Sitting on the Dock of the Bay (well in our case, lake)

Daily Mileage=15; Trip Total=10,020 (an easy day)

Today we did pretty much nothing but hung out by our lake view and enjoyed the time. It's still windy here and cool but reached about 80 degrees this afternoon.

We began the day with a wonderful surprise. A bald eagle came right down by the lake outside our room with a huge fish he caught. Needless to say we got the camera out and Rich proceeded to try and capture this event on film. (Easier said than done.)

Another eagle came and chased him away. He came back again and then 2 crows chased him non stop until they finally all flew away. Rich went out and looked at the remains. He said the fish was probably was a walleye about 18"to 24". The eagle ate most of it pretty fast (must have the Fedorczyk genes in him). It was very neat to watch this whole thing happen relatively close for about 15 minutes

We did lunch in a very "1950's " restaurant downtown. In fact, the entire town looks like something out of Mayberry. Very small and homey. You could get a coffee and piece of homemade pie (and I mean see the juice inside the Pyrex pie plate homemade) and a cup of coffee for $1.79. You can't even get a cup of coffee for under 2 bucks anymore, never mind a piece of good pie!!! I almost couldn't pass it up but did. Thank God I don't live here or I know where I'd be all the time.

Our next stop in town was the Boys & Girls Thrift Shop. Yes, can you believe it? We did in fact go into the thrift shop (must be missing the Bargain Box more than we realized) and we bought stuff!! I got a piece of green glass (hand blown and etched); two Royal Doulton coaster-dishes, a cute plastic wine glass and a slightly damaged Nippon deer statute for under $5.00!!! Corrine you'd go crazy here!!! Bargain Box Babes eat your hearts out! So that was our big shopping spree here in Detroit Lakes (which the locals just call, Lakes).

We are once again having a delightful cocktail while we watch the sun set. We almost hate to leave here but the road warriors are on their way again tomorrow to Sioux City, NE (no mistake, we're on the Nebraska side not the Iowa).

Good night. Sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite. (So far we haven't had any problems with them anywhere. However, I did find a tick on me the other day after hiking and I hope I don't end up with Rocky Mtn. spotted fever !!!)

Love&Joy, Mare&Rich

Nothing but the Wheel

Daily Mileage= 153; Trip Mileage = 10,005 (WE HAVE BROKEN THE 10K Mark!!!) and still going....

OK. Tommy and Bernie F. got the Devil's Tower question right. The movie in which the tower plays a part is Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The movie came out in 1977 and I can't remember it that well but to answer Bernie's question, we did see it from all sides (as Richard Dreyfus recommends). It is quite awesome, aliens or not!

Today we started out by driving around the Detroit Lakes which are comprised of a "small" and "large" lake. They merge together and are overall quite large from our viewpoint. There was a bad thunderstorm last night with winds as high as 65mph and you could see the result of it around the lake. Several of the infamous pontoon boats that are used up this way were flipped over and ripped up. We also saw many trees that had fallen on roads, boats and in the wooded areas. It was worse than we knew as we soundly slept in our hotel room (on the same lake). Guess we better pay more attention to the weather channel!

Then we drove around the numerous 10,000+ (some say 15,000) lakes in Minnesota. The area has lots of lakes both small and large (and even though we saw about .0001% of them, it seemed like much more)! It was a delightful drive seeing the landscape which includes not only lakes but a lot of farms with rolling grazing land. Hence the title of tonight's blog by Patty Loveless about driving and seeing many different sights including farms while focusing on "the wheel".

We saw farms and plains although different from those out in the Dakotas. Our big "aha" for today is that we are only 45 miles from Fargo (a small city) in ND but once you cross that border to the west you are in cowboy country. Over here in MN, you are not. Here you have fishermen, hunters and outdoorsmen but no cowboys! It's interesting how 40 miles can make such a difference! Anyway, the farms are lovely and the vegetation is a welcome change to the plains (which are also beautiful but not as varied, or as nice in our opinion, as the green here in MN).

While driving around we came upon a historical marker, similar to ones we have seen in many national parks. It was in commemoration of the Civilian Conservation Corps that was activated during the Depression. We photographed this particular one but have read them all. They have a special meaning for me since my father was a member of the CCC. He was stationed in Virginia and although I never discussed with him his exact responsibilities, I think he might have worked on the Blue Ridge Parkway around Shenandoah National Park. The young men who went into the CCC worked on a number of national parks. They created trails, campsites, beautiful stonework edifices and roadways. They earned $30.00 a month of which they were able to keep $5.00 and the rest was sent home to their families. I still have photos of my father with some of his friends at the camp he was assigned to. This was before he met my mother and I believe most of the men were very young and single. Every time I see one of their projects and/or a sign about the CCC efforts, I think of my father, Bruno. It brings nice memories of him and a sense of pride in what he and the others did for our country here at home. I can't imagine what it would cost today to do some of the work they did back then, if you could even get such beautiful work done. So this blog is for Bruno (how many of you knew my dad's name was Bruno? Not very Polish is it? That's another story.)

We drove through a wildlife refuge and saw birds, deer and animals which were great but it was pretty isolated. Earlier in our tour we stopped at one of the "Christmas Shoppes" to look around; you can always find something at a Christmas shop and then all of sudden we drove down the road and we were in the wilderness again! It is still amazing to us how much land there really is in this country.

The purpose of our trip was to find "Many Lake" which was shown on our atlas map. How could we come to the land of ten thousand lakes, one named, Many, and not go find it? So, we set out like a modern day Lewis & Clark (OK not really like Lewis and Clark) to discover it. Well it took us a while because the atlas and reality aren't always the same. We eventually did find it (more like stumbled upon it) and here is Rich in front of it. (I also discovered a new "word" tool I can use on photos, pretty cool, don't you think?)

While we were there we saw a family of ducks that were occupying the lake. They may not be the only tenants , but we felt comfortable about them inhabiting our lake. We were glad to see them there and decided they can stay.

We had a low impact day, relaxing and enjoying ourselves. We had a great early dinner at a restaurant on the lake, The Fireside, which has been around since 1948. It had good food (I had Walleye, a standard in MN; Rich had a chicken speciality of the place). They played Sinatra so you know it had a great ambiance,which is probably why it has been around almost 60 years. The sunset was wonderful even though we drove through some threatening black clouds as we came back to the hotel. All is well. Life is good.

Love you all, Mare&Rich

Deep Forbidden Lake

Daily Mileage=337; Trip Total=9847

Today was a travel day so not too much to fill you in on. We left Dickinson, ND and went east across the rest of North Dakota to Fargo, "Don't you know?" Actually we went through Fargo into Minnesota to stay at one of the many lakes.

As we drove through ND we saw more of the same which is a lot of land and little people and/or traffic. We did pass the world's largest cow (not a real one) but so large you could see it from the interstate. (Not such a great photo moving at 70 mph. It's an advertisement for a bank. Don't ask why other than there are a lot of cows out here!)
Then we hit the aftermath of all the rain they've had out here. We suddenly came across a temporary sign, stating "Watch for water on road." Well, it was there. The State Troopers were letting us drive through about 12 inches of water one car at a time. The photo here shows the exit lane covered while we were driving/rowing through the water on the highway. Fortunately, the Chevy made it through the levy!!! We love our car!!!

We are at a lovely lodge called The Lodge on Lake Detroit. It's in Detroit Lakes and is a little more upscale than some of the other "lodges" we've stayed in along the way. The sun has finally come out as we sit in our room looking at the lake view outside our room. One of the features I love, is the clock radio that has an IPOD/MP3 adapter; also soothing sounds and jazz music programed in to it. (There is a spa here so relaxation is an important aspect to the place.) Anyway, I just love the clock radio and will probably get one for our use. (Doesn't take much to get me excited anymore!)

We are scheduled to stay for 2 days but we are already thinking of changing the itinerary to add another day or two. We'll see tomorrow. So this is our relaxing time and we're now going to have a cocktail as we watch the sunset. Life is good!Love&Joy, Mare&Rich

Wide Open Spaces

Daily Mileage=239;Total trip=9510

Before I go on with today's blog, I have to add a comment about Devil's Tower that we visited yesterday. Brian and Andrea called to remind me (and I was going to put this in and forgot it) that Devil's Tower is really famous because of its appearance in a movie. Can you guess which one? He said it came out in 1977 so let's see who is old enough to remember it?

Now, today we spent the day in the two units of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. They are about 70 miles from each other but the part of North Dakota that's in between is like most of ND so far, prairie grass and ranches. The park is named in honor of Theodore Roosevelt who did more for the National Park System than anyone before (or since). He loved the area and lived here for awhile. Parts of his ranch are still here in the park.

The park has not only miles of grassland but a section of its own "badlands." Badlands out here means it's rocky, cavernous and not good for too much. However, through erosion of water and time, the views are stupendous. The major difference between this park and the Badlands NP in SD is there is more grassland and vegetation here than down there. Even the grassland has a variety of grass types to support the various animals that are present in the park. (No fighting over the resource.) There are bison, elk, antelope, prairie dogs and a host of birds, mostly songbirds. The bison really do roam freely and they tell you to watch out for them on the trails. (Great now I don't have to worry about bears, just the 2,000 pound bison charging me! However, we saw lots of fresh buffalo poop (scat) and tracks on the trail, but no bison in our way. )

The trails we did today took us down by the river, the Little Missouri River (which actually ends up in the Missouri and Mississippi basins) and is not so little, as well as by the desert like caverns where there are all kinds of rock formations. Here are some views we saw.

The colors in the rock formations are amazing. The blue is volcanic ash that comes from the birth of the Rocky Mountains. The red is oxidized iron in the rock. The most interesting strata of rock we saw today was a vein of coal (black) that actually burned from 1951 until 1977. You can still see the black line in the rock. Apparently it caught on fire from lighting and smoldered all those years. (There was sign at the site that indicated people toasted marshmallows at it! Pretty weird, isn't it?)

There are also a number of "slides" or "slumps" in which a rather large piece of the rock formation detaches and slides down the mountain. You can see where it would fit back together again by aligning the strata in the rock. Here's one we tried to photograph.

Then there's just the different names for the rock formations that result from eroision. There's the CapRock(eventually the bottom will give away and it will completely fall apart) and the Cannonball Concretions (not always round but definitely a different rock within a rock).

We had a good day, the weather was beautiful, in fact it's been in the 70's but feels warmer when you're out in the sun. The views were gorgeous. We would recommend the park if someone is looking for solitude. There are really more animals than people out here but we've been seeing that in all of North Dakota. The park has great vistas and some excellent trails, too bad it's so far away!

We had dinner tonight in the cowboy town right outside the southern park unit, Medora. It's a typical western town as we have described before. We ate at the Iron Horse Saloon. All I can say is it really was a saloon. Instead of a card game going on in the corner, they had one blackjack table and some electronic gambling machines. We were surrounded by cowboys and some old motorcycle guys! Of course we had steak. What else would we eat in a western saloon?

We finished our book, The Mistress of Death. It was very good and we would recommend it if you like 12century history. It was a novel/mystery but the author spent time on the historic details. If you liked Pope Joan you'd like this book.

We're now onto another of what is becoming one of our favorite authors David Rosenfelt (for light legal mystery type books). The reason we like him is because his main character is a defense attorney from Paterson NJ who inherited a ton of money and doesn't have to take cases but does once in awhile. He has a golden retriever, Tara, and a typical northeastern sarcastic sense of humor. The actor who does the reading even has the Jersey accent down. They're also pretty funny . The one we're listening to now is Sudden Death.

Tomorrow we're onto Fargo and staying in Minnesota by one of it's 10,000 lakes. Hopefully, it won't be raining and flooding when we get there!

Love & Joy,

Mare & Rich

Sympathy for the Devil

Daily Mileage=313;Total Trip= 9271

Today we went to Devil’s Tower National Park in Wyoming. It was the first National Monument in the US named as such by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. It was quite impressive. You can see it from quite a few miles away and it grows larger as you get closer.

It is a huge rock formation (867 feet tall and 1,000 foot diameter at the bottom) that was formed through plate tectonics and subsequent erosion.

In fact, the huge boulders strewn around the bottom are pieces of the Tower falling. It’s a great rock climbing spot and over 5,000 people come to do so each year. We saw some going up and down while we were there (we decided that we would pass on that adventure!). There is a nice trail (1.5 miles) that goes around the bottom of the edifice and allows you to see it from all angles.

Can you find the climber in this photo? He's vertically in the middle and towards the right of center (near the edge of the Tower itself). If you blow it up to view, you'll see him easily.

Devil’s Tower is a sacred place for several Native American nations. The legend says that there were 7 girls and 1 boy playing when all of a sudden the boy changed into a bear. The bear started to chase the girls who ran on the top of a tree stump. The tree said it would protect them and began to rise as the bear clawed at its sides. It continued to rise until the girls reached the sky where they remain even today as the big dipper constellation. When you see the sides of the Tower the ridges appear to be claw marks.
You can also see several “prayer cloths” some with feathers, hanging in the surrounding trees. They have been placed there by Native Americans offering prayers to the spirits.

After Devil’s Tower we drove through Belle Fourche, SD which is the geographic center of the United States since the addition of Alaska and Hawaii (Kansas lost this honor). Don’t ask us for the formula on how that’s possible but it’s documented by a US Government Agency and that’s all that is in this town! (How could we not stop there on our way to North Dakota?)

We continued through some very small towns usually 2 blocks with saloons, cowboy shops and feed stores. We then drove through miles of rolling prairie land with lots of cattle, antelope, deer and we even saw wild pheasants. It is beautiful and isolated. It is wonderful to see and visit but we could never live here (without becoming cowboys/girls.)

I don’t think I ever shared my thinking on horseback riding. Basically, I believe that if life were fair, horses would get to ride half the time. Somehow I don’t think a poor horse should have to carry my fat a—on it. So I’m not a fan of horseback riding. In my youth, I did think it was cool and did the dude ranch scene etc., but those days are over.

Rich on the other hand, did some ranching in his youth. Yes, the city slicker from the Bronx rode horses to round up cattle when he was in the Air Force in California for “a buck” an hour. He says his riding days are over too. So, we won’t be living out west where you really need horses to get around on all that land. (Although we did see real cowboys using ATV’s which apparently are the horses of the 21st century. What is happening to the Old West? Is nothing sacred anymore?
We made it to Dickinson, ND which is right outside Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Tomorrow we will explore one of the more remote parks however, I’m getting the feeling we didn’t need to come to the park because it’s remote enough outside of it!
Good night, Love & Joy, Mare & Rich

Badlands!

Daily Mileage=270; Trip Mileage=8958
Today we went East a ways to Badlands National Park. This area is called "The Wall" and extends for a hundred miles through the dry plains of South Dakota. The park is divided into the North and South Units. We spent our time in the North Section which has a scenic road that is about 40 miles long. You can stop at various overlooks and trails. It's beautiful although very stark and even if some people think it's not beautiful, they would admit it is interesting. The Southern Unit is a newer addition to the park with rough roads and it still has private land (Indian and in some cases

you need permission to stay in it) so we stayed in the North section.

The wall is really made up of shale layers (at the lowest level) caused by an ocean that covered the area about 75 million years ago. Over time the continental plates moved to cause the Rocky

Mountains and the rest of the "wall" was formed (a ripple effect of the Rockies). It continues to erode each year from water. It looks very fragile but they it's sturdier than you think (people climb all over it). However, change goes on and in another 50,000 years the badlands will be gone. (I'm not worrying about this, since I won't be here either!)

To us it seemed like a cross between the Grand and Bryce Canyons. The road takes you down to the meadows and the valley(s) as well as the upper rim. You get perspectives from above and below.

We stopped and did a few short hikes. The Notch Trail was a relatively short trail but wild. We hiked through a valley, climbed a ladder up about 75 feet, walked along the cliff ledges and ended up with a spectacular view. It was only 1.5 miles but it was great!

There are all kinds of animals in this area too. We saw Big Horn Sheep again. They are so cool; you never tire of seeing the "western" animals. They also have bison, prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets (we didn't see them) but they've been re-introduced to the area and apparently are doing well.

These "yellow mounds" are different than other formations in the park because they are fossilized matter from a jungle that formed in this area after the ocean left. The park and this area in particular, has many fossils that paleontologists work on continually. You can see animals, shells and plants in the rocks.

OK so after we spent most of the day doing the "Badlands" we stopped at Wall, SD and specifically Wall Drug. Now you may be asking,"What the heck is Wall Drug?" It's a landmark that is known around the world(news to us). It started in 1909 as a drug store and grew into a emporium that covers several blocks on Main Street (in a very small town). Ted and Dorothy Hustead starting advertising on billboards "free ice water" to travelers in an attempt to get them to stop at their store. Well it worked and today the place is known everywhere and there are bus loads of tourists coming to place. It's another corny place but we visited, had ice cream and free ice water. It was goofy but American!

Here is Rich with his friend that we found at Wall Drug. It's a jackalope! Bet you haven't heard of that species before?

Good night for now.

Tomorrow we're onto North Dakota. That should be interesting! Love & Joy,

Mare&Rich

America The Beautiful!

Daily Mileage =229; Trip Total=8688

We're starting out with the photo that goes with the patriotic title of today's blog. We've added another famous face to the monument! So, the question is, can you name all the famous people in the photo?
Obviously, we are at the Mt. Rushmore Memorial and four of the people are past presidents and one is older enough to be a potential (past) president!?!

Mt. Rushmore is really cooler than we expected. It's in the Black Hills area of western South Dakoda. We thought you'd go and take a photo and leave but the area is very nice to walk through with lots of information and exhibits. We did an audio tour that took about two hours and was great! (Highlights are: sculpted by Gutzon Borglum between 1927 to 1941; originally only Washington & Lincoln were going in but others were added; sculptor died a few months before finished so his son, Lincoln Borglum, finished for him; Lakota Indians weren't happy about the concept originally because of the sacredness of the area, now more open to it.) So , as you can see there's a lot to learn and see about the place. And, you do feel patriotric being there!

Before Mt. Rushmore we stopped at the Crazy Horse monument which is also a mountain sculpture that was started in 1948 by Korczak Ziolkowski. He was inspired and hired by the Lakota Indians to build a monument to honor the Native American people. He worked on it for most of his life and his family has taken on the mission to finish it without government assistance. When it is completed it will be much larger than Mt. Rushmore (in fact Mt. Rushmore will fit into the hair portion of Crazy Horse). It's a work in progress but it is quite impressive. Crazy Horse's face is done and now they are working on the horse he's riding. A million tons of granite have already been blown away and you can see they have a lot more to do. Here's a photo (not such a good one from afar) of the actual work and then a photo of the model of the monument. The sculpture is very impressive and the part completed so far looks great. Unfortunately our photo just didn't come out well!

Earlier in the day we went to Wind Caves National Park. It is a park that preserves two worlds, the one below which is the fourth longest cave in the world and the area above which is where the plains meet the mountains. This cave was discovered in 1881. One of the features that is different from other caves is that it doesn't have the traditional stalagmites and stalactites. It is a dry cave because of the wind that consistently passes through the more than 116 miles of discovered passage ways. (They are still finding more even today.)

We took a tour and of course it was neat walking through small spaces going up and down the walkways. This is a much better way than the way they used to tour with only a candle to light the way. You don't want to be at the end of the tour or you may never find your way out!

One of its prominent features is the boxwood which are thin, honeycomb-shaped structures of calcite that protrude from the walls and ceilings. (It reminded the discoverers of "mail boxes" hence the name.) This cave has one of the best samples in the world.

We then took a hike so we could see some of the ecosystems that are merging in this area. Buffalo were re-introduced here back in 1914 when the Bronx Zoo gave them 14 bisons. Now they have over 350 in the area and the west overall is really getting big numbers again. (My question is what did the Bronx Zoo think they were going to do with bison anyway? We've read that you need 35 acres for each head of bison. You'll get that in the Bronx, right?! And somehow I don't see the buffalo being to happy in cage!)

Actually the area is quite lovely. It has bison, elk pronghorn antelope and my favorites for this part of the trip, prairie dogs. The prairie dogs are all over and when they think there's danger around, i.e., people, they started "barking" to each other and then they run into their holes/homes. Rich's favorite thing was the prairie rattlesnake we ran into as we were hiking on the nature trail. It was kind of funny. The guidebook said you might see them and all of a sudden we did. We only saw one other snake on the trip and it left pretty quickly but this one hung around right by the trail. Needless to say we left it alone and moved on!

Overall, the Wind Caves was really a nice trip and we could have spent several more hours there (that seems to be an emerging theme on our trip!)

Finally, while we were driving through this area we came across a lot of "kitschy" areas. One that I made us stop at was Bedrock, USA. How could we not stop at Flintstone land? So, we had a Fred Big Dog (hot dog) at Flintstone Land. It was a "yabba yabba do" time. Rich begrudgingly let me photograph him at the "Bronto Ribs & Burgers Takeout Stand." So we've seen it all today and more to come tomorrow...

Love & Joy, Mare&Rich