An Alaskan Odyssey

18 July 2012

Missoula, Montana (Day 51)

It's 11pm, here in Missoula. The kids are still working out the last of their wiggles before falling asleep and Stephen and I are exhausted from a long, exciting day.

But I'm not going to share all of that with you tonight. You'll have to wait until tomorrow for a real update. Oh, it will be worth it, alright. Adventures were had, memories were made, pictures were taken, friends were reunited... It was a very good day.

But it's late and it's time to sleep now. There are plenty more adventures to be had tomorrow and the updates will come.

17 July 2012

Cody, Wyoming (Day 50)

Spearfish, South Dakota was a great place to spend the night. The Days Inn was worth every dollar, and the community was full of very pleasant people. From there, we headed directly into Wyoming. Our trip was basically I-90 all the way to Sheridan, then US-14 to Cody. A handful of quick reflections:

Sheridan has a cute downtown, but the people are weird.
Whoever made the decision to label the sediments visible while climbing the hogbacks on US-14 was a genius. As someone who geeks out on geology, it was awesome to be able to read the deposition dates, periods, and names of the different rocks.
When you drive down a 10% grade for 14 miles, your brakes will get hot. Somewhere around 10 miles, they will be hot enough to smoke, and you will be able to char a tissue on them.

Now, some pictures, courtesy of JoElle!

Looking east from part way up the climb into the hogbacks.

The view into Big Horn Basin (part of Big Horn County). Not the small canyon in the midground.

Man, it sure is pretty for a place I wouldn't live.

Two adorable children blowing off steam and working out kinks from the road.

Tomorrow, we're going through Yellowstone National Park. Seren and I are both excited about the chance to see our first geysers, but the real reason for this massive detour is the chance to see a former student who's working at Yellowstone for the summer. Yeah, we're the kind of people who would go to the biggest national park in the country just to visit someone. We haven't seen her in a few years, so we're all looking forward to it.

16 July 2012

Spearfish, South Dakota (Day 49)

I'm going to start by backing up a few days to share with you a very special lady we met while we were in Cleveland...

This is Ruth Wertheimer. Papa Nate thought pretty highly of her and we do too. Stephen and I are very grateful that Papa Nate's last moments were happy ones spent with Ruth. She is truly a gem and it's easy for us to see why Papa was so fond of her. It's also easy to see that Seren and Porter had plenty of fun with her. They spent several afternoons at Ruth's home, going swimming and reaping the grandmotherly attention. We are both pleased and honored to count Ruth as a part of our family.

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Our first day on the road was a busy one. Our first stop was in Fort Wayne, Indiana to visit some aunts, uncles, and cousins of mine.

Front booth (left to right): Alayna, Seren, & Porter
Back booth: Taylor & Jerilyn

Richelle & JoElle

Jerilyn, JoElle, & Valerie

Uncle Jerry, Uncle Don, JoElle, & Aunt Pat

Taylor & Seren

Jeremiah & Porter

Then we stopped just outside Chicago, Illinois for the night, so we could spend some time with Papa Nate's big sister.

Aunt Marcine, Uncle Arty, Seren, & Porter

The following days were filled with the typical road trip activities.

However, we did make a short detour today to check out a national monument.

Mt. Rushmore National Monument

Gutzon Borglum was the crazy immigrant who carved his way to infamy.

Apparently, Gutzon did not do any of his own cleanup after blasting the mountain's face off (pun intended).

Porter's best "I'm not impressed. Where's the hotel?" face.

I did try to get some pictures of the Black Hills, because they are very beautiful (both geologically and botanically), but I couldn't get any decent shots due to an overabundance of kitschy merchants and tacky buildings. Nevertheless, it was worth the detour.

Tonight we're staying at the Day's Inn at Spearfish, SD and it has not provided a single disappointment. Doing these kinds of trips, we really only expect the bare minimum, but we have come to appreciate hotels that go the extra mile to provide a comfortable space. If you ever drive through South Dakota on I-90, the Spearfish Days Inn will provide such a space.

Playing "horsey" at the hotel

Silly kid

We're aiming for Cody, Wyoming tomorrow. Stay tuned for more adventures from the road.

15 July 2012

Day 48 - Jackson, Minnesota

Short post here, because I'm tired from the road.

Yesterday, we hit the road. We had a very nice visit with most of the Indiana Ransoms in a McDonald's in Fort Wayne, and Seren and Porter got to meet (and torment) some of their cousins. Everyone was sad about having to head out, but we had miles to go...

Before getting to Chicago, South Bend was kind enough to gift us with more rain in fifty miles than we'd seen in a month and a half. Our car, needless to say, was a lot cleaner.

In Chicago, we stayed up way too late visiting with my Aunt Marcine and Uncle Arty. I'm sure there are people somewhere who don't like these guys, but we absolutely adore them. They put us up for the night and we managed to only have one crying dog, one dead car battery, and one peed bed. After breakfast and promises that our next visit will be a real visit and not just an overnight stop, we got back on the road.

Wisconsin is shorter and less Scott Walkery when you drive through on I-90 instead of I-94 (although they are concurrent for a ways). We crossed the Mississippi and got some nice views and Seren took many pictures, which I'm sure will be posted in the coming days.

After a total of 930 miles in two days, we're now in Jackson, MN. Tomorrow, we head to Wyoming so that we'll be staged well for visiting a former student in Yellowstone!

12 July 2012

Cleveland (Day 45)

Our stay in Cleveland is almost at an end and I thought everyone might want a peek at what we've been up to in the intervening time that we haven't been sharing with you...

Mostly, we've been sorting and emptying the 3000+ square foot home that Stephen's grandparents formerly inhabited. It's been a lot of work, emptying bookshelves, taking down art collections, and calling in extended family members to help lighten the load, but I hope this will make a nice home for Cindy & Michael once it's finished.

In between all of that, though, we've been going on day-trip excursions to visit other Ohio family and see some sights. I'd love to sit here and just list everything we did, but you'd probably rather see the pictures than read my ramblings, so without further ado...