Finished
This is the final Blog entry. Thanks for all the comments. We enjoyed reading and took support from all of them. I leave with a quotation attributed to Mark Twain:
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines sail away from the safe harbor catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Thanks,
Gary and Jani
Friday August 18th thru Thursday August 24th
We spent Friday morning driving around the Lancaster area. The Amish have beautiful farms. It’s fun to get a glimpse of how they live but I feel a little guilty, like a Peeping Tom staring through the bedroom window. They have many things for sale: vegetables; prepared foods; quilts; and furniture. Hopefully they make a decent return for having so many people watching them. In the afternoon we drove west and spent the night at a freeway rest stop somewhere in the middle of Ohio.
Saturday we drove all day and spent the night outside Rochester, Minnesota. The miles were drawn out by having to stop at all the toll booths especially around Chicago.
Sunday was another all day drive to Badlands National Park southeast of Rapid City, South Dakota. We were tired from 2 ½ days of driving but satisfied at having finished over half of the homeward journey.
Monday morning we toured the Badlands. I have some memories from when I was there in 1964 and the return visit didn’t disappoint. We have a much better appreciation for that kind of scenery from having visited Death Valley several times. In the afternoon we continued on to Mt. Rushmore, another place I last saw 42 years ago. It was impressive to see the mountain especially since we had visited the homes Washington and Jefferson, and the birthplace of Lincoln. The ½ mile loop trail at the base got away from the crowds and gave really interesting perspectives of the statue. We got a campsite at a Forest Service Campground just down the hill from Rushmore which was convenient since we returned later that evening to see the illumination ceremony. The lighting of the heads was impressive against the black sky.
The Badlands
Mount Rushmore
Tuesday morning we took a 1.5 hour underground tour of Jewel Cave National Monument. The cave is the second longest in the world with over 135 miles of mapped passageways of which we traveled a half mile. It’s a limestone cavern with fascinating crystal formations. I’m a little claustrophobic but wasn’t bothered since the passageways are large enough to walk through. After the cave we continued on to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. It also compared very well with my childhood memories. There were quite a few people at the visitor’s center but we got away from all but a few by hiking around the base of the tower.
Wednesday we drove to Missoula then home on Thursday.
Devils Tower
I’m in the process of catching up on everything after being gone for ten weeks but still hope to make good use of my remaining time off.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines sail away from the safe harbor catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Thanks,
Gary and Jani
Friday August 18th thru Thursday August 24th
We spent Friday morning driving around the Lancaster area. The Amish have beautiful farms. It’s fun to get a glimpse of how they live but I feel a little guilty, like a Peeping Tom staring through the bedroom window. They have many things for sale: vegetables; prepared foods; quilts; and furniture. Hopefully they make a decent return for having so many people watching them. In the afternoon we drove west and spent the night at a freeway rest stop somewhere in the middle of Ohio.
Saturday we drove all day and spent the night outside Rochester, Minnesota. The miles were drawn out by having to stop at all the toll booths especially around Chicago.
Sunday was another all day drive to Badlands National Park southeast of Rapid City, South Dakota. We were tired from 2 ½ days of driving but satisfied at having finished over half of the homeward journey.
Monday morning we toured the Badlands. I have some memories from when I was there in 1964 and the return visit didn’t disappoint. We have a much better appreciation for that kind of scenery from having visited Death Valley several times. In the afternoon we continued on to Mt. Rushmore, another place I last saw 42 years ago. It was impressive to see the mountain especially since we had visited the homes Washington and Jefferson, and the birthplace of Lincoln. The ½ mile loop trail at the base got away from the crowds and gave really interesting perspectives of the statue. We got a campsite at a Forest Service Campground just down the hill from Rushmore which was convenient since we returned later that evening to see the illumination ceremony. The lighting of the heads was impressive against the black sky.
The Badlands
Mount Rushmore
Tuesday morning we took a 1.5 hour underground tour of Jewel Cave National Monument. The cave is the second longest in the world with over 135 miles of mapped passageways of which we traveled a half mile. It’s a limestone cavern with fascinating crystal formations. I’m a little claustrophobic but wasn’t bothered since the passageways are large enough to walk through. After the cave we continued on to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. It also compared very well with my childhood memories. There were quite a few people at the visitor’s center but we got away from all but a few by hiking around the base of the tower.
Wednesday we drove to Missoula then home on Thursday.
Devils Tower
I’m in the process of catching up on everything after being gone for ten weeks but still hope to make good use of my remaining time off.
posted by Gary and Jani at 10:55 AM
1 Comments:
Gary,
Welcome home! Looks like you had a great (fast) trip home. Coincidently I was at the Badlands in 1964 during the Summer. I've never been to the Grand Canyon, so the Badlands are (is?) the biggest hole in the ground I've ever seen. It sounds like the Jewel Caves were worth the stop. When I was there they turned out all the light at one point. I'm not claustrophobic either, but when the lights went out it wasn't relaxing!
See you at work, (soon)
GPW
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