Month: July 2022

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Wednesday, July 27, 2022

The drive to the park was just over two and a half hours. We had lunch at a local chain called The Winking Lizard Tavern. We ordered a quesadilla and the Memphis mac and cheese (it had pork barbecue in it). The food was nothing special. Then we headed over to the visitor’s center for trail maps. The ranger suggested a nice hike and informed us that the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad that runs through the park is actually administered by a private company. We’d have to contact them for tickets.

A large part of the park follows the Cuyahoga River. In the early 1800s a canal was dug alongside the river. It connected Akron to Lake Erie and was a vital transport for goods until the 1860s when it was largely replaced by the railroads. We headed to Station Road Bridge and found the Towpath Trail that follows both the river and the canal.

The Towpath trail is really the same path that the mules would have walked as they propelled cargo through the canal. The canal was completely abandoned in 1913. Parts of it have narrowed and have very little water in it but for the most part it is clearly visible. Today it supports a great deal of wildlife.

That portion of the path leads to the old Frazee Family House 2.7 miles distant. When we started walking the sky was overcast and the air was humid. As long as the sun stayed behind the clouds it was relatively pleasant. Shortly after starting we saw a large bird sitting on a branch in the river. We got close enough to see it was a Great Blue Heron. They’re rather large and very pretty. As we continued we saw several more wading in the canal looking for fish to eat. We also saw several deer and quite a few ducks. The sounds of bullfrogs were everywhere, although we never did actually see one. We even saw some brown trout in the canal.

Finally we got to the Frazee Family House. Construction of the canal in the 1830s had caused the surrounding farm land to become flooded. Several years worth of crops were lost. The Frazee Family sued the State of Ohio and built a new, large, brick house with part of the $130.00 they got as a settlement. That house still stands today.

We sat on a bench for a few minutes and drank some water before heading back. Just as we took our first steps we saw some lightening and heard the sound of distant thunder. Soon after the sky opened up in a torrential rain. Five minutes later we were hard pressed to find a dry spot on either of us. We were soaked to the skin from head to toe. We quickened our pace but it really didn’t help. The rain continued in that fashion for another two miles. The last 3/4 of a mile all we heard was the water sloshing in our shoes.

We used the towels we had with us to dry off but it hardly made a difference. Thirty minutes later we were at our hotel. Normally, when you walk into a hotel room it’s warm and stuffy. Not this time. The air conditioner was blasting away on high. We turned it off and jumped into a hot shower. We were both rather chilled the rest of the night.

Thursday, July 28, 2022

We drove down to the Akron train station, the southern most station on the line, and bought a coach ticket on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. This park is unique in that it is the only National Park that has a train running through it. The train was scheduled to arrive at 10:30 am but was delayed due to a downed tree. Around 11:00 am we were headed north. The railroad is run by a non-profit organization. All of the trainman, engineers, and conductors are very enthusiastic volunteers. They had no end of stories about the train, the park, and many of the sights we would be seeing out the windows. We made about half a dozen stops along the way to pickup and discharge passengers. It took the train about an hour and a half to make the 22 mile journey to the northern most station.

When we arrived we got out of the train and walked over to the cafe car. We were expecting them to have some food but all they really had were snacks. We got just something to tide us over until we could get some lunch.

Around 2:30 pm we were back at the Akron station. On the way North our eyes were glued to the windows. We didn’t want to miss anything. We spent most of the return trip talking with a group of off-duty trainman. They were very entertaining.

We walked a few blocks to a restaurant called Luigi’s for lunch. We ordered from the lunch special menu. Deborah had the meat lasagna and I had penne with meat sauce. The food was very good and it was obvious that the sauce was home made. The portions was rather small but it was certainly enough for lunch. Their meat sauce, however, was more like marinara. “Where’s the beef?” Cash only.

After lunch we decided to try one of the hikes that one of the trainman had suggested: Beaver Marsh. In most cases National Parks are formed to try, as much as possible, to preserve the natural beauty of their lands. Cuyahoga Valley National Park is different. Its lands were mostly industrial. In this case the park service has a long term goal of converting the land back to its original natural state. The beaver marsh was originally a junk yard. The park service decided to clear the space and create a parking lot. Once the land was cleared beavers migrated in, created a dam and flooded the space. Undeterred the park service removed the beavers, destroyed the dam, and once again tried to pave the area. The beavers had other ideas. They came back and built another dam causing 77 acres to become flooded. The park service got the message and awarded this one to the beavers.

The area has become a Mecca for wildlife. It’s replete with beavers, otters, turtles, waterfowl, snakes, and a whole lot more. We walked along the marsh looking for beavers. We never found any but we did find a huge snapping turtle, some fish, and some rather exotic ducks.

Friday, July 29, 2022

This morning we went back to the park and did another hike that was suggested by one of the trainman: The Ledges. This is a 2.7 mile loop trail that winds through a heavily wooded area. The guide says that the maximum evaluation change is 100 feet. We must have done that several times.

The area is known for its rock formations. The trails are lined with large sandstone rocks that have eroded into all sorts of interesting formations. The easily identifiable layers are also highly colored. It makes for a very pretty outing.

Afterwards we went over to a nearby State Park called Metro Park. It contained two curiosities. One was an old abandoned sandstone quarry. We hiked uphill to see what remained of a once large, and very active quarry. The stones were initially used to create locks on the canal and were subsequently sent through the canal for building projects all over the world. Next we walked down to the canal to see Lock 28. At 14 feet it was the deepest lock on the entire canal system and was the embarkation point for the quarried sandstone.

For lunch we went to Fisher’s Cafe in Peninsula. One of the trainman told us that they had great ice cream. For our meal we ordered mahi-mahi tacos with a side of onion rings. The tacos were spicy and the onion rings were delicious. We also ordered a bacon cheeseburger with a side of eggplant fries. We’d never seen eggplant fries before. We just couldn’t resist. They were absolutely delicious. What a brilliant idea. As promised the ice cream was very good. It would have been a great meal except for the 2.5% charge for using a credit card. Since almost no one pays in cash this amounts to pure graft and corruption. If you want to raise your prices go ahead but don’t nickel and dime your customers we HATE that.

Not wanting to call it a day yet we decided to go back to the Frazee House, the terminus of our hike the first day, and continue on North. We walked for about a mile before deciding to turn back. We’d finally had enough.

Saturday, July 30, 2022

For the last time we headed into Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We’d never really heard of this park before but it turns out that it is one of the ten most popular parks in the U.S. According to one of the rangers we spoke to its because there’s no entry fee and its proximate to about 4 million people.

We drove over to the Canal Visitor’s Center; this was another one of the things the trainman told us to do. The building, situated just alongside one of the few locks in original condition, was operated as a tavern for many years. The downstairs was divided between a gift shop and an informational display about the canal. The upstairs had information on how the canal changed life for the locals, for the State of Ohio, and for people across the country. We learned that the first canal in the U.S. was the New England Middlesex Canal that ran from Boston to rural New Hampshire. Most of that canal has been paved over but there are spots where it can still be seen. There’s also a visitor’s center / museum about that canal in North Billerica, MA.

Next we drove to the Southern part of the park to the Tree Farm Trail. We followed the obvious trail around a small lake and wound up at a dead-end near a covered picnic area. Oops! We backtracked and found another, less obvious, trail and continued on that way. Soon we saw signs that indicated we were on the right track.

The trail wended its way through a wooded area. Part of the path was gravel and part was grass. About halfway through we came to a clearing and saw what we would colloquially call a Christmas Tree Farm with groups of evergreens at various stages of growth. I don’t know what we were expecting but that wasn’t it. In any event it was a pleasant hike. 2.7 miles later we were back at the car.

We went into a nearby town for gas and lunch before returning to the hotel. We wanted to make sure we had enough time to do a few housekeeping chores before we were off to our next destination.

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Thursday, July 21, 2022

The drive to Ann Arbor was just over three hours. The further we go East the better the gas mileage we get. Why? Because of the lower speed limits and the increased traffic it’s impossible to go as fast as we did previously. There is a silver lining: we’re saving money on gas. Going slower isn’t too much of a deal for us because all of our destinations East of Milwaukee are much closer together.

We lost an hour during the drive. We’re finally back in East Coast time. It feels wonderful. We arrived in town too early to check into our hotel so we found an interesting place to have a leisurely lunch. We chose someplace we’d never been before: Mr. Kabob Xpress.

It’s a small chain of Mediterranean style restaurants that only seems to exist in this area. Anyone who’s ever been to a Chipotle would feel comfortable there. You walk beside a long counter and at each station they offer you several different options. We both got their “bowls”. The choices were for several kinds of humus, many different kinds of vegetables, grilled chicken or falafel balls, and some sort of dressing. We had fun choosing what to put in and we got exactly what we wanted. The result was great: it was very enjoyable. All together we got two bowls and one soda. When I saw them total it up to $30.00 I was more than a little shocked.

A couple of doors down there was a donut shop. We poked our heads in. They were serving Illy brand coffee, one of our favorites. Deborah got a latte. Some of the donuts looked interesting but with prices ranging from $3.50 to $4.50 per donut I declined to try any.

When we drove into our hotel we noticed a White Castle within walking distance. We hadn’t seen one of those in a very long time. Guess where we had dinner?

Friday, July 22, 2022

This morning we went to the Gerald R Ford Presidential Library and Museum. It’s located on the campus of the University of Michigan. The library is split between this site and the one in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Ford was raised. This site is the smaller of the two. Admission was free.

The public portion of this site is really limited to displays presented in one large room. The room contained information on his boyhood, college education, law career, political adventures, and post presidential activities. We learned a few interesting things…

• Gerald R Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. He was renamed by his stepfather. Many years later he honored his step father by legally changing his name.
• He was a star high school and college football player.
• After graduating from the University of Michigan Ford wanted to attend Law School at Yale but was rejected. He was subsequently hired as the Yale assistant football coach and convinced the administration that he could coach and attend law school simultaneously. He graduated in 1937.
• He was recruited as a professional football player by The Green Bay Packers in 1935.
• He was a member of the seven member Warren Commission that investigated the death of JFK.

After the museum we went downtown to get some lunch at a well know local hotspot called Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger. Based on the posters on the wall it would appear that the restaurant has appeared on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives as well as Man vs. Food. As we waited in line we saw a poster espousing the proper way to order these burgers. It reminded us of the Seinfeld episode: The Soup Nazi.

Ordering was a little difficult because there is no formal menu. We listened carefully to what and how others ordered and figured out most of what was available. According to the instructions you must specify how many patties you want; each patty weighs 1.6 ounces and the minimum number you can order is two. We both got two patties, dressed with cheese and vegetables, and shared an order of onion rings. The burgers were pretty good but with all of the stuff on it we had trouble tasting the meat. If we were to go back we’d order at least three patties. The onion rings were home made and absolutely delicious. We washed it all down with Stewarts Key Lime soda. We’d never seen that before. It doesn’t actually contain any lime juice but it still tasted great.

Afterwards we walked around the downtown area. They were having an art fair. A large, multi-street area, was blocked off from traffic and booths were setup on both sides of the road. The fair extended for many blocks in several directions. We walked around for about 45 minutes before succumbing to the heat of the day.

Michigan is known for it Montmorency Cherries. These are tart cherries that were originally grown in France but are now grown all over the world – and especially Michigan. While strolling through the fair we stopped at a Cherry Republic store and checked out their wares. They had all kinds of cherry infused products and plenty of free samples. We walked out of the store with a bag of milk chocolate covered cherries. Yum!

Saturday, July 23, 2022

This morning we went to the University of Michigan Art Museum. It’s located on the campus of The University of Michigan downtown. Entry was free. The museum has a fairly nice collection on three floors that spans the Medieval period to the present day.

We found a few works from well known artists such as Picasso, Rodin, and Monet but most of the works were from minor artists or were unattributed. One room contained a few eclectic pieces that really appealed to us. There were two 19th century renaissance style marble statues, a portrait by Kehinde Wiley (he painted President Obama’s official portrait), and a minimalist piece by Jonathan Monk which just showed the letter “O” in a sentence where all of the other letters had been removed.

For lunch we drove to the suburbs to a restaurant called Grand Traverse Pies. They serve food but are known for the cherry pies. When we got there we noticed an interesting looking restaurant called Metzger’s German Restaurant. We checked out the menu and decided to go inside. We ordered a bratwurst plate, some cheese spaetzel, and a bowl of beer infused cheese soup. We enjoyed it immensely. Instead of getting dessert there we went next door and got a piece of cherry pie with crumb topping. The pie was very good but we thought that the cherry was a bit obscured. We bought a piece of plain cherry pie and a cherry/peach pie with crumb topping to take home.

Back downtown we went to the Kelsey Museum of Archeology, which was just down the street from the Art Museum. It, too, was free. When we entered we were told that the upstairs was closed for renovation. The downstairs area was really just one large room with artifacts mostly from ancient Mesopotamia, Parthia (Iran), Greece, and Egypt. Quite a few of the pieces from the Mesopotamian and Parthian displays were replicas of pieces from the British Museum. One or two of the pieces from each area were particularly interesting but most were just fairly small or fragments.

Back in our hotel we split the two pieces of pie for dinner. We found that the crumb topping really obscured the fruit flavor. The plain cherry pie was much more fruit forward.

Sunday, July 24, 2022

It was a rainy and overcast day. We decided to take the day off. Mostly we just hung out in our hotel room.

For dinner we went out to Genova Pizzeria. We could have gotten our usual pepperoni and onion for $14.00 or a pepperoni, sausage, and prosciutto for $13.25, so we went for the latter. It was pretty good, too. It was the closest thing we’ve had to New York pizza since we left Vegas.

Next door was Luca Pastry, an Italian style bakery with some really interesting stuff. We went home with a chocolate eclair and a half dozen rainbow cookies. The eclair was pretty good but really needed more vanilla. The cookies had a nice marzipan aftertaste but really needed more preserves. In spite of those issues we managed to finish them off.

Monday, July 25, 2022

This morning we went to Dearborn to the Henry Ford Museum complex. There were three options: The Museum, The Factory Tour, and Greenfield Village. We opted for the Museum and the Tour. The cost for the two was $95.00 including $9.00 for parking (are you freaking kidding me?).

One of the docents told us that Henry Ford liked to collect all sorts of things. One day his wife told him that he needed to get all that stuff out of the house – and that was the genesis of the museum. It really held one of the most eclectic collations we’ve ever seen.

The museum has a lot of different sections all containing lots of interesting artifacts. In addition to classic cars the sections included several presidential limousines, a collection of racing memorabilia, numerous planes from aerospace pioneers, Abraham Lincoln, Civil Rights, stage coaches and early railroad stock, home furnishings, old tractors, art glass, steam engines, and costumes from Disney movies. Here is a brief list of some of the most interesting…

• The chair that Abraham Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot.
• The bus where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.
• A travel trailer used by Charles Lindbergh. It was a gift from Henry Ford.
• The motorhome used by Charles Kuralt in the series, “On The Road”.
• The Ford Trimotor Airplane that Admiral Byrd used on his Antarctic expedition.

We took a break from the museum around 1:00 pm to eat lunch at the museum’s cafeteria so we could be ready to board a bus to the factory at 1:50 pm.

The bus took us about 20 minutes away to the Ford Rouge Factory, so called because it was built alongside the Rouge River. The factory, built between 1917 and 1928, was one of Ford’s grand ideas. He wanted a single place where he could take in raw materials, fabricate all of the parts needed, and assemble his cars.

Our tour started with a film about the history of the plant. Next we were treated to a high tech presentation on how cars are assembled. Afterwards we went up to an observation platform where we could see the entirety of the huge complex. Next we got to see cars being assembled on the actual factory floor.

We walked on a raised platform that took us around an active assembly line where Ford F-150 Trucks were being assembled. Initially we watched workers install trim pieces and center consoles. Further down the line we watched a robot install the rear window glass. It was fun to watch how it positioned the window using its laser beams. Further down the line we watched them install headlights, assemble doors, install tailgates, and perform final checks on the finished product.

The last stop was a small display with about a dozen classic cars including a 1954 Thunderbird and a 1965 Mustang.

We got back to the museum about an hour before closing time. We rushed about to see the few displays we hadn’t seen before.

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

We went back to Dearborn to see the Greenfield Village. Like everything Ford did it is larger than expected and contains an odd collection of things. The village is divided into several sections: Liberty Craftworks, Main Street, Edison at Work, and Porches and Parlors. There’s also a steam engine that circumnavigates the village, Model Ts you can ride in, and small vintage busses to take you around the village all at extra cost. The cost of entry for us was $79.00 including $9.00 for parking(!). We took in the entire village section by section.

We started out on Main Street. It contains a number of historic buildings that have been moved to the village. The most interesting ones were the Wright Cycle Shop and the Wright Home. Both belonged to the Wright Brothers and were moved from Dayton, OH. The cycle shop was setup just like it would have been and in the back was a workshop where the brothers built their airplanes.

Porches and Parlors also contains historic buildings. One of the buildings was the home of one of Ford’s favorite teachers. Another was an old tollhouse. The most interesting included houses belonging to Robert Frost and to Noah Webster.

Edison at work was basically a reproduction of a number of buildings from Menlo Park, NJ. In 1891 Henry Ford was employed by The Edison Illuminating Company of Detroit. The two men maintained a close working relationship and personal friendship throughout the rest of their lives. At one time Ford even hired Edison to do research on ways to make natural rubber.

Liberty Craftworks contains a number of old saw mills and cloth manufacturing mills. Most of these are reproductions of old New England mills. There’s even a working printing press. There’s also a number of craft houses that produce works that are sold in the stores. These include ceramics, and glass blowing. You can watch artisans create these pieces before your very eyes.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2022

We went back to Ally’s this morning so we could use our gift card. We had another good breakfast and got a cinnamon bun to go. The drive to Indiana Dunes National Park took just about 2.5 hours. When we got to the visitor’s center we were surprised to learn that a large part of the middle of the park was designated as Indiana Dunes State Park, which required a separate fee to enter. The State Park lands were mostly beachfront. All of the interesting things to see, plus a great deal more beachfront, was part of the National Park. There was no reason for us to pay the extra fees.

We started out by driving along the waterfront on West Lake Front Drive. The road follows Lake Michigan’s shoreline for many miles. We were surprised to see so many people on the beaches and frolicking in the water. It was a hot and humid day. We envied them.

Soon we came to the Century of Progress Historic District. We stopped there to look at the houses. Once we parked we noticed a path down to the beach. We couldn’t resist. We walked down, removed our shoes and socks, and waded in. The water was a bit on the cold side and was very refreshing. We resolved to come back tomorrow and spend some time on the beach.

The district had five houses that were originally designed and built for the 1933-1934 Chicago World’s Fair. Each of the houses was to showcase a different, technologically advanced, building methodology. When the fair ended a developer moved all of the houses to their present location hoping that they would spur interest in the new resort community he was planning. Today the houses are leased to private individuals who are restoring them to their original condition using private funding.

We continued down to the end of the park until we reached one of its major attractions: Mount Baldy. It’s a 126 foot tall sand dune that moves about 5-10 feet each year. It’s called a “living dune”. It’s dangerous to climb the dune as there is a real danger of getting swallowed up by the sand. The park service has it roped off. There is a trail that will take you to the beach where you can get a better view. Given the day’s heat we decided to return tomorrow and do the hike early in the morning before the sun was fully up.

Next we drove to the other end of the park and visited some older, historic buildings. First we found the Chellberg Farm. A large population of Swedes came to Indiana in the 1850s to work at the saw mills. By 1860 they started purchasing land for farming. This was the farm owned by one such family. There were several buildings including a main house composed of brick, a sugar house, a barn, and some other out-buildings. A short hike later we found The Bailly Homestead.

The Bailly family was one of the first to settle the area in 1822. The original homestead covered over 2,000 acres. The family prospered by trading with the Native Americans and by farming the land. Over the years the original log cabin was built into a large, two story, home. Other surviving buildings were used for storage as well as for other family members.

After getting gas we headed for our hotel – an OYO Hotel. Apple Maps brought us to a Motel 8. We tried Google Maps: same result. We called the hotel and asked for directions. The woman gave us the address we already had. She said the hotel was “just a little father down”. What does that mean??? Finally, after a bit of back and forth, she said that it was the OYO Hotel but the new sign had not yet been installed and yes, it used to be a Motel 8. There’s 15 minutes of my life I’ll never get back.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

We went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast this morning. They don’t have them in the midwest and we hadn’t seen one in quite a while. Besides, Deborah likes their coffee. I ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese croissant. What I got was a sausage, egg, and cheese bagel. They changed it. I also ordered a lemonade no-ice without specifying a size. Instead of asking me they simply charged me for the largest size. If that wasn’t bad enough I noticed on the receipt that they’d charged me an extra $0.99 (plus tax) because I asked for no ice. I asked the manager about that and was told that corporate had suggested to their franchisees that they start charging customers who requested this. I was fuming.

Before leaving I looked up at the menu board and found no mention of this new surcharge. I asked to speak to the manager again. I told her that she couldn’t charge me for no-ice when it was not mentioned on the menu. I told her that she would either refund the fee to me or I would dispute the charge on the credit card. She summoned the owner.

The owner told me that franchisees could charge anything they wanted. I told him that I’d taken a picture of the menu and there was no mention of this surcharge. His response: you’re not allowed to take pictures in here. My response: too bad. I reiterated that he would either refund the charge or I would dispute it. After some further back and forth he had one of the cashiers issue me a refund. After we left I looked up their reviews on Google. The one I left was just one of many that reflected seriously unhappy customers.

Yesterday we had planned to drive back over to Indiana Dunes National Park and and hike at Mount Baldy. This is exactly what we did. The hike was not particularly long but even at this early hour it was terribly humid. When we got to the Summit Trail we found that it was closed. We were a little annoyed that it was not posted at the trail head. We continued on to the beach. We walked East towards the famous dune and took a bunch of pictures.

Back in the car we parked at one of the beaches. Sometimes it’s good to have everything you own in the car. We dug out our camp chairs and some towels and found a shady spot on the beach. Except for a man playing fetch in the water with his dog we were all alone.

It was idyllic. It was cool and breezy in the shade. We sat and enjoyed the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. Lake Michigan is so large that it’s impossible to see to the other side. It resembles an ocean in every way excepting the lack of briny spray. Eventually we got adventurous and got in the water.

The beach is very sandy but the first ten feet or so of the shallows is lined with small, smooth, slippery rocks. Given the current and the waves it was hard to stand there. Further out the floor turns once again to soft sand. Initially the water felt a little cold to us but once we waded in and got used to it we found it to be delightful.

About a hundred yards out there was a sand bar. We swam out and found the water barely came up to our waists. It was very amusing. We frolicked about for almost an hour before returning to our beach chairs. By this time the beach was starting to fill up. About an hour later we had dried out enough to get back in the car and get some lunch.

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Friday, July 15, 2022

I met a woman this morning who was also dragging her luggage out to the car. I made the mistake of exchanging pleasantries and would up hearing her entire life’s story. She mentioned that if we were going East on I-80 we should stop at the largest truck stop in the world as they were having some sort of jamboree. When I went back to my room I googled for that truck stop. We were in fact going East but the truck stop was 40 miles to the West. What I did find, however, was that the largest wooden nickel in the world was just 1.4 miles from us. We just HAD to stop there before leaving town.

Just one exit East off I-80 we found a small, rural road. We knew we were in the right place when we saw another car parked on the side of the road. There it was: the largest wooden nickel in the world. It was a Buffalo (really Bison) Nickel. We took some pictures and continued on our way.

After an hour and a half we stopped in Dyersville, Iowa. One of the many farms in this town was used during the filming of Field of Dreams. We just couldn’t resist seeing it. The owners kept the baseball field just as it was in the movie – complete with a small wooden bleacher on each side. Just beyond, on a small hill was the white farmhouse that the family lived in. Quite a few people brought their mitts and were playing catch on the field. It was very amusing.

We walked to the outfield to see if we could find James Earl Jones in the corn but by the time we got there he was nowhere to be found. We walked the bases and stopped in at the concession stand to see if they had any fresh corn. They said it was still too early.

Just down the hill from the farm house a large gift house has been built. We went in and walked about. It was full of all sorts of baseball jerseys and hats as well as movie memorabilia. The prices were exorbitant.

After we left we drove into the town of Dyersville and had lunch at the Dyersville Family Restaurant. Deborah had a patty melt with mashed potatoes and gravy. I had a meatlovers skillet that came with eggs and toast. The food was very good. We thought that the restaurant would be a tourist trap with high prices but it turned out to be a locals hangout with very reasonable prices.

We walked a couple of blocks down the street and entered the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier. It was built in the Neo-Gothic style between 1887 and 1889. In 1956 it was elevated to the rank of Minor Basilica by Pope Pius XII. It’s a very beautiful church with a deep main altar and stained glass windows all along the sides. We longed to hear the pipe organ but all was quiet when we were there.

After checking into our hotel in Milwaukee we went to Sinbad’s Grill for dinner. We shared a falafel plate consisting of six falafel balls, humus, tahini, rice, salad, and a pita. It was pretty good but not nearly as good as the dinner we had the night before.

Next we headed to Costco for gas. This is the second time in a row that we got (Costco) gas for under $4.00. Then we were off to Kopp’s Frozen Custard. Wisconsin is famous for its custard and we feel it’s our duty to try as much of it as possible.

Kopp’s has been an institution in Milwaukee since the 1950s. They also sell jumbo burgers. I ordered the flavor of the day: Mr. Fudgie. As usual Deborah ordered a dish of vanilla with caramel sauce. Mr. Fudgie wasn’t chocolate and was strongly infused with mint; not something I really like. I decided to go back and order a plain dish of chocolate. The chocolate was wonderful and the vanilla with caramel was also quite delicious. Prices were reasonable too. They really need to find a better name for that flavor!

Saturday, July 16, 2022

This morning we went to the Harley-Davidson Museum. It’s situated downtown along the Menomonee River. The entire complex sits on 22 acres. Entry costs $22.00 per person. The museum starts on the second floor where there is a nice display showing how the brothers came up with the idea for a motorcycle company and how they grew it over time. There is a nice array of photos and documents to go along with the story. The floor also contains a display detailing motorcycle racing, which Harley-Davidson dominated from the start.

The museum has a representative of just about every bike the company ever built starting with serial number one from 1903. The older bikes are on the second floor and the line continues on the first floor where you can also find some famous bikes from the movies including the bike Arnold Schwarzenegger rode in T2 and the one Peter Fonda rode in Easy Rider.

Outside there is a restaurant, a gift shop, and a reproduction of the very small shed that was used as the original factory.

We left the Harley complex and went over to the Riverwalk district. This is a two mile walking path along the Milwaukee River where we expected to find a variety of shops and restaurants. Along the way we encountered a sculpture that has become known as The Bronze Fonz. It is an almost life sized figure of Arthur Fonzarelli from the series Happy Days, which was set in Milwaukee. It’s a popular spot to take some selfies.

There were few shops along the walk and most of the restaurants we found had been closed long ago. The area seems in need of rejuvenation. In the distance we spied a sign indicating Usinger’s Famous Sausage and we headed that way. When we got there we found that they had a small takeout counter. The restaurant had been closed. Milwaukee has a very large German population and the restaurants on this block were all Teutonic in nature. We settled in at Hofbrauhaus.

We ordered a large plate consisting of smoked bratwurst, bratwurst, knockwurst, weisswurst, and rye bread all on a bed of red cabbage, sauerkraut, and kartoffelsalat. We managed to eat all of the meats but hardly made a dent in the rest. We both agreed that the smoked bratwurst was the best of the lot. It was a ton of food and we were completely stuffed.

True to our ideals when we left we drove over to Leon’s Frozen Custard. Deborah had two scoops of vanilla with caramel sauce. I had a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of vanilla. The custard was wonderful. The vanilla was full of flavor, the caramel sauce delicious, and the chocolate was a lighter, milk chocolate, which I really loved. I think we liked this even better than Kopp’s.

Sunday, July 17, 2022

In the early 1800s Milwaukee was a popular place for German immigrants who brought a great deal of their culture with them. As a consequence quite a few breweries originated in this town. This morning we toured one of the largest and most famous of the bunch: Pabst Brewery.

The brewery was actually started by Jacob Best in 1844. None of his sons wished to take over the business so it eventually went to his daughter’s husband: Frederick Pabst. Interestingly enough, one of Best’s sons started the well known Miller Brewing Company which today is owned by Molson Coors. Tickets for the tour cost $12.00 per person which included a ticket for a free beer.

In its heyday the brewery sprawled over a couple of dozen buildings. Most of the original buildings have been repurposed. The tour took place in a building that held administrative offices as well as brewing facilities. Our tour guide gave us a complete history of the company and then walked us through the building including the lovely hand carved wood paneled office of Mr. Pabst.

After the tour we walked down the block to the Milwaukee Brewing Company. We could have taken another brewery tour there but instead opted for lunch. We ordered a Bavarian Pretzel and the poutine (french fries, fried cheese curds, summer sausage, and beer infused gravy). Service was really slow. After 20 minutes we still didn’t have our drinks. I asked a waiter to see what he could do. About ten minutes later our food came and soon after our drinks.

The food was very good. The pretzel was salty and soft and went well with the spicy German mustard. It was good thing we asked for the gravy on the side because we didn’t care for it. We did, however, make liberal use of the cheese sauce, it went well with everything that we ordered.

For dessert we tried another custard place called Gilles Frozen Custard. They started in 1938 and claim to be the oldest custard shop in Milwaukee. We ordered the usual. The chocolate was just ok but the vanilla was the best we’d had so far. It was smooth and creamy and had a strong vanilla flavor.

Monday, July 18, 2022

We decided to have a late breakfast at Ally’s. We ordered at the counter. Deborah requested the quiche of the day (spinach, mushroom, red pepper, and cheddar) and I asked for a croissant with bacon, egg, and cheddar. Just then the chef came out of the kitchen and informed us that they had run out of croissants. I asked to substitute a pretzel roll. We paid and waited for our food to be delivered.

When the food came I got two biscuits with bacon, egg, and cheddar. The waitress apologized but I said it was ok. She offered us a $15.00 gift card as compensation. The food was home cooked and was very good. We decided to go back tomorrow before we leave town and use the gift card. They had some awesome looking cinnamon rolls that seemed worth trying.

We decided that we’d spend the rest of the day seeing churches. The German population is largely Lutheran but there is also a large Catholic population. We identified four churches that we wanted to see.

The first was The Gesu Church, a church run by the Jesuits – a sect started by Saint Ignatius Loyola. The church was fairly plainly decorated but had some beautiful stained glass windows. All up and down the avenue we found buildings belonging to Marquette University, a private Jesuit, Catholic college.

Driving down the road we passed the mansion of Frederick Pabst. It was a large, stone building that reminded us of the mansions in Newport, RI. Tours can be booked online. A little further down the road we found our next church: Tripoli Shrine Temple.

It’s a Shriner’s temple built between 1926 and 1928 that strongly resembles the Taj Mahal. It turns out that it’s not a religious building at all. It’s just an elaborate meeting place for the Shriner’s organization. No one was there to greet us so we just walked around and peered into a number of rooms.

Next was The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist. The doors to the church were locked so we tried to enter through the administrative entrance. A man said that we should wait near the church doors and someone would let us in. About ten minutes later someone let us in, opened the church, turned on the lights, and waited for us to look around. This church also had beautiful stained glass windows but the interior was rather sparse.

Our last church The Basilica of Saint Josaphat, a Polish martyr who tried to join the Catholic Church with the Eastern Orthodox Church. The basilica was built between 1894 and 1901. In 1929 it was elevated to the status of Minor Basilica by Pope Pius XI. At the time the church was built the surrounding neighborhood was populated mainly by Catholics of Polish origin.

We entered through the gift shop. The clerk told us that we could tour the church on our own or purchase an audio tour for $5.00 per person. We opted for the audio tour. It was an excellent tour. It took us through the entire basilica and explained how it had been constructed, told us some of the stories depicted in the stained glass windows, and described many of the adornments. It was very informative.

The church is decorated in the style of the Italian Renaissance. Real marble is used around the main altar but to save money much of the rest of the church is painted to look like marble. Downstairs in the Undercroft, there is another chapel that contains a “Boxcar” Organ and a huge array of relics along with a descriptions of the three classes of relics. We also found some interesting displays that described the details of the decorations in the dome. It included a description of the nine divisions of angels (who knew?).

After having seen four churches we earned a good lunch. We headed over to The Milwaukee Public Market. It’s a large building. On the first floor there are a number of food vendors. The second floor contains tables where you can sit and enjoy your meal.

We toured the entire first floor before deciding what to get. At Foltz Family Market we got mac & cheese with pieces of BBQ, spicy meatloaf, and several slices of corned beef. For our drinks we went to a Middle Eastern place called Aladdin and got homemade lemonade that was infused with rose water. The food was great but we were in full agreement: the lemonade was just awesome.

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Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Driving to Coralville, IA took a little under four hours. Our route was almost entirely on I-80 East. Another boring drive. We were a little too early to check into our hotel so we killed some time by having a long lunch at a Panera.

For dinner we went into nearby Iowa City. It’s a college town. We drove through much of the campus and saw a myriad of fraternity houses. We found a row of restaurants on a small, pedestrian only block that obviously cater to the college crowd. We went into one of them called Oasis Falafel.

We ordered a Sultan’s Feast, which meant we got to choose four items from their menu of side dishes. It also came with a piece of pita. For our sides we choose falafel balls (6), tabouleh, couscous, and humus. Surprisingly there was no tahini on the menu at all.

The food was prepared to order and the salads were obviously made in house. There was an abundance of garlic in everything. The falafel balls were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The couscous was very spicy (maybe curried) and full of carrots. The pita was just regular bread in the shape of a pita. I guess it’s hard to get good pita in Iowa. It was all very enjoyable.

Thursday, July 14, 2022

We headed for the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in nearby West Branch, IA. There’s actually two distinct sets of things to see there. The first is the actual presidential library and the second, just down the block, is a National Historic Site. We started with the library.

Because the library is not part of the national park system we couldn’t use our park pass. It cost $10.00 per person to enter. We started with a special exhibit that was only recently installed. It documented a tremendous crop failure / famine in the USSR in 1921 and how Hoover, at the request of the president at that time, organized a food relief program which was known as the ARA. As part of the agreement the Soviets allowed American administrators to enter the country and to direct the distribution of the food packages. It was feared that the Soviets would only give food to their political friends and would allow others to starve. The Americans also required the Soviets to plant wheat to stave off a subsequent famine. The entire program was very complex and highly political but it achieved its goals and saved millions from starvation. The next year’s wheat harvest was very successful and allowed the program to end in 1923.

The rest of the museum was exactly as you would expect. It detailed Hoover’s childhood, his college education, and his career in the private sector before he turned to politics. In fact, he was so successful in his chosen field (Geology) that he became an enormously wealthy man. There were also two films: a 20 minute flick about his life and a much longer documentary about the ARA.

The museum emphasized that the Great Depression which occurred on his watch was largely due to policies and excesses from previous administrations. Hoover was simply made the scapegoat. There is probably a great deal of truth in that.

The museum is actually situated on land that his father farmed. The grounds are now managed like a manicured park. High on a nearby hill we found his burial site. There are two large marble slabs. One with his name and the other bearing the name of Lou Henry Hoover, his wife.

After a short break for lunch we visited the adjacent National Historic Site. There was a short film about his childhood and a very small museum. Outside there was some interesting buildings. There was a replica of the blacksmith shop that his father owned. There we found a very talkative woman making a latch for a fence post. She was amusing and informative.

We also found the original school house from his youth, the Quaker Meeting House he attended, and the two room cabin in which he was born and raised until the age of eight.

Before heading back to our hotel we stopped to sample some local ice cream at a shop called Heyn’s Premium Ice Cream. They had over 20 homemade flavors just waiting for us to sample. Deborah had a dish of banana ice cream covered in caramel sauce. I had two scoops: chocolate covered cherry, which I paired with the banana. It was very good.

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Sunday, July 10, 2022

We watched the Wimbledon Men’s Final before embarking on the relatively short drive to Omaha. We planned to stay with Deborah’s cousins for the next few days. The problem was that they were flying in from Boston today after touring some colleges back East with their son, so we didn’t want to arrive too early. To kill some time we went to a corn festival. We walked through the market. They were selling all sorts of fresh fruits and vegetables along with home decorations. To participate in the festival you had to pay $9.00 per person. It didn’t look interesting enough for us to spend that much.

We drove into the town of Valley and had lunch at a very nice place called Simply Delicious. On Sundays they have a brunch menu. Deborah had some scrambled eggs with biscuits and gravy. I had a “Popeye” (spinach and swiss cheese omelette). All the food was freshly made and cooked to order. The sausage gravy was particularly good. My omelette seemed more like a frittata but tasted great. The women who owns the restaurant encouraged us to see the gallery next door. Apparently she owns it as well and painted many of the pictures hanging on the walls.

To kill some more time we decided to tour the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum⁩ in nearby Ashland. Nearby Offutt Airforce Base had been SAC’s primary home during its existence from 1946 – 1992. The museum , originally opened in 1959, moved to its present location in Ashland in 1998. It is managed by the Smithsonian Institute.

When you drive up there are a number of large rockets and airplanes outside the building. We were anxious to see them but decided to go inside first because we had just three hours before the museum would be closing. The entry price of $16.00 per person was a bit of sticker shock.

When you walk in you can’t help seeing an enormous SR-71A “Blackbird” suspended from the ceiling with its nose pointed directly at you. It’s a very dramatic effect. There are about 75 planes to see in total spread across two large hangers. There are also a number of informational displays and a movie theater with very dated films about SAC and some of its most famous airplanes.

They had a beautifully restored B25N “Mitchell” Bomber. You could climb up to see inside the cockpit, and walk into the open bomb bay. It was a lot of fun. They had a B-36J Convair “Peacemaker”, the largest mass produced piston airplane ever built. We’d never seen one before. There was also a lovely B-29. For us the most interesting plane may have been the Fairchild C-119G “Flying Boxcar”. It was made in Hagerstown, MD in January, 1953. It’s likely that Deborah’s grandfather helped build that plane.

We arrived at Jon and Judith’s house around 6:00 pm and had a lovely dinner. It was nice to catch up with them after not having seen them since 2015 in Phoenixville, PA. We were particularly pleased to meet their two dogs – and, oh yeah, to see how much their three sons had grown.

Monday, July 11, 2022

We must have been exhausted because we slept late. Judith had already left for work and Jon was on his way out. We decided to go out for breakfast and go to Target for some necessities.

Later, when Judith came home, we went out. We wanted to take a tour of Jon’s church but needed to kill some time before the day’s business was complete. We decided to go to a famous local place called Hurts Donut. We split three different donuts and then got a dozen to take home. Unusually all of the donuts were cake and none were raised, which I prefer. In spite of that the actual donut was soft, flavorful, and delicious.

On the way back to the church Judith drove us past the first two incarnations of “Bethany Lutheran Church”. The third version, on N204th Street in Elkhorn, is around ten years old and much larger than its predecessors. We were treated to a tour of a chapel, several multi-purpose rooms, the main chapel, and a lot of the backstage areas.

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

We drove over to Boys Town, the well known organization founded by Father Flanagan as an orphanage in 1917. Father Flanagan purchased Overlook Farm in 1921, the present location of the organization. Eventually the area became known as the Village of Boys Town.

Our first stop was the visitors center. A very friendly lady gave us an overview of the property and told us what buildings we would be able to visit. The visitors center contains a lovely gift shop and some interesting novelties including the largest Ball of Stamps in the world, and portions of Father Flanagan’s baseball collection. We purchased four Father Flanagan four cent stamps that were issued by the US Post Office in 1986. They will fit in nicely with our collection of stamps from all of the European countries that we’ve recently visited.

Next we visited Dowd Chapel, a Catholic Church that features beautiful stained glass windows and a chapel where Father Flanagan was interred.

Adjacent to the church was a lovely little park featuring plantings that were mentioned in the Bible. The trees / bushes were all labeled and contained biblical quotes that referred to them. A few steps away we visited the Boys Town Hall of History, a museum detailing the life of Father Flanagan, the development of the organization and information regarding the way that it trains and educates its pupils. It was very interesting and contained many artifacts and pictures of Father Flanagan with famous people. Father Flanagan died in Berlin, Germany in 1948. At the time he was making recommendations as to how to deal with the post war orphans of Europe at the request of President Truman.

We got back in the car and drove a few blocks to Father Flanagan’s House. There we received a guided tour of the house that he lived in during his latter years. The guide promised us that the tour would last no more than 25 minutes. The problem was that we kept asking questions and he kept telling stories. Over an hour later we literally ran out of the house to try to get back to the visitors center before the cafe closed at 1:30 pm. It was a very interesting tour.

The cafe’s special of the day was a rueben sandwich. I got one with onion rings and Judith got one with cabbage soup. Deborah got a bowl of Wisconsin cheddar soup. The food was very good and was reasonably priced. It was the perfect end to a perfect visit. Before leaving for the day we drove around the extensive grounds. We finally got to see some of the housing that is provided for the kids. Each house is run by a couple who supervises up to eight students. The houses were large, in excellent condition, and seemed fully equipped including outdoor furniture and sports equipment.

On the way home we tried another local delicacy: Dairy Chef. It’s not a chain and can only be found here in Omaha. The place has burgers and such but we went straight for the ice cream. Our choices were chocolate, vanilla, and twist soft serve along with a variety of toppings or mix-ins. I ordered a medium twist cone. Deborah had a small dish of vanilla with caramel sauce and Judith had a small “breakup” (a dish of chocolate ice cream with chocolate brownies, and Oreos mixed in). The portions were enormous and the ice cream smooth, creamy, and delicious. Sadly there won’t be time to go there again before we leave tomorrow morning.

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Thursday, July 7, 2022

We watched the Wimbledon Women’s Semifinals before departing for Sioux City, IA. We had originally planned to go to Sioux Falls, SD but couldn’t find a hotel for under $200.00 per night, so we decided to go an extra 1.5 hours to Sioux City, IA, instead. Most of the drive was due East on I-90, which was a very long, straight, boring road. The drive time was 6.5 hours.

Friday, July 8, 2022

Sioux City has a lot of Lewis and Clark related things to do. We started off by going to the Chris Larsen Park where the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center can be found. Outside in the garden there were two sets of sculptures. One, permanent, had traditional bronze sculptures of indigenous animals, and a large scale sculpture featuring William Clark, Captain Meriwether Lewis, and Lewis’ faithful Newfoundland dog named Seaman, who accompanied them on the expedition.

The other sculptures, from a traveling exhibition, were more whimsical. They depicted mostly dinosaurs and were made from odds and ends. The animals were “Scrapasaurs” by artist Dale Lewis. They were very amusing.

The first building we went into was the Betty Strong Encounter Center. Its mission is to preserve the area’s history. Admission is free. It took about 15 minutes to walk through the entire building. There was very little of interest.

We entered the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center through a connecting door. Admission is also free. Surprisingly there was little information on the mission itself. We found displays showing equipment that would have been used on the expedition and information on some of the natives that they would have met.

From there we walked across the park to the Sergeant Floyd River Museum. Sergeant Floyd was the only member of the Lewis and Clark expedition to die during the adventure. The museum is a river boat that was commissioned by the US military to monitor activities on the Missouri River. When the boat was decommissioned locals saved it from destruction and made it into a museum. Admission is free.

The bottom level of the boat’s space is mostly used as a gift shop. The second level tells the history of the area in terms of commerce on the river. The top floor is the bridge. You can play with the controls and ring the ship’s bell if you like (I did).

Our next stop was Palmer’s Olde Tyme Candy Shoppe. Palmer’s is well known to us although but we didn’t realize that they were based in Sioux City. Every Christmas we get Palmer’s chocolate bells. They are delicious.

The shop contains all of the products that Palmer’s makes plus some others from other well known candy companies. Their main factory is a few blocks away and is over three football fields in length. Since the bells are only available during the Christmas season we purchased some milk chocolate stars and some opera candies (soft centers enrobed in milk chocolate). They didn’t last long.

Our last stop of the day was at the Sergeant Floyd Monument. Sergeant Floyd died of bilious colic and was buried in Sioux City near the river on a small hill that became known as Floyd’s Bluff. Because of flooding the grave was uncovered and moved several times. Eventually, in 1901, money was raised for a new, permanent resting place. A large, white, 100 foot tall, sandstone obelisk was erected over his grave. It’s a wonderful monument that can be seen from many parts of the city.

Saturday, July 9, 2022

Since we had done so much the previous day there was just one more item on our list of things to do. We went to see Trinity Heights. The main attraction was said to be a life sized wood carving of DaVinci’s Last Supper. It turned out that there was quite a bit more to see than that.

We parked and walked into a sculpture garden. A curved paved path lead to numerous stations with sculptures of famous biblical characters. The highlight was a huge, 30 foot tall sculpture entitled The Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Peace by Dale Lamphere.

There were two buildings on either side of the parking lot. We went into the gift shop. There was a nice selection of Christian books and statues for sale. The other building contained a large room with sculptures by Jerry Traufler. One was a basswood carving of Jesus tied to a marble block entitled Scourged. The other was a life sized carving of the last supper. There was a chapel next door that contained carvings of the 12 stations of the cross. It also contained several display cases containing holy relics.

We found another, similar sculpture garden on the other side of the parking lot. The highlight was another 30 foot stainless steel sculpture, except this time it was of Jesus. The area around the sculpture was designated as an outdoor chapel.

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Monday, July 4, 2022

In the morning we stayed in and watched Wimbledon on TV. For lunch we walked a few doors down to the Mt Rushmore Brewing Company. Deborah had the Chicken Yakisoba. It was a little on the sweet side but tasty. I had the eggplant sandwich. It came with lettuce, tomato, and onion. The lettuce was a little weird so I removed it. The eggplant was also very tasty. The soft drinks were served in plastic tumblers that had obviously been used to serve beer. There was a distinct aftertaste. It was a little off-putting. The waiter never checked up on us until he decided we were ready for dessert when we shared an order of butterscotch infused bread pudding topped with vanilla ice cream. It was quite good but we were surprised it lacked any sort of alcohol flavoring.

In the afternoon we binge watched the last two episodes of Stranger Things. The series is so repetitive that it is getting tiresome. The series will wrap up next year with the next and final set of episodes.

Around 9:00 pm we heard what sounded like thunder outside. We peaked out just in time to see the ending flourish of a fireworks display. Happy Fourth of July!

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

This morning we visited Sylvan Lake, located within Custer State Park. It’s a small, incredibly picturesque lake that was formed in 1891 when a dam was built across Sunday Gulch Creek. The lake was featured in the movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The movie implied that the lake was just behind Mount Rushmore. It’s really about five miles away.

We hiked the trail that goes around the lake. At first the path was an easy walk over a paved surface that lead to the dam. We walked over some stones to get to a bridge that straddles the dam and provides a view of the lake on one side and the forest on the other side. The next part of the trail was over stones and uneven rocks and required some scrambling. Eventually it lead to a steep set of stairs and another overlook. We scrambled down and found a nice gravel trail that lead the rest of the way around.

When we started walking the sun was out and the temperature was well into the 70s. As we walked clouds started rolling in, obscuring the mountain tops, and dropping the temperature into the 60s. It reminded us of a scene from the movie, “The Fog”.

Next we drove into Hill City, the town we stayed in when we visited in 2004.

Extra points if you can identify this quote and determine why it is here..

Yutan, two of those who killed my wife have escaped. Track them down. I will kill them.

The town has changed a lot in 18 years. It has been built up quite a bit. Now there is a Main Street with all sorts of galleries, clothing stores, ice cream shops, and restaurants that weren’t there before. We walked up and down the street and poked our heads into quite a few places before heading over to the Alpine Inn for lunch.

Last time we were there someone in town told use we had to eat at the Alpine Inn. We were told that they served, “Dinner”. Dinner consisted of a steak, salad, baked potato, drink, and dessert all for a very reasonable price. The restaurant opened at 5:00 pm and by 4:30 pm there was a line of people waiting. They still do “Dinner” every night starting at 5:00 pm. For $15.95 you can get a nine ounce bacon wrapped filet mignon, baked potato, salad, and Texas Toast. Drinks and dessert are now extra.

We didn’t recall it but the entire Inn has a very distinctive German ambiance. We shared an order of the pork schnitzel and the bratwurst. Both came with kaese spaetzle (German mac and cheese), sour kraut, red cabbage, and onions. We also got an order of their German potato salad. It was just like being back in Europe. We enjoyed it immensely. It was a lot of food and we cleaned our plates. Unfortunately, they had a huge dessert menu and everything on it was calling to us. We finally decided on “only” two things: a warm dark chocolate cake covered with chocolate ganache (really chocolate syrup) and topped with vanilla ice cream and the milk chocolate mouse with dark chocolate brownie pieces. The mouse was okay but the cake was amazing. We tried our best but weren’t able to finish either of them. We felt ashamed. The service was excellent. My one complaint: it’s cash only.

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

We finally got around to going back to Mount Rushmore. There is a road that leads to the monument that winds its way through mountain roads where there are strategically located tunnels, and various pullouts that frame the mountain from different angles. It’s an absolutely lovely drive.

The monument was free to enter but there was a $10.00 charge for parking. It’s funny how little we remembered about this place. We walked up the main access way, through the hall of flags, and snapped some selfies in front of the mountain. The visitor’s center had a nice little movie describing how the project was conceived and how it was implemented. There were also some general information materials about the presidents who are represented.

We also walked down many flights of stairs to see the sculptor’s studio. The only thing there was a large scale model of what was to be the final version of the carving. A ranger gave an informative talk that echoed everything we’d heard in the movie. The mountain clearly isn’t finished and only vaguely looks like the model. The project was halted in 1941, after being dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt, because the sculptor had died the year before, there was a problem with funding, and World War II was beginning.

Lastly we visited the cafeteria. It still strongly resembles the place where Cary Grant was shot in the 1959 movie, “North by Northwest”. They now have an ice cream shop featuring hard packed flavors inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s own recipe, which is on display and can be purchased for $1.00. Deborah had a cup of praline pecan and I had a waffle cone with twist soft serve. The praline pecan was first rate. The soft serve was flavorless.

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Sunday, July 2, 2022

This morning we went to nearby Crazy Horse Memorial. The project started off as a Mount Rushmore style mountain carving to commemorate the great Indian Chief Crazy Horse. Over the years it has expended to include a museum and a school. It’s full plans call for a huge complex dedicated to the protection and preservation of all North American Indians. The first ceremonial carving took place in 1948 with the work beginning in earnest in 1949.

When we were in the area in 2004 we visited this place. During that time the carvers had just about completed Crazy Horse’s face and had begun work on his outstretched arm. It seemed to us that that work has progressed very little since then although we were told most of the work in the intervening years involved removing large amounts of stone from the mountain so detailed carving could continue. 18 years ago there was a visitor’s center and not much else. Now there is a large complex of buildings that include a gift shop, a museum, a restaurant, a school, and the home and studios where the project’s original artist, Korcazak Ziolkowski, and his family lived and worked. Unlike our previous visit there is now a full time, year round, crew that is dedicated to carving the mountain. The carving work is expected to take several lifetimes.

The mountain is easily seen from the main highway but can be seen in more detail from the memorial grounds. The cost is $15.00 per person to enter. Because the mountain is an active work site no one is permitted to walk up to the base for safety reasons. There are bus tours that, for $4.00 per person, will drive you up pretty close. We declined to wait an hour for the next bus.

It’s a very nice experience but after walking through the museum and taking a few pictures there isn’t too much to do. We went back because we were very curious to see what progress had been made. 18 years ago, when we took off from Rapid City Airport, we flew near the memorial and took some video out the cockpit window. Unfortunately, it’s stored away right now or I’d post it here.

Afterwards we decided to return to Wind Cave National Park. We’d been there to tour the cave but hadn’t seen much of the rest of the park. We took the scenic drive. As we approached the visitor’s center we noticed a large field with numerous holes. These belonged to the prairie dogs who lived there. We could see quite a few of them posing and scurrying around. They were very cute.

We stopped near a large field at one point and saw some mule deer. Three of them were eating grass very close to the road. In the distance, under a tree, we could see a bunch more. There were several babies among them.

As we turned a corner we found a huge male bison standing on the edge of the road. He was gorgeous and posing like he wanted his picture taken. We obliged him. We found another, even larger male, near a turnout. Just then a park ranger pulled an SUV over into the same turnout. We watched the bison dig up the ground and roll in the dirt before slowly walking into the pullout near the ranger. The ranger was busy talking to the driver but as soon as he noticed the bison he walked quickly over to the other side of the car. The bison just strolled through the lot, across the road, and into the field without giving any indication he cared that we were there.

Monday, July 3, 2022

This morning we made the two hour drive over to Badlands National Park. Just outside Custer a coyote tried to cross the road. It ran straight into the car in front of us. The car was not damaged but it did not end well for the coyote. It was a horrible sight. Like most of these trips we had expectations as to what we would see and we were wrong. The park did have the large grassy plains we’d expected but its name is derived from the unusual rock formations described as peaks and valleys of delicately banded colors that shift in the sunshine. These sedimentary rocks, formed when the ancient Western Inland Sea covered most of Western North America, contains many fossils, which are on display in the visitor’s center.

We took the scenic drive and stopped at several places to take short hikes. The most interesting hike, entitled The Door, was a walk over the rocks on a raised platform. The terrain reminded us of the surface of the moon. At the end of platform we were able to follow numbered stakes that lead us over the rocks to the edge of a large canyon that provided the perfect opportunity to take some pictures.

The map we’d gotten at the visitor’s center showed a number of things to do in the area. We’d known that there were some Minutemen Missile Silos in the State but didn’t realized that there were some we could tour so close to the park. Next we headed to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitor’s Center.

The visitor’s center had a nice little museum complete with an introductory movie describing the Minuteman Program, the concepts of Nuclear Deterrence, and Mutually Assured Destruction or MAD. South Dakota, and the entire Midwest for that matter, are littered with these missile silos. At one time there were over 1,000 active sites. Today the number is roughly half that. We were told that two of the nearby sites had been decommissioned and could be toured. The nearby Delta-01 Launch Control Facility could be seen only by reservation but Delta-09, just 15 miles away, had a self guided tour. We headed for Delta-09.

The site was just off the I-90 in the middle of nowhere. The road to the actual facility was over a hard packed gravel road. When we arrived there was a small building with informational posters and a parking lot. These were obviously added for the tourists. Nearby was a 1.7 mile square mile patch of ground where the missile silo could be found. The surrounding fencing still contained a warning about being shot on site for trespassing.

From our vantage point the silo site didn’t look like much. Most of the important workings were underground. This was just one of ten unmanned sites (flights) that would have been controlled from a nearby launch facility. There was a glass covering of the actual silo where we could see a dummy (exercise) missile. Also plainly visible was a high frequency antenna used for remote detonations, an access way used for manual maintenance, and a bunker containing generators, machinery, and air conditioning facilities. We also had the benefit of an audio tour via cell phone.

On the way back to Custer we stopped in Wall, SD at a place that was heavily advertised on the highway called Wall Drug. We figured it would be a very touristy site but we were in need of some bathrooms and some sustenance. It was only fifteen minutes away.

Wall Drug covered an entire city block and was lousy with tourists. The building included several gift shops, a cafe, a soda fountain, fresh donuts, western themed clothing and boot stores, and all sorts of others things to empty tourist’s wallets. We settled in at the soda fountain. They had several flavors of home made ice cream and soft serve. We got a vanilla sundae with caramel sauce and a chocolate malt with cherry flavoring. Both were very good.

Click here to see the full post on the web with pictures.

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

We had a long, seven and a half hour, uninteresting drive from Grand Teton National Park to Custer, SD. We made a brief stop in Cody, WY for lunch at a hangout called Sherrie’s Place. I had a burger with fresh fries and Deborah had a San Jose (a sandwich with turkey, bacon, swiss, and tomato on sourdough) with sweet potato fries. The food was homemade and delicious and the portions were huge. We like to find places like this where locals eat so we can soak up some of the local charm.

Custer will be our base of operations for the next week. There are a number of things to see and do nearby. We’ve actually been to the area before during the summer of 2004 when we flew cross country in our Piper Aztec but we didn’t visit either of the area’s national parks.

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

South Dakota has the largest Bison population in the United States and Custer State Park has the largest Bison herds in South Dakota – and it was just 15 minutes from our hotel. Before we got to the park entrance we encountered a place to purchase entrance tickets to the park. Neither of us remembered having to pay to enter the last time we were there. Cost of entry was $20.00 and was good for any State Park for seven days.

We drove Wildlife Loop Road and started looking for bison. We managed to find a single, small deer and eventually found one lone, large, male Bison far afield. We were more than a little disappointed and headed over to the visitor’s center to find out what was up. We were told that the bison were not in the park that day but a spotter mentioned that we could find them off route 87.

Just outside the visitor’s center traffic was stopped. A mountain goat was standing in the middle of the road trying to eat something off of the pavement. We stopped in the middle of the road and watched for a while before pulling off to the side to let the cars behind us pass. A UPS truck drove right up to the goat and honked his horn a few times and the goat ran off into the woods. We were a little angry.

We weren’t completely sure where to go until we saw a jeep tour vehicle in front of us. He had a full load of passengers and was going in the general direction we thought was correct. We decided to follow him. Soon we came to a large clearing full of bison. Traffic was stopped in both directions because quite a few of the animals were standing in the middle of the road. Jackpot!

For the next hour and a half we wandered slowly up and down that portion of the road observing, videoing, and photographing to our hearts content. At one point a park ranger came by and turned on his siren. The bison moved off the road and the cars that wished to moved on. As soon as the ranger left the bison were back to their old tricks. The herd was at least 50% females most of whom were caring for youngsters. There were also quite a few immature males and a handful of full grown males. If time permits we may go back again later in the week.

For lunch we went back into Custer and ate at The Custer Wolf. Deborah had a falafel burger with side salad and I had pasta Alfredo with spinach, and shrimp. Both dishes were way above average. We both thought it might have been the best meal we’d had in a week.

After lunch we walked up and down the main street in Custer. We found a bunch of touristy shops. Our research indicated that there were quite a few interesting choices for dessert. We opted for homemade ice cream at Horatio’s. They had about a dozen artisanal flavors. Deborah had the peanut butter and I had the amaretto crunch. The ice cream itself was smooth, sweet, creamy, and delicious. The peanut butter was fantastic but I thought the amaretto was a little too subtle. Next time I will try the cherry pie flavor.

Thursday, June 30, 2022

This morning we visited Wind Cave National Park. We had a 10:20 am reservation to tour the namesake cave. The cave is an integral part of the Lakota People’s Creation Myth. It is the exact place that they emerged onto the Earth and is still venerated and visited by the tribes. At over 160 miles in length it is one of the ten longest caves on the planet and it is thought that only 5-10% of the entire cave has yet been discovered.

Our tour, which lasted about 80 minutes, took us almost 200 feet down through a series of narrow passages and into several large rooms. The cave was formed over 100,000 years ago when carbonic acid ate through parts of the limestone. It is famous for its abundance of rare Box Work formations. We were told that 95% of the world’s box work formations can be found in this one cave. Unlike so many caves we have been to before this one was not wet and had no stalactites or stalagmites. After the tour we checked out the gift shop and headed back into Custer for lunch.

We tried to eat at Calamity Jane’s but were told that the kitchen was backed up and we’d have to wait at least 30 minutes for our food. Rather than wait we decided to give The Purple Pie Place a try. We thought that they had mostly ice cream and pies but were delighted to see that they had a dining room too with a full menu. Deborah ordered the chicken pot pie and I had the French Dip Sandwich. The pot pie had a crust on the bottom and pieces of crust floating in what could really have been called a chicken stew. It was, however, delicious. The French Dip was completely average. Afterwards we had a piece of cherry and a piece of peach pie topped with vanilla ice cream. The pie crust was made fresh in house and was quite delicious. The inside was likely out of a can. The vanilla ice cream was neither creamy or particularly flavorful.

We needed some supplies so after lunch we drove over to the only grocery store in town: Lynns Dakotamart. It was a nice, clean store with a good selection of items. Given that it was the only game in town and considering its remote location we were not surprised by the outrageous prices.

Friday, July 1, 2022

We took the day. In the morning we watched Wimbledon on TV. For lunch we got some indifferent pizza at The Pizza Mill. We ordered a pepperoni and onion. The pepperoni was placed under the cheese so it never got crispy. Neither the pepperoni nor the pizza itself had much flavor. We didn’t expect NY pizza but we did expect something that was good based on the fact that the place was very highly rated.