| Overview |
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 |
|
- Day 1 (July 28, 2001) - The trip began with an 11 hour dash from San Francisco to Salt Lake City
passing through Nevada along the way.
|
|
|
|
- Day 2 (July 29, 2001) - Today we visited the Salt Lake City's Temple Square. It was quite impressive.
Next we headed north and into Idaho for a bit before turning East and passing through Montana on the way to Yellowstone.
|
 |
 |
|
- Day 3 (July 30, 2001) - Today we spent almost the entire day driving around Yellowstone. It was absolutely beautiful. We saw
old faithful, breathtaking waterfalls, beautiful lakes and lots of buffalo roaming the land. We finally left Yellowstone in the early
evening and started to make our way toward Devils Tower which is in the Northeast corner of wyoming. We made it as far as Laurel, Montana
before deciding to call it a night.
|
 |
 |
|
- Day 4 (July 31, 2001) - We left Laurel at about 9am and headed back for Wyoming to see Devils Tower. Along the way
we stopped at a place called Grannie's Kitchen for lunch. One of our many goals on this trip is to avoid fast food altogether
and to try to eat only at local restaurants when we eat out. Anyway, the food at Grannie's Kitchen wasn't much to write home
about but the people were very nice and the atmosphere was very Wyoming. We made it to Devils tower by the afternoon
and then headed further East to South Dakota where we visited Mt. Rushmore. We called it a night in a little tourist town just a few miles away from Mt.
Rushmore called Keystone.
|
 |
 |
|
- Day 5 (August 1, 2001) - Today we headed straight for the Crazy Horse monument. Ikuko suggested that we go and I'm really glad
she did. I had no idea how immense and inspiring it is. The second photo to the right shows the 1/34th scale model
of what the finished monument will look like in the foreground and the beginnings of the actual monument in the background (about a
mile away) with only the face of Crazy Horse completed. The face alone is about 9 stories tall! The story of both Crazy Horse and
of the original sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski,were incredible. You can check out more about it at their web site by clicking
here. Anyway, after we finished touring the Crazy Horse monument,
we hopped in the car and headed east for a very long and boring ride across South Dakota. Along the way,
while Ikuko was taking her turn at the wheel, I was looking at the maps and decided to make a slight change in plans so that
we can visit the Lincoln Home in Illinois. The slight detour will take us a little further south than
we originally planned and through two extra states: Kansas and Missouri...
|
 |
 |
|
- Day 6 (August 2, 2001) - Today was relatively uneventful. We stayed the night last night in Council Bluffs, Iowa; a pretty scummy
city across the Missouri river from Omaha, Nebraska. In the morning
we crossed into Nebraska briefly and then went back into Iowa to head south toward Kansas City. At Kansas City we made
another brief run across the river into Kansas before heading east toward St. Louis. We stopped in St. Louis briefly to check out the gateway
arch and grab a bite to eat before heading on to Springfield, Illinois where we turned in for the night.
|
 |
 |
|
- Day 7 (August 3, 2001) - We got up early and headed straight for the Lincoln monuments. It was all very interesting. We saw
the home that Lincoln and his wife bought and lived in for 17 years before he became president; the law office where he worked as a lawyer
before becoming president; the old state capitol; and the tomb where he is buried. After that we headed for Indiana to meet a friend
that I met on the Internet and with whom I regularly play email chess. We've known each other for four years but never met until now; a sign
of the times I guess. He and his wife have a beautiful home in Indiana. After visiting and talking with them for a few hours we headed on to
Cincinnati to spend a few days with my family.
|
 |
 |
|
| Overview |
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 |
