Since intenet access is limited on the road I have decided to summarize where I am in one post and fill in then details later. Please keep checking back becuase I will update the other posts.
thanks. Helen
PS - one big change is that I decide to go to Glacier National Park rather than Oregon. Both seemed attractive but I think Oregon may be more accessible for future trips.
Day 4 – Wall, South Dakota to Lake Yellowstone, Wyoming
Friday, September 14th
Day 5 – Lake Yellowstone, Wyoming to West Yellowstone, Montana
Saturday, September 15th
Day 6 – Yellowstone
Sunday, September 16th
Day 7 – Yellowstone
Monday, September 17th
Day 8 – West Yellowstone, Montana to Jackson, Wyoming
Tuesday, September 18th
Day 9 – Grand Teton Park
Wednesday, September 19th
Day 10 – Jackson, Wyoming to Red Lodge Montana
Thursday, September 20th
Day 11 – Red Lodge Montana towards Glacier National Park
Friday, September 21st
Day 12-14 Glacier National Park
Friday, September 21, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Day 3 – Wall, South Dakota; Badlands
not too much driving, much sightseeing. Again more details to follows
Day 2 – Austin, Minnesota to Wall, South Dakota
Wednesday, September 12th
Perhaps I am in a minority but I read all the hotel information. It mentioned that the Spam museum is located in Wall, Minnesota. This is, allegedly, Minnesota’s third largest tourist attraction. I was fascinated and went to visit. On the way there I drove through Austin which really is a pleasant town with old houses, their long gardens stretching to the road. On the way to the Spam Museum I passed by the Hormel factory – quite appropriate really as that is where Spam (among other products) is made. I was surprised how strong the scent of meat was as I passed by. The Spam Museum was interesting . There was no entrance charge but I was greeted by a very friendly Spambassador. The history of Spam was explained, there was an film talking about people’s interest in Spam including a college student who only wore Spam T-shirts. At one point he explained he had 20 shirts which would do him 2 weeks, and then he would do laundry. I couldn’t help thinking that 20 shirts would do him longer. There was also a strange video of the Spamettes singing Mr Spamman to the tune of Mr Sandman. After about an hour I left the Spam Museum and continued on the I-90 across Minnesota and onto South Dakota.
South Dakota is big. After travelling for hours I looked at the map to discover I was only a third of the way through the state and I had planned to go through practically the whole state this day. At least the road was relatively empty and even the road works delayed me little. Americans may be surprised when I confess this but I had never used cruise control – it just seemed to scary however in the late afternoon on a quiet I-90 it seemed like the time to try. I pressed the buttons and after some initial failures I got cruise control to work. It was so fun to be driving without accelerating. What with automatic cars and cruise control, driving in America is really easy. Finally I arrived in Wall. The largest drug store in the word is in wall and it was advertised all along the I-90 for maybe 400 miles. When I finally arrived about 9.00 after checking in at the hotel I explored the town looking for a well deserved dinner. Well there was nothing – two bars and a restaurant that had stopped serving at 9.00. Even if it had been serving I’m not sure it would have suited me. So I ate some Lara bars and went to bed.
Perhaps I am in a minority but I read all the hotel information. It mentioned that the Spam museum is located in Wall, Minnesota. This is, allegedly, Minnesota’s third largest tourist attraction. I was fascinated and went to visit. On the way there I drove through Austin which really is a pleasant town with old houses, their long gardens stretching to the road. On the way to the Spam Museum I passed by the Hormel factory – quite appropriate really as that is where Spam (among other products) is made. I was surprised how strong the scent of meat was as I passed by. The Spam Museum was interesting . There was no entrance charge but I was greeted by a very friendly Spambassador. The history of Spam was explained, there was an film talking about people’s interest in Spam including a college student who only wore Spam T-shirts. At one point he explained he had 20 shirts which would do him 2 weeks, and then he would do laundry. I couldn’t help thinking that 20 shirts would do him longer. There was also a strange video of the Spamettes singing Mr Spamman to the tune of Mr Sandman. After about an hour I left the Spam Museum and continued on the I-90 across Minnesota and onto South Dakota.
South Dakota is big. After travelling for hours I looked at the map to discover I was only a third of the way through the state and I had planned to go through practically the whole state this day. At least the road was relatively empty and even the road works delayed me little. Americans may be surprised when I confess this but I had never used cruise control – it just seemed to scary however in the late afternoon on a quiet I-90 it seemed like the time to try. I pressed the buttons and after some initial failures I got cruise control to work. It was so fun to be driving without accelerating. What with automatic cars and cruise control, driving in America is really easy. Finally I arrived in Wall. The largest drug store in the word is in wall and it was advertised all along the I-90 for maybe 400 miles. When I finally arrived about 9.00 after checking in at the hotel I explored the town looking for a well deserved dinner. Well there was nothing – two bars and a restaurant that had stopped serving at 9.00. Even if it had been serving I’m not sure it would have suited me. So I ate some Lara bars and went to bed.
Day 1 – Chicago, Illinois to Austin, Minnesota
Long day - more details to follows
Tuesday, September 11th
I left Chicago much later than planned. There were several reasons but the main one was the patio. I moved into my pace in 2004. There was landscaping done but most people removed it and paved the area. I never did so but every month or so I would weed the landscaping. While I was away in India for a year some keen gardeners rented my place. They planted more plants than you could believe possible in such a small area. Alas they also upset the weed resistant cover, so in the middle of Chicago there soon became a wild area. It required weeding every two weeks. I abandoned it for over a month. During this time there was heavy rain and the most enormous mushrooms grew. Also my apartment had a beetle problem – the exterminator recommended I remove the vegetation from the door. It was obvious, something had to be done. Since I quit my job it made sense to do it myself so the week after stopping working I went to the home depot and b ought all the necessary supplies. They stood for many weeks in my garage until finally the week before my trip to Yellowstone I started work. There was a lot more work than I had expected. I dug and dug until I hit stone mixed with earth. Then I removed the stone mixed with earth. Then I sorted the stone from the earth and left the stone in the area. Despite many days of work, the front of my house looked like a building site. I knew there was no hope to finish the job before I left but at the very least I had make it respectable. I did this from 9.00am to noon. Then I started getting ready for the trip. Some things had been done – Lara bars bought (lara bars taste great even though there are in the health food section. They are basically flavoured dates but they are filling and convenient so I bought 30 of them), clothes washed. But one big thing remained – my new computer had only been used to surf the internet and to play computer games. I planned to bring it on my trip and wanted to transfer some files. This took ages especially the iPod files. As I left it off to do things I would go and so some other packing. Everything seemed to take ages – the clock continued to tick. I worried I would hit rush hour in Chicago. Finally at 4 pm I left. The first hour was terrible. The roads were busy and I only went 20 miles. I thought about the long drive through Wisconsin and into Minnesota. Finally the I-90 and I-94 separated and I continued on the I-90. All was well. The late start didn’t seem so bad. I was hungry and I was relatively near Madison, Wisconsin. My friend David had recommended I go there but I never had. Given my imminent departure it seemed like this could well be my last opportunity, so I ventured off the itinerary to Madison. It was really lovely – dominated by a blue lake around which people cycled, jogged and walked. The town was also pleasant centered around the state house. The streets were full of university students. I found a pleasant Italian restaurant and ate. When I left darkness had fallen but fortunately I found my way from Madison to the I-90 without difficulty. Then it was just straight driving for many hours. I arrived in Wall after 11pm but found the hotel easily and slept well – it had been a long day
Tuesday, September 11th
I left Chicago much later than planned. There were several reasons but the main one was the patio. I moved into my pace in 2004. There was landscaping done but most people removed it and paved the area. I never did so but every month or so I would weed the landscaping. While I was away in India for a year some keen gardeners rented my place. They planted more plants than you could believe possible in such a small area. Alas they also upset the weed resistant cover, so in the middle of Chicago there soon became a wild area. It required weeding every two weeks. I abandoned it for over a month. During this time there was heavy rain and the most enormous mushrooms grew. Also my apartment had a beetle problem – the exterminator recommended I remove the vegetation from the door. It was obvious, something had to be done. Since I quit my job it made sense to do it myself so the week after stopping working I went to the home depot and b ought all the necessary supplies. They stood for many weeks in my garage until finally the week before my trip to Yellowstone I started work. There was a lot more work than I had expected. I dug and dug until I hit stone mixed with earth. Then I removed the stone mixed with earth. Then I sorted the stone from the earth and left the stone in the area. Despite many days of work, the front of my house looked like a building site. I knew there was no hope to finish the job before I left but at the very least I had make it respectable. I did this from 9.00am to noon. Then I started getting ready for the trip. Some things had been done – Lara bars bought (lara bars taste great even though there are in the health food section. They are basically flavoured dates but they are filling and convenient so I bought 30 of them), clothes washed. But one big thing remained – my new computer had only been used to surf the internet and to play computer games. I planned to bring it on my trip and wanted to transfer some files. This took ages especially the iPod files. As I left it off to do things I would go and so some other packing. Everything seemed to take ages – the clock continued to tick. I worried I would hit rush hour in Chicago. Finally at 4 pm I left. The first hour was terrible. The roads were busy and I only went 20 miles. I thought about the long drive through Wisconsin and into Minnesota. Finally the I-90 and I-94 separated and I continued on the I-90. All was well. The late start didn’t seem so bad. I was hungry and I was relatively near Madison, Wisconsin. My friend David had recommended I go there but I never had. Given my imminent departure it seemed like this could well be my last opportunity, so I ventured off the itinerary to Madison. It was really lovely – dominated by a blue lake around which people cycled, jogged and walked. The town was also pleasant centered around the state house. The streets were full of university students. I found a pleasant Italian restaurant and ate. When I left darkness had fallen but fortunately I found my way from Madison to the I-90 without difficulty. Then it was just straight driving for many hours. I arrived in Wall after 11pm but found the hotel easily and slept well – it had been a long day
Background
After much planning, or more correctly thinking a talking but little research or action, I started my big road trip out west on September 11th. There was no special significance to the date. Originally it was supposed to be September 4th but I decided I needed more than 4 days to recover from my trip to Ireland (aka the old country). I had nothing booked but vaguely thought about leaving on Monday the 10th. Then I thought Monday is not such a good day to leave and I still had much work to do on my patio. So it became Tuesday which just happened to be September 11th.
My friend Eileen was fabulous – she went to the AAA (like the AA from those reading from Ireland/UK) which not only provides roadside assistance but the most fantastic planning. They have these marvelous books called triptik which detail out travel itinerates, points of interest, scenic routes and possible delays/congestion. Anyway Eileen got me one covering my trip. I was so impressed I went to the AAA store to book my accommodation – they were brilliant. I thought them where I was going and they suggested accommodation based on how far I wanted to drive each day and then they booked it. There was also a plethora of information - guide books, maps, brochures; I’ve rarely been so well informed.
Before the blog proper starts I will explain why I wanted to do the road trip. First of all I’ve wanted to see Yellowstone for many years. Secondly even though I like driving, have a car and its easy to drive long distances in America, I’ve rarely driven more than 40 miles in my car (that’s about the distance from Chicago (where I live) to IKEA in Schaumberg (where I spent a significant amount of money and time J)). Part of my rationale when I bought my car in 2004 was that before I left Americas I would take a road trip. So now its 2007 and I’ve decided to leave America, so I’m taking the roundtrip. Originally I planned to do route 66 but as I’ve already been to California many times, the north west seemed far more attractive.
For a while it seemed that my good friend Kathy would accompany me on the trip. She has already driven from Chicago to Maine so is well experienced in roadtrips. However, unfortunately she couldn’t make it so I am travelling alone. But not so alone as each day I call my mother, my friend Edward and my friend Imelda. It’s not that they don’t trust me or don’t think I can take care of myself but they worry. For my other friends who are interested, hopefully this blog performs a similar function.
My friend Eileen was fabulous – she went to the AAA (like the AA from those reading from Ireland/UK) which not only provides roadside assistance but the most fantastic planning. They have these marvelous books called triptik which detail out travel itinerates, points of interest, scenic routes and possible delays/congestion. Anyway Eileen got me one covering my trip. I was so impressed I went to the AAA store to book my accommodation – they were brilliant. I thought them where I was going and they suggested accommodation based on how far I wanted to drive each day and then they booked it. There was also a plethora of information - guide books, maps, brochures; I’ve rarely been so well informed.
Before the blog proper starts I will explain why I wanted to do the road trip. First of all I’ve wanted to see Yellowstone for many years. Secondly even though I like driving, have a car and its easy to drive long distances in America, I’ve rarely driven more than 40 miles in my car (that’s about the distance from Chicago (where I live) to IKEA in Schaumberg (where I spent a significant amount of money and time J)). Part of my rationale when I bought my car in 2004 was that before I left Americas I would take a road trip. So now its 2007 and I’ve decided to leave America, so I’m taking the roundtrip. Originally I planned to do route 66 but as I’ve already been to California many times, the north west seemed far more attractive.
For a while it seemed that my good friend Kathy would accompany me on the trip. She has already driven from Chicago to Maine so is well experienced in roadtrips. However, unfortunately she couldn’t make it so I am travelling alone. But not so alone as each day I call my mother, my friend Edward and my friend Imelda. It’s not that they don’t trust me or don’t think I can take care of myself but they worry. For my other friends who are interested, hopefully this blog performs a similar function.
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