While we do enjoy our trips, this would be a little too much for us so we had to make some tough choices. And then Hurricanes Harvey and Irma came along forcing us to make last minute changes.
Since this blog is supposed to be about National Parks, I'll cover those separately and the rest of the journey will be divided between coming to and going from Pittsburgh.
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We raced across Nevada on I-80 and left the Interstate to Yellowstone NP where we spent several days before driving on to Rapid City SD on I-90 stopping at Devil's Tower on the way.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Rapid City is central to several National Parks and National Monuments and it will take us at least a week to fully explore it all, just not on this trip. Instead we continued on to South Dakota's two most famous tourist traps: Wall Drug Store and the Corn Palace.
Wall Drug Store in Wall, SD is a warren of souvenir shops, famous for its ubiquitous billboards and the free ice-water it has provided since 1931. We even saw a train of sorts.
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| Wall SD "Train Stop" |
The Corn Palace is an entertainment venue in Mitchell, SD whose exterior honors, and is decorated with, all things corn.
Between these two we crossed the Missouri River where Lewis & Clark camped going in both directions.
MINNESOTA TO IOWA
After driving Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota, we drove through southern Minnesota, exiting I-90 at Austin, MN heading south-east toward Decorah, IA. We drove through rural Iowa, a place of cornfields and American flags and only fried-food to eat and apparently no use for premium gasoline. The Amish buggy we saw did tell part of the story.
Decorah's bald eagle nest is famous from PBS specials and its popular web cam that we have been following for years now.
We knew our timing was poor for visiting. Mid-September is down-time at the nest. The latest brood has fledged and the parents won't be really active at the nest until mid-February. But we did get to see the nest in its setting, a narrow strip of woods between Trout Run Road and the bike path that goes to town where bicycles can be rented. Luckily, while we were there exploring we did get to see two juveniles soaring high in the sky above us.
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| Decorah Eagle Nest - Note Cam on Upper Right Limb |
The fish hatchery turns out not to be the feast for the eagles that I imagined it to be. The creek itself has plenty of fish but the hatchery consists of long concrete tanks covered with protective netting making fine dining quite impossible.
WISCONSIN
We crossed the Mississippi into Wisconsin at Prairie du Chien, WI and I'll merely point out that "chien" is French for dog.
TALIESIN
Frank Lloyd Wright built his famous studio just south of Spring Green, WI where he had spent youthful summers at the family farm. Taliesin had a troubled history from its first inception in 1911 and it wasn't until its third rendition in 1928 that it became Wright's permanent home, and even then, beginning in 1937, he wintered at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, AZ.
Taliesin served as a home, a workshop, and a showcase and it excels at all three. The main living area is quite extraordinary. At first sight it appears to be an intimate space, but then one notices the large fireplace and a full size grand piano in the corner and seating designed for other musicians. There were 21 people on our tour and we were invited to take seats around the room. Arm chairs, couches, benches and stools strategically placed around the room easily absorbed all of us without any feeling of crowding. The room wasn't just designed to impress, it was also designed to function well. An interesting result is that it can't be photographed as a whole.
ILLINOIS - INDIANA - OHIO
This part of our trip was just a total slog. In hindsight it is clear that I-90, even with bypasses, is not a route for vacation travelers through the Chicago area. We entered Illinois at Rockford on a heavily-traveled toll road and seven toll stops later we finally reached Indiana. There were only three rest area on this entire route, one when we entered, one as we were leaving, and one in the middle. And the intermediate exits didn't take cash.
Indiana on I-65 was two solid lanes of semi's trying to pass each other in some sort of tag game. Since trucks were limited to 65 mph no one could possibly go the 70 mph that cars were permitted. Nevertheless, two highway patrol vehicles sat at every other crossing to make sure no one exceeded that limit in either direction.
We traveled southeast and took I-70 through Ohio which was much better with fewer trucks but we had to deal with the remnants of Hurricane Irma all the way across the state. It was dark and rainy the whole way.
PITTSBURGH
As always, friends and family are the focus of any trip to Pittsburgh, but we again found time for a few other things.
In a first for us, we spotted wild turkeys in Pennsylvania--we did grow up in the DDT era after all. We spent a morning in the Strip District where we saw our first driverless car and where they still sell "Isaly's Chipped Ham," and we saw more Steeler gear than I knew existed. We made a special trip out to the Oakmont Bakery but we didn't get a chance to revisit DiSalla's Pizza (we always called it Munhall Pizza even though it was in Homestead and it was always a special treat).
We made the drive out to southwest Pennsylvania on US 30, the old Lincoln Highway, to visit the Flight 93 Memorial. It's a respectful site and a sobering experience.
We returned through Ligonier. I last visited Fort Ligonier in 1958 with the Cub Scouts as part of a project for Pittsburgh's original bicentennial celebration (apparently they celebrated another and different bicentennial in 2016).
I continue my interest in the French & Indian War and have followed the ongoing reconstruction of the fort so I was quite interested in seeing the changes for myself. When we visited back then, we were told that no shots were ever fired in anger at the fort but subsequent research has shown that there were actually two fairly significant encounters during Pontiac's Rebellion leading up to the defeat of the Indian forces at Bushy Run that marked a major turning point of the war.
One new thing I learned was that George Washington was posted here a few years after he started the French & Indian War at Fort Necessity. As they say, "George Washington Slept Here."
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For a few more photos from Taliesin, go to: Additional Taliesin.
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There are 13 (!) parts to this blog entry. To continue to the next part, click the "Newer Post" link at lower left or you can go to any particular section by using the links in the right column.
