Black Hills trailer trip

I’ve had a request for the itinerary of our South Dakota trip, so here we go…

Day 1: Driving

We drove just under 500 miles on Interstates 70 and 29 to a KOA in Onawa, Iowa. The drive was tremendously dull, but not as bad as Kansas.

Day 2: More driving, and Free Ice Water

We got back on I-29 and made it to Wall Drug just before dinner time. Basically, you have to stop at Wall Drug (you do not, however, have to stop at the Corn Palace). 

We spent an hour or so browsing this overblown gift shop and the surrounding shops in all their cheesy glory. Then we had dinner and headed to our campsite in Hill City.

Day 3: Giant sculptures

Our campsite lay smack in the middle of a 109-mile-long rails-to-trails project called the Mickleson Trail. It’s much like the Katy trail: wide and level with packed gravel surface. And SO beautiful. I got my morning exercise by riding several miles on my folding bike and then we headed to Mt. Rushmore.

My family visited Mr. Rushmore and the Black Hills three times when I was a kid and so I was excited to show everything to Nathan and our kids. The main difference at Mt. Rushmore in the years since I’d visited was a trail that gets you much closer to the sculpture. Now you get to walk right up to the edge of that talus pile below the heads. The boys seemed pretty impressed.

Next we visited Crazy Horse, which has been a work in progress since the 50s. From a distance, little has changed since I was there as a kid. Apparently they finished the face, but it’s hard to tell since the visitor’s center is a mile away. 

We watched a movie about the guy who started the project, and the several of his 10 kids who are trying to finish it solely with private donations. It’s a fairly interesting story: Gutzon Borglum, the guy who did Mt. Rushmore, supposedly wanted to put an Indian Chief or two on Mt. Rushmore, since it’s on their sacred land and all. Congress was paying for the Rushmore project and wouldn’t go for it.  Korczak Ziolkowski was working for Borglum on Mt. Rushmore and met a tribal leader and decided to start another giant sculpture a few miles away. It’s ambitious, to say the least. The whole thing will be pretty impressive if they ever finish.

Day 4: Deadwood

Nathan was eager to visit the town of Deadwood since he loved the HBO show. I hadn’t been there in my youth, probably because my mom thought it was unsavory or something, even though we were there after they kicked out all the brothels and before they started putting in casinos. Anyway, we took a bus tour and learned all kinds of cool stuff about Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, et al. 

I had not known that Al Swearengen was a real person! (I didn’t see the show when it was on, but I watched the first couple episodes in advance of this trip.) Once you’ve taken the tour (which includes a trip up the hill to the cemetery where Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried, offering a great view of the town), the only other activities are shopping and gambling (they legalized gambling in 1989, when a drop in the price of gold made the local mines much less profitable). So there isn’t much for kids. But we all enjoyed the tour and some souvenir shopping.

After Deadwood we went to Bear Country USA, a tourist trap if there ever was one. There are billboards all over the place for it, and you can see baby bears frolicking in their enclosure as you drive by on the highway! It’s a drive-through wildlife park. We had some mixed feelings about it, since there were so many bears (at least 50) in a small area. You drive through and see elk, bison, mountain goats, a white wolf, and then lots and lots of black bears. Which was great, but it was 95 degrees and we wondered how good this environment was for them. 

After you drive through, you see a grizzly and then some black bear cubs (and some other baby animals, but who cares, there are bear cubs, people) frolicking nonstop. It seems all they do all day is play fight. It is insanely adorable.

Insanely adorable child and grizzly.

Day 5: Custer State Park

Just about everyone thought this was their favorite day. We started with a hike on the Sunday Gulch Trail. As we paid our entrance fee, the ranger told us his was a hard hike and to bring lots of water. I nodded and smiled and thought “it’s less than three miles, and I’m a professional hiker!” It turns out this was the hardest and most beautiful sub-five-mile hike I’ve ever done. You start going down into this ravine scrambling over boulders. They’ve installed hand rails, because otherwise this would be impossible. 

You descend between needles, formations the park is famous for. Down, down down. And down some more. It really was the most beautiful setting. Very Sierra-like, but with these crazy rock formations. It was breathtaking. That was the first mile or so. There’s a gorgeous forest and more views of needles. Just stunning every step. Then you start a more gradual but still strenuous ascent. Right around then we ran out of water. Oops! 24oz per person was not enough. But the boys kept a good attitude, mostly because I told them they could have all the pop they wanted at both lunch and dinner if they didn’t complain. Helen walked most of the way, only being carried over the sketchy parts by my incredibly strong husband. By the time we got back to the car, I couldn’t decide if I was more excited to get my sore feet out of my boots or finally have some water.

Next we got lunch (buffalo stew: YUM), headed to the visitor center (some cool exhibits and good info from the rangers) and then started our drive on the Wildlife Loop. We saw a ridiculous number of buffalo. Those videos you’ve seen of buffalo coming up to people’s cars? Yeah, that’s where this happens. 

It was incredible. Gorgeous landscapes and all these wildlife sightings. This has to be one of the top five or ten state parks in the country.

Day 6: Badlands

We hitched up the trailer and headed a hundred miles east to Badlands National Park. Our 9-year-old now has a new favorite national park. The place is unique because you are allowed to go off trail all you want and scramble over and around crazy rock formations. The pictures really don’t do it justice. We also did the scenic drive and then headed back to Wall for dinner.

Day 7: More Badlands and more driving

Noah was desperate to do more scrambling, so after we cleared out of the Badlands KOA, we drove to a trailhead and scrambled away. After about 15 minutes the insane wind was getting to me so I headed back to the car, but he took the whole 30 minutes we gave him. We drove off, still enjoying the views as we headed south. 

Just the night before, we decided to take a different route back to Iowa. Instead of staying on I-90, we took two-lane highways through South Dakota and Nebraska. This was because we couldn’t go over 60 mph with the trailer anyway, and whenever a semi blows past us at 75 the trailer whips all over the place. No fun. It was about 30 miles shorter and we think it took about the same amount of time because of the speed limits. And it was a much more scenic drive. The only downside was a dearth of bathrooms.

We stayed at the same KOA on our last night as we did on our first night—even getting the same site.

Day 8: So. Much. Driving.

Again with I-29 and I-70. 

We had zero mechanicals, probably because the rig is less than a year old. So, quite a bit different than the exciting trip we had several years ago in The Beast. We have two local (less than three hours) trips planned for this fall. Who knows where we'll take the Canyonero and Campy McTrailface after that?

I’ve had a request for the itinerary of our South Dakota trip, so here we go…

Day 1: Driving

We drove just under 500 miles on Interstates 70 and 29 to a KOA in Onawa, Iowa. The drive was tremendously dull, but not as bad as Kansas.

Day 2: More driving, and Free Ice Water

We got back on I-29 and made it to Wall Drug just before dinner time. Basically, you have to stop at Wall Drug (you do not, however, have to stop at the Corn Palace). 

We spent an hour or so browsing this overblown gift shop and the surrounding shops in all their cheesy glory. Then we had dinner and headed to our campsite in Hill City.

Day 3: Giant sculptures

Our campsite lay smack in the middle of a 109-mile-long rails-to-trails project called the Mickleson Trail. It’s much like the Katy trail: wide and level with packed gravel surface. And SO beautiful. I got my morning exercise by riding several miles on my folding bike and then we headed to Mt. Rushmore.

My family visited Mr. Rushmore and the Black Hills three times when I was a kid and so I was excited to show everything to Nathan and our kids. The main difference at Mt. Rushmore in the years since I’d visited was a trail that gets you much closer to the sculpture. Now you get to walk right up to the edge of that talus pile below the heads. The boys seemed pretty impressed.

Next we visited Crazy Horse, which has been a work in progress since the 50s. From a distance, little has changed since I was there as a kid. Apparently they finished the face, but it’s hard to tell since the visitor’s center is a mile away. 

We watched a movie about the guy who started the project, and the several of his 10 kids who are trying to finish it solely with private donations. It’s a fairly interesting story: Gutzon Borglum, the guy who did Mt. Rushmore, supposedly wanted to put an Indian Chief or two on Mt. Rushmore, since it’s on their sacred land and all. Congress was paying for the Rushmore project and wouldn’t go for it.  Korczak Ziolkowski was working for Borglum on Mt. Rushmore and met a tribal leader and decided to start another giant sculpture a few miles away. It’s ambitious, to say the least. The whole thing will be pretty impressive if they ever finish.

Day 4: Deadwood

Nathan was eager to visit the town of Deadwood since he loved the HBO show. I hadn’t been there in my youth, probably because my mom thought it was unsavory or something, even though we were there after they kicked out all the brothels and before they started putting in casinos. Anyway, we took a bus tour and learned all kinds of cool stuff about Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, et al. 

I had not known that Al Swearengen was a real person! (I didn’t see the show when it was on, but I watched the first couple episodes in advance of this trip.) Once you’ve taken the tour (which includes a trip up the hill to the cemetery where Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried, offering a great view of the town), the only other activities are shopping and gambling (they legalized gambling in 1989, when a drop in the price of gold made the local mines much less profitable). So there isn’t much for kids. But we all enjoyed the tour and some souvenir shopping.

After Deadwood we went to Bear Country USA, a tourist trap if there ever was one. There are billboards all over the place for it, and you can see baby bears frolicking in their enclosure as you drive by on the highway! It’s a drive-through wildlife park. We had some mixed feelings about it, since there were so many bears (at least 50) in a small area. You drive through and see elk, bison, mountain goats, a white wolf, and then lots and lots of black bears. Which was great, but it was 95 degrees and we wondered how good this environment was for them. 

After you drive through, you see a grizzly and then some black bear cubs (and some other baby animals, but who cares, there are bear cubs, people) frolicking nonstop. It seems all they do all day is play fight. It is insanely adorable.

Insanely adorable child and grizzly.

Day 5: Custer State Park

Just about everyone thought this was their favorite day. We started with a hike on the Sunday Gulch Trail. As we paid our entrance fee, the ranger told us his was a hard hike and to bring lots of water. I nodded and smiled and thought “it’s less than three miles, and I’m a professional hiker!” It turns out this was the hardest and most beautiful sub-five-mile hike I’ve ever done. You start going down into this ravine scrambling over boulders. They’ve installed hand rails, because otherwise this would be impossible. 

You descend between needles, formations the park is famous for. Down, down down. And down some more. It really was the most beautiful setting. Very Sierra-like, but with these crazy rock formations. It was breathtaking. That was the first mile or so. There’s a gorgeous forest and more views of needles. Just stunning every step. Then you start a more gradual but still strenuous ascent. Right around then we ran out of water. Oops! 24oz per person was not enough. But the boys kept a good attitude, mostly because I told them they could have all the pop they wanted at both lunch and dinner if they didn’t complain. Helen walked most of the way, only being carried over the sketchy parts by my incredibly strong husband. By the time we got back to the car, I couldn’t decide if I was more excited to get my sore feet out of my boots or finally have some water.

Next we got lunch (buffalo stew: YUM), headed to the visitor center (some cool exhibits and good info from the rangers) and then started our drive on the Wildlife Loop. We saw a ridiculous number of buffalo. Those videos you’ve seen of buffalo coming up to people’s cars? Yeah, that’s where this happens. 

It was incredible. Gorgeous landscapes and all these wildlife sightings. This has to be one of the top five or ten state parks in the country.

Day 6: Badlands

We hitched up the trailer and headed a hundred miles east to Badlands National Park. Our 9-year-old now has a new favorite national park. The place is unique because you are allowed to go off trail all you want and scramble over and around crazy rock formations. The pictures really don’t do it justice. We also did the scenic drive and then headed back to Wall for dinner.

Day 7: More Badlands and more driving

Noah was desperate to do more scrambling, so after we cleared out of the Badlands KOA, we drove to a trailhead and scrambled away. After about 15 minutes the insane wind was getting to me so I headed back to the car, but he took the whole 30 minutes we gave him. We drove off, still enjoying the views as we headed south. 

Just the night before, we decided to take a different route back to Iowa. Instead of staying on I-90, we took two-lane highways through South Dakota and Nebraska. This was because we couldn’t go over 60 mph with the trailer anyway, and whenever a semi blows past us at 75 the trailer whips all over the place. No fun. It was about 30 miles shorter and we think it took about the same amount of time because of the speed limits. And it was a much more scenic drive. The only downside was a dearth of bathrooms.

We stayed at the same KOA on our last night as we did on our first night—even getting the same site.

Day 8: So. Much. Driving.

Again with I-29 and I-70. 

We had zero mechanicals, probably because the rig is less than a year old. So, quite a bit different than the exciting trip we had several years ago in The Beast. We have two local (less than three hours) trips planned for this fall. Who knows where we'll take the Canyonero and Campy McTrailface after that?

Oregon

On our way to our second house swap. Certainly the most epic drive we've attempted with our munchkins. It was a good day with minimal whining.

It won’t be quite as exciting as our last one: no driving on the wrong side of the road or mysterious coffee ordering problems (aside from the ones I usually have at Starbucks). Presumably the people whose house we’re staying in have a clothes dryer and a dishwasher and other American luxuries. We’re looking forward to spending most of the week in Portland, exploring sites like Mt. St. Helens and the Columbia Gorge and hopefully not getting rained on too much.

The ultimate purple issue

It seems that Americans on both sides of the cultural divide have found a common enemy: the TSA. No one wants to be groped or back-scattered or microwaved in the name of airport safety. We'd prefer to have dogs sniff our bags -- and we'd probably rather have them sniff our crotches than have our nether-regions grabbed by TSA hacks.

San Francisco progressives and Midwestern conservatives seem to agree that the government has gone too far in the name of safety, without actually making us any safer. Nothing like a common enemy to unite the persecuted masses!

The problem seems to be that the powers that be on both ends of the rainbow are too far above the fray to be affected. They charter their own flights or get a pass through security and don't have to be frisked or fried.

Something's gotta give here. The only possible winner? Amtrak.

Jet lag: the six-day hangover

My head hurts, and pretty much has since we got on the plane Sunday afternoon, which was Saturday evening. I'm less disoriented now than I was a few days ago, that last sentence notwithstanding.

Our boys, who were waking up daily at 6 a.m. for the months leading up to our trip, have slept past 8 (2 a.m. Sydney time) every day. I have consistently been waking up at 2 a.m. (8 p.m. Sydney time).

I've had a stuffy nose and sore throat since we left Sydney, which could be due to allergies, jet lag, a cold, or the fires that created a haze over the Bay Area, or all of the above.

And slowly, slowly, I have been processing photos.

Manic Monday (you expect me to know what day it is?)

Boys need to be woken up at 8:15; I was wide awake from 2 to 5 a.m.

More Australian words:
capsicum = bell pepper
sultana = raisin

House and cars are in good shape; I suspect they never drove the minivan, fearing it's massiveness.

Our last day in Sydney

Tomorrow morning we'll head to the airport and leave on an early afternoon flight and arrive in SF tomorrow morning.

Today I headed to the Farmers Market to load up on the best chocolates I have ever had. Then our local babysitter came over and took the boys to the park so we could pack and clean. During nap time, Linda and I went over to Surry Hills and my favorite fabric store. I'm just sorry I won't get to see her fabulous new linens in her Sydney home.

This has truly been an exciting adventure, as Arthur would say. I am going to be really happy to get back to our house, with its dishwasher and clothes drier and double-paned windows and totally awesome cars. But I'm going to miss living in a big city where you can take the bus almost everywhere and there's an awesome view around every corner.

Exploring beautiful Sydney!

What a day! It must be in the 70s (Fahrenheit; still haven't figured out Centigrade conversions yet) today, and sunny! Sydney is gorgeous. And really easy to get around in via bus! At around 8:45 we got on a bus less than two blocks from our flat in Randwick and we were downtown at the Circular Quay (pronounced "key") in about 35 minutes. The morning bus was crowded and quiet. No one seemed to be reading anything to pass the time, just spacing out or nodding off.





At Circular Quay we walked past the ferry terminal and some very pricey real estate on our way to our first glimpse of the famous Opera House. It was a pretty dramatic sight, with its "sails" glistening in the morning sun. We walked all the way around the building and started heading up into the Royal Botanic Garden, which featured some impressive views of the Opera House (with much better lighting for morning photography). The Garden is big, beautiful and free; the boys loved walking around in the morning sun, collecting sticks and running across expanses of grass.





We examined a few of the gardens on our way to the central section of the Botanic Garden, where we surprised to find thousands of large bats handing from the trees! We didn't get around to finding a worker or volunteer to ask what kind they were and why they lived there, but we'll definitely be back.



At some point in our sightseeing Arthur got fixated on going up in the Sydney Tower, which looks kind of like the TV Tower in Berlin and is the height of the Eiffel Tower (does that make Sydney the Berlin of the Southern Hemisphere, or the Paris? I've never been to Paris, so I can't say...). From the Botanic Garden it was easy to make our way to the Tower and they gladly took our $25 AUD (per adult) to go up to the top of the tower. Noah slept in the stroller throughout the experience, but Arthur totally dug it.



After the tower experience we had to walk a couple blocks to buy bus passes, then back the other direction to catch the bus home. Nathan and I both noted how crowded the sidewalks were, even in the middle of the afternoon.

"You're going the wrooong waaayyy!!"

This is my first experience with the "keep left" driving system (I think some parts of Europe do it that way, but we did zero driving when we were there). I haven't actually done any driving since we got here; it's all been Nathan. But it's still terrifying to sit on the left side of the car and constantly be going the wrong way! Nathan has been doing great, and I certainly trust his driving skills, but I'm constantly fighting the urge to shriek and cover my eyes. The only annoyance now for him is that the turn signal and wiper stalks are also reversed, so he's constantly turning on his wipers when he's trying to signal!

At some point I realize I'm going to have to drive that thing. But today we're taking the bus up to Circular Quay (pronounced "key") to walk around central Sydney and see, among other things, the Opera House!

Getting there is half the fun?

Our travel to Sydney went astonishing well. We were expecting lots of bad behavior and less sleeping then necessary, but it all worked out pretty well.

Qantas pre-boards families with young children, so that was a happy surprise. But that was nothing compared to when we got to our seats, which had an excessive amount of leg room, and even footrests -- footrests!!!! Turns out we were in the last row of "premium economy" -- there was a small divider between our seats and the row behind, and I looked back and noticed that the seats there were much less plush. I quickly sent Linda an email on my phone, then sent her a pic. She was jealous that we had somehow been upgraded to this special class!

We all managed a reasonable amount of sleep -- some with, some without sleep aids -- and the 14-hour flight went relatively quickly -- that was when trouble started. Another big plane full of people arrived from Hong Kong about the same time, so the queue for customs was huge. I don't even remember how long it took us to get through. Then we got our checked bags, which wasn't too bad. But then we had to wait in another insane queue for "quarantine," which is where they check to make sure you aren't bringing anything into the country that will infest the local flora or fauna. Finally we got outside, into the fresh morning air, where we got to wait in yet another bloody queue (check out all my local lingo!) for a taxi. Next time I see another line like that I'm going to have to be seriously medicated. "Don't lose it now," Nathan implored me. I managed to make it until we all piled ourselves and our stuff into a "maxi taxi" and headed over to Randwick. Whew!

Here we are!

The Southern Hemisphere! The flight went astoundingly well, and we're in our home for the next month: the flat of Steve and Trudy, who are living in our house! (When we were on the plane at some point it hit me that there were probably some strange people walking into our house right then, just movin' on in, like we have now at their home. It was the first time the whole plan seemed weird and crazy to me!

We're all kind of punchy from jet lag, and the boys are napping finally, so that's what I'm going to do...

The Pop Report

Almost a year ago I decided to try to get off the diet pop. Finally, it seems I'm close. The last few weeks I've only been drinking it about twice a week, and it seems that about half the time I drink it I immediately get a headache. So that's a good thing. And I figure pop won't be as pervasive in Australia as it is here, so that will help. I here they really know how to do coffee there, so I expect I'll be drinking a lot of that.

In other diet news, I'm trying out a dairy-free diet to see if it makes me feel any better, tummy-area-wise. Hopefully they have soy milk at the coffee joints in Sydney, or else I better get used to my coffee black.

Those Americans

Even at the start of the Obama era, I have to marvel at the dumb stuff we continue to pull years or decades after the rest of the world has clued in. Like, oh I dunno, climate change.

Or how about the fact that our idiotic drug and gun policies are destroying Mexico?

Or that there are two dozen other industrialized nations -- including ones that our soldiers fight with -- who allow gays to serve openly in the military? My mind is particularly boggled by the story of this guy who was an Arabic translator who was fired six months after 9/11 because he was gay!!

Maybe when I go to Australia next month, I can affect, say, a German accent? Or maybe just wear a shirt that says "My house has solar panels, I don't own a gun and I don't hate gay people. Oh, and I believe the earth is a few trillion years old."

Suck it, Starwood

Don't ever go to a time share presentation. No matter what you are promised. These people are big fat lying liars. $100 for 90 minutes of your time? Yeah, right. More like 2-and-a-half hours, and they'll try to give you half the money at the end, and jam your cell phone, so no one can rescue you.

Don't do it, even if you think you might want to buy a time share. Because you don't. Anyone who can do simple math can figure that out.

Finally, if you ever do get sucked in to going to one of these things, bring a tape recorder. I'm sure they'll love that!

Joshua Tree

I've busy with my mother-in-law in town, who enabled us to go to Joshua Tree last weekend, sans kids! It was awesome, and I highly recommend it.

I'm also painting the bathroom purple, attending my second Restore Hetch Hetchy board meeting tomorrow, and trying not to get my hopes up that kitchen remodel is still on...

Oh, almost forgot -- I got a new job, too (fundraising, PR at a non-profit).

Miscelany

I got all my final Christmas errands done this morning, thanks to the babysitting co-op!

I'm continuing to be glad I'm not traveling to the Midwest this month.

I usually get cash or a gift certificate from the kids I read to at a local day-care; this year I got candy.

I should really start a Redwood City news blog.

Llama drama

Believe it or not, I was at the Peoria Zoo a week ago today. Peoria, Illinois, as in, "will it play in Peoria?" A llama is about my height, apparently. Just as I was reading on the sign near the llama pen about how "when llama's are angry, they spit a foul-smelling liquid," the llama ambled up to me and practically stuck its face in mine across its fence. As I nervously backed away, the llama suddenly sneezed and I felt a bit of llama snot fly onto my hand. I shrieked like a girl and ran away. It was quiet a moment at the Peoria Zoo.

Top 5 Friday

Top 5 things I did for the first time on our trip to St. Louis:

5) Hung out in Peoria

4) Saw Suzy's zoo

3) Caught Matthew dozing in church

2) Got sneezed on by a llama (more on that later)

1) Went fishing (and actually caught one! -- more on that later, too)