Day 8 - Wedding Crashers... "Are We Really Going to Do This?"

The hum of a Chicago el train greeted us Saturday morning when we awoke in our swanky hotel room (the bed had ground-effects lighting).  It was a bittersweet morning, knowing that our adventure was behind us, and ten hours of driving and one more time zone was ahead of us.  Running on Dunkin, we set the GPS for Twinsburg, OH.  Our college roommate and dear friend Caitlin informed us that she and her husband, Thomas, would be in Twinsburg for a wedding (to be held at the hotel at which she was staying).  A quick look at the map showed us that it might be a good halfway stop for dinner and some hugs.  What we didn't account for was the lost hour into Eastern Time.  Well, we did account for it, but only to our final destination, not via points.  Undeterred, we planned to say a quick hello before the wedding ceremony.

Getting out of Chicago and most of our journey east felt like a bit of culture shock.  We spent many hours driving through Wyoming and South Dakota, against epic scenery and few other cars.  Pushing east into construction, congested traffic, quick highway interchanges, and narrower lanes, we certainly felt the proximity to home and spent some of our car time reviewing our favorite moments of the week.

Our best efforts brought us to the Hilton about 20 minutes before the wedding.  We found Caitlin and Thomas, said hello to a confused Mollie and Jeff (other friends we know who were attending the wedding), explained our street clothes and our presence, and somehow got talked into staying.  Caitlin and her mom Kim (also there) are very persuasive.

Granted, we knew the bride (Natalie) through Caitlin (and college) and had spent some time with her and her groom, Chirag, last year at Thomas and Caitlin's wedding in New Orleans... but it was still a little awkward to be the weird, extremely under-dressed lurkers in the back of the courtyard.

After most of the guests were seated, we hung towards the back of the courtyard, trying our best to be inconspicuous.  A few minutes passed, and suddenly Emily realized that we were standing in front of a door.  One quick look into the door's window revealed a line of bridesmaids, ready for their entrance.  We quickly shuffled off to the side behind the musicians.

 

Natalie looked beautiful, and we stayed for the ceremony.  On our way out, we were extended a gracious invitation to their reception, but sadly had to decline.  Five hours and change until home, even still!

 

 

Back on the road, we pressed on for a few more hours until we were more hungry.  We hit up Eat N Park, a chain that we frequented in high school, for smiley face cookies.  We grabbed some sandwiches at Sheetz, another sure sign we were close to home.  The last couple of hours on the turnpike passed with a final, passionate Backstreet Boys sing along and some Tom Petty.  We pulled in to Kristina's house around 10:45 pm.

 

But as we learned from our Route 66 trip, "Road Does Not End."  A few more years and many more life experiences under our belts, and we'll be back at it again... hitting the road, with new towns to explore and many more adventures to be had!

Day 7 - “Is this Heaven? No, It’s Iowa.”

Something Emily and Kristina hardly recognized greeted them this morning – the sun!  We ate Belgian waffles at the hotel (love all this free breakfast!), and then packed the car for yet another day of driving.  A mere 5 miles away from our hotel was the Mitchell Corn Palace, our first stop of the day.  It is the self-proclaimed corn capital of the world.
 

This dramatic, Taj-Majal-like building is embellished with multiple murals, all created from dyed corn and its stalks.  Each year after the harvest, the town rips down the previous year’s murals and recreates new and different ones, to remain on the building until the next harvest.  We’re not really sure why they do this, but it’s still cool to see.

Next on our list was Porter Sculpture Park, about 30 miles east of Mitchell.  The park, occupying a rolling hillside on the Porter family farm, showcases 40 original works of art crafted from a variety of materials by sculptor Wayne Porter.  Porter uses the art to make a statement about politics and society.  

Emily and Kristina felt especially honored to be able to tour the park because it does not open to visitors for the season until Memorial Day.  They were granted special permission by Ron Porter, who they believe is the son of the sculptor.  “The sculpture park will not be open when you are traveling through South Dakota,” he said via their email inquiry, “but you can stop.  There are a few gates that you will need to open and then you can drive your car directly to the Sculpture Park.  You can then take a self-guided tour.  I think you will really enjoy yourselves.”

We opened the gates and indeed, took a self-tour.  The sculptures were amazing, and well worth the stop.

Emily and Kristina crossed through the rest of South Dakota and then drove south into Iowa.  Bright sunshine, white puffy clouds, tractors, and fertile, dark earth greeted us. 

We arrived at West Bend, IA at the Grotto of the Redemption three hours and two Dairy Queen-for-lunch Blizzards later.  You can read more about the Grot-to (that’s how the locals enunciate with this one) through the links in our sidebar, but essentially, a Catholic Friar made it his life’s purpose to create a beautiful public work out of stone and gems from around the world that represents the idea of redemption.  The whole life of Jesus was represented in a handful of different grottos, all accessible walking through the outdoor complex.  On this sunny day, the grotto was particularly shiny and stunning.  We felt like fish in a sparkly coral reef.

 

Leaving West Bend, we filled up with gas and headed east:  next stop, the Field of Dreams movie site!  We pulled into an unassuming farm in Dyersville, IA and made our way down the long gravel lane.  The white farmhouse, wooden bleachers, and ball field were there ahead of us, exactly like they looked 25 years ago when “Field of Dreams” was filmed.  We could tell the property owners take great pride in their farm, as it was immaculately manicured.

 

 

The biggest disappointment was that there was no corn yet (a fact about which we didn’t think until five minutes before pulling in).  If you build it, they may come in another three months... right?

We talked to the older gentleman mowing the lawn and it turns out he was Don Lansing, the owner.  He was so kind and excited that we were here visiting, from California and Pennsylvania, and invited us to run the bases and hang out on the field as long as we so chose.  He said that his family has owned the farm for 100 years and that he was born and raised on it.  It was his honor to have his farm chosen for the movie, “a great movie,” and he continues to operate this for the public to see because “it feels like the right thing to do.”  In fact, his family makes no money on the attraction and actually has to pay Universal Studios for licensing rights.  Crazy!

Since Emily and Kristina first became friends back in elementary school, playing softball under the coaching of the legend, Dennis Stamm, they were particularly excited to have a catch and hit some balls at Field of Dreams.  And they’ve still got it!

 

Friday evening brought more driving, through the rest of eastern Iowa, across Illinois, and into Chicago (with a drive-by stop at Lou Malnati’s to pick up some deep-dish Chicago pizza to go for dinner.  PS – bad idea, as this type of pizza is virtually impossible to eat without silverware, let alone in the car with our bare hands).

We checked into our hotel and met up for drinks with some of Emily’s work friends whose tour is in Chicago right now.  Late night after a great day… home tomorrow night!

Day 6 - Dinosaurs and Presidents

We got an early start this morning, only to find another dusting of snow on the ground.  There was a lot of grumbling as we thought about our day's plans in the (continuing) cold, blustery weather.  After all, this was supposed to be our spring road trip, not an extended winter wonderland.  First stop:  Dinosaur Park.  There is a link to it on the right side of our blog, but essentially, it was a Works Progress Administration project with Rapid City, SD to create jobs and further capitalize on the tourism traffic coming in from nearby Mt. Rushmore.  The park was built in the 1930s.  

Taking photos was a struggle because our hands were freezing.

The architect of the brontosaurus here in the Dinosaur Park also constructed a similar one to advertise the famous roadside attraction, Wall Drug, a short drive away from here.

When we couldn't stand the cold any longer, we headed south for Mt. Rushmore.  Thankfully, there was a breakfast cafe on-site with a view of the monument.  The cafe's cashier told us she hailed from State College, which greatly excited us.  We took it all in over our "Monumental Breakfast" (eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, and biscuit).  We wanted to savor the heat and warmth as long as possible before walking the trail around the grounds.  Unfortunately, the trail was closed, but we spent some time in the exhibition hall, learning about Borglum's vision.  Gutzon Borglum designed and sculpted Mt. Rushmore, but died before he finished carving the former presidents' full torsos.

Selfie-taking was increasingly difficult with the snow falling into our eyes.

Originally, Jefferson was supposed to be on the other side of Washington, but the rock was unsuitable for carving.  Also, did you know that Jefferson was a ginger?

On the walk back to our car, we spotted a Penn State jacket and took the opportunity to yell, "We Are!"  The man and woman chuckled at our enthusiasm (this just goes to show that the Nittany Nation is everywhere!).  

Farther south from Mt. Rushmore, we had intended to tour Wind Cave, as a contingency plan for bad weather.  However, due to the infrequent tours during the off-season, we missed our window of opportunity and decided we could easily spend the extra time at Wall Drug.

Wall Drug started out as any ordinary small drug store, but thanks to an ambitious owner, the store's proximity to several national historic landmarks, and some creative advertising, it quickly became a destination all by itself.

Wall Drug is a maze of wonders, including: souvenir shops, art galleries, a cafe and dining room, an ice cream parlor, a book store, a pottery shop, a mining experience, an arcade and shooting range, old time photos, a chapel, and much more.  The smell of Wall Drug was oddly reminiscent of Kristina's grandparents' house -- old wood and delicious food cooking in the oven -- and was very welcoming on this cold and rainy day.

This theatrical T-rex exhibit was quite something too.

He 'feeds' every twelve minutes.

This jackalope reminded us of our Rt 66 trip and the "Here It Is!" rabbit at the Jack Rabbit Trading post (blog entry here). 

After eating lunch at Wall Drug's cafe, we drove on towards the Badlands.  The weather just wouldn't let up, so hiking was out for the day.  

These large deposits looked like delicate mounds of dirt and mud that could topple or collapse at any moment, but they are actually geological deposits from an ancient river bed.

We spent some time at the visitors center learning about the Native American tribes and early settlers to this harsh and unforgiving area, as well as the several now-extinct species of animals that once populated it.  

Feeling fairly successful in spite of the weather, we drove on toward the eastern border of South Dakota, into Central Time.  Cabela's flagship store is across the street from our hotel, and coincidentally, so was the Whiskey Creek Wood Grill, which we had chosen for dinner.  Tomorrow is predicted to be much warmer and drier, and we couldn't be happier.