Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago

After about 8000 miles on the road and travels through 17 states, we crossed into our 18th and arrived "home" in Wisconsin.  We spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa, the kids went off to camp, and I began my vacation.

I did some shopping (and eating) in Madison, and I spent a day in Chicago with my niece.  When we went to buy our tickets for the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), we were warned that the visibility wasn't good.  We were warned again at security, and a third time before our tickets were actually taken, but we decided to risk it.  And it was great!  The fog lifted, we were able to see the ground through the glass floor, and the clouds underneath us made for some extra photogenic pictures.

I then spent a couple days in Milwaukee with two different friends, hanging out and getting some "girl time" in.  Milwaukee is really turning into a fun tourist town!  The shopping was good, and the eating was better.  Even in the middle of a historic heatwave, the lake breezes did their job, and the evenings were wonderful.

Wisconsin is, obviously, famous for the beer, and the Lakefront Brewery puts on a great tour.  We wandered through the art museum, took a boat ride, and ate lots of cheese curds.  We also waited with other Gen X-ers to take pictures with Laverne and Shirley and the Fonz.  (Millennials and kids were all looking at us..."uh, what's a Fonzie?")

The Purple Door Ice Cream shop definitely ranks as some of the best ice cream in the world (and you know I've tried a lot of what's out there!), and we had a great time at the SafeHouse, too!

The Headwaters of the Mississippi: Lake Itasca

Inside a state park in northern Minnesota is Lake Itasca, a pretty lake surrounded by woods with a small swimming beach, canoe rental, and miles of bike path.  The important part of this lake, however, isn't so much where it is, but where it's water flows.

In contrast to the deep, wide, and muddy Mississippi of New Orleans, St. Louis, or even Minneapolis, the river begins as a crystal clear stream, narrow enough to cross on a log, and only ankle deep.

I love the North Woods, and I have some great memories of days at Lake Itasca, but really, the best part is thinking about where all the water is going.  It's a long ways from the Gulf of Mexico, a fact to which I can attest, having spent the last 6 weeks driving between the two.  From Indian Tacos to beignets, with plenty in-between.

The kids belly-crawled the first length of water, and I walked a bit on the path along the banks, but they wanted to spend most of their time at the lake where the water was actually deep enough for swimming.

We stayed at a hostel that's right in the park, a beautiful old building.  It's big, clean, and quiet, with a great kitchen and lots of games in the common areas, but probably the best part was knowing we were in a big, solid structure when the thunder storms began that night.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park: Prairie Dogs and a River Crossing (and Rattlesnakes!)

On Saturday, we made our way back out of Montana into North Dakota, marking a new state for both Miriam and Hans, their only "new one" of the trip.  We pitched our tent along the Little Missouri River in Theodore Roosevelt National Park and set out to explore the North Dakota Badlands from a lesser-known national park.

We spent Saturday afternoon exploring the adorable tourist town of Medora, ND, a village of only 112 people according to the last census, but full of shops, restaurants, and locally made ice cream.  Medora is proud of its history, founded by Marquis de Mora and his wife Medora in 1883, and chosen by Theodore Roosevelt around the same time.  

In the 1960s, the meat-packing industry had died out, and the town was in danger of fading away as well when Harold Schafer stepped in.  Schafer was a North Dakota businessman and millionaire, founder of the Gold Seal company, the original producer of Mr. Bubble bath soap, and he invested heavily in reviving the village with tourism.  Medora is very proud of all three of these men, and seems to celebrate all three at every turn, as well as Mrs. Medora de Mora, who apparently spoke 6 languages and was an excellent horseback rider and hunter.

Sunday we loaded up my pack and set off on a long hike, the first stage of which involved crossing a river, with water nearly up to Hans' waist.  

We ended up hiking about 12 miles, through the Badlands, across the prairie, and picking our way through more muddy river crossings.  

The biggest highlight of the trek for all of us (along with the river crossing), was that the path took us straight through several prairie dog cities.  Thousands of prairie dogs were out, looking at us and scolding us, wondering what we were up to.  They are so adorable, and there were so many of them.  

I especially loved this brave little guy who posed so nicely for us!

We saw some other wildlife, including two rattlesnakes who were not happy with us wanting to be on their path (and I'd be happy not to encounter rattlers so closely again, thank you very much!), and we had to cut our hike to 12 miles because a bison was lying across the trail so we had to turn around, but that was probably fine, as it was getting hot and we were getting tired.

We crossed the river again, and then headed to the town pool for a swim and shower, and then some ice cream.  

In the evening, we took in The Medora Musical, a kind of revue show that runs every night all summer in a beautiful amphitheater, with some history, some jokes, and a singing and dancing troupe.  

The show finished as it was getting dark, and with storm clouds building, we took off across the parking lot, beating thousands to their cars, and managed to jump into the tent before the skies opened.

Glacier National Park

I have always heard the Glacier National Park is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but had not made it out there until this summer.  It is stunning.  Pictures really do not do it justice, and it felt like as we were hiking we had to stop every few minutes to take a few more shots!

We drove back across Montana and up to Glacier, where we had nothing on our schedule other than to hike and relax.  Mission accomplished on that!  We saw some more bears, including a few cubs, and fortunately, all of them were safely from the car.  No moose for us, which is unfortunate, since I was hoping to see a few...guess we'll have to go back!

It didn't actually snow on the 4th of July, although we did see plenty of snow out there.  By lunch time, we even had our sweatshirts off, although we did begin the day with jackets and gloves as well.  There was plenty of rain here, too, but we ended up staying pretty dry, and the park seemed to clear out pretty well as soon as the first drops fell.  Those of us who braved the weather got some incredible views.  The dark clouds really add to the drama in the photos, at least.

We've mostly been having sandwiches for lunch and making fires for supper, cooking our veggie dogs and veggie brats, mostly.  The kids have gotten really good at building fires in the rain, but I must admit I'm looking forward to a time when I'm not trying to spread peanut butter and jam in the car, or hurry and eat my hot dog before the bun gets all soggy from the rain.  I may be looking forward to getting back to some running water as well!

The Black Hills

From Washington, we continued east across Montana and the corner of Wyoming to the Black Hills, where we based ourselves in Stugis, SD, for a long weekend.  This marked the first time since leaving Florida where it was actually hot in the morning!  

We missed the famous Harley-Davidson rally by a few weeks, but Stugis seems to live on gas fumes, and we toured the motorcycle hall of fame and museum, and Hans and I even managed to get to the end of the Camaro rally!

We drove through the Black Hills and visited Spearfish and Rapid City, both of which are very cute towns, Rapid City calling itself the "City of Presidents" and featuring statues of all the U.S. presidents (through Obama, as of this month) scattered throughout the downtown and even a presidential museum!

The tour at the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs was interesting...the dig site is full of skeletons of male mammoths, mostly juveniles.  Female mammoths, of course, were too intelligent to fall into the pit, but the boys apparently raced right up to the edge of the spring and fell in.  The skeletons are huge, and it's neat to see a working dig site!

One of my favorite parts of the Black Hills is always the prairie dog towns, and they didn't disappoint this trip, either -- so adorable, and so happy to pose for pictures!

And a highlight for the kids was the mountain coasters...little cars that you can drive on tracks down a course in the hills.  I don't have the same need for speed that the rest of my family does, so I always go last, but these little karts are probably my favorite kind of "roller coaster".

I also ran a 50K in the Black Hills, the reason we were in Sturgis in the first place.  My fourth race of the month, and the 35th state in which I've run a marathon or longer!