Issuing a Challenge

The first person... to find me a job... gets $50!!!!

Readyyyyyy.....GO!!

(You know you want to.)

Random State Facts

Wyoming: Weird license plates! The vertical number on the left stands for the county, numbered 1-23. Then I presume they start at 1 for the license plate number. I saw no cars having over four numbers. :)



Also: the huge expanses of open grassland means you see lots of animals grazing. Cows, horses, often deer too. So, we saw plenty of white cows, brown cows, and black cows, but no spotted cows. Where are the spotted cows??

(Yes, the map is reflected in the picture)

Minnesota:
Check out these windmills! We saw multiple instances across the farmland in the south part of the state. I'm impressed with the energy-consciousness.






South Dakota: I wanted to point out that while Simon identified this state as "mostly a prairie landscape" that was just the westernmost part, not the first 3 hours which he slept through. :)





That part was lush, green, and pleasant, as shown. Some small hills to keep you guessing -- not too flat. Also, the Missouri River appears suddenly, at the crest of a hill, after miles and miles of the same scene. It was wonderful! Absolutely gorgeous, and I wish I had a good picture.

Mount Rushmore

Just a few more comments on things I found interesting. (Click on pictures to enlarge!)

After viewing the sculptor's original vision, you can actually see where workers started details like Washington's coat and a little bit of Lincoln's collar before time and money ran out. Funny thing is, you see the faces so many times you don't even notice. After learning that, those details popped out for me! Look again:

Also, they originally started Jefferson to the left of Washington and blasted off his partially-finished face when it wasn't turning out right. You can't tell at all.

Fully 90% of the carving was done with dynamite blasts. No workers ever died in the project.

Workers used huge plaster casts to help guide them. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see one lowered next to a face in progress.

The sculptor used a "pointing system" -- like a HUGE protractor -- to keep things in line.

Finally, although you only ever see the faces, Mount Rushmore actually has a very nice monument surrounding it. Here's the main entrance:


And as you go closer, there is a neat ceremonial walk. Pillars display every state flag (peeking out in the picture). The states are carved on the pillars in alphabetical order, one on each side of each pillar. The date the state joined the Union is listed, and the flag is hung above.


There's also a half-mile trail looping around the monument with more great picture opportunities. A nice short walk for us through some of the natural beauty of South Dakota.

P.S. TR actually wears glasses! Check out this awesome close-up pic from Simon:

Venturing West, Part 4

After a great weekend in Minnesota (see below), it was time for the final leg of the trip.


Here we are heading out on Wednesday morning:

Whitney wants to add that although I looked "bright and chipper," she clearly needed some coffee.


We hopped on I-35 South for an hour, through the farms of southern Minnesota, until we reached I-90, where we spent the remainder of the day. After lunch and a few more hours of Minnesota, we reached the "Great Faces, Great Places" sign of South Dakota around 3pm.

South Dakota is mostly a prairie landscape as seen above, dotted with hundreds of signs for the Corn Palace and Wall Drug. We were able to fend off the urge of these tourist traps, and made it into Rapid City for the night at 8pm. Spurning the national food chains, we picked the Millstone Family Restaurant for dinner. Great choice! Nothing like Midwest diner-style dinner.

With a night of rest, we took off for Mount Rushmore in the morning. Driving out of Rapid City, we quickly rose into the Black Hills.

The approach to Mount Rushmore:











And there it is! Quite a sight to see in person















Here we are with George, Thomas, Theodore, and Abraham















After a few hours at the park, including seeing the sculptor's original, unfinished plans for the monument we continued on to Wyoming.
















Wyoming was pretty plain, about how Wyoming sounds, although we saw many of these, without knowing what they were. Have a guess? Click on the picture and scroll down to see if you're right.











After stopping for gas in Chugwater, Wyoming (pop: 244), we drove past the "Welcome to Colorful Colorado" sign (see our title header) at 6:36pm, and arrived in Fort Collins about 30 minutes later.

Now that we've had a chance to settle in and explore the town, we'll pass along new stories and pictures soon!

Venturing West, Part 3

Our last post left off in Minnesota on Saturday, and the next day was Mother's Day. We ate lunch with my parents at an Asian place and spent a few hours walking around Northeast Minneapolis poking in some stores and restaurants. Simon and I were impressed by an upscale grocery store (with carpet!) and tried a bunch of free cheese samples there. Mmm. The four of us also checked out some really cool downtown condos above the store for fun. The furnished models had a clean, bold modern look and huge glass windows displaying great views of the city. Really neat to see.

In the evening we attended a surprise dinner for Emily's boyfriend's graduation at the Three Fish restaurant in Minneapolis. Ben was certainly surprised to see all of us there, along with his parents and friends! Here's a picture of Emily and Ben, and one of me and Simon:

Following a great dinner we all enjoyed Emily's homemade desserts of cake and cookie cake.

The next day was Emily's 19th birthday! We had plans for dinner at night, but Simon and I started the day by meeting his future Stanford roommate, Jeff, for lunch. They met through Stanford's online roommate matching service and don't know yet if they've been put together as per their request, but he was a really nice guy. He's been working in Minneapolis for a few years since graduating from college, and now he's going back to school for his Master's. Simon's favorite part of lunch was probably when Jeff showed him his car -- a 1999 BMW 540i. I'm convinced the fact that Jeff has BMW is why Simon wanted to room with him! The car will be sold before the trip to California, though.

We had a fancy dinner at Kincaid's in St. Paul for Emily's birthday, after which she opened presents and we all ate cookie cake in her honor. Later that night Simon and I met up with another MMB friend, Kirstin, in the city for some drinks. She had just started her summer internship, so it was fun to hear about her work experience so far!

Our final day in Minnesota involved a trip to the Mall of America, the Midwest's largest tourist attraction, including four levels of shopping and an indoor amusement park. We spent most of the day there, and didn't buy a thing. I'm still not sure how that happened!

Many thanks to my parents for hosting us in Minnesota and treating us to several great meals. Coming up next is the final post in our travel series, which takes us on the road again to the Mount Rushmore National Monument in South Dakota and onward through Wyoming to Fort Collins, Colorado.

To Em

Just for you, from Simon, Whitney, and the Lusk State Bank in Lusk, Wyoming (pop: 1447)

Venturing West, Part 2

This part of our trip took us through Wisconsin on I-90 and then I-94 to Minneapolis to visit my Dad, sister, and my mom who had already made the trip out the day before. We rolled out of Long Grove at 10 am sharp and saw "Welcome to Wisconsin" at 11:36. Wisconsin has lots of pretty, green farmland. And here's Simon driving:

Below is my favorite picture of Wisconsin though, which I took about an hour after we stopped for lunch in Mauston. We ate at a Culver's and enjoyed their rich frozen custard. It continuously slides down a ramp from the machine in thick slabs, like Playdoh. It's neat to watch the servers cut off a section only to have more ooze out. It reminded me of being a kid. Our turtle sundae was delicious, and soon we were back on the road to more farmland as we travelled through the Dells of Wisconsin along the Wisconsin River...

We hit the Minnesota border at 4:29 ("Minnesota Welcomes You") and arrived at my Dad's apartment at 4:50, making good time and clocking 677.2 miles on the trip odometer. My parents were just returning from helping my sister Emily move out of her dorm room, and in a short bit Simon and I went with them to dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery in Minneapolis.

Rock Bottom is a small chain with 33 locations in 15 states (including 5 in Colorado) but there are none in Michigan, and Simon hadn't been before although I had been previously with my family. Each restaurant has an on-site brewery where they brew beers unique to the location. I liked my Itasca Extra Pale Ale which had a refreshing and unique orange-grapefruit flavor, as described (click Lagers & Ales), and Simon enjoyed Erik the Red. The other highlight of dinner was our yummy appetizer of two huge Ballpark Pretzels with spicy spinach cheese dip. They come served in a special wrought iron holder, and they're fun to see and eat!

Here's us outside the restaurant on our way out:

After dinner we headed over to see Em at her new summer sublet while my parents brought more of her stuff. She has a nice room and was already busy enjoying the convenience of having a kitchen as she baked desserts for an upcoming event.

A good first day in Minnesota, to be followed by 3 more in our stop there.

Venturing West, Part 1

After some furious last minute packing on Friday the 11th, we hit the road in Whitney's Ford Focus and set out west. Outside of a couple of construction delays in Michigan, it was a light Friday for driving. We arrived in Chicago just late enough to miss the rush hour.

Here's a nice view of downtown with the sun setting:

And then it was off to Lacey's house just outside town. We went out to a nice little burger place across from the Prairie View train station and got a tour of her own high school campus, where she'll be a teacher in the fall. The next morning brought a breakfast from her dad (yum!) and then we packed up and got back on the road towards Minnesota to see Whitney's family for Mother's Day and her sister's birthday. Many thanks to Lacey and her family for hosting our first night of the trip!

Back soon with the exciting travels through the Dells of Wisconsin!

And For Dad

See the Clydesdales!

For My Mom

This is a sidenote to our upcoming trip post (in progress), but here is a picture of what I ate for breakfast last Sunday:

Massive cinnamon rolls, courtesy of the Silver Grill Cafe. Mom, note the raisins in the ones on the left. :)

We will be going back. And back. And back.

Welcome to Our Blog!

Check here for all interesting updates, stories, and pictures of our summer trip to Colorado, along with other random items of interest and humor. Thanks for reading!

-Whitney and Simon

Coming soon . . . Recap of our weeklong journey to Colorado including stops:

1. Chicago suburbs
2. Twin cities
3. Mount Rushmore

With pictures!