Day 12 - Nebraska or "None of this was supposed to happen"

The original plan was to go from SE Missouri over to Kansas City and call it a night. Then we'd wake up in the morning go to the Truman Library, cruise over into Kansas to see TruckHenge and the Eisenhower Library before making our way to Denver for the evening. All of that got scrapped as you've already discovered.

Instead we decided to spent some quality time with a new friend of mine, Nebraska. In the end the change was for the best as we got to see some amazing stuff and still ended up in Denver on time.

Before we left Lincoln we rolled back into Downtown because I'd noticed a pretty cool building the day before, but we couldn't really see it that well because of the storm. Turns out it was the state capitol building.

After that we were off on our way west into the panhandle. Dad and I both agree, it's kinda fat to be a panhandle, but that's what they call it. The sky was still a little dreary, but there was hope on the horizon and we kept good thoughts that it was going to all push east or just dissipate.

I don't think there is a flatter or straighter road in existence than I-80 between Lincoln and the Platte River. It became rather redundant but we made good time. We reached Ogallala just about lunch time and headed northwest.

Our first point of interest was Chimney Rock. If you've ever played the Oregon Trail then you've heard of Chimney Rock. It was a major landmark along the wagon route west. We were about 10 miles away when we first spotted it (after miss identifying it a couple of times). As we got closer it was without a doubt our destination.

They had a little visitors center there, not much to speak of really. Surprisingly it's listed as a National Historic Site but it's not managed by the NPS. The Nebraska Historical Society was running the show, so it wasn't as decked out as I thought it would be but they had some interesting stuff and the rock itself was still worthwhile to see.

Our next stop wasn't too far away, about 20 miles, Scott's Bluff National Monument. This was amazing. We could already see it shortly after leaving Chimney and as we got closer I started to realize how massive this thing really was.

The little museum there wasn't much to speak of either, but the museum wasn't even really needed in my opinion. The land was the real spectacle. So we headed up the bluff on this little road. Dad wasn't entirely thrilled about the steep cliff off the side of the road, but he soldiered Atlas up to the top. The view up there went on forever. We started down a little trail to a vista. Dad turned back a little early, but I went all the way out and it was well worth it.

In the end I thought Nebraska was top notch. Well not so much the middle, but either side was exciting in my experience. But alas our time in the cornhusker state had to come to an end. We traveled south into Wyoming for a short while. I'd never been to Wyoming. In fact a good friend of mine once rationalized a theory that Wyoming doesn't really exist and it made a lot of sense. If his theory is correct we weren't really in Wyoming but instead a combination of Nebraska and Colorado. They had a sign though.

Real or not, it's a strange place. I think the weirdest thing I saw in our short time was a giant religious statue in this square of sorts overlooking an RV park.

Its kind of irrelevant in the scheme of things because we weren't there for more than 30 minutes, the shortest time we'll spend in any state (well they may have spent less time in WV on the way out), before we hit Colorado.

I didn't expect much from Colorado at this point (the good stuff would be tomorrow) and there really isn't much to say about it. The nice thing was that you could tell the landscape was changing and there were peaks visible on the horizon, something I'd not seen since leaving Seattle.

In Denver we stayed with some old friend of my Dad's that he hadn't seen in years. I can't begin to tell you how hospitable they were, but I will say we had steak and shrimp for dinner. Delicious. After we ate I decided to run into downtown since I wouldn't get another chance and it seemed like they were going to chat the night away.

Before I left 16th Street Mall was briefly mentioned but I didn't think much of it. I just hit I-25 again and decided to see where it led me. Funny thing is, somehow I ended up on the 16th Street Mall.

Probably the best place I could've been because the place was hopping. The whole street is closed to wheeled vehicles with a few exceptions and littered with shops, restaurants and bars. If I hadn't had been driving I'm sure I'd have gotten myself into trouble. But with the keys in my pocket I kept a clear head and just walked about a mile down and back up. I saw the capitol building and the mint along with various street performance, squares, etc. The bummer is that my camera didn't work so well at night and most of them turned out too blurry to even bother posting. Here's one of the more decent shots.

Oh yeah, then I went back and went to sleep. But you probably could have guessed that.

Day 11 - Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska or "The Arch, The Library and The Storm"

It was in the low 70s when we woke up, perfect weather to walk around the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, better known as the St Louis Gateway Arch. But first we had to get there. Since we did a little extra driving the night before all we really had to do was cross the Mississippi and we were there. It was visible within about 15 minutes.

Then for the first time in my life I saw the Mississippi River. I wasn't terribly impressed. It was narrower and slower than the Columbia. Maybe I just have high expectations. As we crossed the river we also crossed into Missouri.

The Gateway Arch is situated as the focal point of a beautiful park. I thought that the landscaping was very well done. Both sides of the park were completely symmetrical, With the exception of the placement of the ponds. It was starting to warm up, but there were trees everywhere to block out the oppressive sun.

Up close the Arch is something else. I don't really know how to describe it so I'll just show you.

Underneath is a whole museum dedicated to all things relating to western expansion. I found it really interesting. I think we spent an hour just meandering about. 

We thought about going up the Arch, but it would have taken an hour and neither of us were really feeling it, we also had a lot more things to see before the days end. So after the museum we walked around the park a little bit more and then headed out for the long haul across Missouri.

Missouri was boring to be honest with you. I spent most of the time playing my Gameboy. I love that the Gameboy I've had for 15 years still works. It's kind of my touchstone when it comes to traveling. It's perfect for when the scenery becomes monotonous. 

Our next stop was in Independence, on the other side of the state. While trying to find Truman's Presidential Library we stumbled upon this epic Mormon compound. The center piece of which was a giant spire. 

Once we got back on track we found the library. There was a couple of different movies we could have watched, but I've already seen a 3 hour documentary on Truman and Dad's read an extensive biography so we thought it'd just be things we already knew. However the exhibits were great. 

I have so many more pics over on my flickr page, feel free to check them out. I learned a few things that I didn't know prior. For instance, Truman and his wife were the first two Americans to receive Medicare cards. And now you know too.

After the library it was time for some Kansas City BBQ. Rebecca sent us the address to a place that she wanted us to pick up some rub so we figured it was as good as any to eat at. And it was. I liked the fact that it was smoked, which also meant it wasn't drenched in BBQ sauce. You could really taste the meat itself. Good coleslaw too. Kind of like kim chi. 

Now the next stop on our trip, Brown v Board of Education National Historic Site, unfortunately closed too early for us to make it in time. I think it would have been interesting, it's housed in an old segregated school, but oh well. These things happen. So we cruised through Kansas for only a short while. Then it was up to Nebraska. I had no idea I was going to love Nebraska. 

But in the end how could I not? It has so much CORN!!!!

The crazy thing in Nebraska was the weather. The mercury had risen to nearly triple digits and it was just plain balmy. Until we noticed some dark clouds forming on the horizon.

Only an hour later we were in the middle of the most intense thunderstorm I'd ever been in. Rain was pouring down on the car heavy than going through a car wash. Lightning was flashing in all directions around us. Many times Dad had to slow to about 20mph on the highway, because visibility was nothing. 

Not the best picture, but you get the idea. Right behind us your could still see the sky

I also have about 45 minutes of video footage from this whole event, but I'm going to need to figure out how to edit it down. Probably not till I get back, sorry.

Once the storm cleared up we were able to make good time to Lincoln, NE where we found a room and hunkered down for the night. At one point I tried to do some laundry, but there was no soap in the motel so I had to walk over to the gas station. Bad idea. Mind you it was only about 1/2 a block away but by the time I got there I was soaked to the bone. The storm had decided it was time for round two and I foolishly went out into it. Doh! The worst part was they didn't even have laundry soap. Ugh. Good thing I could make it another day. 

***I apologize if this is littered with spelling and grammatical errors. I will fix them in time. Right now I'm struggling to stay awake. Must sleep. I can't believe that I feel more sleep deprived on vacation than I usually do at work***

Day 10 - West Virginia, Kentucky, Indian, and Illinois or "The Birthplace and The Subterranean."

We started off the morning in West Virginia, but it wasn't long before we hit Kentucky.

I was pleasantly surprised with how beautiful Kentucky was. I guess I expected it to be one large rural slum, which it definitely was not. Funny how we get these ideas in our heads.

Most of what we saw was farm land. There wasn't any one crop that seemed to dominate the landscape but the one thing we saw that we didn't see else where was tobacco.

The first destination that we had was Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace. We were about 15 miles from there when we came across Lincoln's boyhood home. It was just a small log cabin, but it was interesting to see the inside and how people lived at that time. Very minimalist. It also turned out to be a good thing that we stopped to get a view of the inside, but we wouldn't know that until later.

Then we made out way to the main historic site.

This was pretty cool and disappointing at the same time. The Visitor Center had some great stuff about his early life and what it was like to live on the frontier. However the actually memorial (I had no idea that this was also the first national memorial to him predating the one in Washington by a decade) was undergoing renovations so we weren't able to go inside. Zut Alors! Good thing we saw the interior of the other cabin;.

After that we grabbed a quick bite on the road and bombed down to Mammoth Caves

The caves were so cool. Both figuratively and literally, it was a perfect 54 degrees inside, which was very welcome being as had been in the mid 90s for a few days. If any of you find yourself in Kentucky, make a point to check this out and tour some of the caves. It's time well spent. The cave system is almost 400 miles in its entirety. We did the "Historic Tour" which starts at the largest natural entrance to the caves.

The only thing that it was missing was stalactites and stalagmites. However the ranger told us that those do exist in various parts of the caves, namely on the "New Entrance Tour", just not where we were. At the same time, the massive rooms, bottomless pits, and wall formations were more than enough to impress.

Not much to speak of after the caves. We decided to alter the plan a little bit and head up closer to St Louis so we'd be in better position for the Arch in the morning. On the way we passed through Indiana and Illinois but it was dark so there isn't much to say about it. 

Oh wait! For the first time the whole trip Dad finally gave up behind the wheel and I ended up driving for about 150 miles. Mostly because he got some massive blisters in DC and the 2 miles in the caves didn't help at all. Atlas (I've told him that we need to finalize the results btw) is an interesting ride. I don't think it was really designed for people of my height, but I've driven much worse so I can't really complain. 

The one other thing I've found that I'll let you in on is lodging coupons. At every rest stop they have little magazine like things advertising lodging in the area. These are a great way to find deals on rooms. We've trimmed down the lodging budget substantially because of them. 

Hopefully I'll have enough energy to get today's post up too, but it seems to be taking forever to upload the pictures. We'll see.

Day 9 - Washington DC, Maryland, and West Virginia or "Final musings on the Capitol and then there were two."

Sunday morning I woke up later than everyone else. Apparently there was a scene while the two of them had breakfast but I wasn't a part of that. Once Dad's laundry was wrapped up we were off to Comet Pizza for some lunch.

The pizza was pretty good. Rebecca and I both preferred The Smokey, while Dad liked The Slam better. The cool part about the place was the decor. I don't have many shots from lunch so I'm hoping that Dad or Rebecca can fill in some images here. There's also some pics on the twitter feed you can check out.

After that we headed out to Arlington and the Iwo Jima Marine Memorial. It was much bigger than I had expected.

Nearby there was the Dutch Carillon, a gift to US for helping out in WWII. Just as we were approaching it the bells all started to sound. It really completed the experience, without that it would have been a little disappointing.

Next we cruised past the Air Force Memorial and the Pentagon, sorry no pics. Then it was back into DC to check out the Jefferson Memorial. On the way we ran into George Mason.

Jefferson was cool, but also a little disappointing. They're rebuilding the seawall so there was a lot of construction going on. From the previews I saw it's going to be impressive when it's all finished. Unfortunately it made it so we had to park a ways out and the heat in DC was killer, which made us all that much more irritable. I didn't get too many pics here, but I'm sure Rebecca can supplement what I've got.

After that we were running out of time and had to load up the car and get up to BWI so Rebecca could catch her flight. It was great that we were able to over lap for a little while, but after a week on the road I think she was ready to go home.

The rest of the day/evening was spent driving from BWI to Dunbar, WV. By the time we got there we were both spent. I stayed up a bit later fighting the horrible wi-fi connection before finally just giving up on the whole thing.

DC through my lens

Just so we're clear, Adam's a pretty decent photographer. His experience as an artist (incredibly talented painter!) serve him well in the photographic medium. But I took the better equipment home with me. ;) Though he tried hard to talk me into leaving it! Love that boy, but I have plans for that camera this weekend! As previously mentioned, while the guys were at the rally, I hooked up with some of my photographer friends in Georgetown. After a tasty and fun lunch at Filomena, we headed out to play with our cameras a bit.

Kim let me try out her 35mm L lens. (Canon shooters will appreciate the deliciousness of this!)


Then Michele suggested I check out her 20mm wide angle lens - WHOA! Everything fits in the frame!


Including my toes!


After hanging with them until about 6pm, I jumped back the metro to meet up with the guys. We grabbed a quick Qdoba dinner and headed out to tour the monuments at night. We took the scenic route which is how the poor dad ended up with blisters nearly the size of my palm! I was beat from walking around Georgetown, but got some cool shots that night.

Capitol Building


Washington Monument from the side we approached (opposite Lincoln)


Washington Monument + Vietnam War Memorial


There are lots more on my computer, but this is it so far! Enjoy!