Minneapolis and Lambeau Field

What a difference a state makes!  The drive through Minnesota to Minneapolis was definitely not as scenic as our previous drives.  It got very flat and looked very much like driving on the 401!.  We made it to Minneapolis in a couple of hours from St. James.  Our first stop was the Mall of America.  Oh my!!!!!  I knew it was big, but who knew it would be that big!  An amusement park in the centre of it!

They also have a mini golf area, an aquarium, a casino, an entire level dedicated to restaurants (and I'm not talking about food court type ones), 3 levels of shopping and at least 3 Starbucks!  We walked around for an hour and a half or so before heading out to find our hotel in downtown Minneapolis.  We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Northstar for the night.  I know I said that Super 8's were pretty good to us, but this was such a nice change.  It was nice to be in a real hotel again!  We had a great corner room with a great view of the city.

 

And they had a great fitness room!  We headed out for a walk around downtown.  I can't believe what a real "big" city feel it had, even though the population is only just a bit more than London, Ontario.  We found ourselves on a patio on Nicollet Mall for happy hour.  Had some great appetizers and wine!  The place was packed.  We realized that we hadn't been to a city in a long time - just hanging out in little cowboy towns for the past week or so!

Statue of Mary Tyler Moore

The pub we had our happy hour at!

We sadly left our little perch at The Local and walked the streets for a while.  Some neat buildings were found. 

We went back to the hotel to have a glass of wine and relax before dinner.  The Minnesota Basketball State Championships were going on at the Target Center (a few blocks from our hotel) so there were a lot of kids around the area.  We walked down to the Target Center.  Amazing building.  Again, right in the middle of town.  This is where the NBA Timberwolves and MLB Twins play their home games.

The city itself is really quite beautiful.  When we left this morning we drove out to the Whole Foods Market so I could get some food that I can't get in Belleville.  We drove by a beautiful area that had a lake surrounded by a walking/running/bike path.  Right in the middle of the city!!!!!!  I think it would be a great city to go back to and spend a lot more time exploring!

We drove for a couple of hours this morning before getting to Lambeau Field in Green Bay!  What football fan would not want to see this place?????  It was really cool to see.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the field, but we were able to walk around the atrium and see the statues out front!

When we left the stadium, we were on a hunt for a Cheese Factory.  We couldn't go to Wisconsin without getting some cheese!  Found a place just as we were about to cross the border to Michigan.!!!!!

So now we are in Escanaba, Michigan.  It is a cute town in the Upper Penisula of Michigan.  We are finally back to the Eastern Time Zone!  And, more importantly, we are sitting in our hotel room (not quite ready for dinner because of the hour time zone change) sipping on wine (because we are always ready for wine, regardless of what time zone we are in) watching HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA!!!!!!  Good thing they aren't showing us the Leafs though!

Tomorrow we will be in Elliot Lake (as long as the border patrol doesn't detain us)!  And back in Belleville on Tuesday.  I'm looking forward to so many things about being back home - my bed, friends, Newman, home cooking - but I'm going to miss seeing so many different places.  I think I might do one more post on this little blog of mine once I get back to Belleville.  Sort of a reflection of things on our trip.

Until then....

Enjoy!

Mount Rushmore and The Badlands

Sad to say goodbye to Livingston!  We had a couple great days there, but we had to move on!  Rapid City here we come!!!!!  The drive was once again fabulous.  Weather was great for driving and the views were beautiful with changing scenery all the time!

When we got to Rapid City, we decided to go straight to Mount Rushmore.  It was an easy drive off the main highway.  It is a pretty impressive piece of artistry.  Perhaps I would have stayed longer to enjoy it if I was an American.  But, I'm not.  So we just took the mandatory touristy pics and headed out!

Part of the drive to Mount Rushmore took us through the sleepy cowboy town of Keystone.  It was very cute.  But also very deserted - being non-tourist season, I guess!

We stayed at a nice place with a pool, water slide and fitness room.  Casey went to the pool and I went to the treadmill.  I still can't believe what altitude does to me when I am running!  My legs said "go" but my dizzy head said "stop".  I can't wait to get back down to a normal altitude so I can do a nice run!!!!!!  After our respective relaxation choices we went to dinner.  The hotel guy mentioned a local brew pub downtown called the Firehouse Brewery.  It seemed like a good choice.  We have been having great luck at these local pubs the past few days so we went with his recommendation.  It was good.  I had another tuna salad.  Probably shouldn't have tuna again for a while!  Casey had a chicken pasta.  Both were really good, but we like the one in Livingston better!  Back to our room for a good night sleep before heading to The Badlands National Park in the morning.

We woke up today to much warmer temps!  Still not as warm as home though!  Hit the road to visit the town of Wall, South Dakota before heading to the Badlands.  Wall is famous for its pharmacy.  It still sells coffee for 5 cents!!!!  We were the only ones in the town!!!!  I bet it is much busier in the summer!!!!

And then on to The Badlands.  I apologize, once again, for the numerous pics I'm going to post.  But, you just can't imagine how beautiful it really is.  And the wildlife!  To be so close to these animals is amazing!

Casey wanted to get closer but I yelled at him to get back in the car!!!!

I didn't know what a Prairie Dog was, but I do now!  How cute are they?!?!
 

And here are some of the views.  I hope you can get a sense of the colours in the rocks.  It was way cool!

We left the Badlands and headed for Minnesota.  Crossed another time zone today.  We are now in St. James, Minnesota at a Super 8.  We have discovered that Super 8 Motels are actually pretty nice places to stay!  Tomorrow we will be in Minneapolis.  Should get there nice and early.  Casey is really excited about going to The Mall Of America!  When we leave Minneapolis, we will head through Wisconsin.  Probably stop at some cheese places (I hope) and definitely Lambeau Field in Green Bay.  Sunday we will be in Elliot Lake to visit my parents for a day or so before heading back to Belleville on Tuesday.  When we get home on Tuesday, we will have been gone for 2 months.  What a trip!!!!!!!

Not sure if we will update the blog again before we get home.  If not, I hope you have enjoyed traveling with us.  It has been fun sharing our adventures with you.

Enjoy!

Yellowstone National Park

We are staying in a little town called Livingston, Montana.  It is such a charming little place.  Full of history.  It really does look like an old cowboy town!  The buildings are fairly old (most are at least 100 years old).  They still have the original facades on them.

Obviously they have snow here!  I guess we can't complain though, since we left Belleville at the beginning of February and haven't really had our winter yet!

We went for dinner last night at a place called Montana's Rib and Chop House.  It was fantastic.  Casey had $1 pint beer and I had a beer called Moose Drool.  I've discovered that I really like a dark, guinness like beer.  Maybe I'm trying to get myself ready for Ireland????  In any case, it is a Montana brewed beer, so I thought I'd try it.  Casey had some ribs (he said they were the best he's had in a very long time) and I had a seared ahi tuna on a bed of lettuce.  I know.  Who would have thought that I would get ahi tuna in Montana?????  But it was absolutely great!

We woke up this morning to howling winds.  But that didn't stop us from hitting the road for Yellowstone National Park.  Our first stop was at the grocery store to get some lunch for our trip.  I know I'm repetitive, but the scenery on the way to the park was amazing!!!!!!!

We arrived in the town of Yellowstone.  Another cute little cowboy town!

We crossed the halfway point between the equator and the north pole!

The first touristy thing in the park were the mammoth hot springs.  We couldn't really see them, but did get a sense of the heat they throw off.

The drive took us up to elevations of about 7000 feet.  Again, the scenery was spectacular.  And it was really neat to see how much snow was around the higher we got!

The road we took was the only one open in the park.  So, we only got to see a fraction of the park (and no Old Faithful:(.).  But as we drove along this road to Cooke City, we understood why it was the only road open.  Cooke City is about 60 miles east of the park entrance and once you get there, you HAVE to turn around and come back.  The road out of it is closed! 

WOW.  Makes our winters look pretty nice....  The Trading Place was closed!!!!!

Oh.  I forget to mention yesterday.  When we were driving up and down the mountains through Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, there were signs saying "Chain up area ahead" and "state law requires chains on all vehicles when lights are flashing".  Needless to say, I was a bit nervous.  Fortunately, we didn't have to worry about getting chains to put on our tires!

And now on to the wildlife we saw on our trip today. 

Canada Goose :

Coyotes :

Buckhorn Sheep :

Elk :

And Bison :

These are one BIG, UGLY animal!!!!!!

So tonight we will bunker down and hope the wind goes away.  We will be going to Rapid City, South Dakota tomorrow where the temperatures will be much better.  Looking at highs of 17 degrees!!!!  Not as warm as you people in the east, but better than we've had here for a few days.

Enjoy!