Day Seventeen: The Corn is as High as an Elephant’s Eye

With a not so early start today (we had fewer miles to drive today), we left Iowa and headed east. This was our view as we hit the road (which has kind of been our view for the last couple mornings):

Very soon, we crossed the Mississippi and entered into Illinois – this time we actually had a sign welcoming us:

We continued driving across Illinois (and avoiding Chicago).  The following was our view when we ate lunch at one of the Rest Areas of Highway 74. It added a little je ne sais quoi to our lunch:

On we travelled across Illinois – swinging by Peoria:

And lots and lots of corn:

Eventually, we crossed into Indiana:

And after driving through the country, we finally arrived in Bloomington.  After settling in at our hotel, we went to downtown Bloomington for dinner:

Tomorrow, we take our tour of Indiana University and then travel to Cincinnati to connect with friends.

Happy journeys!

Mike

Read More

Day Sixteen: You Ought to Give Iowa a Try…

This morning we left Mitchell, South Dakota and headed south to Iowa. As we got to Iowa, the countryside began to change from the flat plains to gently rolling hills. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I was back in upstate New York.

We saw lots of corn and soybeans as we travelled from one side of the state to the other. We drove past Des Moines, the state capital:

On our way across Iowa, we started making up character names when we came to an exit with two town names. Some of the interesting characters we came up with today include Emery Farmer, Salem Yankton, Davis Hurley, and Colfax Mingo!

Being the huge Star Trek dork that I am, it’s no surprise that I would know that Riverside, Iowa was the birthplace of James T. Kirk. And as it happened, we would be driving within twenty or so miles on our way across Iowa, So I begged my family and if only to shut me off, we took a detour to visit.

The first thing you notice when you enter Riverside are the banners:

We pulled into town and found the Voyage Home Museum:

Although they were actually close, the kind people re-opened it so we could go in. And I was like a kid in a candy store:

It looks like someone might not be coming back from this away mission

We travelled into town and I paid homage to the birthplace of James Tiberious Kirk:

Riverside also hosts its own Trek convention in June and they have a number of cast members who have attended (Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, and Walter Koenig).  The convention information is here: http://trekfest.com

We hopped in the car and continued east to Davenport. But as we approached Davenport, we were also trying to outrun a storm:

Fortunately, we made it our hotel before the storm!

Tomorrow, we leave Iowa, cross Illinois (but go nowhere near Chicago), and arrive at Bloomington, Indiana so that we can visit Indiana University.

Happy journeys!

Mike

Read More

Day Fifteen: Life is a Highway

Another early day on the road. We left Sheridan, Wyoming and headed out on the road. Today we crossed two states and two time zones. And while our trip yesterday from Montana to Wyoming was filled with varied scenery, Once we left Wyoming, the scenery was much less varied:

Pretty much plains in every direction, occasionally broken by interesting hills or rock formations, but mostly plains like this:

And I know it sounds boring, and I won’t lie, that sometimes it was. But getting the chance to drive across the country mile by mile has been worth it. I really have an appreciation for how big this country of ours really is. That gets lost when you hop on a jet and hours later, you can be halfway across the country, skipping any number of states and time zones. It’s fascinating to see the differences and similarities in our country and I never would have seen that from a plane.

In all of the great adventure stories, the bulk of the story is the travel to get to the ultimate destination and how that travel changes the protagonist. I’m not sure how I’m changed exactly yet, but I have forgotten my work problems and although there is a level of stress in driving, it no way resembles the stress I felt before I left.  Travel has a way of making you feel very small and insignificant by making you feel connected to the greater world.

Tomorrow, we’re back on the road and heading across South Dakota, Minnesota, and into Iowa.

Happy journeys!

Mike

 

Read More

Day Fourteen: Wild Montana Skies, Part II

Today, we packed up the Cube and started the trek from Missoula to Sheridan, Wyoming.  Not long after we left Missoula, we saw a billboard for “Testicle Festival” (unfortunately, no picture). Later on, with more than a little trepidation, I later googled it and according to Wikipedia, it’s a festival geared around eating deep fried…well, you get it.  That certainly was an interesting way to start the day.

Driving through Montana is a study in landscapes: on the west side, it’s all mountains and hills ; on the east it’s plains.

We did stop for lunch in Bozeman, Montana. And since everything does revolve around Star Trek, Bozeman will be the scene of First Contact a couple of hundred years:

A variety of the scenery we saw on the way:

We passed by the site of the Battle of Little Big Horn and elected not to stop because we had a long day of driving. We finally entered Wyoming (we missed the sign on our way in the first time):

We made it our stop in Sheridan, Wyoming and had a good meal. Tomorrow, we travel to Mitchell, South Dakota.

Happy journeys,

Mike

Read More

Day Thirteen: Homeward Bound

Today, we turned around and started our way back home. We liked Seattle and wished we could have spent more time there, but it was time to start back. Today was the mirror of Day 10; this time driving from Seattle to Missoula, Montana. I got the lucky job of driving out of Seattle at 8:00 this morning. The parking lot cleverly disguised as a freeway was where I had to go first thing this morning:

We eventually clawed our way through the traffic and escaped Seattle and drove across Washington:

I also got to take over the driving just outside of Spokane, so I can say that I’ve officially unlocked the “Washington Urban Driving Achievement”.

We continued through Idaho (including a lovely section of one lane road where we got stuck behind a tractor trailer laboring up the mountains ) and finally reached Missoula.  When we were here on Sunday, we ate at the Iron Horse Grill – we loved it so much that we ate there again tonight, even though it wasn’t close to our hotel. And we weren’t disappointed – another great meal:

Tomorrow, we’re off to Sheridan, Wyoming.

Happy journeys,

Mike

Read More

Day Twelve: To Boldly Go

Today was our day to  visit Seattle. Our first stop was the Experience Music Project Museum. Luckily for me, it was hosting a Star Trek Exhibit. Here’s the museum:

Our first stop in the museum was an exhibit on Indie Games (computer). We played a number of very cool and kind of addictive games.

But then, we went to the part I’ve been looking forward to since we decided we were traveling out west:

And after climbing the stairs – I was pretty much in Nerdvana:

Here’s a picture of me getting a little downtime with my fellow Borg:

And here’s me fantasizing about my dream job: A Starship Engineer crawling around the Jeffries Tubes to fix something:

Also housed at the Experience Music Project are the Science Fiction and Fantasy Halls of Fame (which also included Horror as well). Here are a handful of the exhibits:

From the Princess Bride (and the katana from Highlander):

From the Wizard of Oz:

Lord of The Rings:

From Doctor Who:

From Buffy the Vampire Slayer (The stake on top is “Mr. Pointy”):

One of the panels from Frankenstein:

And a Proton Pack from Ghostbusters:

The mask from Creature From The Black Lagoon:

And last, but certainly not least, a helmet from one of the French Knights in Monty Python and The Holy Grail:

And just so you don’t think we did anything else but spend the day in the museum, we also went to the top of the Space Needle:

And here are a number of pictures from the top:

After our aerial view of Seattle, we met a friend of my wife’s and went to Pike Place Market:

And the Pike Brewing Company for food and adult beverages:

Gentle reader, consider yourself lucky that I was relatively restrained in the number of pictures I posted as I think I took a picture of nearly every single exhibit in the Star Trek, Fantasy, and Science Fiction exhibits!

Tomorrow, we save farewell to Seattle and begin our trek back east.

Happy journeys!

Mike

Read More

Day Eleven: Huskeytown

Today, we toured the University of Washington – the true goal of our trip. Here’s a hasty picture I took of the entrance:

We went to the Husky Union Building and from there, took our tour of the campus. It was quite a bit different than I expected. I don’t know what I expected, but I didn’t expect it to look so old.  Here are just a few of the buildings we saw:

We went to  Suzzallo Library:

Which on the inside was either Hogwarts:

or the Maester’s Citadel from Game of Thrones:

Here’s a picture of the fountain on campus created when Seattle had the World’s Fair (1962):

If you squint hard, the  whitish/grey stuff to the right of the fountain is Mount Rainier.

We went to the Sylvan Grove that holds four pillars from the original building of the University of Washington when it was actually in downtown Seattle:

The tradition is that you touch on of the pillars during Freshman Orientation and touch one again when you graduate.

We wrapped up at the HUB where we finished the tour.  Later in the afternoon, we took a tour of one of the residence halls, and it was much nicer than my Freshman dorm room! They also had so many amenities in the residence halls like kitchens, game rooms, a recording studio, a lab with 3D printers, soldering irons, wood working and sewing equipment, in addition to your usual TV and study lounges. Almost makes me want to go back to college!

Tonight we had an actual home cooked dinner in our suite (which was great!). Tomorrow we head to the Experience Music Project and the Space Needle in downtown Seattle.

WARNING: There may be an unhealthy collection of Star Trek related photos tomorrow. You’ve been warned!

Happy journeys

Mike

 

Read More