Friday, November 7, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
i'm not sure anyone but us 4 will find this funny
this is after Vogel delivered one of his one-liners. Boom thought she got it. But she really didn't.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
melissa started our trip off with a song.
this was at the beginning of our trip. i will put everything in chronological order soon.
oct 24 - melissa writes:
So when we woke up, we had grumpy Vogel.
ALLEGEDLY May and I were snoring in sync with one another, and Vogel almost had to get his own room.
Ok - I have to take back the allegedly. Only because Vogel had proof. He recorded us on his phone.
Sheesh.
We were pretty hungry, and decided to go down to the continental breakfast before it closed.
We didn't make it.
However, the girl that was packing it up said that "The Ponderosa serves breakfast."
The Ponderosa was the place with all the whooping the night before.
It must be safe during the day - right?
So we get Nick all packed up, check out, and put all of our stuff in the car.
We decided to walk to breakfast, because it really is all of 2 blocks away.
We arrive at The Ponderosa to find a sign on the door that says "serving lunch at 11."
Hm.
That leaves so many questions open...
Does that mean you're not serving breakfast anymore?
Does that mean you're closed until 11?
What time is it anyway?
Can we come in and have coffee until you serve lunch at 11?
Nick poked his head in and asked all those open questions.
Yes.
No.
10:36.
Sure!
Come to find out, The Ponderosa has the approximate square footage of an apartment in the East Village.
Nothing to be frightened of...or is there...? (insert scary music)
Our waitress was sent from Heaven.
She came around and filled our coffee cups whenever they were empty (which took about 30 seconds), she found out what the lunch specials were going to be, and even let us order early.
We heart her.
We ordered lots - you see we were starving by this point - and happily drank our coffee.
They turned out to be the hugest sandwiches ever!
Yummmmmm!
We bought t-shirts (which match accidentally, so if you see us one day with the same t-shirt on, please refrain from cracking jokes).
Then we were on our way to Devils Tower.
I drove, May co-piloted.
It's really in the middle of no-where, but no-where is quite pretty.
Once you enter the Devils Tower park property, you have to drive really slow, because the road goes through a prairie dog town.
Those little rascals are everywhere. The seriously must multiply like rabbits. Wow.
Devils Tower is very cool. It's about 1000 ft high, from the base, and has a sort of green tint due to the lichen? growing all over it.
Apparently there were people climbing it, but we couldn't find them.
We did however find this great guy Daniel, who is writing a book.
He is doing 50 jobs in 50 states.
He's traveling around, and working for 1 week in each state.
How cool is that?!?!
Check out Daniel's progress at www.livingthemap.com
We asked Daniel some questions on camera for his blog.
How often do people climb Devils Tower?
"Well, there are 2 people climbing today, and about 1000 people per year climb Devils Tower. 5 people have died over the years - all due to human error not equipment error."
Um...good to know - thanks Daniel.
So then we left Devils Tower and made our way back to South Dakota to try again to see the Badlands.
You know how sometimes on a trip, you have that one elusive thing that you can't seem to get perfect.
Well, we were determined to NOT have that happen.
We thought - oh good, we'll get to the Badlands, and the sun will be setting and it will be beautiful.
It was further than we thought.
And it started getting cloudy.
So once again we were racing the light.
We finally get to the Badlands Loop (having skipped lunch and needing gas - our trusty rental tells us that we have 94 miles to empty).
The Badlands Loop is about 24 miles, mind you.
We begin driving around a gravel road, that has signs like:
"Campground this way"
and
"Beware of Bison"
and
"Don't play with the Prairie Dogs or you'll catch a plague"
Wait...WHAT?!
(Apparently it's hard for humans to catch this plague, the sign was meant for your pets. We rolled up the windows.)
So, we keep driving around this gravel road and see some pretty scenery.
Vogel finally gets to see a bison, May never gets to see a Big Horn Sheep.
We keep driving, looking for the "Window" and "Door" formations.
Well, then we see a sign that says "leaving Badlands".
Hm.
At this point we could either turn back, or continue to what we think is civilization - or just a paved road would do.
So we continue on.
And on.
And on.
We don't think this is actually the Badlands Loop after all.
And now our trusty rental says 65 miles to empty.
The GPS says to continue on our gravel brick road, and we will eventually hit pavement.
We take some more pictures.
I drive a little faster.
It's getting dark.
At about the same time we do reach a paved road, the trusty rental "bings" at me and states 50 miles to empty.
The GPS says 18 miles to the main road.
We see a sign..."entering Badlands".
Hm.
THIS is apparently the Badlands Loop.
By now, it's dark enough for headlights, but light enough that you can see the scary, pointy rock formations on either side of the road.
The road, that's quite curvy, and has a drop-off you wouldn't believe.
"Bing" 44 miles to empty.
Our Badlands story ends well however.
We make it to the gas station at the main road with 36 miles to spare.
Phew.
With a nice full tank of gas, we head off to find some food.
There's nothing worthy in the first small town we come to, being that it's 8:30pm.
We switch drivers - Nick drives, May co-pilots.
She finds a great little diner. We grab some grub. And continue on our way.
Nick drives, Vogel co-pilots.
May and I sleep.
At some point in the night, they switch.
Vogel drives, Nick co-pilots.
May and I sleep.
Apparently there was a ton of fog, because when we arrive a the hotel in Dyersville, Iowa, they both seem a little on edge.
Something about 10 feet of visibility and having to draft a tractor trailer.
Hm.
We check in to our new digs - the Comfort Inn, Dyersville.
Vogel and Nick sleep.
May and I blog.
So when we woke up, we had grumpy Vogel.
ALLEGEDLY May and I were snoring in sync with one another, and Vogel almost had to get his own room.
Ok - I have to take back the allegedly. Only because Vogel had proof. He recorded us on his phone.
Sheesh.
We were pretty hungry, and decided to go down to the continental breakfast before it closed.
We didn't make it.
However, the girl that was packing it up said that "The Ponderosa serves breakfast."
The Ponderosa was the place with all the whooping the night before.
It must be safe during the day - right?
So we get Nick all packed up, check out, and put all of our stuff in the car.
We decided to walk to breakfast, because it really is all of 2 blocks away.
We arrive at The Ponderosa to find a sign on the door that says "serving lunch at 11."
Hm.
That leaves so many questions open...
Does that mean you're not serving breakfast anymore?
Does that mean you're closed until 11?
What time is it anyway?
Can we come in and have coffee until you serve lunch at 11?
Nick poked his head in and asked all those open questions.
Yes.
No.
10:36.
Sure!
Come to find out, The Ponderosa has the approximate square footage of an apartment in the East Village.
Nothing to be frightened of...or is there...? (insert scary music)
Our waitress was sent from Heaven.
She came around and filled our coffee cups whenever they were empty (which took about 30 seconds), she found out what the lunch specials were going to be, and even let us order early.
We heart her.
We ordered lots - you see we were starving by this point - and happily drank our coffee.
They turned out to be the hugest sandwiches ever!
Yummmmmm!
We bought t-shirts (which match accidentally, so if you see us one day with the same t-shirt on, please refrain from cracking jokes).
Then we were on our way to Devils Tower.
I drove, May co-piloted.
It's really in the middle of no-where, but no-where is quite pretty.
Once you enter the Devils Tower park property, you have to drive really slow, because the road goes through a prairie dog town.
Those little rascals are everywhere. The seriously must multiply like rabbits. Wow.
Devils Tower is very cool. It's about 1000 ft high, from the base, and has a sort of green tint due to the lichen? growing all over it.
Apparently there were people climbing it, but we couldn't find them.
We did however find this great guy Daniel, who is writing a book.
He is doing 50 jobs in 50 states.
He's traveling around, and working for 1 week in each state.
How cool is that?!?!
Check out Daniel's progress at www.livingthemap.com
We asked Daniel some questions on camera for his blog.
How often do people climb Devils Tower?
"Well, there are 2 people climbing today, and about 1000 people per year climb Devils Tower. 5 people have died over the years - all due to human error not equipment error."
Um...good to know - thanks Daniel.
So then we left Devils Tower and made our way back to South Dakota to try again to see the Badlands.
You know how sometimes on a trip, you have that one elusive thing that you can't seem to get perfect.
Well, we were determined to NOT have that happen.
We thought - oh good, we'll get to the Badlands, and the sun will be setting and it will be beautiful.
It was further than we thought.
And it started getting cloudy.
So once again we were racing the light.
We finally get to the Badlands Loop (having skipped lunch and needing gas - our trusty rental tells us that we have 94 miles to empty).
The Badlands Loop is about 24 miles, mind you.
We begin driving around a gravel road, that has signs like:
"Campground this way"
and
"Beware of Bison"
and
"Don't play with the Prairie Dogs or you'll catch a plague"
Wait...WHAT?!
(Apparently it's hard for humans to catch this plague, the sign was meant for your pets. We rolled up the windows.)
So, we keep driving around this gravel road and see some pretty scenery.
Vogel finally gets to see a bison, May never gets to see a Big Horn Sheep.
We keep driving, looking for the "Window" and "Door" formations.
Well, then we see a sign that says "leaving Badlands".
Hm.
At this point we could either turn back, or continue to what we think is civilization - or just a paved road would do.
So we continue on.
And on.
And on.
We don't think this is actually the Badlands Loop after all.
And now our trusty rental says 65 miles to empty.
The GPS says to continue on our gravel brick road, and we will eventually hit pavement.
We take some more pictures.
I drive a little faster.
It's getting dark.
At about the same time we do reach a paved road, the trusty rental "bings" at me and states 50 miles to empty.
The GPS says 18 miles to the main road.
We see a sign..."entering Badlands".
Hm.
THIS is apparently the Badlands Loop.
By now, it's dark enough for headlights, but light enough that you can see the scary, pointy rock formations on either side of the road.
The road, that's quite curvy, and has a drop-off you wouldn't believe.
"Bing" 44 miles to empty.
Our Badlands story ends well however.
We make it to the gas station at the main road with 36 miles to spare.
Phew.
With a nice full tank of gas, we head off to find some food.
There's nothing worthy in the first small town we come to, being that it's 8:30pm.
We switch drivers - Nick drives, May co-pilots.
She finds a great little diner. We grab some grub. And continue on our way.
Nick drives, Vogel co-pilots.
May and I sleep.
At some point in the night, they switch.
Vogel drives, Nick co-pilots.
May and I sleep.
Apparently there was a ton of fog, because when we arrive a the hotel in Dyersville, Iowa, they both seem a little on edge.
Something about 10 feet of visibility and having to draft a tractor trailer.
Hm.
We check in to our new digs - the Comfort Inn, Dyersville.
Vogel and Nick sleep.
May and I blog.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Meeting Daniel
we met a lot of interesting folks on this trip. Daniel might be our favorite. Read more about him at www.livingthemap.com
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
adjustments --
may:
anal me... i have been delaying our posting because i wanted to get our videos online. unfortunately, hotel internet isn't strong enough for me to put our videos up. so i will continue plugging our other photos and stories. videos will have to come after i get home. *pout* sorry, guys!
p.s. - oops, sock monkey made registered users only for comments.... it is now open to all!!
anal me... i have been delaying our posting because i wanted to get our videos online. unfortunately, hotel internet isn't strong enough for me to put our videos up. so i will continue plugging our other photos and stories. videos will have to come after i get home. *pout* sorry, guys!
p.s. - oops, sock monkey made registered users only for comments.... it is now open to all!!
Night in South Dakota & Wyoming -- but mainly Rodeo Bar
May says:
there were some so-so moments... like the drive in. and the bad sleep. and the awful breakfast the next morning at Perkins. we'd been dying for Cracker Barrel-esque stuff. Perkins is NOT Cracker Barrel. sadly, it isn't even Waffle House-worthy. it's more of a Denny's. and there were lots of flies. other than that, our timing was always a little off. but thru all of it, we managed to get quite a few giggles. our dialogue was pretty unbelievable. back to the day. it was our first shower and night in a bed. so i thought we'd be in better shape. we might have been in worse shape. lol. so i grabbed 4 oz of espresso into a 20 oz cup... for a nice strong mocha and off we finally headed to Mt Rushmore. after 30+ hours, finally a real marker in our trip. i agree w/ everything Melissa said. smaller than we thought and farther away. and windy as all hell. the highlight were the mountain goats and the little hike thru.
for me, the real golden moment was our visit to Crazy Horse. 1: it was unexpected. 2: it was a fantastic story. i highly recommend visitors to go. and watch the 20 minute intro documentary. PLEASE. it's fantastic. Korczak and his family are the stuff that fiction could never copy. and best of all, it's very well-documented. when approached by the Lakota Indians to do this tribute carving, he started out alone with next to nothing. he tells a great story about how he built scaffolding/ladders that amounted to 749 steps (something like that). and he'd start the generator and tote a ridiculous amount of equipment up the 749 or so steps... and the generator would go "kapoot kapoot kapoot" and die. and he'd have to go back down the mountain. start it up and climb back up. one time it did it 9 days. his interviews are very heart-tugging. his family and his dedication to his work is just so fascinating and heartwarming. and you know when you hear about really GREAT people. or a person destined for greatness? Korczak is definitely one of them. i feel so lucky to have seen his work. what a personality too! he's denied government financing twice because he didn't believe in it. check out www.crazyhorse.org for more on it.
we then drove on thru Deadwood (blah, didn't even take pictures it was that lame-o) and onto Hulett to crash for the night before we hit Devil's Tower in the morning. a mere 9 miles away.
I'm glad we had this night... I'm sort of over South Dakota... but Wyoming really left a wonderfully warm feeling in me. There was a questionable moment. Vogel and I were up front...and we had ended up on this highway that winded thru the mountains. NO streetlamps. The GPS didn't know where we really were anymore. It was pitch dark. Vogel and I were both very quiet.... I kept saying, "2 miles more and we'll turn around" Every once in awhile, a car would come from the other direction and we would feel relieved. "They had to have come from somewhere", says Vogel. We passed by a town (Alva, I think) that had a sign with its population of 50. After 15+ miles of scariness....maybe longer, we finally arrive in Best Western. Without a doubt the nicest Best Western ever. Set with a log facade, gorgeous wooden staircase to the second floor...unbelievably clean with a very warm feel...even down to the walls and covers... This hotel kicked ass. It was 9pm and all the food in town had closed except for one bar that had pizzas, informs our front desk. We amble down two blocks to the bar. Some loud music and whooping along the way. Vogel and Melissa stops twice wanting to go back. It looks like I would imagine Deadwood would have looked like. Nick says he saw a bear while smoking. A dog came up for pets at one point. And otherwise, it's dead quiet except for whoops and music from one source. We decide not to go to that bar. And instead, go to the bar that says 'Bikers welcome' instead. Best night ever!!! It reminds me of Baltimore corner bars only no dead stuff on the walls. :) It turns out there is a motorcycle event once a year. And that is the primary income of that bar. Unbelievable. Even with them giving a 1000 pounds of pork in the form of sandwiches, that is the day that keeps them running. No need to write more. The pictures will tell the rest of the story. All I have to say is when you've been on the road and constantly run down... 5 beers, two vodka shots, and 2 glasses of wine is a really dumb thing to do. I was happy to have done it. I mean here we were... walking distance to hotel...and with, it turns out, some of the warmest people ever. :) I just want to publicly apologize to Vogel for the drunken snoring.
there were some so-so moments... like the drive in. and the bad sleep. and the awful breakfast the next morning at Perkins. we'd been dying for Cracker Barrel-esque stuff. Perkins is NOT Cracker Barrel. sadly, it isn't even Waffle House-worthy. it's more of a Denny's. and there were lots of flies. other than that, our timing was always a little off. but thru all of it, we managed to get quite a few giggles. our dialogue was pretty unbelievable. back to the day. it was our first shower and night in a bed. so i thought we'd be in better shape. we might have been in worse shape. lol. so i grabbed 4 oz of espresso into a 20 oz cup... for a nice strong mocha and off we finally headed to Mt Rushmore. after 30+ hours, finally a real marker in our trip. i agree w/ everything Melissa said. smaller than we thought and farther away. and windy as all hell. the highlight were the mountain goats and the little hike thru.
for me, the real golden moment was our visit to Crazy Horse. 1: it was unexpected. 2: it was a fantastic story. i highly recommend visitors to go. and watch the 20 minute intro documentary. PLEASE. it's fantastic. Korczak and his family are the stuff that fiction could never copy. and best of all, it's very well-documented. when approached by the Lakota Indians to do this tribute carving, he started out alone with next to nothing. he tells a great story about how he built scaffolding/ladders that amounted to 749 steps (something like that). and he'd start the generator and tote a ridiculous amount of equipment up the 749 or so steps... and the generator would go "kapoot kapoot kapoot" and die. and he'd have to go back down the mountain. start it up and climb back up. one time it did it 9 days. his interviews are very heart-tugging. his family and his dedication to his work is just so fascinating and heartwarming. and you know when you hear about really GREAT people. or a person destined for greatness? Korczak is definitely one of them. i feel so lucky to have seen his work. what a personality too! he's denied government financing twice because he didn't believe in it. check out www.crazyhorse.org for more on it.
we then drove on thru Deadwood (blah, didn't even take pictures it was that lame-o) and onto Hulett to crash for the night before we hit Devil's Tower in the morning. a mere 9 miles away.
I'm glad we had this night... I'm sort of over South Dakota... but Wyoming really left a wonderfully warm feeling in me. There was a questionable moment. Vogel and I were up front...and we had ended up on this highway that winded thru the mountains. NO streetlamps. The GPS didn't know where we really were anymore. It was pitch dark. Vogel and I were both very quiet.... I kept saying, "2 miles more and we'll turn around" Every once in awhile, a car would come from the other direction and we would feel relieved. "They had to have come from somewhere", says Vogel. We passed by a town (Alva, I think) that had a sign with its population of 50. After 15+ miles of scariness....maybe longer, we finally arrive in Best Western. Without a doubt the nicest Best Western ever. Set with a log facade, gorgeous wooden staircase to the second floor...unbelievably clean with a very warm feel...even down to the walls and covers... This hotel kicked ass. It was 9pm and all the food in town had closed except for one bar that had pizzas, informs our front desk. We amble down two blocks to the bar. Some loud music and whooping along the way. Vogel and Melissa stops twice wanting to go back. It looks like I would imagine Deadwood would have looked like. Nick says he saw a bear while smoking. A dog came up for pets at one point. And otherwise, it's dead quiet except for whoops and music from one source. We decide not to go to that bar. And instead, go to the bar that says 'Bikers welcome' instead. Best night ever!!! It reminds me of Baltimore corner bars only no dead stuff on the walls. :) It turns out there is a motorcycle event once a year. And that is the primary income of that bar. Unbelievable. Even with them giving a 1000 pounds of pork in the form of sandwiches, that is the day that keeps them running. No need to write more. The pictures will tell the rest of the story. All I have to say is when you've been on the road and constantly run down... 5 beers, two vodka shots, and 2 glasses of wine is a really dumb thing to do. I was happy to have done it. I mean here we were... walking distance to hotel...and with, it turns out, some of the warmest people ever. :) I just want to publicly apologize to Vogel for the drunken snoring.
the hair band music came on, and we started singing and i started to try to play drums.
Dusky couldn't find the house phone.. we all pitched in...but didn't think to turn the music down
Nick (the non-drinker) won!!!
i'm pretty sure i was trying to be a panda, not humping the pole. i know melissa's mom must be rolling her eyes by now!
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