the road trip from 801 to 202

started with Wyoming. let's just say that Wyoming is lucky they have the Tetons, because the rest of the state really blows. first day was 10 hours of this. (see below)

the captain:

we were trying to make it all the way to Mt. Rushmore on Day 1... but we got a little later start than expected. So... we got there and it was definitely too dark to see those faces. We decided to get a hotel room and then see Mt. Rushmore in the morning instead. Thanks to the iPhone, we were able to look online and see how much hotels were in the upcoming towns. Amazingly, South Dakota has expensive hotels! we were looking at anywhere from $150-$300 for the cheap options. Then we drove by this camp ground and thought we'd try staying there. the sign said they had cabins. the office was closed so we turned around and then the owner approached us. I said "do you have any vacant cabins?" he gave me this blank stare. followed by a thought process that was obviously something like "what the hell is this girl talking about..." so i ask, "you do have cabins here, right?" owner guy: "ya, we do... but they've been booked a year in advance. you guys need a place to stay? with the sturgis rally starting this week, everywhere in town will cost ya $300 or more. let me see what i can do." (ah. the sturgis rally. interesting. wish i'd had a heads up about that!) so we rode with him on his golf cart up to the rec hall... which he said we could stay in for the cabin rate. of course. but we were glad to have a place for $50/night. the rec hall even had a blow up mattress. it was tricky at first to figure out, because it was a double decker for 2/3 of it. but, apparently it is supposed to go in front of the couch so you have the true luxury of a pull-out bed experience. isn't it pretty? he'd just built it so people could have weddings there.

the next morning we drove to the monuments. on the way was "crazy horse." i thought it was awesome that it's not done yet, and told alex how cool that we can tell our kids we saw it before it was finished. we went in to the visitor's center and watched this movie about it, learning that they've actually been working on it since 1948, and it's nowhere near finishing. bit off a bit more than they can chew, i see. not only is it slow going, but they rejected over $10 million dollars from the US government to help complete it. something about it started as a private endeavor, and it will finish a private endeavor. anyway... long story short, our children won't ever see crazy horse finished, nor our great grand children. i left feeling like it was the dumbest thing ever. who cares if it is 560 feet high (compared to mt rushmore's 80 ft). if they can't complete it, then they've just desecrated a mountainside. anyway, the visitor's center showed what it's supposed to look like with a scaled model (in the foreground). as you can see beyond, they've done his face and arm, and that's it.

anyway... here's the famous mt rushmore we went 5 hours out of our way to see!!! totally worth it. we loved it.

did you know that they were supposed to have bodies? we found this model in the visitor's center, and they explained that the rock formation changed below the heads, and wouldn't allow the rest of the sculpture to be chiseled out on the rock. interesting....

back on the road. here is what the rest of S. Dakota looks like.

and iowa. it was flooded. they had sandbags lining the freeway. it was pretty crazy.

we made a stop in nauvoo, where i learned the answer to my question about why the nauvoo temple has known signs of the devil all over it. (alex was really bored while i drilled the poor missionary couple about it). don't worry, they're also the sign of venus, the morning star... and in the book of Revelation, Jesus is referred to as the morning star. phew, i'm glad to have that resolved. after that i let alex go see the gun shop, blacksmith shop, carthage jail, etc.

here's what the rest of illinois looks like. quite lovely.

this is indiana, i think. we drove by a LOT of corn fields. ohio looked like this too.

made it to pennsylvania, and stopped at gettysburg. what do you know, bronze abe was sitting there waiting for us. arg. why is this underlined. i swear i hate blogger. i can't do anything right.

the gettysburg battlefield. it just looks like a field. i was expecting something a little more impressive. perhaps if we had gotten there before the museum and visitors center had closed, i would have been a little more impressed.

this was me trying to get out of the picture. apparently i did not. but alex let me almost fall trying anyway.

far across the field i saw this cool looking memorial, and thought maybe it was where lincoln gave the gettysburg address or something. so we walked about a mile to get over there... alex without shoes on... only to discover it was just another memorial to a troop. same as all the others. except bigger. i think it was the pennsylvania troop.

from gettysburg we went to Maryland and crashed with some friends (thanks Bethanne and Brad!). we FINALLY arrived in DC the next morning. moving day left our tiny apartment so full we could barely walk, and we didn't even have time to put the bed or sofa/bed together before night time. it was a crazy day. bob and merri slept in a hotel, and we slept on our mattress on the floor. these are the only 2 pics i have, and it doesn't really show the true craziness... this was when the truck was only about 25% unloaded. it got really scary after this.

the end.