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by Liz
It was an amazing trip. During 30 days, we:
–Covered 6,621 miles (which costs $1,160 in gas, in case you were wondering. Don’t ask me why we took the longest driving trip imaginable during the SUMMER OF THE MONSTER GAS PUMP.)
–Passed through 13 states and 2 countries
–Packed and unpacked 21 times
–Took 1164 photos and a couple hours of video tape
–Visited six national parks or monuments
–Saw a sculpture made of sand, a building made of corn, and a giant peacock made of flowers (but not the World’s Largest Ball of Twine — next trip)
–Took a ride on 4 boats, 1 raft, and 1 inflatable kayak
–Hiked to 10,000 feet
–Slurped down the best oysters in the world on Orcas Island, Washington (yes, I said the world)
–Participated in 1 awesome talent show
–Played in snow in the middle of summer
–Slid down 3 super water slides, soaked in 2 natural hot springs, and dunked in 9 extremely frigid bodies of water (the coldest–The Puget Sound off Orcas Island–Ouch!)
–Traveled with 1 computer, 1 PSP electronic game player, 1 dvd player, 1 video camera, 2 still cameras, 4 ipods, 4 cell phones, and all accompanying chargers
–Saw 32 exciting species of wildlife (favorites: Orca whale, bald eagle, black bear, baby fox)
–Consumed 138 peanut butter crackers (Walker), 112 chocolate chip cookies (Graham), 24 Starbucks Frappacinos (Liz), and 3,265 cups of coffee (Tim). Ok, I exaggerated Tim’s … a little.
–Watched way too many episodes of the Gilmore Girls to admit
–Visited with some great friends
–Saw the license plates of Washington, D.C., 5 Canadian provinces, and 49 states (damn that Rhode Island)
The drive home was a little hard: 3,000 miles from Tuesday, July 15, to Saturday, July 19. We knew we were back when we opened the car door in St. Louis, MO, at 10 p.m. on Friday night and it was 86 degrees with 95 percent humidity. “Welcome Back to the South.”
But it’s all good. We’re glad to be back in our own beds, making coffee in our own coffee maker, and having our own dog Abby once again barking in our ears.
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
–T.S. Eliot
Each layer in the soil and rock was formed during a different geological period.
By Tim
It was impossible for me to say the word “badlands,” much less visit Badlands National Park, without getting the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name stuck in my head.
Not that I’m grousing. After all, we could have been visiting Hokey Pokey National Park or One Tin Soldier National Monument or something.
Walker enjoys his visit to Badlands National Park.
Badlands (”whoah woah woah woah,” sorry, can’t help it) is a beautiful park that reminded me of a scale model of the Cumberland Plateau. There are large relatively flat areas punctuated with ravines and craggy hills created by erosion. Layers of soil and rock are on prominent display, creating the bands you see in any photo of the Badlands (”Badlands, you gotta live it everyday,” darn can’t get it out of my head …).
The four faces: famous for being famous
By Tim
Mt. Rushmore is a publicity stunt posing as a national park unit.
Park units come in all shapes and sizes, from the wild natural expanses of parks like Rocky Mountain or Yellowstone, the cultural and political importance of a place like Gettysburg, to the purely commemorative spots like the Lincoln Memorial or the St. Louis Arch. What they have in common is the goal of preserving what is best about our nation for the enjoyment of future generations, whether you define “best” as natural or cultural.
Mt. Rushmore is a strange combination of cultural and natural assets presented in a contradictory, ambiguous, and commercialized manner. For me, it was a disappointment of … well, monumental … proportions.
My disappointment with the memorial is a combination of things.
First, it’s not that I don’t like the commemorative type of park. The Lincoln Memorial, for example, leaves me with a sense of awe every time I visit it. The statue of Lincoln and examples of his writing allow me to experience a historical figure in a personal way.
In contrast, the faces on Mt. Rushmore convey little if anything about the people whose images are blasted into the stone. They are remote, impersonal, literally unapproachable. Mt. Rushmore did not inspire a sense of awe in me.
It’s not that I don’t like parks created merely to draw visitors to a place and idea. The St. Louis arch was a publicity stunt created to revive the city’s waterfront and attract visitors. But it’s also an engineering marvel and a monument that reflects something about that place’s significance in American history as the gateway to the West. It’s got a reason to be where it is and look like it does.
But what are Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and … who’s the fourth guy, oh, yeah, Teddy Roosevelt … doing on a cliffside in the Black Hills of South Dakota? What is their relevance to that place, other than the fact that the raw goods of their assembly (rock) were located there? By that standard, most of the national Capitol should be located in some quarry in Tennessee.
The Black Hills are beautiful and unique. They really don’t need our design help. I’m not saying tear the monument down. But why build it in the first place?
The answer is that a son of South Dakota thought it would be a great idea and attract visitors. He got a sculptor and a majority of Congress to go along with him. A memorial is born.
Finally, the Black Hills are a traditional sacred site of the Lakota and other native Americans. I don’t know the history of Mt. Rushmore’s interpretive plan (each park has one), but it’s obvious that the park service has attempted to answer native American concerns with some modest concessions. There were a few teepees and a native musician at the site. But nothing in their presentation told me why these elements were there, if I didn’t know already. It would have been far better to have presented these elements in some manner that acknowledged the difficult relationship between the white guys up on the mountain and the native American elements down below. I’ve seen other museums and parks do it (notably the museum of natural history in New York in their new interpretations of their famous — and inaccurate — depictions of animal life).
Seven faces: Which one is Teddy Roosevelt?
Finally, the park recently underwent a major construction of a huge granite amphitheater used in a nightime lighting ceremony. It reminded me of a Disney World amphitheater we visited a few years back. There was also a walkway with granite pillars (one for each state) and a huge granite pavillion. Oh, and a huge granite parking garage. The construction was designed to complement the memorial. But frankly, it was more of a competition, like a showy frame for a bland painting.
Obviously, I’m down on this park. My disappointment comes from the many other great park experiences we had on our trip — the arch, Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, North Cascades, Badlands — and the many other parks I’ve visited throughout my life.
I think everyone would be better off if the nation turned over Mt. Rushmore to the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce. They in turn could subcontract to Disney. I bet the light show would be better. Maybe they could replace Teddy with Mickey. At least people would recognize the mouse.
We pulled into the driveway at about 8:30 p.m. Eastern, 7/19/08
I’m sure we’ll provide more details later. But just so you know … we are back in Norris, safe and sound. The pets are retrieved, the plants are alive, and all is well.
Missouri doesn’t have better rest areas than Montana. But the Show Me State rest areas do get better publicity.
We stopped at not one but TWO Missouri rest areas today that had received the 2007 award for quality. There were at least a couple others that we saw that didn’t receive this distinction, so we do know that every rest area didn’t receive the award. But there was precious little information on just what the selection criteria were.
Cleanliness? Obviously (afraid to say one of the rest areas had slipped in this regard during the current calendar year). But what else? Latest editions of the Thrifty Nickel in the newstand? Appropriate “you are here” marks on the state map (a surprising number of rest areas don’t include this feature)? No rattlesnakes (also a very helpful feature).
One Missouri rest area had a unique item — something we’ve seen nowhere else from Tennessee to Tucumcari … an automatic handwasher. The sign said it provided warm water (mine was cold), soap (I didn’t get any of this — hmmm), and heated electric fan hand drying, all in one spot. Automatically. All I had to do was stick my hands in there. (see photo).
It was right of out Star Trek, The Second Generation. But it did not respond when I said “Earl Grey, hot.”
Toured Mt. Rushmore and Badlands National Park today.
Spending the night in Sioux City, South Dakota.
Shore fog greets us as we approach the mainland on the Orcas Island ferry Tuesday
By Liz
Second day of driving since leaving Orcas Island, WA, and I’m beginning to think what actually happened is that we stumbled into a Twilight Zone episode. We have been driving all day and we haven’t made it off the moon yet. In fact, didn’t we pass this same exit 3 hours ago? The one with the sign that says “Next Services 128 miles”? Theoretically we are supposed to make it to Custer, South Dakota, by midnight tonight, but we’ll see. Luckily for us we didn’t pack any handguns.
We have run across occasional spots of interest: There was the Wild Horse Monument somewhere in Washington. It is a series of metal horse sculptures sitting at the top of a tall butte in the middle of 300 miles of other buttes. Of course, it might have been a hallucination – not sure about that. We also passed signs for the Testicle Festival coming up at the end of July. We may see about Liz&Tim performing there next year. I bet it’s a ball.
Oh, and I have just one word for the truck stops around here: Taxidermy.
Actually, I’m just joking around – the scenery out here is beautiful. There’s just way too much of it.
This is the section of the trip that I like to refer to as The Shining part of the trip. The madness slowly building within. We will soon be looking for an ax to kill each other with. “Gilmore Girls” is all we have left, episode after episode dragging on. Soon I will completely morph into that show and become a steady character.
–Walker