30 States and12,000 Miles!!!

Peter got to see the "Grand Tetons" after all!!!

Anonymous: We think it’s you, Pam!!! Thanks for keeping up with our blog. We’ll try to answer your two questions tomorrow in our Epiblog!

April 26, 2008

Chicago is a great city!! We set out Friday morning to walk and tour the city. Although we were prepared for rain, the day turned out to be warm, windy and humid but no rain. At the Water House and Pumping Station (the only buildings to survive Mrs. O’Leary’s cow’s fire!), we boarded a double-decker bus for a leisurely ride through the city. We saw all of the highlights of the city: Sears Tower, Millenium Park, Grant Park, Soldier Field, Navy Pier, theatre district, the Loop, the Million Dollar Mile, etc. At the Art Institute we got off the bus to tour the fabulous Impressionist exhibit where we saw, among others, 5 views of Monet’s haystacks. Also at the Navy Pier we left the bus and did a history and architectural boat tour on the Chicago River. Picture Venice with skyscrapers; picture Paris with a river dividing a city in two. This tour guide was incredible! He knew the history of each building and landmark we passed and he also had some great and amusing tidbits of Chicago’s past. As a bonus, as we were docking, he took out a harmonica and sang a blues song about Chicago.

That evening we were treated to a theater performance. When we arrived at the Ambassador East on Thursday afternoon, there was a FedEx envelope waiting for us. It was an anniversary gift from our kids: tickets for “Jersey Boys!” The show was spectacular and the audience was a lot of fun. We never realized there were so many Frankie Valli fans: old, middle-aged and young. The music was, of course, familiar and the actors/singers did a fantastic job. Good old Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. What a great way to end our stay in Chicago. We loved Chicago and would like to return for a few more days to really get a feel for the city.
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We left Chicago this morning for our two day trip straight home. Marilyn got us out of the city easily and we were on Interstate 90 by 8:30. The hotel staff at the Ambassador East, a boutique hotel, was extremely friendly and helpful. The room service food was good and not too expensive! The room itself was large, well-appointed and classy. We left well rested and eager to get home to Harwich. Many thanks to our kids for their thoughtful gift!

We ended the day’s drive in Botavia NY, just east of Buffalo. With an early start tomorrow we should be in Harwich by mid to late afternoon. Tomorrow on our drive we’re going to reflect a little bit on our trip, trying not to be too effusive, and then this blog will be finished!!

On to Chicago!

It appears from the above photos that even our brothers may be leading double lives!!

Mame: Peter has seen “Field of Dreams” so, since it was pouring rain, we didn’t stop there today.

APRIL 24, 2008

We finished our drive along Route 20 to Waterloo IA yesterday afternoon. Before arriving at Andy and Christine Sexton’s we saw more small towns including Rockwell City, the “Golden Buckle on the Corn Belt.” Here, as in rural America across the country, there is the omnipresent Dollar General; we saw one in almost every town we drove through. We had driven over 450 miles along Route 20 and there’s more to go!!! We did pass a large complex of windmills set in the middle of farm land; we wondered if the farmers get free electricity for use of their land.

Marilyn led us one house past the Sextons but Andy came out and waved us back! We got a great welcome from Christine, Andy, Zoe, Hazel and Hook (the Sexton dog) and a tour of their acreage and out buildings. They’ve obviously done a lot to their century old farm house and we were very comfortable there. We had a picnic supper at a park in Cedar Falls next to the Cedar River. The weather was picnic perfect! After the girls went to bed, we talked about kids, politics and technology. It was great getting to know Andy’s family without the usual mob scene!

After a delicious breakfast and some quality time with Zoe (she gave use a trampoline demonstration!), we left Waterloo in the rain. And the rain followed us into Illinois! It’s was the first time we’d seen rain since Texas five weeks ago. The weather we’ve had on this trip has been unbelievable: two days of rain and one day racing snow in 48 days!

Crossing the Mississippi for the second time this trip (first time was going East), we drove into Illinois and passed through some beautiful small towns and very green rolling hills and farm land. Galena, the home of Ulysses Grant, is a restored Civil War town. It reminded us of New England towns with their nicely restored mansions and houses. The rain had stopped but the wind was howling! The closer we came to Chicago, the heavier the traffic became. It made us long for those many miles we’d spent driving on beautiful, deserted roads. Marilyn did well and led us directly to the Ambassador East Hotel, two blocks from Lake Michigan.

The hotel is pretty elegant and our room very comfortable. We went for a walk to check out the neighborhood, the wealthiest neighborhood in the US, according to our concierge. Beautifully restored brownstones and elegantly restored apartment buildings line the streets for many blocks. The concierge recommended an Italian restaurant called Quartino’s where the food is served family style. It’s large, noisy, busy, local and the food is delicious! We even got a so-called brick oven pizza which was very good but, since Peter couldn’t see the oven, he was skeptical!

The Presidents and Crazy Horse

This is an unusual view of George W. without his compatriots at Mt. Rushmore!

Pam: Pronghorn does sound like a Fictionary word................we knew what it was because we had a picture!!! We'll be home on Sunday.

April 23, 2008


Yesterday morning we left the “shabby chic” Hotel Franklin in Deadwood SD. Peter thought that the dealers in the casino area of the hotel were the most professional and friendly he’d ever seen. The whole atmosphere of the hotel was very accommodating, we were happy to have stayed there and it was quite inexpensive. We took the scenic Route 385 through the Black Hills with remnants of snow on the hillsides but the weather was great with sun and blue sky, temperature about 50. We saw deer everywhere along the side of the road so we proceeded carefully.

Our first destination was Mt. Rushmore about halfway south on 385 back toward the Oregon Trail, Route 20. Mt. Rushmore is a National Park but our senior pass didn’t work there so we had to pay $10 to park. Bummer!! This is a “must see” for every cross country road trip and we understand why. Mt. Rushmore is an awesome sight! There’s a grand viewing area and quite a strenuous walk up and down stairs to reach the base of the monument but well worth the effort. It’s hard to believe that anyone could carve these likenesses out of rock. We were impressed with the detail of the carvings especially Teddy Roosevelt’s eye glasses! The whole area around the monument is “presidential:” full of flags and granite walkways and impressive buildings. And this area of the Black Hills has plenty of high granite precipices.

Back on Rt. 385, we again proceeded south toward the Crazy Horse Memorial, a monument in progress. It was started in 1947 by a sculptor born in Boston and has been continued by his family (he had 10 kids!) since his death in the 1980s. This monument, like Mt. Rushmore, is being carved out of a granite mountain. However, Crazy Horse will be “monumentally” larger than the presidents; we were told that the faces of the four presidents would fit on the head of Crazy Horse. The Black Hills is a Lacota Indian spiritual area and Crazy Horse, as a Lakota chief, is revered by the Native Americans because he never signed a treaty with the United States and he refused to live on a reservation. The head of Crazy Horse was unveiled in 1998; there’s no proposed date for the completion of the memorial. The work depends on private donations because the family feels that there should be no federal money involved in the project. The area also has an impressive Native American museum and cultural center. This was another reminder to us of how badly the Native Americans have been treated by the white settlers and the US government.

The rest of our drive through the Black Hills was very scenic and we could easily understand why the Native Americans consider this area spiritual! After leaving the Black Hills, we entered the Wind Cave National Park where we saw more bison and lots of prairie dogs. The scenery became more prairie-like as we descended into the National Grasslands and on into the Sand Hills of Nebraska. Turning east on Route 20 in Nebraska the land flattened out and the weather turned good enough to put down the top. It’s been several days since it’s been warm enough to do that. The road was straight as an arrow, the sun was behind us and, in spite of the boring flat landscape, was a beautiful afternoon for a drive. Soon the scenery became rolling hills and farmland but still not many other vehicles on the road. The rolling hills changed again to flatland and, in between towns, it’s pretty desolate. We had predicted that our road trip would be about 8500 miles but, here in western Nebraska, 2000 miles from home, we passed the 10,000 mile mark……..it’s hard to believe we’ve driven that many miles! Now we were passing wild turkeys and pheasants along the road! So we cranked up the CD player and just enjoyed the ride. We stopped in Valentine NE for the night just in time to get take-out and watch “American Idol” and the results from the Pennsylvania primary!

Today we’re headed across Nebraska into Iowa to Waterloo, still on Route 20 the Oregon Trail, to spend the night with Andy and Christine Sexton and their two girls. We passed through many rural towns, lots of farmland, saw more turkeys and more deer, still traveling at 65 mph on a lonely two-lane road.

We made a quick stop for coffee in O’Neill where the Giorgios lived for part of the summer in 1961 when Peter's father was involved in a government research project to study cloud formations. O’Neill was chosen because it’s located in a large, flat plain. Peter doesn’t remember much about the stay except that his mother used to buy fresh chickens and his father had to chop off the head before plucking the feathers! We saw the Catholic church where the family probably went to mass on Sundays. O’Neill has a population of 3000+ which is a lot higher than most of the other towns we passed through which have populations of 99, 71, 133, etc. It looks pretty prosperous with both a Catholic and a public high school and a couple of banks.

The rest of our trip along Route 20 in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa can best be described by one of our books. “There’s not a lot worth stopping for in the 90-odd miles west of the Missouri River (which marks the beginning of Iowa, where there’s not a lot either). If you’re doing a long-distance haul along US 20, and time is tight, you can drive all night through northeast Nebraska and no one will ever point out anything you missed.” However, we always find it interesting to slow down to go through the small towns where you never know what you’re going to see from old buildings to quaint churches to abandoned structures to funny signs: Bacon Repair, Town Pump (gas station), Lube and Espresso, Motel & Storage, etc.

The Baaaaad........Badlands!

The above picture once again makes us wonder whether some of our family and friends are leading a double life!


APRIL 21, 2008

Last night we ended up in Deadwood SD and decided to stay at another downtown restored hotel, the Franklin, where Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft once stayed. To cap it off, there’s a casino on the first floor where Peter found $2 black jack tables! We strolled around Deadwood, a town created during the Gold Rush, where Wild Bill Hickok was shot to death in Saloon #10. We actually saw the chair in which he was sitting when Jack McCall killed him! He’s buried in a local cemetery along side “Calamity Jane!” The whole place has the air of an authentic old west town although almost all of the establishments on the main street are now casinos.

We stopped in one casino that had a collection of Hollywood cars: an Aston Martin used in one of the James Bond films, one of the “Herbie” VWs, a 1983 red Ferrari 308 GT used in “Magnum PI,” a 1977 black Trans Am used in “Smoky and the Bandit,” one of the jeeps used in the TV show “Mash,” Evil Knievel’s first stunt motor cycle and a few other Hollywood items. We had dinner in the Gem Palace, built on the spot of the original Gem Palace that had been owned by Al Schweirgen (spelling?) who was the lead character in the HBO series “Deadwood.”

Since there’s so much to see in the area, we decided to stay there another night and headed out this morning for Badlands National Park. We keep thinking we’ve seen it all when suddenly something new turns up! The Badlands is a wide area of grassy plains with canyons, mesas, buttes, gorges, pinnacles and precipices all in muted colors. The whole place is pretty eerie and beautiful at the same time. Frank Lloyd Wright described is as “an indescribable sense of mysterious elsewhere…….an endless supernatural world more spiritual than earth but created out of it.” We saw a fabulous 20 minute movie about the park and the wildlife contained within it: lots of prairie dogs, ferrets, buffalo, pronghorn, colorful birds (we saw a magpie and a bluebird), big horn sheep and others.

As we drove the 31 miles through the park, we were struck by how similar but also very different the landscape is from others we’ve seen on this trip. The grasslands led right up to the edge of the gorges and were also evident along the base of the gorges and at the top of the mesas. Just as we were about to exit the park ,we encountered Prairie Dog Town. They were everywhere, sunning themselves, scurrying around and squeaking. What a sight! If you saw this in your backyard, you’d immediately call the exterminator but here, in the prairie grasslands, they’re right at home.

On our trip back to Deadwood we stopped at the world famous Wall Drug, started in the 30s using the gimmick of free ice water in an arid, hot area. It’s grown to an acre large emporium where the ice water is still free and coffee sells for five cents a cup. Like South of the Border in the Carolinas, it’s a tourist trap but has lots of Western “stuff,” much of it made in China!

Before arriving in Deadwood to call it a night, we drove the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway (Route 14A), just off Interstate 90 and the plains and grasslands. We were, again, in another world: snow everywhere, a beautiful waterfall, Bridal Veil Falls, beautiful log cabin winter (and summer, I guess) homes, lots of deer, a meandering river with white water and gently glowing waters, high canyons and mountain tops. We keep waiting to see some elk but, so far, no dice! This is a winter recreation area, ski lift and all! This is Kevin Costner country; he owns a casino/restaurant near here and a lot of “Dances with Wolves” was filmed near here. Wonder if he owns one of these beautiful mountain homes in the Canyon?! We drove through the town of Lead, bigger than Deadwood and a rural ski resort town. Tomorrow we’re off to Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial before driving through Nebraska.

WOW..........Yellowstone!!!!

Liz and Ed: Glad you’re back in good health. Best of luck next Sunday in your ten mile race.

APRIL 20, 2008

Friday April 18, was mostly a travel day across the state of Idaho. We left Ontario OR and continued on the Oregon Trail, Route 20, to Sun Valley ID. Again we followed snow covered peaks and farmland in the valleys. The Saw Tooth Range is beautiful but desolate. We didn’t see many vehicles at all and actually saw a lot more cows than people. We saw another golden eagle perched atop a fence post; it’s always exciting to spot an eagle. We had to take a slight detour up Rt. 75 to go to Sun Valley. The approach to the resort area is full of new luxurious homes and beautiful farms. .Sun Valley is obviously a winter/summer resort, very upscale and lots of between season construction happening. The town of Hailey, just before Sun Valley, impressed us as a small town with appeal.

Back on Route 20 we had a “first:” a guy hiking along the road with hiking poles pulling a small trailer with all of his gear. Wonder if he was hiking the Oregon Trail. The road to Crater of the Moons National Monument was more of the same but the farms were definitely large ranches. As we approached Craters of the Moon we could see huge black lava fields in the distance. These lava fields were caused not by a volcano but by a fissure in the earth’s surface which spewed lava at certain hot spots. It was a unique sight with the black fields dotted with snow, unlike anything we’ve seen so far. The loop around the park usually opens in mid-April but was still closed because of the amount of snow that fell this year. It was cold and the wind was blowing at 40+ miles per hour. Uncomfortable but awesome. We spent the night at nearby Idaho Falls, a decent sized city on the approach to Yellowstone National Park.

We left Idaho Falls Saturday morning with a little trepidation. The weather report called for a spring snow storm in Wyoming and Montana so we weren’t sure what we’d be up against. But, onward!! Our goal was to see Yellowstone National Park and, hopefully, also Grand Tetons. We knew that some of the roads were not yet open so we headed for Yellowstone with hopes of then going south into the Grand Tetons. Route 20 out of Idaho Falls was a little dismal but we soon got back into the beautiful countryside we were used to. We headed up to the Targhee Pass and there was snow everywhere but the sky seemed to brighten a bit as we approached West Yellowstone MT. The snow on the side of the road got deeper and deeper until it was car high but the road itself was dry. We noticed replantings of lodge pole pines, each section had the year the trees were planted; it was interesting to observe the annual growth. At 7000 feet we once again crossed the Continental Divide just before the west entrance to Yellowstone.

Upon entering the park we learned that the southern entrance was not yet opened so that fact limited our access to the Grand Tetons. At that point, we had no idea that Yellowstone would take all day to traverse the limited number of opened roads. Even the roads we were on had only been opened the previous day. Obviously, there had been a lot of snow this season; as a matter of fact, there hadn’t been a winter like this one since 1995. Almost immediately we were amazed at the still evident effects of the 1988 fire that burned most of the western section of Yellowstone, the first established national park and the largest next to Alaska. Since the park was completely covered with snow, it was still breathtaking in spite of the devestation left by the fire. The park is definitely regenerating; there are lots of 1-2 foot trees poking up through the snow.

At the entrance, the ranger had told us that there had been numerous sightings of wildlife in the one day the road had been opened so we were anticipating various wild animals. All of a sudden, we came around a corner and encountered four huge bison in the middle of the road! Man, are they enormous! With large eyes and backs! As we slowly passed them, one of them was a foot from the car and totally unimpressed with us and was totally focused on eating whatever he could find! This was not the only time we had to stop the car for bison either standing in the middle of the road or loping down the center of the road. Next we saw some mule deer grazing at the side of the river which ran along the road and right after that a large animal with huge antlers; we’re not sure what it was! Then we started seeing large herds of bison grazing on flat plains with steam vents and hot pools of water.

When we got to Old Faithful, we waited about an hour and were treated to a classic eruption (it erupts about every 93 minutes). The steam and hot water shoot about 150 feet into the air for 2 to 3 minutes. An entertaining ranger gave an interactive talk about the formation of geysers and the history of Yellowstone. Under Yellowstone Park lies one of only 5 mega-volcanoes in the world. The last eruption was about 650,000 years ago and it erupts about every 700,000 years so if you want to see the park, go some time in the next 50,000 years!

The park ranger who spoke at Old Faithful told us that since there were 5 or 6 bison carcasses in the area, the bears had come out of hibernation….at this time of year they’re very hungry! Just after we left Old Faithful we saw another ranger pulled over to the side of the road and other people also stopped. So we stopped, took out the binoculars and, lo and behold, there, off in the woods, was a grizzly feeding on a carcass. He was hard to see with the naked eye but he WAS there!!! We were ecstatic to have had a sighting of a grizzly!

We retraced our steps on one of open roads and made our way to the Yellowstone River Canyon. We stopped at Grand View and, a short walk from the car, we came upon one of the most spectacular views of the trip. We did experience a little vertigo as we looked straight down over a thousand feet to the Yellowstone River flowing through the bottom of the canyon.. The colors were magnificent. As we drove along the Canyon Loop, we stopped at various lookouts but the best was at Uncle Tom’s view where we saw the Yellowstone falls roaring over the rocks.

The weather had turned very nice, sunny and warm, but we were still a little anxious about the impending snow storm and decided to leave Yellowstone by the North Entrance and make our way north to the closest interstate. On our way out, we passed more steam vents and surface hot water right next to the road. The sulphur odor was overwhelming! This section of the park had a different look, not as much snow, more mountainous and rocky. Even as we were leaving Yellowstone we had one last wildlife sighting by the side of the road; a trio of pronghorn was grazing in a field along the side of the road.

Yellowstone was utterly magnificent! We were fortunate to be there before the summer crowds even though some of the roads were still closed. It is a HUGE park with so much to see and do! If we were to recommend a national park for a week’s vacation, Yellowstone would be it! Hiking, wildlife viewing, rafting, fishing are all available. We tried, once again, to capture it all in photos but you have to be there in person to really appreciate the wonders of Yellowstone National Park.

After leaving Yellowstone, we proceeded north on Route 89 following the Yellowstone River. Gardiner MT, just at the North Entrance, looked like a nice little town and a great place to enter Yellowstone. Along Rt. 89 we were still treated to wildlife sightings and at one point we came to a complete stop because of mule deer in the middle of the road. What a beautiful road! Lots of cattle and horses along the valley surrounded in the distance by snow-capped mountains. Beautiful homes dot the hillsides! A bald eagle spread its wings and landed fifty feet from the car just as we drove by.

We turned east on Interstate 90 to head towards Billings MT. It had been a long day and, when we saw the Crazy Mountains and the town of Big Timber, we decided to stop and check it out. In the travel book “Road Food” there was a restaurant listed for Big Timber and it had a glowing report (it was Robert Redford’s favorite restaurant while shooting “The Horse Whisperer”). We decided to stay there, at the Grand Hotel, built in 1890, restored in the 1970s and located downtown. Our room was small but nicely redone, clean and modern. Dinner was downstairs and we were lucky to be there on prom night! What a view! There’s one high school in Sweet Water County, an area the size of Rhode Island, with 1700 residents. The kids looked and acted like any high schoolers; the girls were mature and well-mannered and the boys were just immature. We knew it was going to be a good local place to eat because the mayor of Big Timber and her family were seated at the table next to us! We both ate the local fare; Peter had local lamb and Connie had Montana buffalo tenderloin. Our meals were delicious1

Sunday morning we awoke to a dusting of snow and a temperature of 16 degrees! We went back down to the dining room, chatted with the owner, and, before we knew it, “Chef” (as the owner referred to her!) served us bacon, eggs and pancakes. We were offered just about every juice imaginable! Peter asked, kiddingly, if there were any more juices available and the owner replied that there was also Clamato juice which Peter thought was unusual for Montana. We left the Grand Hotel very pleased to have a chance to experience something other than a chain hotel. We’d return in a heart beat!

On the way to the Little Bighorn Battle National Memorial, still following the Yellowstone River, our fears were realized as we headed into a blinding snowstorm. Fortunately, we outran the storm and continued to Little Bighorn. When we got out of the car, we noticed that the car was covered with ice and we were VERY glad to be finished with that part of the trip. The area surrounding the battlefield is hauntingly beautiful with rolling prairies and rugged foothills. We drove through the Battlefield Park and stopped to view the landscape where the battle was fought. It was particularly somber because there are small white gravestones spread over a four mile area showing the exact spot where each soldier and Indian had died.

The weather was too “iffy” to take any back roads so we got back on the interstate and headed for Deadwood SD. Sure enough, within a few miles, we were again in the middle of a brief but blinding snowstorm. Eventually the weather became sunny and warmer as we headed through Wyoming, where the interstate is paved in red asphalt, and toward Deadwood SD, our destination for the day