Maybe I will be out that way again one day.

We headed back to Wall for the night, with one last stop planned - Wall Drug! How can one go to Wall and not at least wander a bit in Wall Drug?! Again, mom was a little tuckered, so we didn’t end up staying long. We did, though, get our $.05 coffee and free ice water!

In the motel room, we were blessed with noisy upstairs neighbors, which irked mom no end. I did my best to ignore them. We watched an unsatisfying Die Hard - too many commercials - and went to sleep.

Here comes the kvetching - my right shoulder hurts. I feel like we have been traveling forever and like the trip will never end. I looked at the Atlas and can’t believe how far we are going to have to travel. Who’s stupid idea was this? And I am thinking that this will be the last opportunity for some people to see my mom while she is still somewhat mentally competent. And they don’t seem to care. I am sure they do, it just seems like no one cares about anything but themselves any more. Heck, look at all of the “I’s” in that paragraph. Glarp. Oh, kvetching done. Off to more adventures today!

Oh, I am going to post all of the pictures (ok, most) on Facebook at some point. Yay?

Bear!

Baby bears!

Mom with a bear

Awesome!

Wild Bill!

Mom watching Rachel deliver my tasters

Waiting patiently at Wall Drug

Day Four - Austin (MN) to Wall (SD)

Extremely frustrated as my excellent post just got eaten by the foibles of the internet here at the Wall Econolodge. Grrr. We shall see if the new post is half as good...

I woke up fairly early and thought I would get up then and write my blog. Instead, I decided to take a little more sleep and ended up sleeping until 8:30 am. Ooops! I had planned to get out by 10 again, but because of my extra sleep, we got a later start. It took me about an hour to write my blog and get it posted. My posts are long since it seems that interesting things happen even on mostly driving days. Yesterday was no exception.

The room had a foolproof coffee maker that I managed to mess up anyway - coffee all over the bathroom counter! Yay! And it was, apparently, weak, according to mom. Oh well. We did eventually get on the road.

I hadn't really sussed out the day, but on the road I tentatively planned to stop about half way along the route. That turned out to be Sioux Falls. The GPS had prognosticated a 7 hour trip (exactly 7 hours in point of fact). We got to Sioux Falls and I decided not to stop but opted instead to stop at the first gas and food exit available. Fortuitous stop!

The place was a throwback sort of touristy stop run by a gentleman and his 81 year old father (an interesting man who had been a teacher, was an Obama fan and a Christian whose wife had been an avid theatre fan). The place was all about Buffalo (or North American Bison). They had a herd of bison in their back yard, but neither mom or I wanted to fork out the $7 to go out there. I am hoping for Buffalo sightings later in the trip. We decided to have a bison burger for our lunchtime meal. It was teeny but good. I was planning on only eating a quarter but ended up eating half! I know, I am bad! Mom also had a cup of coffee - the owner was quite solicitous and brought mom the whole jug of milk so that she could say "when!" Oh, and I got a seven cents a gallon cash discount on the gas!

While we were there, a couple came in who were on their way to Yellowstone to start their summer Ranger jobs! How cool is that?! This was Casey's first year - Stephanie was an old hand. She was also a collector of kitschy tourist traps - this being one of her favorites! It had three animated displays that were cool - a piano playing gorilla, a shoe making exhibit and a saloon scene! Cool stuff.

We headed further West, watching the lovely scenery. We crossed the Missouri river, which was impressive, but not quite so grand as the Mighty Mississippi. We also saw quite a few Wind Turbine Farms as we drove along. I don't really understand the economics of wind turbines - how much they cost to make and maintain - how much energy they produce, etc. Oh, and I had a thought - what if 1% of the roofs in America had solar panels. How much energy would that produce? A pleasant surprise was crossing the next time zone! Yay for gaining an hour. Losing hours isn't as much fun, but we will have to do that eventually.

Since we were earlier than I thought, I decided that we would visit the Badlands before going to Wall - since there was a loop road that goes windingly through them and ends up in Wall. Mom, being a senior, got a lifetime National Park Pass! Yay! All the parks we visit together will be free now! Yippee!!

Mom didn't think she had ever been to the Badlands before. It is a pretty memorable place, so maybe she hadn't been. I know I have been at least once before. We got there and mom just goggled. Pictures don't do the place justice. We also watched a great video about the Park at the visitor's center. All in all, a great stop on the trip!

We got to Wall and into our motel room - the only negative so far is the lack of internet service in our room. Grrr. After getting a little settled in, we went to Wall Drug briefly, were I met a couple of women, and we looked for a comfort book for mom - couldn't find one. We will look for one in Rapid City later today or tomorrow. Then we went to Red Rock Restaurant for dinner. Pizza, since we have been eating a lot lately. I had two beers - one of which was a Boulevard Pilsner which was surprisingly tasty! We had a very pleasant server named Toree (dental hygienist student and a barrel rider). After dinner mom and I watched Madagascar 2 and went to sleep! Yay sleep!

(Ok, this post wasn't as good as my lost one. Poop!)

Mom leaving the office

The great tourist trap

Buffalo!

Sam serenaded us

The prairie!

Hi Mom!

A Badlands view

She didn't give me her phone number

Yum!

Where we ate