Sunday, May 27, 2012

The view from our window

It's Sunday morning, Memorial Day weekend and there isn't much moving  on the highway outside our hotel window.  We had a quiet night despite having hoards of teenage girls in town for the track meet down the hall from us.  Thankfully, their coach must have enforced the curfew for the night. After a very long day in the car yesterday, it felt luxurious and indulgent to lounge in the room all morning.  We don't have far to travel today and Bob and Noreen won't be in till late afternoon, so we can take our time in Rapid City today.

  
We had an 11:00 checkout time, loaded up the car, and went in search of a good Mexican restaurant.  It's amazing when you're traveling to have access to the internet on your phone to find what you want...we found a list of restaurants with reviews and maps, chose one and we drove right to it.  On the Border is a chain, but it was pretty good and I found a dish I had never had before: a teriyaki fried, chicken stuffed avocado, that I had to try.  Some things just shouldn't be messed with and an avocado is one of them. Turns out, it is just superfluous to put batter on an avocado and fry it.

Thomas Jefferson

We left home without coffee beans and with the promise of an espresso maker waiting for us, we went in search of a Starbucks. Once again my phone proved invaluable, plotting out a course for us and we got our beans and an iced coffee to go.
We drove downtown to kill some time and check out an area we had been to on our last trip through Rapid City.  Being a Sunday and a holiday weekend, we weren't expecting much to be open, but you just have to get out and see what you can find.  Being so close to Mt. Rushmore, Rapid City is, of course, going to be overrun with things presidential and we found these bronze statues on almost every corner.  The sign on the salon shop door in the background informed customers that the shop was closed due to the smoke from the hookah shop rising up from the basement driving the owner from the premises, but she would accommodate clients by appointment . I just got a kick out of Mr. Jefferson with his quill pen defining freedoms for a new nation, and the fight over rights going on behind him...who's rights should prevail?  The rights of local women to get  facials and mani-pedis with out getting fumigated or the rights of the smokers to sample product before they buy it?  

Art Alley, Rapid City

We literally stumbled into this alley without any prior knowledge of it's existence.  One expects to find graffiti  everywhere these days, it's ubiquitous, I've seen it near the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Vatican in Rome, but this was totally unexpected. This is just a monument to graffiti art in all it's rebellious glory, and in such an unexpected place, I felt a little sense of displacement, like falling through the looking glass and landing in Brooklyn.  Who knew that out here in conservative South Dakota there would be an obviously thriving art community that could commandeer a section of prime downtown real estate and declare itself? We 
really enjoyed checking it all out and taking photos and video 
and wondering what the story was.  So far, I can't find much info 
on the internet about it, being a holiday weekend there weren't 
many people around to ask.  I understand that there are weekly 
gatherings here and it's officially listed on the city's web site as 
a tourist destination.  Now that is progress! The mere existence of such a place gives me hope! 
We continued our explorations of downtown, checked out the lobby of the venerable Alex Johnson Hotel, with it's decorative ceiling and and hearth, searching out vintage shop signage, finding more of the bronze presidents.  David ducked into a fishing outfitters hoping  to find  the owner of a vintage VW bug parked out front. Amazingly, the owner was the shop keeper and they had a great time sharing adventures in car and motorcycle restoration.

Heading for the Hills

   
We took care of a bit of grocery shopping  before we got out of town and then, connecting with Bob and Noreen about timing our arrival, took leave of Rapid City and began our assent into the Black Hills.  


The conditions for driving were drastically different than the previous day and we really appreciated the gorgeous views and brilliant skies to guide us to our destination.
Once again, our phones proved invaluable with their ability to access maps, with their little blue dots to show you where you are.

You can't beat this setting for cocktails

Upon our arrival, Noreen and Bob  greeted us warmly, with kisses and open arms, invited us in, gave us the quick tour of the house, and ushered us out to the deck and patio to reveal the promised view of Mt Rushmore...they weren't kidding, it is phenomenal!  Pinching ourselves at our good fortune, we made a quick job of unloading the cars, and depositing our baggage so we could take advantage of the evening sunshine and enjoy a margarita.
We watched as the sun set behind the hills and the the lights came on to illuminate the monument.  

Bob got out his guitar and he and 
the birds provided a wonderful 
soundtrack to the evening. 
It was well past 10:00 before 
we realized we missed our 
dinner and Noreen and David 
pulled together a great feast of 
chicken burritos and scalloped 
potatoes....
I swear, it was a delicious, 
if odd combo! 

Just the first 

of many evenings 

to come, we are 

grateful to be here 

with our friends 

and having the 

time of our lives!  

Thought for the day

Lesson:  It is great to have a plan and map,
but it is important to get lost and allow serendipity to guide you.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Recently, we excepted an invite from our good friends Bob and Noreen to head to the Black Hills and stay at a vacation home near Mt. Rushmore that belongs to some friends of theirs who live abroad. The owners had expressed the wish that the cabin be used, and we were happy to oblige.   As these things evolve, we soon had plans to extend the trip to Denver and visit friends and family there.  Originally, David was hoping to grab an opportunity to have another motorcycle trip, but eventually we decided that weather was going to be too unpredictable and the amount of stuff we were taking precluded that possibility. 

Some trips just fall together and this one fell together so quickly and easily that you know you have to do it. So here we are on the road, but I can already tell this trip is going to be completely different, as well it should be, or else why would you want to go?  What I loved about taking the motorcycle, was that you literally are in the environment you are traveling through: no safe and insulating glass and metal structure separating you from the road and the wind and the view.  I love the relative 'quiet' of riding on the back of the bike, just watching the world go by, observing and thinking....or not thinking, just being.  Well, a car can not provide any of those sensations.  The car seems to be merely a means of getting somewhere and the motorcycle is 'somewhere' all the time. I expect I will learn a thing or two this time around from the road. 

Lake Okabena, Worthington, MN

Auspiciously, as with last time, we hit the road in a rainstorm, but unlike last time, the rain and gloom lasted all day, and we congratulated ourselves for the decision to take the car.  We headed south on 169 and SW on 60 to Worthington, MN where we stopped for a chilly, but dry, picnic lunch by Lake Okabena.  It's pretty windy in this part of Minnesota and this lake has been the site of National Wind Surfing competitions.  There are also a lot of giant windmills punctuating the landscape.

Porter Sculpture Park

We headed west on I 90 and about a half an hour past              
Sioux Falls near Montrose we stopped at Porter Sculpture 
Park. On our last trip through South Dakota I had spotted many of these enormous whimsical sculptures that dot the landscape along the road and so I really wanted to stop and check some of them out. From the freeway we spotted an enormous bull's head sculpture and signs for the park and pulled off to take a look.
The sculptor was there with his dog and told us that the ideas for the sculptures were all the dog's, he just builds them since the dog lacks opposable thumbs.  The bull's head is 60 feet tall and made of railroad tie plates.  There is a door set into the back of it so you can step inside and the light coming through the metal plates shines like stars in the night sky.  All the sculptures in the park reflect the artist's whimsical sense of humor and they are situated on a rolling grassy landscape with an extended view of the prairie giving them room to breathe  and affords the viewer the opportunity to get a little welcome exercise after a long stretch in the car.  A little fresh air and fresh art revive the spirit.

Al's Oasis, Chamberlain, SD

At Chamberlain we stopped at Al's Oasis for some dinner.
Noreen's father was an artist and had done some work at the Lewis and Clark rest stop here, and I wanted to stop and see it but failed to realize that it was on the east side of the river and and we had missed it.  Perhaps we'll see it when we return, but generally we take a different route home so I guess we have to save it for the next road trip.  
We decided to power through and drive all the way to Rapid City.  Sometimes, especially when the weather is iffy, it's best just to 'get there.' We drove through mist and fog all the way from Al's to Rapid City, arriving just as it was getting dark.  

A toast to Happy Trails

We had expected to camp at a KOA we stayed at on our last trip,
but decided the weather was a little too wet for camping, consequently we didn't have any hotel reservations. We stopped at the first hotel we came to and they told us that there was a a girl's state track meet and a fat tire bike competition going on, and of course the holiday weekend which had filled every available room in the city.  They thought the Cambria Suites across the way might have one room left so we drove over there and grabbed it.  It's a new facility so the rooms were very nice and we were happy to get it and not have to drive all over town.  We settled in and went down to the lobby to have a glass of wine to celebrate our first day on the road before turning in. 

Thought for the day:

An appropriate message for the day