The Drive Home: The Corn Palace

The other big event of Day Three was stopping by Mitchell SD to see the Corn Palace. We learned about the Corn Palace from our friend, Rick, who said it was a 'must see'.

The Corn Palace is an entertainment venue whose front is decorated each year with corn cobs specially grown to adorn the Corn Palace. This is how it looks in 2009:

We were fortunate to see the Corn Palace completely decorated, in its full glory, because we may have arrived while they were busy redoing it for the new year.

The corn cobs are cut in half, longwise, and stapled to the front to create the intricate designs. I've built a little montage of the five main panels currently gracing the Corn Palace exterior:


The designs were very topical, since we had just come from Mount Rushmore, had seen the Space Needle in Seattle, and the space shuttle was landing while we were there.

To make things even more perfect, I was able to get this shot of Steve with 'Mr. Corn':

I may be joking around a little, but it was actually a fun stop, and yet another reminder that all of America does not live on the coasts and we are a diverse and interesting country. It is worth noting that a performer coming soon to the Corn Palace was David Cook, the winner of last year's American Idol. He is a great and contemporary performer, I voted for him myself, so the Corn Palace gets some pretty good acts...

The Drive Home: Mount Rushmore

The drive home was a long one -- five days. We planned it so we would get a break on day three, which would be a short day of driving (350 miles) combined with a little sightseeing. Our biggest treat was Mount Rushmore, our first stop on Day Three, just miles from our Fairfield Inn in Rapid City, SD.

We had absolutely beautiful weather, as we did most days of our walkabout, with the exception of severe weather on the drive to Dallas. It was a picture perfect day, as you can see from this traditional shot of Mount Rushmore:


What you can't see in the classic view that we are all used to seeing are the new facilities that have been built-up around this national monument. When I first visited with my family, about 40 years ago, there was nothing much more than a parking lot and a trail through the woods. Now there are multiple buildings designed to frame the monument view, as well as house the gift shop, eating areas, theaters running films on the making of the monument, and an ampitheater. The ampitheater is the viewing area for the evening light show, which we were not able to see. You approach these facilities through this walkway full of pillars and flags:

Gutzon Borglum was the artist who planned and executed Mount Rushmore, and there are numerous homages to him, including this bust sculpted by his son:

I am very glad we took the time to visit Mount Rushmore, even though I was eager to get home. It was a beautiful work of art in a lovely setting, and it gave me energy to continue our long drive to Hudson.

The Drive Home: Devil's Tower

Our journey home is five days long. The first day was the hardest - a very long stretch to arrive late in Bozeman Montana. The second day was also pretty long, but it ended with short side trip to view the United States' first national monument: Devil's Tower in Wyoming.

Steve has wanted to see Devil's Tower since he first watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Apparently, this is the rock that Richard Dreyfuss sculpted out of mashed potatoes. Seeing it in real life, I tried to remember if he simulated the striations on the side using his fork... American Indians had stories that attributed the marks to the claws of a giant bear trying to reach some Indian maidens seeking refuge on the top of the giant rock:

Devil's Tower is about 30 miles off the interstate, and we forgot to check the gas gauge before heading towards it. Without the Garmin telling us the closest gas station, we may have run out of gas. We stopped at a small place with a sign claiming to have gas, but the old pump outside probably hadn't worked for many years. At least we met this friendly dog there:

He watched with interest as I shot pictures of the monument standing on a picnic table, trying to get a view over their fence. They had a 'viewing tower' there, but I would have had to pay them to use it, and I wasn't about to do that. We could have driven closer and probably found a better viewing area (a free one), but we were too worried about running out of gas before we made it back to the interstate and the gas stations the Garmin told us would be there. Next time we will check the gas gauge before heading out onto the backroads!

Japanese Garden - Portland

The Japanese Garden is just one of the many beautiful gardens and parks in Portland, City of Roses. This garden is located in Washington Park, as is the Rose Test Garden. There is a small fee to enter the Japanese Garden, but it is well worth it. It is a work of art, in every detail. This, combined with its setting amid giant fir trees, makes it a welcome oasis close-in to an urban area.

The hardest thing to capture in these pictures is the quality of the light. Since it is filtering through the large trees above, even on a sunny day everything is bathed in a green glow.

There is a path through the garden, and every bend has another pond, a waterfall, a pathway made of carefully laid stone, a bridge. There are also many places to sit and rest, or meditate on the beauty.

There are traditional Japanese gardens, such as this flat garden, or the rock and sand garden. A brochure provided at the entry explains each major section of the garden, or you can take one of several guided tours conducted each day.

If we move to Portland, and there is a house we've found that we are seriously considering, I plan on buying an annual pass to the Japanese Garden. I could see spending many hours here.

Hood River and Columbia River Gorge

One of the advantages of going through Bend instead of driving up I-5 is that it let us approach Portland by driving west through the Columbia River Gorge. This has spectacular scenery, much of which is difficult to photograph since there are relatively few places to pull off the road. I hear driving on the Washington side works better, but we were on the Oregon side and had limited photo opportunities. Here's one shot of the rock cliffs, though:


A great place to stop and spend some time is the town of Hood River. Hood River is an outdoor enthusiast's paradise, with both river and mountain sports. This shot is from the park by the river - the gorge walls aren't very high here, but then that's why they could build a town in this spot...

One of the favorite water sports is parasailing because the wind coming up the gorge is always strong. You can find people out here every day, parasailing and partying...

The town is yet another picturesque slice of America. We've run into a lot of these pretty little towns, but then again, we've planned our route to hit as many of them as possible!

Hood River has also been hurt by the recession. The real estate market seems to be strong, but the retail in town clearly shows the impact, with many open store fronts and 'for lease' signs. We asked about the Columbia Gorge Hotel (http://columbiagorgehotel.com/), an historic inn that Steve knew about and was told that it was closed, a casualty of the recession. It was in the process of being sold to a new owner when credit tightened and the deal fell through. We drove by and the grounds were still meticulously maintained, waiting for a new owner I guess...

Carmel Highlights

We really enjoyed our stay in Carmel. The motel where we stayed, the Dolphin Inn, is close to downtown with its shops and great restaurants. The motel is homey, with beautiful flower boxes - all of Carmel By The Sea is covered with greenery and flowers.


The Inn is also within walking distance of the Carmel Beach, my favorite beach for sitting, thinking and digging in the sand. To the south of the beach is Point Lobos:

To the north of the beach is 17 Mile Drive and Pebble Beach:

The beach is not good for swimming, however, having dangerous surf and riptides. For the most part, only the surfers are willing to brave the water.

We enjoyed our visit, but we didn't see any houses we could afford, so we moved on to Oregon. Our first stop is Bend, in the high desert.

Yosemite National Park

What can you say about Yosemite? It is simply one gorgeous view after another. We arrived at the park around noon, coming in the southern entrance. We left at 5 pm, many winding miles and beautiful pictures later. It is hard to choose which to post here.

This is the classic Yosemite Valley picture, with Bridal Veil Falls to the right:

Yosemite Falls has three separate drops, and there are hiking paths that lead to the very top. A bridge crosses close to the base of the falls, and walking across the bridge is so bracing it takes your breath away even in 70 degree weather.

Half Dome is one of the famous granite cliffs that border the valley. Here is a shot of it through the trees and over the Merced river, in an area where we stopped for our picnic:

Close to the southern entrance is the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. I took many amazing pictures of the giant trees, but one of my favorites is this fallen tree with Steve in the foreground - it gives perspective to the scene.

I also got many shots for my Photoshop collection - textures, plants, water, rocks. The light was so beautiful, everything looked good! Here is an example of flowing water with a pinecone floating by....

We are staying tonight in a small town called Mariposa, 30 miles outside the western gate. Tomorrow we head to Carmel...

Austin Highlights

We really enjoyed our visit to Austin! As capitol of Texas, it has some truly impressive government buildings, the most beautiful being the Capitol Building. Built of pink granite, it is taller than the U.S. Capitol, and overall it is the largest state capitol building in the United States.

I have many nice pictures of the inside and outside of the building, but my favorite is this inside shot of the dome:

Several blocks from the capitol lies the University of Texas. At 48,000 students, it is almost as large as Ohio State, where our son goes to school. Its main building and this statue of George Washington are perfectly aligned with the Capitol Dome:

The grounds of the university are very nice, and include this impressive fountain. I've seen this motif of horses rising out of the water somewhere else - Versailles? Yes! (I just googled it...)

Our accommodations in Austin are really fantastic! We are staying in the heart of downtown at the historic Driskill hotel. Normally we couldn't afford to stay here, but on our way into town I was able to negotiate a really great rate. One of the benefits of traveling right now is that the travel industry is really hurting, and if you deal with independent organizations instead of large chains, you can get some pretty good deals. The Driskill is really a wonderful place, and the people are even more wonderful. Best service we've received on the trip. This is what the lobby looks like:

This is one shot of the lounge; notice the ceiling! The hotel is full of impressive stained glass, leaded glass, marble and real oil paintings. Each floor has bookcases and tables with books and collectibles that are actually NOT glued down (are you listening, Disney?), and every guest room is a work of art and a step back in time.

All and all, we've been impressed with how nice Texans are. Also, our drive into hill country around Austin showed us scenery we never expected in the heart of Texas: rolling hills, lots of greenery and trees, and lakes. Austin is officially on our list of potential new homes.

Dallas Highlights

Our friends in Dallas took great care of us, putting us up in their wonderful house, feeding us good food, and driving us around to see the many lovely Dallas neighborhoods. In between neighborhood 'shopping', we stopped by South Fork, the ranch where the TV show 'Dallas' took place. This Brahmin cow was standing in a nearby field:


The actual ranch was pretty unimpressive, but it had a nice gate:

The ranch house looked like it did on TV, only smaller. Could JR really have lived in such a modest place?

One of our favorite small towns, which also happens to be in Money Magazine's Top 10 Places to live, is McKinney. It is northeast of Dallas, and has its own quaint downtown square:

We saw many neighborhoods, in McKinney, in Heath/Rockwall where our friends live, and in Dallas proper that were both affordable and very pretty places to live. This, combined with our model evaluation, make Dallas a real possibility as our next home.

Lexington: The Kentucky Horse Park

We arrived in Lexington by 1:30 pm, in time to visit the Kentucky Horse Park. This 1200 acre facility is owned by the State of Kentucky, and it's a great place to see over 100 different breeds of horses up close and personal. A quick tour of the overall facility is given in a large wagon pulled by Belgian Draft Horses.


One of the many breeds living at the park are Miniature Horses. You can meet them at the daily Parade of Breeds. When the horses aren't 'working' as tiny ambassadors, they graze in beautiful pastures throughout the Park.

One of the events that happens each day is the Hall of Champions show, where you can see seven of the biggest money winning horses alive today. The newest resident of the Hall is Funny Cide, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2003.

The KY Horse Park is a warm, beautiful place to stop for a couple of hours on a nice day. It is surrounded by miles of pastures, fences and distinctive Kentucky dry stone walls.

After leaving the Park, we drove through downtown Lexington. The Historic District has some beautiful Victorian houses, but we didn't see anything that called out to us to stop. So we decided to push on, and are spending the evening in Bardstown KY, about 45 miles closer to tomorrow's destination: Oxford, Mississippi.