Jewelry. Art. Cupcakes. Magic.
Yeah. Long time no see. Me? Oh, I’ve been busy doing things. Flying back home to see my brother get married, visiting friends in Pittsburgh over the holidays, learning how to snowshoe, backpacking, cross-country skiing, visiting Portland and Denver…I think those are the highlights. And of course, taking tons of photos.
We came across this lovely little campground outside of Mitchell, SD. They have an antique store adjacent to the campground store, and have incorporated glass dishes into their benches and fences to create lovely little works of art. I felt the calmness and beauty of the prarie, admired the waving sheaths of Naples Yellow grain, the landscape dotted here and there by lonely houses and barns. I was looking forward to getting closer to home.
But first: the Badlands. Like an inverted Grand Canyon crossed with a lunar landscape. Breathtaking. Next time I’m doing some hiking there.
We followed the Mississippi River towards Minneapolis, and stopped at the sculpture garden outside of the Walker Art Center. My favorite work was Dan Graham’s Two-way Mirror Punched Steel Hedge Labyrinth (fourth image): depending on which side you were looking at, you could see other viewers, a reflection of yourself, or a combination of the two in varying levels of translucence. Aside from being a technical marvel, I loved what I perceived to be the commentary on surveillance and self-absorption inherent in the work. Later, I ate the most amazing portobello mushrooms with toasted goat cheese and balsamic vinegar reduction…mmm….
We continued on to Pipestone National Monument, with a lovely walk around the area where Native Americans still quarry for the stone that they use to make pipes. There are offerings of tobacco tied to trees, gorgeous prarie grass, and gorgeous pinkish-red stone walls jutting towards the sky.
In the crapshoot that is the family to whom you’ve been assigned, I got really lucky. Everyone in my family is very interesting, talented, and artistic. So I was really looking forward to a 10-day roadtrip with my mom, from Ohio to Wyoming. We set out in her teardrop trailer, which is a super-cushy way to camp for this tent-and-an-outhouse girl. We crossed Lake Michigan on a giant steamship, visited Madison, Minnesota, Pipestone, the Corn Palace, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, the Badlands, Wall Drug, and Deadwood.
What’s that? You want photos? Very well:
Madison was beautiful; my favorite part was waiting at a red light on my bike, and at least four other bicyclists queued up behind me. It’s the sort of bike traffic that I’ve never experienced before, outside of races I used to participate in.
For my 30th birthday, my husband took me on a fabulous week-long vacation to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. We did tons of hiking, and saw moose, elk, mule deer, a grizzly bear cub, and many bison. We dined on sushi in Jackson, stopped in to a few art galleries, and camped a few feet away from a gorgeous lake. It was an incredible trip!
My husband and I, as political science and art/architecture junkies (respectively), have decided to tour every state capitol building. Our first of this trip was in Des Moines, Iowa, where a 23-karat gold dome awaited us.
It was regal and ornate. To further augment Iowa’s newfound image in the U.S. as a progressive state, I learned that it banned segregation in schools a full 85 years before Brown v. Board of Education. They also ruled against racial discrimination in public accomodations 91 years before the Supreme Court, and in 1847, the University of Iowa was the first public university to admit men and women on an equal basis. Iowa: who knew?
The state continued to beckon to us with other roadside delights, but we determined to press on, into Nebraska.
Herbert Hoover’s birthplace is located less than a mile off of I-80, in West Branch, Iowa, and made an interesting little stop. First I bought this sweet passport to the national parks; it contains a map of the U.S., with the national parks and historic sites marked. The passport is divided by geographic region, and describes some highlights in greater detail. It has a place for me to stamp the passport with every site I visit. Since I love a good road trip, I figured it would be a good way to plan detours or destinations when traveling.
Things I Learned About Herbert Hoover
* He was born in a two-room cottage
* He was Quaker, and his mother spoke often at Quaker meetings
* His father was a blacksmith
* He may or may not have attended the one-room schoolhouse that you see pictured below
* The statue below is the Statue of Isis, a donation from Belgium
We didn’t go into the Presidential Library (I know, I know!), but I’m pretty interested in how they treat the subject of his presidency. Sarah Vowel has a piece on This American Life about this topic here (episode 167).
On Monday, my husband and I (frantically) packed up all of our earthly possessions, and set out on a 1,500 mile road trip to Laramie, Wyoming. Those who had made the trip along I-80 in the past scoffed, “There’s nothing to see along the way.” Liars! We found lots of nerdy diversions.
Indiana and Illinois were fairly uneventful. I can’t read in a moving vehicle, lest I become horribly nauseated, so I’ve always submitted to the zen of the road trip. Most people find driving through flat expanses of farmland to be boring, but I think that it’s beautiful, in its quiet way. We crossed the Mississippi River at night, with lights glittering and small boats gently rocking. It was our first peek at Iowa, a state that pleasantly surprised me.
As we left Davenport, Iowa early the next morning, we were met with the delightfully kitschy signage for The World’s Largest Truck Stop. Obviously, we had to stop there. Having completed two month-long road trips around the country in the past, I could appreciate the grandeur of this truck stop: they had showers, of course, but also a dentist, movie theaters, a trucking museum, lounging area, chapel, and anything you could possibly need to deck out your rig.
