Badlands back to Seattle

November 10

We awoke to a free breakfast of waffles in Hot Springs, then headed off to the Jewel Cave National Monument and Wind Cave National Park.  Today proved that tours are totally dependent on the tour giver, as Jewel Cave’s tour was informational and entertaining, and Wind Cave’s tour basically just made me feel awkward.  We saw some awesome “jewel” rocks and “bacon” at Jewel Cave and some pretty cool “boxwork” in Wind Cave. The 20 degree weather outside dictated that we stay in another hotel tonight, so we stayed at Econolodge, complete with waterslide.  145 miles

November 11

We lazed around the hotel room for a while and then headed off to Montana.  After going through Deadwood (and losing $40), we opted to leave I-90 for the cute little Highway 212.  We drove through a tiny little bit of Wyoming.  It would have been a good idea if it wasn’t so cold.  We ended up taking way longer to get to Missoula than we should have and hung out in the Walmart parking lot for yet another evening.  338 miles

November 12

We woke up to 18 degree weather in the parking lot and headed off for Missoula.  We stopped at a little coffee shop in Livingston for an amazing Black and Tan Mocha and then continued on down the road.  We got to Missoula before Mark was done with work and classes, so we went to a little Princess Bride themed coffee shop.  We also said goodbye to the pumpkin that had been keeping us company since New Hampshire.  Then we had some elk steaks and headed off for Skyfall.  346 miles

November 13

We spent the day chilling in Missoula.  We saw Christopher Haxton for lunch then went grocery shopping and saw a bit of Missoula.  Then we went back to Mark’s to continue Karen’s 007 education with Casino Royale.  We made some pizza then went to the Big Dipper and went bowling, which turned out to be a horrible bowling night, but a pretty great day other than that.   9 miles

November 14

We got up and made some waffles, and then headed on down the road.  We stopped at Target and REI to kill a bit of time before really heading off.   We both got a little sad at the fact that the roadtrip was so close to an end as we were driving through Idaho, but we perked back up with a stop at Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe in Pullman.  Then we went to dinner with some of Becca’s friends.  After dinner we went to Becca’s and passed out watching Quantum of Solace.  275 miles

November 15

We hung out at Starbucks with Becca for a bit, and then headed off to Portland.  A shake at Sonic and a latte later, we arrived at Jana’s parents’ house where Karen hung out for the evening, while I headed out to hang out with my two favorite little men.   377 miles

November 16

I woke up and hung out with my boys while Karen went to Bob’s Red Mill with Jana.  Then we went and hung out downtown some.  We went to Powell’s to wander some and read some Elephant and Piggie books before getting some Thai food from a street vendor.  Then we headed off to WinterJam to see a bunch of bands, but mainly Chris August and Toby Mac.  18 miles

November 17

We woke up early at Jana’s and headed off for Seattle, but not before a stop at Random Order, one of Food and Wine’s best pie places.  We drove through some crazy rain on our way to Shoreline so we could make it to the Wicked show on time.  We had some Chipotle for lunch, followed by an amazing show, followed by some Valhrona Chocolate Cake.   198 miles

Madison to Minneapolis to the Black Hills

November 5

We left Madison headed west for some family time.  We had some grub at Caribou Coffee and Karen spent some time with her grandparents before heading off to her aunt and uncle’s place for some family time and a chill evening.

November 6

We left the cute little town of Northfield (after another stop at the grandparents’ place) and headed toward the big city.  We stopped for some tasty waffles at Buzz coffee and then went to the Mall of America, where we saw a gigantic Dora.  After not too long, we tired of the mall and went to a cute little library where it was homework/chill time.  Then we went to Karen's Uncle Tim and Aunt Diane’s house for some more family time.

Woooo!!!

November 7

We wandered around Minneapolis some more.  We went to the Guthrie Theater and the Mill District in the downtown area.  Then we went to Northwestern for some college apparel.  In the afternoon, Karen went to hang out with a friend and I found a Target, Dollar Tree, and Big Lots to hang out at.  Then we went to dinner at Uncle Ted and Aunt Elaine’s house and went bowling with the family too.  Then we ended the day with some cookies and ice cream at friend Kim’s house.

November 8

We made some pumpkin waffles then left the Twin Cities for Iowa and South Dakota.  We passed by the highest spot in Iowa, then hit a Starbucks in Sioux Falls for a study break.  Then we headed on down the South Dakotan road and spent the night in Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, two miles from the Badlands.

November 9

We headed off to Badlands NP and hiked around some.  It was crazy foggy, so we weren't able to see a ton.  We decided to head for Mount Rushmore anyway, hopeful that it wouldn't be quite so foggy.  Once again, we were fortunate with the weather and the clouds broke long enough for us to get a great view of the presidents.  Then we drove through Custer State Park on our way to Hot Springs, SD.  

Foggy day in Badlands NP

Jackalope at Wall Drug

4 famous guys

Driving through a herd of 74 buffalo

I fit 12 large grapes in my mouth... Just for fun :)

Nashville to Madison

November 2

We awoke in Clarksville and headed to Starbucks for some homework time.  Then we drove up to Bowling Green and had some more coffee shop time.  We had an amazing calzone and went bowling and played air hockey and hit the batting cages.  Then we went to Walmart to sleep.

We're still working on Karen's bowling form

November 3

We left the Walmart in Bowling Green for a Starbucks.  Homework was a little overwhelming this week.  Then we went to Mammoth Cave National Park and went spelunking.  That’s right, we crawled around in caves for close to three hours.  It was a pretty good time, but my knees were shot by the end of it.  Then we drove to Louisville to hit a Hard Rock and slept in yet another Walmart parking lot.

Coral fossil

Impaled!

Good looking spelunkers

 

November 4

We left the town just north of Louisville where we were staying and went to Indianapolis.  We went to a church that met in the public library, so naturally we wandered the library after.  We completed a scavenger hunt, but the lady wouldn’t give me the pencil prize because she said it was just for kids.  Then we went to Hard Rock for lunch.  We continued on down the road to Madison, WI and stayed with Lindsey, Chet, and their new baby Nehemiah.

Chattanooga to Nashville

October 28

We woke up at the KOA near Lookout Mountain and took some cute little highways to Birmingham.  We stopped at the all-important Cracker Barrel for Karen’s token Southern experience.  Then we stopped at a coffee shop for some homework time and went to a cute little bakery for some pie.  We hung out with Mike, Aileen, and Judy McElwain for a good long while. 156 miles

October 29

We spent some quality time with O’Henry’s Coffee, first at the roaster where Mike works, then at the coffee shop where Karen got some quality homework time in.  Then we drove through Alabama to Tuscaloosa for some of Alabama’s great BBQ.  It was indeed fine.  We continued on through Jackson and spent the night in a Vicksburg, MS Walmart parking lot.

October 30

We awoke to a dewy car after a cold night (29 degrees) to the sun shining and a gorgeous day to go through the Vicksburg National Military Park.  The Civil War nerd in me came out some, but not too much and we were out of there in about 2.5 hours.  It probably helped that I drank a ton of liquid and had to pee through pretty much the whole thing.  Then we headed up the famous “Blues Highway” to Memphis.  We had some shakes at Hard Rock and then had some amazing BBQ chicken nachos at Rendezvous.  We briefly met up with Ingrid, but due to her sick little girl, we slept at her place and she stayed at her Granny’s.

Vicksburg National Military Park

October 31

We lazed around Ingrid’s apartment for a long time then headed out to Memphis to go to the Civil Rights Museum.  I decided it wasn’t worth $13, so we took pictures of the outside then left.  Then we went to Arkansas to get a scratch ticket and look for some pie.  We totally struck out on pie though.  Then we went to get some BBQ and ended up back at Ingrid’s killing more time.

Hotel where MLK was shot

November 1

We again lazed a bit at Ingrid’s and then headed down the road to Nashville.  We stopped at Chipotle, REI, and Starbucks before heading to more regional things.  We went to Belle Meade plantation (and saw as much as we could without paying for the tour) and then went into downtown Nashville to go to the Hard Rock.  It was the night of the CMA Awards, so it was a little nuts down there.  Then we headed to Ashley’s house in Clarksville, where Karen went to her first O’Charley’s.

Miami - Orlando - Chattanooga

October 24

We woke up when we felt like and went to play in the waves of the oncoming hurricane Sandy.  We got sufficiently thrashed relatively quickly and sat in the hot tub a bit before heading off to Miami airport to drop Caitlin off and then to Orlando.  We stopped at a good little restaurant in Miami and got a swordfish BLT and a Mahi Mahi sandwich.

October 25

Disneyworld day!!! We got a chill start after some amazing waffles and headed off to the Magic Kingdom.  I ate a turkey leg :)  We went on all the good rides (and the jungle cruise and teacups) and then went to Epcot.  At Epcot was the annual food festival, so we were able to have food from all over the world, including Swedish meatballs, Belgian waffles, churros, an apple tart, and a whole lot of other tasty stuff.  All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good birthday :)

Disney is all Halloween decorated

October 26

We got up early in Orlando and drove at a pretty good clip through Georgia to make it to the Brandon Heath concert in Chattanooga.  It was pretty rad.  We were able to watch most of the concert and we got free t shirts.  J  Then we went to say with my friend Lauren and her husband Josh. 

October 27

Drive to the campground near Lookout Mountain, GA

Chickamauga Civil War battlefield with Lauren and Josh.  After some wandering, we picked up Karen again and went to Fork and Pie.  I had some amazing chicken pot pie and we tried some pecan pie and some chocolate chess pie.  17 miles

Miami and more

October 19
Caitlin (friend from college) flew into Raleigh.  Karen and I went to pick her up after a day of driving and hiking in Shenandoah National Park.

October 20
We drove from the NC/SC border (Little Pee Dee State Park) to Hilton Head and then down to Miami.  We stopped in Savannah for some pecan pie, but totally struck out.

October 21
We sat on the beach at our hotel in Miami.  We pretty much only left for food.  Karen and I got pretty burned, but Caitlin seemed to fare much better.  A movie from Red Box, and super chill day was complete.

sunburn aftermath

October 22
We went over to the Everglades to look for some crocodiles and some fun birds.  Well, the bird watching was less of a draw.  We did see some crocs and went canoeing from the ocean to a lake in some gnarly wind.  We tried to go to Biscayne National Park, but it closed at 5:30 PM :(

Canoeing bliss

croc

October 23
We went to Biscayne in the morning and I went snorkeling and saw some fishies, but mostly just sea grass as we didn't have the time/resources to get out to the coral reef part of the park.  Then we drove down to Key West.  It was a crazy/gorgeous drive.  A couple more snorkeling fails and we decided to just BBQ on the beach and wait for the sunset.  Then we went to go find some legit key lime pie.

in Key West

Key West Sunset

Key West Sunset

Washington DC

We wandered around the nations capital yesterday. We spent a good chunk of time in the holocaust museum. It was just as intense as I remembered as a 12 year old. Then we walked all around the national monuments and saw a tiny bit of the smithsonian museums. We walked about 7 miles plus whatever we did in the museums, but we didn't drive any, so it was a good day.

Chicago doesn't know what hit it...

Oh, that's right. Kate, Karen, and Hannah did.

We wandered all over the place.  Mostly along Michigan Ave, aka the Magnificent Mile.  9.26 miles according to mapmyrun.com... not too shabby.

Pizzeria Uno... JBIC

we made it...

... so far anyway...

Just before running into Lake Michigan

The end of one part of the road trip and the beginning of the part where we don't necessarily know how we'll be getting to the next place.  We have some destinations and some specific times, but suddenly there is much more freedom.  I dig this.

Oklahoma!

So far so good.  Yesterday was an easy day from Grants, NM to Santa Fe.  We went to the balloon museum and just kinda wandered Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
Today we got up and drove 560ish miles to Norman, OK.  Today was filled with a fair amount of reading and re-reading directions to attempt to say on Route 66, but it was good overall.

Grand Canyon

Today we drove from western Arizona to the grand canyon. We drove along the south rim as long as we could and scoped out some hikes for tomorrow.
250 miles

To Arizona...

We started off in San Jose this morning, had breakfast with Jeff and Ethel, and drove 20 minutes to see Stefanie, the UMin intern who lived with my parents my freshman year at UW. After a quick bite to eat, we headed off to Los Angeles to pick up Hannah. Six hours and a couple potty stops later we were at the start of Route 66 at the Santa Monica Pier with Hannah in tow. We were hoping to get to the grand canyon tonight, but that seemed out of reach based on how late we started in LA, so we decides to stay in Kingman, AZ. All in all we drove 725 miles. Tomorrow we will continue on our way to the grand canyon and travel more of the Mother Road.

San Jose

Today we drove the 60ish miles down to San Jose from Walnut Creek, picked Jeff and Ethel up from their hotel, and went to the Winchester Mystery House.  It was interesting. 

Some random WMH facts...
160 rooms
40 bedrooms
47 fireplaces
13 of a whole lot of things because it was the crazy lady's favorite number
6 kitchens
$5.5 million to construct

Fairly normal from the outside...

Due to the events of the day, we only drove 70ish miles...

Oregon coast to the SF Bay area

9/17
Portland
Tillamook (ice cream!!!!)
Down the Oregon coast on highway 101
Eureka, CA
499 miles

Karen at Tillamook, FINALLY!!

Yeah we got in a little car that took cheese all around...

9/18
Eureka to the Redwoods
Highway 101 to Walnut Creek to hang out with my favorite Godparents :-)
222 miles

I drove the car on a tree

Life is a circus

So, after hanging in Seattle for a bit and unpacking and repacking vehicles, I went to my first (and only) Husky game of the season.

Karen's first Husky game (or any football game for that matter)

Karen and I then drove from Seattle to Portland... pretty uneventful driving day.

While I Portland, I left Karen to hang out with her BFF from Suriname and I hung out with my two favorite young men...

"Angry" Owen

"Happy" Josh

We went to the circus, which was a little overwhelming, but pretty rad.

Who doesn't love it when Elephants sit on stools?

So tomorrow it's off to Tillamook and beyond!! :)

Back in Seattle... For now...

So after deciding on the road that I really wanted to just be back in Seattle, Karen, Hannah, and I booked it pretty hardcore to the lake house.

Day 1 Haines - Tok (added Karen) - Chicken 501 Miles
Day 2 Chicken - Dawson City - Whitehorse 427 Miles
Day 3 Whitehorse - Watson Lake - Kitwanga 715 Miles
Day 4 Kitwanga - Prince George - Marble Canyon 568 Miles
Day 5 Marble Canyon - Whistler (COWS!!) - Parents' Lake House 285 Miles
Total = 2496 Miles with Hannah Roberts and (most of them) Karen Henspeter

We played tourist in the city on Friday, going to the original Starbucks, Seattle Public Library, and REI. Yesterday Hannah left for Denver on the morning train, Karen and I went to the Seattle Sounders game, then I dropped her off at the airport.

Now it's the waiting game all over again. I'll catch up with my people here in the Seattle area, then hit the road again next Saturday after I take (force) Karen to her first real football game (GO HUSKIES!!). Then it's off to Portland and beyond!