Sunday, June 29, 2008

Vacation Report: Day Five #2

And what kind of "All-American Vacation" would it be without a visit to one of the nation's most recognizable landmarks... Mt. Rushmore! No, we didn't see Cary Grant or Eva Marie Saint running about on top nor have they added George Dubya, Michael Jackson or Alfred E. Neuman to the existing presidents. George, Tom, Teddy and Abe are all there in all their stoic glory.

Of course we had to catch the obligitory shot of someone picking a president's nose, but it was comforting to see we weren't the only ones! And we saw one garden gnome make the trip as well!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Vacation Report: Day Five #1

Each hotel stay included a "continental breakfast" which could mean anything from toast and juice to a full complement of breakfast foods including sausage, pancakes, bagels and a variety of fruit. Most of our meals at the hotels up to this point were quiet, oftentimes we ate all by ourselves with the occasional fellow traveler meandering in and out of the room from time to time. Not so in Custer. Located basically at the hub of a major national vacation spot in the Black Hills of South Dakota, it was veritably busting at the seams. The breakfast area was in the lobby of the hotel and people were everywhere. But we eventually made our way through the queue and had our breakfast among the din of other people having their breakfast.

We gathered our things and piled into the van for our first site of the day, not much more than 15 minutes away: The Crazy Horse Memorial. The museum there was huge, we saw a short film on the monument then took a bus ride directly under the huge face of Crazy Horse.

It is a huge monument, albeit unfinished, built to the spirit of the Native Peoples of America that inspires one to ask: "Why?". When one considers what Native Americans believe about the sacredness of nature, it's a little difficult to imagine them supporting blowing a piece of it to kingdom come for the sake of art.

Rather than bring to mind the Spirit of the Red Man, Melissa says she got more out of the Crazy Horse monument concerning perseverance through hardship and the great American Pioneering spirit of Korczak Ziolkowski, the man behind the monument. The Crazy Horse Memorial is the brain-child and blood, sweat and tears of the former Mt. Rushmore worker, all around handyman and jack-of-all-trades.

Where Mt. Rushmore had a full contigent of federal employees hard at work, Korczak single-handedly took on his task without government financing or even a crew for that matter! Just himself, a ladder and some dynamite. That's all you really need to make art, right?

Right?

No matter what you think of The Crazy Horse Monument, there's one thing we can all agree on. That thing is big!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Vacation Report: Day Four #4

An inadvertant underlying theme seemed to be insinuating its way into our vacation this year. We started in Wichita's Museum of World Treasures where we saw Custer's Nephew's scalp, a trophy of the Battle of Little Bighorn, crossed through the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming where the Little Bighorn river has its beginnings and now after the long and arduous journey across Wyoming (we didn't get lost this time!) we landed in Custer, SD.

The hotel room in Custer was about the size of Cassie's closet, with a bathroom attached. But the size of the room didn't matter that night. We were exhausted after a tiring day in the van and as long as two beds were crammed in it, we were happy. After a quick pizza delivery and a late supper it was beddy-bye-bonzo time.

Tomorrow: Crazy Horse!

Vacation Report: Day Four #3

When packing clothes for a vacation, always plan ahead.

Having lived all our lives in the Sooner state, we've gotten used to some strange weather phenomena. It is often said of Oklahoma just as Samuel Clemens said of New England: "If you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes." But there are some meteorological occurences that are just unheard of. Snow and ice the first week of June might be one of them. And so despite having seen snow on the mountain tops along the way here and there, on Thursday June 5, Northern Wyoming was home to a van full of startled Okies!

We continued our journey via the Cloud Peak Skyway through the Big Horn Mountains where we encountered 34 degree temps. Just west of Buffalo, WY near Cloud Peak at an elevation of 13,167 ft., the road began icing over and snow fell in wet splatters on the windshield.It wasn't all that dangerous and it didn't last long but it made one consider if this is what this part of the world is like now, what must it be like in winter?

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Vacation Report: Day Four #2

Back in the day, filling stations along the hi-ways and bi-ways of this great country of ours would employ attendants who would pump your gas for you, wash your windows, check your oil, wish you a safe journey and send you on your merry way confident that the motor-going public was in safe hands when needing a quick fill-up. Today your lucky to get a nod from the guy at the counter inside when the pump won't accept your debit card.

Except at The Red Barn gas and convenience store just East of Yellowstone on the North Fork Highway! Here you'll be greeted by arguably the friendliest service station attendant you'll ever meet. We're not sure of his name (it wasn't on his tag) and he didn't actually pump the gas or wash the windows, but he made sure everything ran smoothly at the Red Barn and sent you on your way a little cheerier than you may have arrived! And you can tip him with Goldfish crackers!



Make sure to say "Hey!" next time you're traveling that way!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Vacation Report: Day Four #1

After skirting north along the east side of Idaho and making a quick jog into the southeast corner of Montana we arrived at Yellowstone National Park, home of free ranging herds of bison & elk, grizzly bears, wolves, Old Faithful and Yogi Bear... or is that Jellystone?

Yellowstone has a natural beauty unrivaled on our trip. But our one thought at seeing folks stopping in the middle of the road to snap shots of the bison shambling slowly by was "Hey! We can see these in Lawton! Keep movin'!" What we really wanted to see was the hot springs geyser that everyone's familiar with: Old Faithful. We were afraid we might get our timing off (as is our inclination it seems). The show repeats approximately every 90 minutes or so. When we arrived at the parking lot we discovered everyone else on vacation had decided to stop and see how their timing was as well. So Melissa dropped us off.

Miscommunication is the bane of Man's Existence and it reared its ugly head once more. I thought Melissa was dropping us off so we could find out how close we were to the next scheduled eruption, she'd find a place to park or wheel back around and we'd plan accordingly. She already had a plan, however, for us to go ahead and see it, and she'd catch up one way or another. Oops.

I ran to the ranger's station, found out we were right on the money, just 5 minutes give or take before. So Ashley, Cassie and I stood by to wait for Melissa.

And waited.

And waited.

I searched the parking lot. Nuffin'. The girls filmed the top of the geyser as it spewed above the station building, not actually getting to see the whole thing since we didn't want to get everyone lost, the crowd was huge. I made my way back from my fruitless search just starting to get a little worried about Melissa and there she was making her way from the direction of Old Faithful.

"Did you miss it?!"

"Ummm. Yeah. We were waiting for you."

"Oops."

If only she had taken the camera! She insists it wasn't anything spectacular. I think she secretly thought it was awesome and was just trying to ease our sense of disappointment. But we didn't have time for another hour and a half wait! There was a long road ahead of us!

Despite having missed Old Faithful, there were plenty of steamy hot springs, snow, critters and beautiful scenery to see along the way. And more to see ahead of us as well!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Cassie & Hannah: In The Closet

We take a break in the vacation reports to give you this special message from our sponsor:

Friday, June 20, 2008

Vacation Report: Day Three #3


To top off the day we spent the evening in the hot tub and pool. Cassie's plan was to sample each and every hotel pool. Unfortunately the hotel in Logan, UT didn't have an indoor pool (and we were running so late we would have missed it anyway) and later in Custer, WY she missed out again.

Vacation Report: Day Three #2

How can anyone make a trip to Idaho and not visit The Potato Capital of the World! It's Blackfoot, ID and it's also the home of the Idaho Potato Museum, an educational and entertaining foray into the world of that most special spud, that terrific tubor, the ever-popular potato! See the giant potato! See the world's largest potato chip! Discover the fascinating history of the potato! And get a free pack of hash browns with each admission!

This was probably my favorite day of the whole vacation. We took things at a leisurely pace, the weather was beautiful, the hotel room in Pocatello was roomy and we got a nap in the afternoon! Plus we got free hash browns! This is what family vacations were meant to be!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Vacation Report: Day Three #1

After a good night's sleep and a slightly later start than usual, this was The Day. The Big One. The Coop-Dee-Gracee. And we started the day in Preston, ID home of... drum roll please... Napoleon Dynamite!
Of the many glorious sites on our list, we saw:
Preston High School

Napoleon's House

Pedro's House

And we even ate at Big J Burger where Uncle Rico and Kip make their business plans (even though the original building was torn down to build the new and improved version)

Yeah, it looks pretty sweet. It looks awesome. That suit, it's... it's incredible.

How could it possibly get any better, you ask? Just wait! There's more! This was just the beginning of our day!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Hunter's Photography

Hunter went on a downtown OKC photography shoot on June 6 -- capturing the Red Earth Festival Parade and downtown sites. You can see his photographs here:

Hunter's Photo Gallery

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Vacation Report: Day Two #5

Along the way through Wyoming, we saw an alternate route to get us to our final stop for the day, Logan, UT, so we thought we'd change our route around a little, just to relieve the monotony of the interstate. This was to be known as Mistake Number One. Along this route was a little town named:
This was also the point where Melissa discovered Fry Sauce at the Arctic Circle burger joint in Diamondville, WY. It's basically mayo and ketchup mixed together, but folks in UT and areas nearby swear by the stuff, and now so does Melissa!

I was in charge of navigating (also known as Mistake Number Two) and unbeknownst to all weary travelers concerned, Wyoming doesn't post highway signs along their state highways. To make a long story short (too late I know) we ended up in Idaho a day earlier than scheduled and a stretch of road that should have taken an hour and a half took... well, far longer than we would have liked! We landed in Beaver Mountain Pass in the Cache National Forest North of Logan where we saw our first June snow up close! It wouldn't be the last, though!




Then after a long and winding mountain road that seemed to repeat in an endless loop like an episode of the Twilight Zone we finally arrived in Logan, late, frustrated and tired! Tuesday June 3 seemed like one of the longest days of the year! But there's no rest for the weary and Wednesday promised to include even more to see and do!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Vacation Report: Day Two #4

This Fall when Cassie's teacher turns to her and asks, "What did you do on your summer vacation, Cassie?" she can grit her teeth, give the teacher a glassy stare, and intone in a gravelly voice, "Me? I went to prison."

But not just any prison! The former Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins, home to the Wyoming Frontier Prison Museum. Melissa has a morbid fascination with prisons and prison culture, so when we found this museum on our route it became a must-see.



We toured the entire facility which closed as a working hooskow in 1981. See Death Row! See the gas chamber! See the lunch room! It was all very fascinating.




As an extra bonus this site became our compulsory Lord of the Rings connection. We had unknowlingly stumbled upon the filming location for a B-grade horror flick with the mind-bogglingly creative name of Prison starring none other than Aragorn himself: Viggo Mortenson! Unfortunately (or fortunately as the case may be) this 1988 B-grade horror flick isn't available on DVD at the moment but some clips can be found online. But, how bad can it be with the future King of Gondor as the star!



To think, Melissa was closed up in the same solitary confinement cell as Viggo! It was simply meant to be!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Vacation Report: Day Two #3

Welcome to Wyoming! We'll also be revisiting Wyoming later in the trip, but the Northern stretch is much more scenic! As far as I-80 crossing the Southern portion of the state goes, there's a lot of road and a lot of nothing much else... except:
The Ames Monument is a pyramid built out in the middle of nowhere, on a stretch of dirt road off the main highway. Originally constructed as something to look at from the train when the railroad cut it's way across the country, when the highway came along the tracks were moved and now it stands starkly alone on the breezy hilly countryside.

Not far down I-80 you'll find the giant disembodied head of a former president watching over you like some giant disembodied head of a former president. I've had nightmares similar to this. It's The Lincoln Monument, between Laramie and Cheyenne and it's a giant disembodied head of a former president. There's not much more one can say.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Vacation Report: Day Two #2

What was intended to be a quick side-of-the-road photo opportunity turned into one of the most pleasant surprises of the trip: The Swetsville Zoo!

Frommers.com says:
Don't come to Bill Swets's zoo expecting to find animals -- not live ones, that is. The sculpture park is a constantly growing menagerie of more than 150 dinosaurs and other real and imaginary animals, flowers, and windmills -- all constructed from car parts, farm machinery, and other scrap metal. The whimsical nature of the sculptures is a delight for kids as well as adults.

Each piece was an amazing amalgam of rusty bits and pieces welded together to create something that looked like it could turn its head and walk off at any moment. Truly a must-see for anyone with kids passing through northern Colorado! Rocky Mountains? Pshaw!

We may not know much about art... but we know The Swetsville Zoo was awesome!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Vacation Report: Day Two #1

From Limon we made our way through the outskirts of Denver (tolls cost us $6.75 to go about 25 miles!) to the suburb of Lafayette, CO where we ended up where any summer vacationing tourists might end up: the cemetery! Yes we were in search of the supposed gravesite of an actual vampire! It could be identified as such by the haggard tree growing up right where the wooden stake was planted in his heart! The hoary rosebushes that sprouted on either side grew from the vampire's clawlike fingernails!

After getting dowsed by the sprinkler system and a fruitless search for the gravesite we finally decided to go for broke and just ask the caretaker. We have no pride. But to our surprise he said, "Sure, I know where it is!" and led us straight to it! Almost apologetically he explained they'd cut down the rose bushes and cleaned up the site. But the tree remains.In the end we just felt sorry for the fellow buried there. A Transylvanian immigrant named Theodore Glava, simply by virtue of his country of origin, has been labeled as an evil blood-sucking monster. The Denver library lists a Theodore Glava born 1877 registered for the draft in Boulder during WW1.God bless you Mr. Glava!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Vacation Report: Day One #4

Next on our arduous trek was a quick stop by the World's Tallest Mennonite in Newton, KS. This part of the world is definitely Mennonite country with horse-drawn buggies and Mennonite churches as prominent as any other denomination.

The Kansas Travel and Tourism website has this to say about the statue:
The tallest, sturdiest Mennonite in Kansas stands 17 feet tall in Athletic Park. He is the Mennonite Settler Statue built in 1942 out of Kansas limestone. The Mennonite statue was not a Mennonite-initiated project. The statue was financed through contributions of wheat as a joint project of a local Newton community drive and a Works Progress Administration (WPA) art project. Max Nixon was the sculptor of the Mennonite Settler.

We just thought it was cool. Speaking of cool...

Christmas in June? Whodathunk we'd make it all the way to the North Pole on our little expedition. But this version is in Wakeeney, KS. Though it was 80-some-odd degrees here, we'll be seeing much cooler temps later on the trip!

We were a little early but around Christmas time we hear this place really lights up. They install over 6000 lights and a 35-foot manmade Christmas tree all in the space of a single downtown lot.

After this quick pitstop it was the long haul across the barren plains of west Kansas. Our first night was spent in Limon, CO. One day down, five to go!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Vacation Report: Day One #3.5

Caught this guy along the side of the highway between Wichita and Salina. That's the second biggest chimney sweep I've ever seen!

Vacation Report: Day One #3

Our primary stop for the first day was the Museum of World Treasures in downtown Wichita, KS which houses among other things: a piece of the Berlin Wall, a tyrannosaurus named Ivan, Egyptian mummies, a shrunken head and the scalp of Custer's nephew! The museum is part Ripley's Believe It Or Not! and part Smithsonion Institute with its hodge podge of weird and wonderful artifacts.
Custer's Nephew's Scalp

After the museum we say "Goodbye" to Wichita and move on down the road!