This is our Google Timeline for 2021. It contains parts of the 3 trips that we named:
Covid Winter (Down the Mississippi River - winter 2020-2021. (Little did we know this was going to be Covid Winter #1))
SpringSummer2021 (Out West)
Winter2021-2022 (Michigan, Southwest)
Traveling has kept us sane during these crazy times. Or what passes as sane for us.
We are home; just a week ago we were in South Dakota!
We left the Badlands Tuesday July 27th in the afternoon and spent the night in a campground on the Missouri River
That drive along Route 90 in South Dakota was the most boring I have ever driven. Hundreds of miles of absolutely straight road with little traffic and monotonous fields with some occasional construction to relieve the tedium.
Ya think?
Wednesday morning, we stopped for what we thought was going to be a 15 minute photo op of Sioux Falls, ended up staying for an hour and a half, and could easily have spent the day in the area.
Remains of the old mill
Later that day, we randomly stopped for gas in Blue Earth, Minnesota and saw this down the road. It was hard to miss.
So glad we got to see the Jolly Green Giant and the Giant Museum! Not quite as good as the Potato Museum, but close!
That night, we were in sound asleep in a campground near Madison, Wisconsin when at 12:45am our phones blasted an alarm and an "Extreme alert" text:
What could we do? There was nowhere to go. Bob went back to sleep(!) but I was totally wide awake. I went to sit in the front seat and watched the storm through the windshield. It was the most severe thunderstorm I have ever been in.
The rain poured down and there were multiple lightning flashes per second, like strobe lights going off in the clouds. I wondered if I should put on my seatbelt in case we were hit by a tornado and tossed around.
Fortunately, there was not that much wind, and eventually the storm moved on. (Moved on to NJ where a day later, tornados hit southern NJ ( www.nj.com/weather/5-tornadoes-hit-nj-during-thursdays-wild-storms ))
Thursday evening, we got to Cleveland and met distantly related cousins whom I had heard much about.
Friday and Shabbos, we shared in the simcha of Binyamin’s Aufruf, and on Sunday attended his and Sarah's beautiful and leibedick wedding. (I was too far back for a good chuppah picture) This was the first wedding we have attended in person for over 2 years.
We needed to have a friend bring wedding suitable clothes to us from Edison (thanks Aviva and Barry, and Aryeh). When we left home in April, Binyamin wasn't even engaged!
Monday we drove the rest of the way home. I am exhausted and in need of a vacation.
We mostly did a drive through of Badlands National Park with a few stops for photo ops and short walks. It was too hot for anything else.
I'm sure all park campgrounds were booked 6 months ago, but we were able to just pull up and camp the evening we got there in this great boondocking spot just outside the park
In the park
"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture.”
This was like a cruel joke
There was wildlife, crossing the road and otherwise, as is a required in all national parks
And Bob, channeling his inner mountain goat
Wall Drug
We stopped off at Wall Drug, of course. Unfortunately, it was after 7:30pm and much of the place was already closed, with the rest closing at 8.
I had really, really, been hoping to hear the mechanical bluegrass band that was there when we last visited in 2002, but if the machine is still there, I couldn’t find it. When we were there in 2002, I put in my four quarters, selected the button for “House of the Rising Sun,” from the jukebox style interface, and listened to the best acoustical version of the song I have ever heard. By the end of the song quite a crowd had gathered, and I was tempted to pass a hat to recoup my investment.
This was taken in 2002 (pre digital photos!)
Now, back to doing laundry...
I was very excited to get to North Dakota! Probably more than most people are. It took me 65 years, but as of last Thursday, and getting to North Dakota, I have now been to all 50 states. (Bob had already been to all 50 states.)
We spent the last few days in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I don’t think it really merits being a national park, but then again, the last park we were in was Yellowstone, and Yellowstone is a tough act to follow.
These petrified cypress stumps were the best part of the park as far as I was concerned. We have seen petrified logs in four different places on this trip and each type is different, and equally interesting.
This was Teddy Roosevelts 1st cabin in North Dakota. It was originally located a few miles away. It spent a few years being shuttled around the US on exhibition after he became President, until finally being moved here when the park was established.
A burning coal seam. A lot of lignite coal (a poor quality coal) is mined in SD. There is a lot fracking too. And a lot of environmental damage caused..
There are bison here also
And lots of adorable prairie dogs
We are now on our way to South Dakota, trying to cram in as much as possible before we come home in a week and a half.
When anyone thinks of Yellowstone, the first thing that comes to mind is Old Faithful. But while there are an estimated 10,000(!) thermal features in Yellowstone and while they are all amazing and beautiful (and I have a photo of most of them), seeing the wildlife is more fun.
Driving or hiking in Yellowstone is like going on safari in Africa. Except instead of Lions, Giraffes, and Rhinoceroses (Rhinoceri?) there are Bear, Elk, and Buffalo. And coyotes, mountain goats, wolves, moose, big horn sheep, etc, etc, etc.
You are warned at every opportunity to stay away from all wild animals and how dangerous they are, but it is amazing how many people ignore the warnings.
Bison
Bison are big. Really big. And they have mean little eyes. And sharp horns, even the females. And can supposedly charge you at 35 mph.
It was really exciting seeing the first couple dozen or so bison.
After that, it was, like:
- “Do you want me to stop for a picture?”
- "Not necessary.”
They like to walk on the road,
pose at scenic locations,
and hang out in groups
This is a bison footprint next to my sneaker, size 7.5. Did I mention bison are big?
Elk
The elk ignore humans the same way the deer do back home.
Male elk like to hang out in or near the Bridge Bay campground. Three bull elk showed up right before candle lighting Friday afternoon. The same group plus two friends showed up Shabbos afternoon.
Because it was Shabbos, I couldn’t take any pictures when one of them came over and licked our RV then got one of his antlers caught on our eruv wire (he got untangled without bringing it down).
No photos from when another walked in to the campsite across from us, ate the last sausage on their cooled off grill, then spent the next 20 minutes licking off said grill. Or when a bison walked through that same campsite a half an hour later.
These pictures were taken before Shabbos.
The elk ladies like to lounge around Park Headquarters in the Mammoth area, but they can be anywhere. They reminded me of the deer that infest my backyard.
Bear
“Carry Bear Spray And Know How To Use It”, “Hike In Groups Of Three Or More”, ”Make Noise When Hiking”, ”If A Bear Charges You, Do Not Run”, “If A Bear Attacks You, Drop To The Ground, Curl Up and Play Dead.”
Costco carries bear spray in Montana.
When we would hike we would sing and talk loudly, pitching our voices high then low, to confuse the bears and make them think we were a large group and therefore stay away. When we came across other hikers, it was a little embarrassing. But the strategy must have worked because we didn't see any bears while hiking.
This is a black bear (taken with a telephoto). We did not see any grizzles. *
Coyote
We saw this one on a seldom used road
Mountain Goats
Mother and her adorable kid were scampering far up on a cliff wall
Mystery Rodent
No idea what this is. it was bigger than a squirrel with a tail like a squirrel, and smaller than a fox. Any ideas?
Sandhill Cranes
There were a whole group of us on the side of the road looking through our binoculars trying to figure out what in the world these giant birds were. Turns out they are sandhill cranes. I had thought sandhill cranes were only gray.
Trumpeter Swans being photobombed by a Canada Goose (on vacation from NJ?)
Etc’s – Cutthroat Trout, Mule Deer, Chipmunk, etc, etc
We left Yellowstone on Tuesday and have started driving east towards home.
* We didn't see any grizzly in Yellowstone, but Bob saw one today along the Beartooth Highway. We saw a female moose and her calf in the Grand Tetons, big horn sheep in Canyonlands, and various other assorted animals in other places. No wolves though. At least, so far.
