Adventures in Yellowstone

Our next big adventure on this trip was our stop at Yellowstone National Park. On our way to the park, we drove though the Powder River Pass. The approach to the pass was really beautiful. Thanks to Poppy and Nicholas who recommended this approach, which they had driven a few years ago in more wintry conditions.

And the Pass itself (elev. 9666 ft) gave us some terrific views (including our minivan in the parking lot). The signage at the Pass informed us that the fences you see in this picture, and which we'd seen throughout Wyoming, were "snow fences" intended to keep snow drifts from coming across the highway.

After spending a night in Cody, WY, which we found to be a charming town, we woke on Friday morning and made our way into Yellowstone. As in the Black Hills, we found plenty of buffalo...

... and also as in the Black Hills, the buffalo sometimes failed to observe simple road signs. I tried to remind this one that only cyclists ride with traffic; walkers should proceed against traffic. He was unconvinced.
One of our first stops was the LeHardy Rapids of the Yellowstone River. They are named for Paul LeHardy, a topographer who fell out of his raft here. Fool(le)hardy though he was, he survived and gave his name to the rapids he failed to navigate.
As you see, this visit to Yellowstone marked the debut of the Baby Bjorn. It was perfect for the short hike we made along the Canyon falls. The trail ended at Artist Point, which afforded a picturesque view of the Lower Falls.

I felt a little tired after the hike, but it was nothing compared to Michael's fatigue. He couldn't even finish the walk before he checked out.Our next stop was the Hot Springs. Here hot waters (160 degrees) bubble up and bring with them minerals that are deposited above ground, creating expansive terraces.

The hot water streams across the terraces, and visitors are strongly encouraged to avoid contact with the water. Just look what happened to Theodore Cleaver when he ventured off the boardwalk. Wally never would have flouted the rules like the Beav.

Last but not least was Old Faithful, of course, which I mistakenly called "Old Geyser" for most of the day. It erupts every 60-90 minutes, and when we arrived at the Visitor Center around 5:30, we learned that the next eruption would occur at 5:58 +/- 10 minutes. This left us some time to hit the gift shop and make our way back to the old geyser.

The seating was full on either side of the faithful geyser. The crowd was tense with anticipation, with many non-specialists suddenly becoming experts at interpreting geysers. Every time there was a change in the steam coming out of the hole, someone said, "Here we go!" only to watch the steam peter out. Once someone said, "It's getting maaaadder." Around 5:58 we saw some water sloshing around the hole and everyone readied their cameras. False alarm. Then more sloshing water: "Here is comes! Get the camera!" False alarm.
Finally, the anticipation was relieved when the blast shot forth. It was a breathtaking sight aginst the blue sky and it last for a couple of minutes.

Michael was already getting out of sorts waiting for the Old Geyser (indeed, so was the whole crowd!), so once the show was over, we drove out of the park. With no time for dinner, Emily and I convinced ourselves it would be all right to make a Blizzard from Dairy Queen our supper. Not a dinner to be proud of, but it was delicious and refreshing.

Badlands and the Black Hills

After having our first taste of buffalo for dinner, we spent Monday night in Kadoka, SD, which positioned us well to start Tuesday in Badlands National Park.

Once the bed of a shallow but enormous ocean that spread over the Great Plains, as evidenced by the many fossils of ancient aquatic life it has yielded, the Badlands National Park is now known for the rugged and beautiful rock formations that have been sculpted by centuries of wind. Alas, in 500,000 years or so the wind will have blown the soft rock away completely, returning the land to the plain it originally was 500,000 years ago.

In the meantime, the formations are quite a sight, not only for their shape but also for their layers of color.

Michael slept through our drive through the Park, which meant that Em and I had to take turns getting out at the designated overlooks. And since Michael sleeps best when the van is in motion, those stops were few.

The loop through the Badlands empties into the town of Wall, which is best known for its large drug store. Anyone's who's stopped at South of the Border on I-95 in South Carolina will have an idea of what Wall Drug is like, not only because it relishes its own tackiness but because we started seeing signs for Wall Drug about a hundred miles prior to its exit off I-90.

Still, Michael seemed to have a good time saddling up...

...and getting to know some of the locals.

From there we continued to Mount Rushmore. As you approach the entrance, you can catch glimpses of the sculpture, and once inside the park, there is a long approach that leads you to an open square from which you can behold the memorial.

It was a fantastic sight, but even at this distance it was hard to appreciate the scale of the faces, which are sixty feet tall. I kept thinking about the climactic scene in North by Northwest where Cary Grant is hanging on to Washington's face (alas, not filmed on location but on a studio replica).

I didn't want to get that close, but it was hard to get a good perspective from so far below. The museum beneath the square helped by running footage of the workers, suspended by rope, drilling, chipping and blasting.

Leaving Mount Rushmore, we drove south to Custer State Park where we embarked on the "Wildlife Road," with high hopes of seeing some buffalo. Initially, we encountered some mules, which we didn't find too exciting and could not understand why the van in front of us (Minnesota plates) was encouraging the mules to nose around inside the windows. Later we saw some deer and some prairie dogs, which were very cute.

Then at last we came around a bend and right into a herd of buffalo. There were hundreds of them.
That was the good news. The bad news was that they were congregating right at an intersection and snarling traffic there. Plus Michael was crying. Still they were wonderful to see up close!

Our last stop before heading to our hotel in Sundance, WY, was the Crazy Horse Memorial, which is not too far from Mount Rushmore. (We just took a long detour south.) One of the sculptors of Rushmore was invited by the Lakota to design and begin the memorial and now more than fifty years later, they have a long way to go.

Here is the plan for the final sculpture. You can definitely see the rockface taking shape, but there is a lot of granite yet to be cleared. Expected completion date is sometime before the last of the Badlands has been blown away.

Chicago and Beyond

Our next stop after Cleveland was one that we've been looking forward to all summer. We spent all weekend in Chicago with our friends Ben and Claire and their two kids Charlotte, 3 (as of last Tuesday), and Carter, 10 months. I've known Ben and Claire since the ninth grade and Ben and I were roommates all through college, so it was exciting to have a chance to catch up over the weekend.

They were very kind to welcome us into their home, from which we walked to Old Town on Saturday and to the Lincoln Park Zoo on Sunday.

Charlotte and Carter were sweet with Michael. Charlotte is so cute and such a helper. Here she is as Aurora (her favorite princess), playing with Michael in the jumper.

I was also happy to realize over the weekend that Carter and Michael will be in the same grade, so plans are already in the works for them to be roommates at Chapel Hill (Class of 2032), just like their daddies. I don't know if 554 Hinton James and 414 Mangum will available, but we'll see what we can do! (Note from Emily: This is all presuming, of course, that Michael passes up the superior education he'd receive at the College of the Holy Cross.)
The highlight of the weekend, besides just spending time together, was the concert we attended on Saturday. We joined two more friends and watched (or at least heard) the Counting Crows perform at Ravinia, which is an outdoor venue north of Chicago, near Highland Park. Thanks Ben, Claire, Charlotte and Carter for a fantastic weekend in Chicago! We can't wait to return the favor in Seattle!

Leaving Chicago on Monday morning, we headed west on I-90 and made a pit stop in Milwaukee to visit Marquette University, which is a Jesuit school like Loyola University where Em worked and like Seattle University where I'll teach next year.

It was a beautiful campus, kind of urban (it is bisected by a major thoroughfare), but it also had some large quadrangles. The school was founded in 1881 and named after the 17th century Jesuit missionary, Jacques Marquette. This is his statue on campus which I originally confused for Aramis, one of the Three Musketeers.

The funniest part of the Milwaukee pitstop was when I ran ahead to the van to feed the meter and left Em with Michael to grab a bagel for herself. When she got back to the van about ten minutes later, her lips and tongue were both dark blue and I asked what she had eaten. Her first answer was, "Just a bagel," but after looking at her lips in the sideview mirror, she confessed that she also had one of the blue-glazed cookies on display. She had kindly eaten it before coming back to the van, so as not to tempt my gluten-free diet. (Note from Emily: I won't even try to defend myself here. I was totally busted!)

Leaving Milwaukee, we headed for Austin, Minn., which was our stopping place for the day. It was selected for no other reason than it is about six hours from Chicago and that is generally the max we can drive with Michael. After our room was booked, we learned that Austin is the home of Hormel Foods (just check that can of Hormel Chili in your pantry) and, even better, that it features a museum devoted to Hormel's most famous product, SPAM!

We woke up this morning, restocked on fruit and snacks, then stopped at the museum when it opened at 10 am.

It was a terrific museum. I would say the highlights were the exhibit about George Hormel, who founded the food empire, and the exhibt on SPAM's vital role in feeding troops during World War II. Plus, we had our picture taken with "Spammy."

The SPAM museum was undoubtedly our favorite place in Austin. Another establishment worth noting, however, is the town's "The Tranny Shop."

(Apparently, they also service cars here.)

Tomorrow, it's on to the Badlands and Mount Rushmore!

Time to Rock

After a wonderful Thursday night in Independence (Michael slept like a champ), we drove into downtown Cleveland for a visit to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Upon our arrival we learned that the term "rock 'n' roll" was coined in Cleveland, as this sign indicated.
Here's a picture of Em and Michael in front of the Hall of Fame. It is a cool building that overlooks Lake Erie. Michael is wearing his Aerosmith onesie in honor of his Uncle B.

Alas, we were not allowed to take any pictures inside the museum, so we can't post any of its cool memorabilia. The building is not a Hall of Fame like Cooperstown, i.e., there's not a booth devoted to each person/group inducted into the Hall. Instead, upstairs is a wall of autographs by inductees, and this wall encircles a small theater where a film features a brief spot about each inductees.

Downstairs is really a museum and the best part of the building. Along the outer edges was a chronology of major eras in Rock 'n' Roll beginning with early influences and then an exhibit devoted to Elvis, to the British invasion, to the San Francisco scene, to punk rock, to grunge, etc. Inside this outer loop were exhibits devoted to individuals and bands that have had a major influence on Rock 'n' Roll.

Em and I agreed that the best displays were the costumes worn by various artists. Her top three were (1) Michael Jackson's red leather jacket from the Thriller video;

(2) outfit worn by Bruce Springsteen on the "Born in the USA" album cover; and

(3) the entire Beatles exhibit, which featured those grey collarless suits that they wore in their early years and the uniform worn by Lennon on the Sgt. Pepper album cover.

My top three were: (1) Michael Jackson's white glove;

(This jacket was also on display, I think.)

(2) John Lennon's hand-written lyrics for "In My Life" with various lyrics crossed out and others added; and (3) the ZZ Top "Eliminator" from the album of that name and which they drove in the "Legs" video among others:
After two hours in the museum (we easily could have spent three or four), we drove the five and a half hours to Chicago where we spent the weekend with our friends Ben and Claire and their two kids, Charlotte and Carter. I'll save weekend report for another posting, but here is a preview of Michael in the middle of his morning prayer last Saturday:

A Declaration on Independence

Our first night on the road is here in Independence, Ohio, and, for the record, let me declare that this city is awesome! Uncle B set us up in the Courtyard Marriott here, and it is terrific, especially the weight room downstairs, where I'm going to pump some serious iron as soon as I finish this post. Michael did great on the road and was happy to arrive at the Marriott for a delicious dinner of turkey and vegetables with apples and apricots for dessert.

With heavy hearts we left Baltimore this morning, my city for the last six years and Em's for the last five. It was sad to leave our friends but we're happy to hear that many are hoping/planning to visit us in Seattle!

Our only stop on our way out of town was at O'Donnell Honda in Ellicott City, Md., where we finally got our credit for a free tank of gas. Back in June Emily and I took the plunge and purchased a minivan from O'Donnell. Our salesman was named Bill Prince, who was very nice, but his business card listed his name as "Prince, William," which we found charming and corny at the same time. Problem was the tank on the van was only a quarter full when we bought it, and His Highness forgot to give us a gas credit. So our last action in Baltimore was to grab that credit and fill up the tank.

Thanks, Prince William!

Tomorrow we'll stop at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, where Michael will don his Aerosmith onesie, and then it's on to Chicago to visit our friends Ben and Claire and their kids Charlotte and Carter.

PODS

This entry marks the beginning of a new blog dedicated to our adventures in and around Seattle, but before we can describe our life there, we've got a long drive ahead of us -- 2,756 miles to be exact. If this is your first visit to this blog, you'll see that it was formerly used to relay news and photos from Jerusalem where I (Andrew) spent the 2007-2008 academic year. Our imminent relocation made us think that it would be a good idea to restart the blog under a new name.

Unlike most blogs out there, this one will not feature "musings." Our plan is to post pictures and brief accounts of our life in Seattle. In that spirit, here is a photoessay devoted to the PODS container we are using to ship most of our stuff westward.

Two weeks ago Emily braved the City of Baltimore bureaucracy to obtain a permit for the PODS container to set on the street. This trip downtown involved Emily patiently waiting at "Desk 4" while the Queen of Permits complained to her friend on the phone that it took forever to take her mother to the bank on the Eastern Shore last week. At last Em got the permit, and we put up the no parking sign on the electrical pole and waited for the container, which arrived on August 5:

With the help of our friends Brendan and Patrick, most of our belongings were packed on Saturday.

PODS came back last Wednesday and loaded up the container. Michael and I watched intently as the container was lifted and secured. I took pictures of the process in case you've ever wondered how they do it.

Safe journey PODS container # 30225BX and see you in Seattle. We hope.