Day 10: St. Louis, MO – Valparaiso, IN

Posted on May 19, 2013
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Oops , I missed one day of blogging. So time to catch up! Yesterday we spent a few hours in St. Louis , MO, checked out The Arch (“the gateway to the west”) – of course! It was my first time in St. Louis and was obviously excited beyond excited. What a great time we had, and I can’t wait to return to St. Louis for some other adventures. There are quite a few things to see (and good shopping) there.

One of the coolest things in this city is its dog friendliness. Four-legged family members are welcome to quite a few places, from the The Arch of St. Louis park to American Kennel Club’s Museum of The Dog (duh, of course). And Forest Park is a place to go for sure – whether you like golf, (free!) zoo, or just awesome running trails. Yesterday there was a running event for dogs and their owners, followed by a dog-themed expo. I wish we had known about it a bit earlier – Jason, I and Tassu would be have been more than ready for a quick 5k and some dog fun. Oh well, next time!
We also did a quick stroll in the City Garden, which is just a couple of short blocks from Missouri’s State Capitol. The City Garden is a little oasis with some very interesting artwork in the downtown. Lovely place to walk with the dog, and sit down for a quick snack.

From St. Louis our trip continued to Valparaiso, IN, to spend a couple of days with in-laws, before the last segment of driving to Virginia, through West Virginia. Almost there! So far we have driven 4,872 miles, spent 89 hours 49 minutes in the truck, and used 281 gallons of fuel. It sure has been a long but fun trip.
After an exciting day full of sniffing, Tassu was more than ready for his beauty sleep. After of course loving his new best friend, aka my mom-in-law. He seems to adore her.

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Day 9: Manhattan, KS – St. Louis, MO

Posted on May 17, 2013
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We have been on the road for over a week now. And we are not there yet. However, we still talk to each other, as well as have fun on our road trip. Success, right!? So today was a big day in Kansas – I was meeting with K State folks regarding my PhD stuff. And my morning couldn’t have been better. The meeting went extremely well, and I had such a great time there. Not only the campus is gorgeous but faculty and staff are wonderful. Well worth of “little”side trip.

K State

K State

K State Library

K State Library

K State

K State

From Manhattan, KS, we headed back to the east. Our next “big” destination is Valparaiso, IN, where we will stay for a couple of days with the in-laws. Since the total mileage from Kansas to Indiana would have been almost 700 miles, we decided to split the driving over two days. We have had our fair share of extremely long driving days by now so little sightseeing stop in St. Louis, MO, sounded like a great idea.

However, we look forward to having another break from driving on this trip, as well as it is great to see the family again. We visited them very briefly only a couple of weeks ago but due to the sad events so we really didn’t have a whole lot of time to spend together.

On our way from Kansas to Missouri we of course got stuck in rush hour traffic, and instead of sitting in the traffic, we decided to have dinner. We ended up to a small town of Independence, MO. The old, historic Jackson County Courthouse was one of the lovely buildings in this little town, which also the hometown of Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of United States. We had dinner at an Italian place, Cafe Verona on Independence’s town square. The food was delicious, and portions were not too big. Also, their wine list looked very tempting although we didn’t taste any in the middle of the driving.

Courthouse

Courthouse

Since this trip has been mainly the road trip from Alaska to Virginia, and the truck is full of things that Jason will need on the east coast, I haven’t been  shopping a whole lot. However, I went to a western store today to see if I could find any new cowgirl outfits for myself, and got a new belt and another belt buckle.

The store also had the cutest western saddle ever  - now I know where to get the saddle for my horse…. And with the lovely thoughts about horses, I will let you go, and be back tomorrow to tell about St. Louis.

Western stuff for the cowgirl

Western stuff for the cowgirl

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Day 7-8: Sioux City, IA – Manhattan, KS

Posted on May 16, 2013
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We arrived in Sioux City, IA, on Tuesday night. A bit later than expected since we completely spaced out and didn’t realize that South Dakota and Iowa are on different time zones. And construction zones on the highway didn’t help either. In fact some slow sections on I-90 made us to take the scenic drive through Badlands National Park. Since we had to drive slowly, why not to do it with nice scenery?! Badlands’ geologic features are absolutely gorgeous, and so very fascinating.

Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park

We had such a wonderful time in Sioux City. It was great to see our friends there, and have a day off from driving. We were so spoiled, Tassu included. Delicious steaks were waiting for us when we finally arrived. While Jason did guys’ things – guns and cars, ya know – we girls did some quilt store and Hobby Lobby shopping.  We had Casino excitement (I more than doubled my money!!), enjoyed tasty Japanese steakhouse dinner….. we truly do have the best friends in the whole universe. We can’t wait to see Pam & Dick again.

And thanks to an easy, relaxing day sans driving, I had time to get my run. I ran very nice 3.6 miles in 32 minutes – despite the hilly route. In fact I was expecting a whole lot slower run after sitting in the car for days but surprisingly my legs were doing really well. So another run in Kansas tomorrow morning.

Running, and loving the hills. Gorgeous running route in Sioux City, IA.

Running, and loving the hills. Gorgeous running route in Sioux City, IA.

Today we continued our road trip to Manhattan, KS. Kansas was not exactly on our route but since I have been looking at K State as a potential PhD school, we decided to make the side trip so that I could meet with the university folks. So please, keep fingers crossed for me that everything goes well tomorrow!

Our furry travel buddy, Tassu, is still doing well – after all those miles. He seemingly enjoyed our stop in Iowa as well. But what dog wouldn’t when they can make new human and dog friends? And are given treats frequently. Tassu is also getting used to the hotel life more and more. He usually sniffs around for a few minutes in the new hotel room, and then tests the bed. At Holiday Inn Manhattan he was enjoying the soft bed in no time…

Tassu relaxing at Holiday Inn in Manhattan, KS.

Tassu relaxing at Holiday Inn in Manhattan, KS.

Is the room service here yet?

Is the room service here yet?

 

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Day 6: Rapid City, SD – Sioux City, IA

Posted on May 14, 2013
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Finally our daily miles start to wind down. Today we drove only about 400 hundred miles from South Dakota to Iowa, where we are staying a couple of nights with friends before continuing the trip again.
While in South Dakota, I finally managed to check Mt Rushmore off my bucket list. It was great to see one of the most famous structures in the United States although the park was a lot smaller than what I expected.

But it’s time for the beauty sleep in Iowa. More updates to follow since we are not in Virginia yet!

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Day 5: Boseman, MT – Rapid City, SD

Posted on May 13, 2013
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Day 5 was our last long driving day, and we did have some late night driving since we spent a full day at Yellowstone National Park. From now on the daily mileage will be significantly less.

We started our Yellowstone adventure bright and early, when we entered the park through the north gate in Gardiner, MT. Before entering into our park adventure, just a quick advice: a day is nowhere near enough at Yellowstone. We could probably spend there the whole month and still find new trails to hike and sights to see.

Our first stop was Mammoth Hot Springs that is known for travertine terraces. The interactions of water and limestone create chalk-white travertine. These terraces make some awesome photo opportunities – together with steam coming from hot springs.
Along the way to Norris Geyser Basin we made quite a few stops for pictures, as well as observed wildlife from elks to grizzly bears.
The most famous hot spring in Yellowstone is the frequently erupting Old Faithful. However, we didn’t make it to the western part of the park, so Old Faithful will have to wait to our next visit. However, the Norris geysers were wonderful even if not erupting tens of feet of water every few minutes. Did you know that geysers are hot springs that have only narrow spaces in their “plumbing”? Because of the narrow channels, water can’t freely access the surface, and let the heat escape, the pressure creates geyser effect.

We also quickly checked out the Falls in Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon, saw the sulphur caldron, and mud volcanoes. I ended up to having hundreds of photographs, so it will take for a while to go them all through and edit. For now you will have to enjoy the quick snapshots that I took with the iPhone.

At the Yellowstone Gate

Hubby and I at the Yellowstone Gate

Steamy!

Steamy!

Geyser Basin

Geyser Basin

Hot springs

Hot springs

Wyoming.

Wyoming.

We exited the park through the east gate and headed towards Cody, WY. Cody is, by the way, founded by the famous Buffalo Bill. Right before the exit gate we spotted bighorn sheep up on the mountain, and got very lucky with pictures. I have a bunch of head shots of the sheep, and look forward to sharing the pics with you in a few days. Other wildlife sights toady consisted of grizzly bears, 5 moose, over hundred deer, quite a few elks…. a great day, I would say!

Drive through Wyoming to South Dakota was gorgeous. Montana has been my favorite state for a very long time but now Wyoming may have the first place in my ranking. I would love to live there, and operate my horse ranch. One day.

But over and out from Rapid City, SD. Stay tuned for another update tomorrow!

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