Well, we're home at last ... although our journey did not proceed the way we thought it would, we're here, and happy.
On Friday we left Bill and Anni Harnois at Avila Beach, and drove northwards, past San Luis Obispo to Morro Bay, rather than south to Los Angeles, so as to visit a couple we had met on the ship, Bill and Toni Pisor. After a delicious lunch, and much reminiscing, we acceded to their suggestion that we should stay the night with them, rather than staying in a motel closer to LA. So what for plans? This would be much more fun. We'd been to Morro Bay 11 years ago, when 5 metre (16 foot) waves were crashing over the breakwater, but this time the sun was shining and the ocean was truly Pacific - it's a really delightful seaside tourist town, with wonderful shops and art galleries.
The Pisors have a 2 year-old grand-daughter, who loves an afternoon trip to the Morro - a huge lump of rock situated in the bay, joined to the shore by a sandbar and breakwater. We joined them, to feed lettuce and cabbage leaves to a colony of about 50 cute squirrels, and to watch a number of sea otters lazily swimming 4 or 5 metres offshore. We're used to seeing little Asian otters in local zoos, but these were much bigger - at least a metre long - and instead of running around near a stream they floated on their backs, soaking up the sunshine. Some carried a baby, resting on their chest, as though they were furry boats. Skylar's outing then took us a couple of hundred metres away, to see a pod of sea lions which hang out near the fish shops. They were huge! Some 3 metres long, and very round, they would slide effortlessly up onto a pontoon almost within arm's reach of us, then slide back into the water, around a fishing boat, and back again. One delighted in swimming under the jetty, barking loudly so that the concrete jetty magnified the sound. It was really impressive!
Throughout our driving journey we endeavoured to avoid the Interstate freeways wherever possible, driving on local roads in the same direction, and so it was as we headed for Los Angeles, travelling on Route 101. After a pleasant journey through farmland for the first 100 miles, the road followed the shoreline almost all the way for the last 120 miles, with rugged mountains including the Santa Barbara range, covered with Joshua trees and cactus, directly beside the road on the other side. We stopped at a farmer's market at Ventura and bought bread, spicy sausage, cheese, strawberries and California oranges for lunch, which we ate beside the sea, then travelled past renowned surf beaches such as Malibu and Santa Monica, goggling at the way all the homes were built over the sand of the beach - how they must fear high seas!
After a six-hour journey we arrived at the airport, where we were informed that we had driven 3670 miles (5872 kilometres) since we had collected the car in Minneapolis-St Paul - a really enjoyable and worthwhile journey. We gathered our bulging bags and headed for the Qantas counter, expecting a boring 8-hour wait before we caught the plane to Brisbane at 11.20 pm ... but once again our plans were to alter!
"We're sorry", we were told, "but that plane is not leaving tonight"!!! It was suggested that "maybe" we might like to fly to Melbourne instead - and we would only have a wait of "two or three hours" before we could fly to Brisbane, another three hours away. Our startled faces must have shown our opinion of that suggestion, because the next words were "Or perhaps you might like to stay here tonight and fly tomorrow - we'll put you up at the Hilton, and of course all meals are included". As you can guess, the Hilton won, so, after some frantic phone calls to stop Rochelle arriving at the airport at 6 am, we slept in very-un-aircraft-like comfort.
A great flight, the sight of Rochelle waiting for us at 5 pm, a comfortable ride home, and a baked dinner left for us by Stephanie and Jim - what a wonderful ending to a fantastic trip. It's great to be home, and we plan to stay put for some time ... but it's good to dream, isn't it? Thanks for being with us along the way.
Frances and John
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
California, here we come!
The drive from Carson City, Nevada, on the plains, to Lake Tahoe, in the Sierra Ranges of California, is only a few kilometres, but is almost mind-blowing in geographical contrast. We wound our way up the range, through a forest of pine trees, and there was a bright blue lake, the second deepest in the United States, surrounded by forests and edged with granite boulders. We were fascinated! We stopped at a public access point for photographs, and detailed investigation, then travelled on again, planning to stop frequently to view the lake from other viewpoints. Oh, how wrong we were ... this is the USA, not Australia, and almost all of our 66 miles journey around the lake displayed only the backs of houses, each of which had their own personal, wonderful view of the lake, but which totally obscured the view for lesser souls who hadn't purchased land.
Fortunately, we managed to view from two or three public access points, as we dodged the Sunday traffic (what MUST it be like in the summer, or in the middle of ski season?), but the best view of all was as we came out of the forest, along a steep downwards spur, with no protection on either side of the road ... never mind viewing the lake, it was hard enough looking at the roads to drive, as every inclination was to shut our eyes in terror! We agree that Lake Tahoe must be a wonderful place to stay for a vacation ... the anbience left us somewhat underwhelmed ... and the decidedly 1950s style motel (by age, not modern reproduction!) which we had booked into, added to our jaundiced viewpoint. We cancelled our reservation, and drove another 100kilometres downhill to Placerville, an old gold town.
However, the next day exceeded our expectations for enjoyment. Still under brilliant blue Californian skies, we ambled through the El Dorado area of the Sierra foothills, not a long way inland from San Francisco, surrounded by beautiful views, green trees, and lots of wildflowers. It was like every dream holiday one has heard about ... and hardly another tourist in sight!
Later in the day we headed up above the snowline again, so as to be as close to Yosemite National Park as possible for the next day ... and what a day it was!
Yosemite is all they say it is ... huge mountains, beautiful vistas, immense waterfalls, gushing with fresh snow-melt, wildflowers, birds, deer ... no bears, though, as presumably it's still too early for them to come out of hibernation. We estimate that we drove around more than 500 bends, each of them on the outside of the road, with no barrier between our narrow strip of bitumen and the 4000ft drop beside us ... but it was worth it! This is a beautiful place, and we were grateful to see it on a non-busy day when there were only about 1000 other people to share it with. It must be incredibly awful in summer, but we loved it!
Yesterday, as we drove westward towards the coast, with the snow still visible in our rear-vision mirror, the temperature rose and rose, until it reached 100F - it was SO hot, as we travelled through miles of Californian fig and almond trees. What changes in weather we've experienced! Now we're at the coast - the first time we've seen the sea in a month - and enjoying a visit with friends Bill and Anni. Tomorrow we beging the trip back to LA, and then back to Australia. We're not signing off yet, though - watch for another blog next week, reviwing our trip.
We've enjoyed jour company along the way!
Frances & John
Fortunately, we managed to view from two or three public access points, as we dodged the Sunday traffic (what MUST it be like in the summer, or in the middle of ski season?), but the best view of all was as we came out of the forest, along a steep downwards spur, with no protection on either side of the road ... never mind viewing the lake, it was hard enough looking at the roads to drive, as every inclination was to shut our eyes in terror! We agree that Lake Tahoe must be a wonderful place to stay for a vacation ... the anbience left us somewhat underwhelmed ... and the decidedly 1950s style motel (by age, not modern reproduction!) which we had booked into, added to our jaundiced viewpoint. We cancelled our reservation, and drove another 100kilometres downhill to Placerville, an old gold town.
However, the next day exceeded our expectations for enjoyment. Still under brilliant blue Californian skies, we ambled through the El Dorado area of the Sierra foothills, not a long way inland from San Francisco, surrounded by beautiful views, green trees, and lots of wildflowers. It was like every dream holiday one has heard about ... and hardly another tourist in sight!
Later in the day we headed up above the snowline again, so as to be as close to Yosemite National Park as possible for the next day ... and what a day it was!
Yosemite is all they say it is ... huge mountains, beautiful vistas, immense waterfalls, gushing with fresh snow-melt, wildflowers, birds, deer ... no bears, though, as presumably it's still too early for them to come out of hibernation. We estimate that we drove around more than 500 bends, each of them on the outside of the road, with no barrier between our narrow strip of bitumen and the 4000ft drop beside us ... but it was worth it! This is a beautiful place, and we were grateful to see it on a non-busy day when there were only about 1000 other people to share it with. It must be incredibly awful in summer, but we loved it!
Yesterday, as we drove westward towards the coast, with the snow still visible in our rear-vision mirror, the temperature rose and rose, until it reached 100F - it was SO hot, as we travelled through miles of Californian fig and almond trees. What changes in weather we've experienced! Now we're at the coast - the first time we've seen the sea in a month - and enjoying a visit with friends Bill and Anni. Tomorrow we beging the trip back to LA, and then back to Australia. We're not signing off yet, though - watch for another blog next week, reviwing our trip.
We've enjoyed jour company along the way!
Frances & John
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Going west - tunefully
Salt Lake City delighted us ... once we recovered from driving on its freeways! All the 'Interstates ', and many other freeways, have a 75 miles per hour speed limit - that's 120 kilometres per hour - and they stick carefully to that limit. Not so in Utah - the signs say 75mph, but the drivers use that merely as a starting point ...whew! It was a relief to find ourselves in the city streets, and to drive to our hotel in Temple Square.
Our main aim in going to Salt Lake City was to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in rehearsal, at the Tabernacle, which was two minutes' walk from our hotel. The doors were due to open, so we walked across at ten to eight, only to be greeted by the news that the choir wasn't rehearsing there that evening! Apparently they were rehearsing for a festival this weekend at the Catholic cathedral of the Madeleine, and were practising there, with no visitors allowed. You can imagine how disappointed we were (Frances has dreamt of this for almost half a century!!!), but fortunately a kind "Elder" took pity on us, and suggested that we should just quietly attend the rehearsal anyway. This we did, after a frantic rush to get the car keys, the car, and finally an almost-impossible-to-find parking spot ... and it was wonderful! Imagine more than 350 singers, a full orchestra, and a huge pipe organ, in a beautiful cathedral, decorated with superb murals ... and then imagine the music, everything from St Matthew's Passion to negro spirituals - WOW!
We were able to visit the Tabernacle at lunchtime the next day, this time to attend a half-hour demonstration of the organ - that too was a superb experience! The Tabernacle looks like a huge boiled egg - oval, with a completely curved roof, and it has superb acoustics - we were given a demonstration of how we could literally hear a pin drop, and a piece of paper tear, from more than 100 feet away, and even John (who's deafer than a beetle) could hear it!
We filled the morning in by visiting the Family History Library - five floors of family history information, in addition to the Family Search records, available on computer, but stored in an underground vault in the Granite Mountains north of the city. Most libraries are fairly impersonal, but this one was populated by eager (almost over-eager) volunteers, willing to help you through every step. To John's delight we managed to find a book with the records of his great-great-grandparents (the Labuddas) arriving as emigrants from Germany to New York, in 1873, along with 5 children, including his great-grandmother. Family lore told us that they had gone to America, disliked it, returned to Germany, then emigrated to Queensland, but there was no proof - and now there is!
We left SLC after lunch, drove across salt flats to Bonneville and Wendover ... and today we've driven 434 miles (695 km), right across Nevada ... tomorrow we head into California ... and the sun is shining! We've been surrounded by snowy mountains all day, but the temperature has been in the 60s F - that's in the 20sC ... it's wonderful.
Our main aim in going to Salt Lake City was to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in rehearsal, at the Tabernacle, which was two minutes' walk from our hotel. The doors were due to open, so we walked across at ten to eight, only to be greeted by the news that the choir wasn't rehearsing there that evening! Apparently they were rehearsing for a festival this weekend at the Catholic cathedral of the Madeleine, and were practising there, with no visitors allowed. You can imagine how disappointed we were (Frances has dreamt of this for almost half a century!!!), but fortunately a kind "Elder" took pity on us, and suggested that we should just quietly attend the rehearsal anyway. This we did, after a frantic rush to get the car keys, the car, and finally an almost-impossible-to-find parking spot ... and it was wonderful! Imagine more than 350 singers, a full orchestra, and a huge pipe organ, in a beautiful cathedral, decorated with superb murals ... and then imagine the music, everything from St Matthew's Passion to negro spirituals - WOW!
We were able to visit the Tabernacle at lunchtime the next day, this time to attend a half-hour demonstration of the organ - that too was a superb experience! The Tabernacle looks like a huge boiled egg - oval, with a completely curved roof, and it has superb acoustics - we were given a demonstration of how we could literally hear a pin drop, and a piece of paper tear, from more than 100 feet away, and even John (who's deafer than a beetle) could hear it!
We filled the morning in by visiting the Family History Library - five floors of family history information, in addition to the Family Search records, available on computer, but stored in an underground vault in the Granite Mountains north of the city. Most libraries are fairly impersonal, but this one was populated by eager (almost over-eager) volunteers, willing to help you through every step. To John's delight we managed to find a book with the records of his great-great-grandparents (the Labuddas) arriving as emigrants from Germany to New York, in 1873, along with 5 children, including his great-grandmother. Family lore told us that they had gone to America, disliked it, returned to Germany, then emigrated to Queensland, but there was no proof - and now there is!
We left SLC after lunch, drove across salt flats to Bonneville and Wendover ... and today we've driven 434 miles (695 km), right across Nevada ... tomorrow we head into California ... and the sun is shining! We've been surrounded by snowy mountains all day, but the temperature has been in the 60s F - that's in the 20sC ... it's wonderful.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
In the footsteps of Lewis and Clark - and the Oregon Trail
Our journey westward from the Minnesota border has, coincidentally, largely followed the route of Lewis and Clark in 1806, and this has greatly added to our enjoyment of the journey. In the last few days we have visited several of the geographical features which they noted, and which then became guide-posts for those heading west along the Oregon trail.
Amongst these have been the Devil's Peak, in Wyoming, and Pompey's Pillar and the Beaverhead in Montana, all large outcrops which stand out from the surrounding countryside. We followed the Yellowstone River across Montana, as they did (couldn't visit the park, of course, as it's always snowed in until May) and found several tributes to Sacarejawa, a Native American woman who travelled with them, who is considered one of the truly strong women in American history. As we've wandered through the countryside, avoiding the Interstate highways wherever possible, we've seen statues, signs, parks, murals - it's wonderful to see the pride that people have in their history. For us, however, perhaps the best feature visited by Lewis & Clark was along the Jefferson River - we were ambling along, enjoying the views of the snowy mountains in Yellowstone across the lazy, winding river, when we drove into a huge gorge - we'd never heard of the Jefferson River Canyon, but it was absolutely spectacular! As well as the steep rocky sides, with the grain of the rocks tipped to 45 degrees, we also saw a huge cave which, we are told, could fit the average house in twice - and not a tourist in sight!
We had planned to stay in Butte, Montana, but were seduced by the tiny town of Whitehall ... and when we woke up the next morning we found the entire world white with snow. However, we managed to drive southwards, along another part of the Oregon trail, and into Idaho. At Idaho Falls we 'called it quits', and booked into a motel beside the Snake River for two nights, with the day in between being dreadful for driving - snow in the morning, rain all day, and snow again in the evening.
What does one do at a time like this? One investigates museums! Yesterday's was the Idaho Museum - and it had a wonderful display of artefacts dredged up from the wreck of the "Titanic". This morning, in finer weather, we visited Blackfoot, the "Potato Capital of the World", and thoroughly enjoyed their potato museum. You should have seen the poster of Marilyn Monroe, stylishly dressed in a potato sack, posing in a potato paddock!
Now we're in the centre of Salt Lake City, directly across the road from the Mormon Tabernacle, and the Family History Centre ... but we'll save that for our next blog ...
Amongst these have been the Devil's Peak, in Wyoming, and Pompey's Pillar and the Beaverhead in Montana, all large outcrops which stand out from the surrounding countryside. We followed the Yellowstone River across Montana, as they did (couldn't visit the park, of course, as it's always snowed in until May) and found several tributes to Sacarejawa, a Native American woman who travelled with them, who is considered one of the truly strong women in American history. As we've wandered through the countryside, avoiding the Interstate highways wherever possible, we've seen statues, signs, parks, murals - it's wonderful to see the pride that people have in their history. For us, however, perhaps the best feature visited by Lewis & Clark was along the Jefferson River - we were ambling along, enjoying the views of the snowy mountains in Yellowstone across the lazy, winding river, when we drove into a huge gorge - we'd never heard of the Jefferson River Canyon, but it was absolutely spectacular! As well as the steep rocky sides, with the grain of the rocks tipped to 45 degrees, we also saw a huge cave which, we are told, could fit the average house in twice - and not a tourist in sight!
We had planned to stay in Butte, Montana, but were seduced by the tiny town of Whitehall ... and when we woke up the next morning we found the entire world white with snow. However, we managed to drive southwards, along another part of the Oregon trail, and into Idaho. At Idaho Falls we 'called it quits', and booked into a motel beside the Snake River for two nights, with the day in between being dreadful for driving - snow in the morning, rain all day, and snow again in the evening.
What does one do at a time like this? One investigates museums! Yesterday's was the Idaho Museum - and it had a wonderful display of artefacts dredged up from the wreck of the "Titanic". This morning, in finer weather, we visited Blackfoot, the "Potato Capital of the World", and thoroughly enjoyed their potato museum. You should have seen the poster of Marilyn Monroe, stylishly dressed in a potato sack, posing in a potato paddock!
Now we're in the centre of Salt Lake City, directly across the road from the Mormon Tabernacle, and the Family History Centre ... but we'll save that for our next blog ...
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
An unusual Easter
We "Wandering Windolfs" joined the Episcopalian residents of Sheridan, Wyoming on Easter morning, for a service in their impressive brick church, lit by wonderful stained-glass windows, and sporting a huge pipe organ and a huge array of white Easter lilies. The service was much as we expected, although it sounded strange to our ears in the strong Wyoming twang, but the highlight was a cowboy song, accompanied by guitars and organ, sung by the minister and choir. It was far from our experience, but it really made us very aware of where we were.
Following the service we headed north to Montana. We've been following the direction of some of the excellent Interstate Highways, but getting away from their 75-miles-per-hour blur, and travelling on local roads wherever we could. Sunday's side-roads led us through the Crow Indian reservation, and we had a wonderful time. We ambled through rolling grasslands, beside the snowcapped Big Horn mountains, in beautiful sunshine, finally coming to the township of Crow Agency, near the Little Bighorn battlefield, the site of Custer's "last stand", in 1876.
This memorial was a major feature of our journey through the United States, a place which John has wanted to visit for many years. Why the interest? Well, one of the men who fought on that day was a Carl (or Charles) Windolph, a German immigrant, who went on to write a book entitled I served with Custer, and who lived longer than anyone else who was in the battle. We don't know for certain whether he was a relative, but all Windolfs and Windolphs (as with many names, both spellings are linked) in Germany are considered related to one another, and photos of Charles Windolph show him to look exactly like John's grandfather, Carl Windolf. Sergeant Carl Windolph was a sharpshooter, who helped save many of Benteen's men, and he was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honour for this. The medal is on show in the museum at the battlesite.
Frances was particularly pleased to see that after so many years the resting-places of many of the Native American warriors who died in the battle are now being marked on the grassy hills, along with the markers of the US 7th Cavalry. A wonderful Native American memorial, acknowledging all the different tribes which participated, has now been erected at the site as well. The Crow people now staff the battlefield museum and shop, which until now has been run solely by the US National Memorials staff.
To our surprise, we saw very few chocolate eggs in stores for Easter. Children tend to be given baskets with toys etc, or even, we were told, real rabbits. Many participate in "egg hunts" for dyed, real eggs. However, Easter was really subdued as a festival, which really surprised us. We had our own little celebration with a box of foil-wrapped chocolates, instead.
Further south the Spring flowers may be out, but here nothing is blooming, and trees are still bare. We have not spent more than a few minutes at a time out of sight of snow since we left Minnesota and Wisconsin. It means beautiful sights, under the wide blue skies ... Montana is truly the "Big Sky Country", and we love it.
Following the service we headed north to Montana. We've been following the direction of some of the excellent Interstate Highways, but getting away from their 75-miles-per-hour blur, and travelling on local roads wherever we could. Sunday's side-roads led us through the Crow Indian reservation, and we had a wonderful time. We ambled through rolling grasslands, beside the snowcapped Big Horn mountains, in beautiful sunshine, finally coming to the township of Crow Agency, near the Little Bighorn battlefield, the site of Custer's "last stand", in 1876.
This memorial was a major feature of our journey through the United States, a place which John has wanted to visit for many years. Why the interest? Well, one of the men who fought on that day was a Carl (or Charles) Windolph, a German immigrant, who went on to write a book entitled I served with Custer, and who lived longer than anyone else who was in the battle. We don't know for certain whether he was a relative, but all Windolfs and Windolphs (as with many names, both spellings are linked) in Germany are considered related to one another, and photos of Charles Windolph show him to look exactly like John's grandfather, Carl Windolf. Sergeant Carl Windolph was a sharpshooter, who helped save many of Benteen's men, and he was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honour for this. The medal is on show in the museum at the battlesite.
Frances was particularly pleased to see that after so many years the resting-places of many of the Native American warriors who died in the battle are now being marked on the grassy hills, along with the markers of the US 7th Cavalry. A wonderful Native American memorial, acknowledging all the different tribes which participated, has now been erected at the site as well. The Crow people now staff the battlefield museum and shop, which until now has been run solely by the US National Memorials staff.
To our surprise, we saw very few chocolate eggs in stores for Easter. Children tend to be given baskets with toys etc, or even, we were told, real rabbits. Many participate in "egg hunts" for dyed, real eggs. However, Easter was really subdued as a festival, which really surprised us. We had our own little celebration with a box of foil-wrapped chocolates, instead.
Further south the Spring flowers may be out, but here nothing is blooming, and trees are still bare. We have not spent more than a few minutes at a time out of sight of snow since we left Minnesota and Wisconsin. It means beautiful sights, under the wide blue skies ... Montana is truly the "Big Sky Country", and we love it.
Friday, April 10, 2009
The White Hills of Dakota
Yesterday the Black Hills reached a record - for the most snow ever recorded in a year ... and we're here to see it! Everywhere looks beautiful, with snow covering trees, hills, cars ... fortunately not roads, which are ploughed so that they are as good as any other time of the year, so it's easy to drive around, providing you only choose bitumen roads.
We arrived at Rapid City on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday visited Keystone (not a cop in sight!) and Mt Rushmore. We expected the carved heads of four presidents - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln - to be interesting, but they were truly spectacular, and we spent several hours at the impressive memorial, viewing, visiting the museum, talking to visitors from all over the USA, and taking photographs - lots of them.
Wednesday and Thursday nights we spent at Custer, a friendly little town very similar to Yea, where Frances grew up. There were other similarities, too ... we woke up to fog so thick that we could only just see to the other side of the road, and a top temperature of minus 3 degrees Celsius. The difference was that the car (a Toyota Corolla) was covered about 15cm thick with snow! We had planned to spend the day driving around the Custer State Park wildlife loop, and visiting the sculpture-in-progress of Crazy Horse, but decided to call a rest day instead, so spent the day reading, sleeping, eating buffalo ribs and elk chilli, and walking around town talking to people - we had a great time!
Today, Good Friday, we awoke to slightly warmer weather and blue skies, so headed for the Wildlife Loop. We saw more than 100 buffalo grazing in different places, some very close to the road, but fortunately on the other side of a "crick", so at a safe distance. They are VERY big! We saw lots of deer, and four big-horn sheep, which were right beside the road ... F asked J to take a close-up photo of one of them, and he did, but somehow only ended up with a photo of its rear end - Oops! We also saw quite a number of wild turkeys - they quite made us hungry!
Today (well, Easter Saturday, but we're 17 hours behind here) is Rick and Jill's wedding, and we thought of them so much as we drove, as bluebirds kept fkying along beside us. We thought that these "bluebirds of happiness" were a wonderful omen, and were thrilled that they (so we're told) have just returned to the area this week - what good luck!
No time left for Crazy Horse, but we drove on to Deadwood, past signs such as "Ghostly Gulch", "Calamity Lane", "Misery Canyon", and so on. Deadwood is FULL of casinos - "Wild Bill Hickock's", "Lucky Kate's" and, believe it or not, "The Fortunate Coves"!!! Declining to visit any of them, we drove to Spearfish along a wonderful river valley canyon - towering rocky cliffs, tall black pines dropping clumps of snow from 20 metres up, the stream flowing between smooth white blankets of snow - it was spectacular!
Tomorrow we leave South Dakota to travel west to Wyoming and north to Montana. Things are getting very "cowboy" here already, so we're practicing our "Howdies"
We arrived at Rapid City on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday visited Keystone (not a cop in sight!) and Mt Rushmore. We expected the carved heads of four presidents - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln - to be interesting, but they were truly spectacular, and we spent several hours at the impressive memorial, viewing, visiting the museum, talking to visitors from all over the USA, and taking photographs - lots of them.
Wednesday and Thursday nights we spent at Custer, a friendly little town very similar to Yea, where Frances grew up. There were other similarities, too ... we woke up to fog so thick that we could only just see to the other side of the road, and a top temperature of minus 3 degrees Celsius. The difference was that the car (a Toyota Corolla) was covered about 15cm thick with snow! We had planned to spend the day driving around the Custer State Park wildlife loop, and visiting the sculpture-in-progress of Crazy Horse, but decided to call a rest day instead, so spent the day reading, sleeping, eating buffalo ribs and elk chilli, and walking around town talking to people - we had a great time!
Today, Good Friday, we awoke to slightly warmer weather and blue skies, so headed for the Wildlife Loop. We saw more than 100 buffalo grazing in different places, some very close to the road, but fortunately on the other side of a "crick", so at a safe distance. They are VERY big! We saw lots of deer, and four big-horn sheep, which were right beside the road ... F asked J to take a close-up photo of one of them, and he did, but somehow only ended up with a photo of its rear end - Oops! We also saw quite a number of wild turkeys - they quite made us hungry!
Today (well, Easter Saturday, but we're 17 hours behind here) is Rick and Jill's wedding, and we thought of them so much as we drove, as bluebirds kept fkying along beside us. We thought that these "bluebirds of happiness" were a wonderful omen, and were thrilled that they (so we're told) have just returned to the area this week - what good luck!
No time left for Crazy Horse, but we drove on to Deadwood, past signs such as "Ghostly Gulch", "Calamity Lane", "Misery Canyon", and so on. Deadwood is FULL of casinos - "Wild Bill Hickock's", "Lucky Kate's" and, believe it or not, "The Fortunate Coves"!!! Declining to visit any of them, we drove to Spearfish along a wonderful river valley canyon - towering rocky cliffs, tall black pines dropping clumps of snow from 20 metres up, the stream flowing between smooth white blankets of snow - it was spectacular!
Tomorrow we leave South Dakota to travel west to Wyoming and north to Montana. Things are getting very "cowboy" here already, so we're practicing our "Howdies"
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
The Badlands ... not bad!
Three blogs in two days - it's good to have time to catch up, and we've seen so much that we want to share it!
Yesterday was a leisurely day, to explore the Badlands of South Dakota. For those who, like us, have enjoyed the Bungle Bungle ranges in Western Australia, the Badlands are not dissimilar, except that you find them below the level of the prairie, descend down amongst them, and drive up and over peaks, as well as between them. Row upon row of steep, craggy, eroded peaks reach up like fingers, for about 40 miles (some 60 km), forming a difficult area for early settlers, wanting to travel to the west - truly Bad Lands for them. This was home to the Lakota people, and is still home to many of them.
In the summer the Badlands are almost desert-dry, with small cactus growing, although cattle are successfully farmed in the grassy valleys. Our appreciation was enhanced by snow gleaming whitely from every niche and crag - we could see just how rugged they were. We visited the wonderful visitors' centre and appreciated two films on the area, as well as visiting the excellent museum, then quietly wandered along, stopping every mile or so for yet another photo opportunity. One stop was on a grassy knoll, where dozens of prairie dogs - not unlike a big guinea-pig, but with a skinny tail a few centimetres long - popped up from their holes to observe us. They were quite unfazed by us, rolling around in the sunshine, chasing one another - then disappearing down their holes if started. We also saw quite a number of bighorn sheep, and a really cute deer, which stood in the snow right beside us, and stared at us, before disappearing over a bank. For us, the Badlands were terrific!
We visited two other places of note, as well.
The first, at Cactus Flat, where we entered the park, was an information centre about the Minuteman missiles, stored by the US during the Cold War. Dozens of local farms were secretly bought by the military, and silos were erected, each having a missile and up to 50 men installed under them. None were ever used, the farmers, who kept operating the farms as cover, had their farms returned to them, and life went on .... except that there are still at least 100 missiles buried beneath the prairie!
We had lots of warning about our other destination ... for hundreds of miles we had seen repeated signs for "WALL DRUG", each one cornier than the last. Well, we visited Wall, and its drugstore - only 2 of 100 or so people yesterday - in the summer more than 5000 people visit every day!!! It was just as corny as its signs, but huge fun - a country drugstore which made its name by offering free ice water and 5cent coffee to travellers across the prairie. We had a late lunch of buffalo burgers and cherry pie, and felt that we really fitted into American life ... what a hoot!
Yesterday was a leisurely day, to explore the Badlands of South Dakota. For those who, like us, have enjoyed the Bungle Bungle ranges in Western Australia, the Badlands are not dissimilar, except that you find them below the level of the prairie, descend down amongst them, and drive up and over peaks, as well as between them. Row upon row of steep, craggy, eroded peaks reach up like fingers, for about 40 miles (some 60 km), forming a difficult area for early settlers, wanting to travel to the west - truly Bad Lands for them. This was home to the Lakota people, and is still home to many of them.
In the summer the Badlands are almost desert-dry, with small cactus growing, although cattle are successfully farmed in the grassy valleys. Our appreciation was enhanced by snow gleaming whitely from every niche and crag - we could see just how rugged they were. We visited the wonderful visitors' centre and appreciated two films on the area, as well as visiting the excellent museum, then quietly wandered along, stopping every mile or so for yet another photo opportunity. One stop was on a grassy knoll, where dozens of prairie dogs - not unlike a big guinea-pig, but with a skinny tail a few centimetres long - popped up from their holes to observe us. They were quite unfazed by us, rolling around in the sunshine, chasing one another - then disappearing down their holes if started. We also saw quite a number of bighorn sheep, and a really cute deer, which stood in the snow right beside us, and stared at us, before disappearing over a bank. For us, the Badlands were terrific!
We visited two other places of note, as well.
The first, at Cactus Flat, where we entered the park, was an information centre about the Minuteman missiles, stored by the US during the Cold War. Dozens of local farms were secretly bought by the military, and silos were erected, each having a missile and up to 50 men installed under them. None were ever used, the farmers, who kept operating the farms as cover, had their farms returned to them, and life went on .... except that there are still at least 100 missiles buried beneath the prairie!
We had lots of warning about our other destination ... for hundreds of miles we had seen repeated signs for "WALL DRUG", each one cornier than the last. Well, we visited Wall, and its drugstore - only 2 of 100 or so people yesterday - in the summer more than 5000 people visit every day!!! It was just as corny as its signs, but huge fun - a country drugstore which made its name by offering free ice water and 5cent coffee to travellers across the prairie. We had a late lunch of buffalo burgers and cherry pie, and felt that we really fitted into American life ... what a hoot!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Across the Prairie
Weather forecasts for Minnesota and South Dakota were for heavy snowfalls at the weekend, and they were right, with the I90, the interstate freeway (where you can drive up to 75 m.p.h. - 120kph) being closed because of snow, but we've been really lucky. We left Jacki and Terry's in brilliant sunshine, and drove south and west to Minnesota, then across Minnesota on a 45 degree angle, NE to SW, missing the snow, which was further south.
To our delight, our route (pronounced ROWT in the US - we're learning!) went through Paynesville MN. Like its namesake in Victoria, where brothers Rick and Bob live, this town is beside a large lake, but this one wasn't blue, or brown, it was very, very white from shore to shore. The temperature outside, in mid-afternoon, was officially 32F (O degrees celsius), but the winds blowing across the prairie were at 60 km an hour, officially lowering the temperature by another 12 degrees Fahrenheit - and this was with the sun shining so brightly that we got really hot in the car!
We spent the night in Montevideo MN, purely because this pretty town had the same name as the capital of Uruguay, which we visited and loved when we were in South America. Some snow fell overnight, but the sun soon melted it off the car, and we continued across the prairie into South Dakota, to visit a tiny town called De Smet. For anyone who knows of the books and TV series of "Little House on the Prairie", and all the others in the series, this tiny town is a mecca, as it was the home of the author, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and we felt truly welcome there.
To get to and from De Smet we used back roads, and kept well away from the highways, which allowed us to soak in the atmosphere of the prairies - undulating hills which have almost no trees, the wide grasslands covered in several feet of snow, and almost all animals being kept in huge barns.
At one stage we came across an area, about 20km long, where pheasants (originally from India but now common in the US) were looking for feed along the road edges, where little bits of grass emerged from the snow - as we came to the crest of one hill, there were about 15 on the road, which necessitated some really fancy driving to miss them all.
Our eventual stop, after 320 miles (just over 500 km) was a motel at Murdo SD, surrounded by piles of snow several metres high. Motels here are wonderful - our room had 2 queen beds, an armchair, an eating table and 2 chairs, 99 TV channels, AND a heated inside pool and sauna, for US$57 - breakfast included - and we washed and dried all our clothes for $2 more! Petrol (GAS!) costs about US$2 - US$2.10 a US gallon (4.2 litres) - about US$50 cents (or 75 cents Australian) a litreThis is a great way to travel.
To our delight, our route (pronounced ROWT in the US - we're learning!) went through Paynesville MN. Like its namesake in Victoria, where brothers Rick and Bob live, this town is beside a large lake, but this one wasn't blue, or brown, it was very, very white from shore to shore. The temperature outside, in mid-afternoon, was officially 32F (O degrees celsius), but the winds blowing across the prairie were at 60 km an hour, officially lowering the temperature by another 12 degrees Fahrenheit - and this was with the sun shining so brightly that we got really hot in the car!
We spent the night in Montevideo MN, purely because this pretty town had the same name as the capital of Uruguay, which we visited and loved when we were in South America. Some snow fell overnight, but the sun soon melted it off the car, and we continued across the prairie into South Dakota, to visit a tiny town called De Smet. For anyone who knows of the books and TV series of "Little House on the Prairie", and all the others in the series, this tiny town is a mecca, as it was the home of the author, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and we felt truly welcome there.
To get to and from De Smet we used back roads, and kept well away from the highways, which allowed us to soak in the atmosphere of the prairies - undulating hills which have almost no trees, the wide grasslands covered in several feet of snow, and almost all animals being kept in huge barns.
At one stage we came across an area, about 20km long, where pheasants (originally from India but now common in the US) were looking for feed along the road edges, where little bits of grass emerged from the snow - as we came to the crest of one hill, there were about 15 on the road, which necessitated some really fancy driving to miss them all.
Our eventual stop, after 320 miles (just over 500 km) was a motel at Murdo SD, surrounded by piles of snow several metres high. Motels here are wonderful - our room had 2 queen beds, an armchair, an eating table and 2 chairs, 99 TV channels, AND a heated inside pool and sauna, for US$57 - breakfast included - and we washed and dried all our clothes for $2 more! Petrol (GAS!) costs about US$2 - US$2.10 a US gallon (4.2 litres) - about US$50 cents (or 75 cents Australian) a litreThis is a great way to travel.
Wintry Wisconsin
The Windolfs are now the proud drivers of a bright red Toyota Corolla and getting lots of practice at driving on the other side of the road. John drove when we collected the car - up to 65 miles per hour along Minneapolis/St Paul freeways, following Mary Ann! Frances, who'd previously only been a right-hand driver (and a back seat driver, says John!) waited until we reached quieter Wisconsin country roads before slipping behind the wheel, but now feels quite at home.
Almost all the roads we've driven on have been snow-lined, but the snow-ploughs ensure that every road is clear, so it's no worse than driving at home - just incredibly beautiful!
After saying farewell to Mary Ann on Friday morning, with thousands of thanks for her wonderful hospitality, we headed for Lake Superior, in the north of Wisconsinto Washburn, to stay with Jacki, Rochelle's sister, and her husband Terry, in their B&B. Jacki made it her duty to fill us with delicious food, and Terry spent Saturday driving us all over the peninsula, and introducing us to the area.
Lake Superior, America's largest lake, is as big as many seas, and most of it was still frozen. We saw commercial fisherman trying to break the ice around their boats, so that they could begin the fishing season, and the remains of an ice-road where people had been driving back and forth to nearby Madeline Island until the day before ... the ice was thick enough even for trucks to drive on it, as on a normal road.
Amongst other things we saw was maple syrup being collected (had fresh maple syrup for breakfast next morning) and a man fishing through the ice (we had ice-caught fish for dinner, but from further up the peninsula, at Cornucopia, Wisconsin's northernmost town).
Back at the house we sat in the warm and watched the birds - finches, chickadees, blue jays and a female cardinal - and cute red squirrels, eating seeds from the bird feeders. There was no sign of the bears which often visit, but a deer wandered up to graze near the house, finding patches of grass that had no snow covering. It was wonderful.
We hear from Coolum that they've had rain instead of snow - LOTS of it. We've also had a message that our house-sitter, another Terry, is ill, and going to Brisbane for investigation of a heart problem, so we wish him well. Thanks to Sue and Terry for all they've done, and to the friends (and the cattery which makes Theodora so welcome) who are stepping into the breech. We haven't yet started counting how many days we have left until we return, but we'll see you in less than 3 weeks!
Almost all the roads we've driven on have been snow-lined, but the snow-ploughs ensure that every road is clear, so it's no worse than driving at home - just incredibly beautiful!
After saying farewell to Mary Ann on Friday morning, with thousands of thanks for her wonderful hospitality, we headed for Lake Superior, in the north of Wisconsinto Washburn, to stay with Jacki, Rochelle's sister, and her husband Terry, in their B&B. Jacki made it her duty to fill us with delicious food, and Terry spent Saturday driving us all over the peninsula, and introducing us to the area.
Lake Superior, America's largest lake, is as big as many seas, and most of it was still frozen. We saw commercial fisherman trying to break the ice around their boats, so that they could begin the fishing season, and the remains of an ice-road where people had been driving back and forth to nearby Madeline Island until the day before ... the ice was thick enough even for trucks to drive on it, as on a normal road.
Amongst other things we saw was maple syrup being collected (had fresh maple syrup for breakfast next morning) and a man fishing through the ice (we had ice-caught fish for dinner, but from further up the peninsula, at Cornucopia, Wisconsin's northernmost town).
Back at the house we sat in the warm and watched the birds - finches, chickadees, blue jays and a female cardinal - and cute red squirrels, eating seeds from the bird feeders. There was no sign of the bears which often visit, but a deer wandered up to graze near the house, finding patches of grass that had no snow covering. It was wonderful.
We hear from Coolum that they've had rain instead of snow - LOTS of it. We've also had a message that our house-sitter, another Terry, is ill, and going to Brisbane for investigation of a heart problem, so we wish him well. Thanks to Sue and Terry for all they've done, and to the friends (and the cattery which makes Theodora so welcome) who are stepping into the breech. We haven't yet started counting how many days we have left until we return, but we'll see you in less than 3 weeks!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Windolfs in Winter Wonderland
This is no April Fool's joke - everywhere we look is white! However, the snow is only about an inch thick, and the roads are clear, so this is the sort of snow that is fun! It's great to sit inside and watch great, big, fat snowflakes drift down, wafting left and right in the breeze - especially with a hot chocolate in hand, and Mary Ann's great company.
Mary Ann and her friends Keith and Jan, whom we first met in 1994, thought we must be missing GREEN, so took us to a conservatory full of spring flowers - a wonderful place. we took in deep breaths of colour, and are back to enjoying WHITE.
We've changed our plans a little bit because of the weather - had hoped to drive to Northern Minnesota to visit Rochelle's mother, Polly, of whom we're very fond, but the snow up there is much deeper, and many roads are flooded, so we're still in Stillwater. We'll collect our car today, and hope to visit Rochelle's sister Jacki in northern Wisconsin at the weekend, before heading west. In the meantime, we've been enjoying a bed that doesn't rock us to sleep, good food, and lots and lots of games of cribbage - Life's good. We're thinking of all of you at home - hope that wedding plans are going well for Rick and Jill - hope that David and Tina's belated honeymoon in NZ has all the snow they want! Love to all of you, wherever you are, and whatever the weather.
Mary Ann and her friends Keith and Jan, whom we first met in 1994, thought we must be missing GREEN, so took us to a conservatory full of spring flowers - a wonderful place. we took in deep breaths of colour, and are back to enjoying WHITE.
We've changed our plans a little bit because of the weather - had hoped to drive to Northern Minnesota to visit Rochelle's mother, Polly, of whom we're very fond, but the snow up there is much deeper, and many roads are flooded, so we're still in Stillwater. We'll collect our car today, and hope to visit Rochelle's sister Jacki in northern Wisconsin at the weekend, before heading west. In the meantime, we've been enjoying a bed that doesn't rock us to sleep, good food, and lots and lots of games of cribbage - Life's good. We're thinking of all of you at home - hope that wedding plans are going well for Rick and Jill - hope that David and Tina's belated honeymoon in NZ has all the snow they want! Love to all of you, wherever you are, and whatever the weather.
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