You can zoom in and out on these maps. My last address is marked in the Broomfield map, you can zoom out to see its relation to Boulder and the rest of the state.
Day 1 - September 2, 2008
The past week has been like a bad dream. To sum it up my fiance' decided he needed to "be alone".
I have been living in Broomfield, Colorado for the past four years to be with him (he has been there a few years already by this time - we have known each other since about 1989 in CT).
Broomfieldis about 20 minutes North of Denver, and about 20 minutes Southeast of Boulder. To me, that particular area lacked character, it most likely was a huge farmland (not too many trees, mainly open and rolling) that got bought out during the last 50 years or so and got developed, shopping plazas, fast food/chain restaurants, industry parks, apartment complexes and ranch houses that all look alike. It can be "Anywhere, U.S.A", very generic. I didn't really like it there, it was kinda boring, and it was so FAR from the ocean (Most of my life I've been between 5 - 20 minutes away from the coast).
I'm not "dissing" all of Colorado, older nearby towns like Lafayette, Louisville, Arvada and of course Boulder, had more of a "neighborhood" feel w/ older homes (bungalows, Victorians, craftsman-types) that I have been used to all my life. Of course in Boulder the rents were much higher.
The mountain areas West are amazing!!
We had wonderful weekend/day trips on the occasions we took them.....which wasn't nearly as much as I would have liked.
I have gotten close to 2 women from my most recent job, and believe me, that was a great blessing, but other than that, nothing about the area per se attracted me, but he has made this his home, and that was it.
So, when the crap hit the fan August 25, I just felt there was nothing there to keep me. I needed to leave. It was a hellacious week - I threw out 2 huge garbage bags worth of stuff, made a few bags worth of things to give to ARC (a store like "Goodwill"), emptied my cabinets of foodstuffs to give to my friends - and struggled with packing the rest.
I commiserated with my fiance's buddy's wife - a few days previously, HE announced to her that he wanted a divorce. We found that, and still find that a bit weird. What do you think? Two friends breaking up w/ their women during the same week?
It makes one wonder.
So WHERE was I to go but home (New England)?
I called my friend Mary Ellen (Mare - she works w/ horses), who is currently between jobs, and asked her if she could accompany me. THANK GOD she agreed and she flew out on Labor Day (September 1st).
The day of departure September 2 was insanely busy, tons of last minute things had to be done; packing the car, shipping 6 boxes that wouldn't fit in the car, Mare forgot her phone charger, so she had to go to Verizon while I was getting an oil change, got last minute things like a cooler at Big Lots, had brunch at IHOP, closed my bank account, got some food to put in the cooler at King Soopers, bought a pack of Djarum clove cigarettes at "Smoker Friendly" then cruised by Sherry's house to say goodbye and have a last smoke together.
Both Sherry and I have tons of ideas we want to put into action, both Mare and I like to cook, we kidded around about opening up a cafe'. How about a truck stop called "Mother Trucker's" where we would serve "Good Ass Food" ? Sherry could make her great cornbread stuffing, and we would have to have some dish called "trucker funk" - maybe it could be some slop w/ chili - maybe it would be a dessert......either way it has to be messy.
We left Sherry's and I realized I also forgot my cell-phone charger - I really didn't want to backtrack to the apartment......it hurt too much and I didn't want to waste time, so we had to go to the evil Walmart which was on the way. By this time it was 6 pm - so much for an early start - but we still had a couple of hours of daylight so we can at least get to Wyoming (not too confident about the night-driving thing). Of course, Sherry wanted us to put it off "one-more day", but Mare does have to eventually get back, I had no idea how long this would take, and I was just too emotional and hurt, I just wanted to get the hell out as soon as possible. I was just hurting too much.
Went North on 287, filled up the gas tank, and continued North. We wanted to see the Badlands, when else would we be in the area? So we might as well sightsee. We were to head North, then East, instead of just taking the traditional I-70 East.
My car radio has a mind of its own, it could be a bit too loud to talk over, or too low to hear, if I hit a bump, I have to smack it to get the station back (loose wires??) So its a good thing both of us are talkers.
We were to talk about a myriad of subjects over the course of the trip, during this particular session the topic went to past mothers-in-law. I wasn't Polish and Mare wasn't Mexican, so that was pretty much #1 on our list of "failings" in the eyes of our former mothers-in-law.
Around Loveland, Colorado, we switched to I-25 North to Wyoming. Eventually the Rockies faded out of sight, the sun was setting, very melancholy and befitting - the end of an era.
Wyoming - Along I-25 North, on the East side was a hill, and on this hill it appeared to be a statue of a buffalo. I had to keep my eyes on my driving, so I couldn't really analyze it, but Mare thought it was a tree. A tree that looks a buffalo? A tree sculpted to look like a buffalo??? No place to pull over so we kept on going.
Got dark and eventually ran into highway construction. Narrow one lane driving partitioned off by orange construction sticks. I felt so cramped and claustrophobic! It was so dark - I couldn't see too good, didn't know where the hell I was other than the fact of just going forward and some jerk tailing me put on the highbeams. Bastard! Eventually the road went back to 2 lanes and I got out of his way. Made it to Cheyenne and that was as far as I wanted to go. Got off the highway, found a place to eat that was open and chilled out.
Cheyenne- We ate at the Village Inn (I-80/U.S.-30) around 9 p.m. We asked our waiter Mike where we were, and where was there a place to stay.
The menu had a 1/2 portion section, and since we were trying to be cheap we went with that. Actually it was a great value, I believe it cost us under $8 each. It was soup or salad, entree, and a 1/2 slice of pie.
I got salad, roast turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and strawberry/rhubarb pie.
Mare got salad, Chicken fried steak (because this is Wyoming after all), potatoes, some veggie and CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE (she let me have a bite ). And here I was having the healthy fruit pie - my intentions were good, but her's was better!
We laughed at the iceberg lettuce salad - (we are the types to get the darker green stuff; mesclun mix or at least romaine), but it was salad and we wanted to try to eat healthy on the road.
After eating, map examining, and consultation w/ Mike, we headed towards the business area of town, we checked the price on one place, but it was kinda dark in the parking lot and the lobby smelled funny. I had a feeling meth-heads were most likely around, so we took off. (Meth is big in this area - Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, I think Southwest too)
We checked into Motel 6 (I-80/U.S.-30) - they had no heat, but there were blankets, and it is only the 2nd day of September, so how bad could it be? We got a little price break.
Mare was cracking up over various things in the "Free Guide to Cheyenne" such as "DT's Liquor Mart" and "Doc Martin's Ear, Nose & Throat Clinic", the fact that Wyoming has NO state tax ( I guess they are desperate to get people to live there), and the fact we only went 100 miles so far.
We watched TV and crashed - wanted to get an early start.
The past week has been like a bad dream. To sum it up my fiance' decided he needed to "be alone".
I have been living in Broomfield, Colorado for the past four years to be with him (he has been there a few years already by this time - we have known each other since about 1989 in CT).
Broomfieldis about 20 minutes North of Denver, and about 20 minutes Southeast of Boulder. To me, that particular area lacked character, it most likely was a huge farmland (not too many trees, mainly open and rolling) that got bought out during the last 50 years or so and got developed, shopping plazas, fast food/chain restaurants, industry parks, apartment complexes and ranch houses that all look alike. It can be "Anywhere, U.S.A", very generic. I didn't really like it there, it was kinda boring, and it was so FAR from the ocean (Most of my life I've been between 5 - 20 minutes away from the coast).
I'm not "dissing" all of Colorado, older nearby towns like Lafayette, Louisville, Arvada and of course Boulder, had more of a "neighborhood" feel w/ older homes (bungalows, Victorians, craftsman-types) that I have been used to all my life. Of course in Boulder the rents were much higher.
The mountain areas West are amazing!!
We had wonderful weekend/day trips on the occasions we took them.....which wasn't nearly as much as I would have liked.
I have gotten close to 2 women from my most recent job, and believe me, that was a great blessing, but other than that, nothing about the area per se attracted me, but he has made this his home, and that was it.
So, when the crap hit the fan August 25, I just felt there was nothing there to keep me. I needed to leave. It was a hellacious week - I threw out 2 huge garbage bags worth of stuff, made a few bags worth of things to give to ARC (a store like "Goodwill"), emptied my cabinets of foodstuffs to give to my friends - and struggled with packing the rest.
I commiserated with my fiance's buddy's wife - a few days previously, HE announced to her that he wanted a divorce. We found that, and still find that a bit weird. What do you think? Two friends breaking up w/ their women during the same week?
It makes one wonder.
So WHERE was I to go but home (New England)?
I called my friend Mary Ellen (Mare - she works w/ horses), who is currently between jobs, and asked her if she could accompany me. THANK GOD she agreed and she flew out on Labor Day (September 1st).
The day of departure September 2 was insanely busy, tons of last minute things had to be done; packing the car, shipping 6 boxes that wouldn't fit in the car, Mare forgot her phone charger, so she had to go to Verizon while I was getting an oil change, got last minute things like a cooler at Big Lots, had brunch at IHOP, closed my bank account, got some food to put in the cooler at King Soopers, bought a pack of Djarum clove cigarettes at "Smoker Friendly" then cruised by Sherry's house to say goodbye and have a last smoke together.
Both Sherry and I have tons of ideas we want to put into action, both Mare and I like to cook, we kidded around about opening up a cafe'. How about a truck stop called "Mother Trucker's" where we would serve "Good Ass Food" ? Sherry could make her great cornbread stuffing, and we would have to have some dish called "trucker funk" - maybe it could be some slop w/ chili - maybe it would be a dessert......either way it has to be messy.
We left Sherry's and I realized I also forgot my cell-phone charger - I really didn't want to backtrack to the apartment......it hurt too much and I didn't want to waste time, so we had to go to the evil Walmart which was on the way. By this time it was 6 pm - so much for an early start - but we still had a couple of hours of daylight so we can at least get to Wyoming (not too confident about the night-driving thing). Of course, Sherry wanted us to put it off "one-more day", but Mare does have to eventually get back, I had no idea how long this would take, and I was just too emotional and hurt, I just wanted to get the hell out as soon as possible. I was just hurting too much.
Went North on 287, filled up the gas tank, and continued North. We wanted to see the Badlands, when else would we be in the area? So we might as well sightsee. We were to head North, then East, instead of just taking the traditional I-70 East.
My car radio has a mind of its own, it could be a bit too loud to talk over, or too low to hear, if I hit a bump, I have to smack it to get the station back (loose wires??) So its a good thing both of us are talkers.
We were to talk about a myriad of subjects over the course of the trip, during this particular session the topic went to past mothers-in-law. I wasn't Polish and Mare wasn't Mexican, so that was pretty much #1 on our list of "failings" in the eyes of our former mothers-in-law.
Around Loveland, Colorado, we switched to I-25 North to Wyoming. Eventually the Rockies faded out of sight, the sun was setting, very melancholy and befitting - the end of an era.
Wyoming - Along I-25 North, on the East side was a hill, and on this hill it appeared to be a statue of a buffalo. I had to keep my eyes on my driving, so I couldn't really analyze it, but Mare thought it was a tree. A tree that looks a buffalo? A tree sculpted to look like a buffalo??? No place to pull over so we kept on going.
Got dark and eventually ran into highway construction. Narrow one lane driving partitioned off by orange construction sticks. I felt so cramped and claustrophobic! It was so dark - I couldn't see too good, didn't know where the hell I was other than the fact of just going forward and some jerk tailing me put on the highbeams. Bastard! Eventually the road went back to 2 lanes and I got out of his way. Made it to Cheyenne and that was as far as I wanted to go. Got off the highway, found a place to eat that was open and chilled out.
Cheyenne- We ate at the Village Inn (I-80/U.S.-30) around 9 p.m. We asked our waiter Mike where we were, and where was there a place to stay.
The menu had a 1/2 portion section, and since we were trying to be cheap we went with that. Actually it was a great value, I believe it cost us under $8 each. It was soup or salad, entree, and a 1/2 slice of pie.
I got salad, roast turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and strawberry/rhubarb pie.
Mare got salad, Chicken fried steak (because this is Wyoming after all), potatoes, some veggie and CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE (she let me have a bite ). And here I was having the healthy fruit pie - my intentions were good, but her's was better!
We laughed at the iceberg lettuce salad - (we are the types to get the darker green stuff; mesclun mix or at least romaine), but it was salad and we wanted to try to eat healthy on the road.
After eating, map examining, and consultation w/ Mike, we headed towards the business area of town, we checked the price on one place, but it was kinda dark in the parking lot and the lobby smelled funny. I had a feeling meth-heads were most likely around, so we took off. (Meth is big in this area - Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, I think Southwest too)
We checked into Motel 6 (I-80/U.S.-30) - they had no heat, but there were blankets, and it is only the 2nd day of September, so how bad could it be? We got a little price break.
Mare was cracking up over various things in the "Free Guide to Cheyenne" such as "DT's Liquor Mart" and "Doc Martin's Ear, Nose & Throat Clinic", the fact that Wyoming has NO state tax ( I guess they are desperate to get people to live there), and the fact we only went 100 miles so far.
We watched TV and crashed - wanted to get an early start.
Day 2 - September 3, 2008
Wyoming - Woke up, showered, made peanut butter sandwich, tried to do an Elvis thing and put banana chips in it...it was okay..kinda starchy. Mare had fruit and banana chips. I went outside and there was frost on the car! I guess it gets cold up North in Wyoming!! We hit the road.
Went North on I-25 and connected to U.S. 85 North. What a beautiful drive!!!! (Rt.85) It was hilly and open, open sky as far as you can see. It was sunny and very windy!
Eventually I saw a field of yellow....what was it? I asked Sunflowers! Mare replied. Acres and acres of them!!!
I pulled over.
It was so windy I had to pull my hair back to take a picture, the wind kept blowing my hair in front of the camera lens.
We took pictures on both our regular cameras and cell phone cameras. GORGEOUS!
Drove for what seemed forever. Destinaton - Devil's Tower - for all of you movie buffs - the destination of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
Stopped in Torrington (I think - so much for me taking accurate notes) for a much needed pee break and MUCH needed coffee, and gas.
It was like Main Street in Greenfield, MA. There was a place called "Jose Paisano's" (Mexican/Italian/American food) that cracked me up, so I took a picture.
Got coffee at the Java Hut mocha w/ soymilk...very good.
We stretched our legs, visited the dollar store, and went on our way. Continuing North on 85. Great route! Hardly anyone on the road and so pretty !!!
Stopped in Newcastle(? - sorry, I just had to pee so bad). Peed, got gas, got cheese to eat w/ our lunch of crackers and apples. Pretty close to the tower area, so we asked the convenience store lady for guidance and she said it was exit 165 off I-90. That didn't make sense, but she insisted.
In the car we decided against it and did it our own way. We were fine and I still don't know what the deal was. Of course my suspiciousness took over and thought she wanted to mess w/ us "city-folk/tourists". We continued North on 85, then took 585(N) to Rt. 14(N) to 24(N/E).
Wyoming - Woke up, showered, made peanut butter sandwich, tried to do an Elvis thing and put banana chips in it...it was okay..kinda starchy. Mare had fruit and banana chips. I went outside and there was frost on the car! I guess it gets cold up North in Wyoming!! We hit the road.
Went North on I-25 and connected to U.S. 85 North. What a beautiful drive!!!! (Rt.85) It was hilly and open, open sky as far as you can see. It was sunny and very windy!
Eventually I saw a field of yellow....what was it? I asked Sunflowers! Mare replied. Acres and acres of them!!!
I pulled over.
It was so windy I had to pull my hair back to take a picture, the wind kept blowing my hair in front of the camera lens.
We took pictures on both our regular cameras and cell phone cameras. GORGEOUS!
Drove for what seemed forever. Destinaton - Devil's Tower - for all of you movie buffs - the destination of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
Stopped in Torrington (I think - so much for me taking accurate notes) for a much needed pee break and MUCH needed coffee, and gas.
It was like Main Street in Greenfield, MA. There was a place called "Jose Paisano's" (Mexican/Italian/American food) that cracked me up, so I took a picture.
Got coffee at the Java Hut mocha w/ soymilk...very good.
We stretched our legs, visited the dollar store, and went on our way. Continuing North on 85. Great route! Hardly anyone on the road and so pretty !!!
Stopped in Newcastle(? - sorry, I just had to pee so bad). Peed, got gas, got cheese to eat w/ our lunch of crackers and apples. Pretty close to the tower area, so we asked the convenience store lady for guidance and she said it was exit 165 off I-90. That didn't make sense, but she insisted.
In the car we decided against it and did it our own way. We were fine and I still don't know what the deal was. Of course my suspiciousness took over and thought she wanted to mess w/ us "city-folk/tourists". We continued North on 85, then took 585(N) to Rt. 14(N) to 24(N/E).
We started to see the tower...... we were on a hill and pulled over, it was down in a valley...AWESOME! Took pictures. It was cloudy and dark looking near the tower....lightning???? I certainly hoped so!!
http://www.devilstower.net/
Finally made it!! It was $10 to get in, drove in to the base trail (1.3 miles - a nice walk)...... just got to the beginning of the trail and Mike called. (Perfect timing!!)
Started our walk, there was thunder and lightning in the distance, it was a bit cool, and it sprinkled , so it was fine to walk in. I took a picture on my cell phone and sent it to Cifferelli, then called him and held up the phone so he could hear the thunder. TOO COOL!!!
There was of course a gift shop with trinkets, rocks, historical books and postcards, if they sold "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" DVDs I would have bought one, but alas, they didnt. I was disappointed.
It might of been 6 or 7 p.m. when we left, continued on 24 East, got more gas in Hulett, there was an Antique place w/ standing wooden coffins, so I got a picture of me in one and then headed for Sturgis, S.D.
Finally made it!! It was $10 to get in, drove in to the base trail (1.3 miles - a nice walk)...... just got to the beginning of the trail and Mike called. (Perfect timing!!)
Started our walk, there was thunder and lightning in the distance, it was a bit cool, and it sprinkled , so it was fine to walk in. I took a picture on my cell phone and sent it to Cifferelli, then called him and held up the phone so he could hear the thunder. TOO COOL!!!
There was of course a gift shop with trinkets, rocks, historical books and postcards, if they sold "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" DVDs I would have bought one, but alas, they didnt. I was disappointed.
It might of been 6 or 7 p.m. when we left, continued on 24 East, got more gas in Hulett, there was an Antique place w/ standing wooden coffins, so I got a picture of me in one and then headed for Sturgis, S.D.
Mare told me about her trips and the "sideways rainbow" phenomenon. I had no idea what she meant, but as we were driving, we came upon one, she took a picture. It appears as a verticle bar in the horizon.
Further on, I pulled over and took an fabulous sunset picture, I just aimed at the sun, and shot....had spots in my eyes afterwards which wasn't too smart considering it was now dusk and I was driving....but the picture is beautiful.
Further on, I pulled over and took an fabulous sunset picture, I just aimed at the sun, and shot....had spots in my eyes afterwards which wasn't too smart considering it was now dusk and I was driving....but the picture is beautiful.
It got dark and started to rain, very hilly, very winding road, at one point there was a "warning landslide" sign....oh no! would the road be blocked? It wasn't blocked, but I had to deal w/ those orange roadsticks again w/ the narrow one lane, but at least no one was behind me! Got into South Dakota - rt. 24(E) turned into rt. 34(E) and it was DARK as all hell!
http://www.sturgis.com/
Sturgis, South Dakota - finally checked into a motel - Days Inn around 9 pm. What a day!!! I was beat as all hell!! There was a Burger King right next door and that was all I had energy for. I really didn't want to do the Burger King thing, not after the Canon City (CO) fiasco, but I found if you get something without any mayonnaise-based toppings, its tolerable. So I got a cheeseburger and salad (Caeser dressing).
Sharing the same parking lot as the motel was a casino that Mare noticed (small dive-bar-sized building) with $1 beers....I just wasn't into it - I was beat, and I wanted to do another early start, so we just ate and crashed.
http://www.sturgis.com/
Sturgis, South Dakota - finally checked into a motel - Days Inn around 9 pm. What a day!!! I was beat as all hell!! There was a Burger King right next door and that was all I had energy for. I really didn't want to do the Burger King thing, not after the Canon City (CO) fiasco, but I found if you get something without any mayonnaise-based toppings, its tolerable. So I got a cheeseburger and salad (Caeser dressing).
Sharing the same parking lot as the motel was a casino that Mare noticed (small dive-bar-sized building) with $1 beers....I just wasn't into it - I was beat, and I wanted to do another early start, so we just ate and crashed.
Sturgis, South Dakota - It's an ordinary afternoon and you are bringing the kids to Dairy Queen for some ice cream, but what about a treat for you? Why, you can just cross the street to 'Poker Alice'! That's right the 'Poker Alice' casino located on Rt.14 in Sturgis, next to the Days Inn and right across from Dairy Queen!
$1 BEER!!! ALL DAY! EVERYDAY!!
Do you need you car washed? Wondering what to do while you wait? No problem, there's video poker machines at the car wash for your gambling convenience!
What if you just need a fill-up on your car or a loaf of bread and some milk? We got machines located at c-store/gas stations!!
There is NEVER a dull moment in South Dakota!!!
Why do you think it is such a popular biker destination??
Along with educational historical monuments you can enjoy in the day-time, we also have a fabulous night-life!
Confused of where to go??
Don't be! Just drive anywhere along I-90 or Rt. 14 ! There are plenty of billboards to direct you to our fancier, more EXCITING casinos where you can drink BEER served by scantily-clad lovelies!
South Dakota! A Prairie Playground!!!
$1 BEER!!! ALL DAY! EVERYDAY!!
Do you need you car washed? Wondering what to do while you wait? No problem, there's video poker machines at the car wash for your gambling convenience!
What if you just need a fill-up on your car or a loaf of bread and some milk? We got machines located at c-store/gas stations!!
There is NEVER a dull moment in South Dakota!!!
Why do you think it is such a popular biker destination??
Along with educational historical monuments you can enjoy in the day-time, we also have a fabulous night-life!
Confused of where to go??
Don't be! Just drive anywhere along I-90 or Rt. 14 ! There are plenty of billboards to direct you to our fancier, more EXCITING casinos where you can drink BEER served by scantily-clad lovelies!
South Dakota! A Prairie Playground!!!
Day 3 - September 4, 2008
Sturgis, South Dakota - Woke up, had a decent 'continental' breakfast at the Days Inn; cereal, instant oatmeal, coffee, juices, and toast provided.
Packed up, headed on Rt. 14 West to Deadwood - aptly named due to the hills are covered w/ dead trees.....acres of them.....why??? I don't know, but they must have been like that from at least the 1800's to have a town named for that reason.
http://www.deadwood.org/AboutDeadwood/History/
The Black Hills are located in the Western part of ..South Dakota..….where ..Wyoming.. has open rolling hills, the climate dry and windy, the ..Black Hills.. have more of a mountainous feel. They are covered in evergreens and the climate was cool and moist, and we passed by at least one lake.
http://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/home/thingstodo/seeanddo
Sturgis, South Dakota - Woke up, had a decent 'continental' breakfast at the Days Inn; cereal, instant oatmeal, coffee, juices, and toast provided.
Packed up, headed on Rt. 14 West to Deadwood - aptly named due to the hills are covered w/ dead trees.....acres of them.....why??? I don't know, but they must have been like that from at least the 1800's to have a town named for that reason.
http://www.deadwood.org/AboutDeadwood/History/
The Black Hills are located in the Western part of ..South Dakota..….where ..Wyoming.. has open rolling hills, the climate dry and windy, the ..Black Hills.. have more of a mountainous feel. They are covered in evergreens and the climate was cool and moist, and we passed by at least one lake.
http://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/home/thingstodo/seeanddo
We continued along 14 W to 385 to 16 to 244 Mt.Rushmore is on 244. We had a full view from the entranceway, so we stopped and took some pictures. We then headed for the Crazy Horse monument, we continued and the road went behind ....Mt... ..Rushmore.... – we parked in a parking area that had a view of George Washington's profile. I texted Ciff, Mare texted her friend...
http://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm
We connected back to 16, and got to Crazy Horse (still in progress). It was $25 a carload (as of this season) so we took some pictures from the entrance - it is huge!
http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/monument/
Back to 16 towards Custer – we were pretty hungry so I figured we should eat heavy for lunch, because we have been doing dinner late. I wanted buffalo since we were in buffalo country.
And lo and behold! We drove past a campground and there were 2 buffalos by the road grazing...it was a bit freaky, but they just stood there, didn't charge the car, so it was cool.
http://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm
We connected back to 16, and got to Crazy Horse (still in progress). It was $25 a carload (as of this season) so we took some pictures from the entrance - it is huge!
http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/monument/
Back to 16 towards Custer – we were pretty hungry so I figured we should eat heavy for lunch, because we have been doing dinner late. I wanted buffalo since we were in buffalo country.
And lo and behold! We drove past a campground and there were 2 buffalos by the road grazing...it was a bit freaky, but they just stood there, didn't charge the car, so it was cool.
Custer - We cruised by the 'Flintstones' it was closed for the season, but we took pictures with the characters. We found a place to eat, it was a bit more expensive than we thought, but we were hungry and we dealt. I got buffalo steak, (it was soooooo good) Mare got a buffalo burger (her 1st time). We had salad (both of us like blue cheese), and fries came with the meal.
Some guys at the next table had this huge ice cream dessert, so we gave in. It was a 'turtle' something or another. It was a square of puff pastry with a hole in the top. In the hole, was a huge tower of vanilla soft serve drizzled w/ caramel and hot fudge and sprinkled w/ nuts.
We then rolled ourselves out of there, and headed 16 E ….we found a rock shop. This place had bins of rocks, some so huge you wouldn't be able to lift them by yourself (good for gardens). Tons of rose quartz and other pretties. We got some souvenirs and moved on.
http://www.scottsrockshop.com/default.htm
Connected to 36 E to 79 N to 44 E that goes through the BADLANDS...
Some guys at the next table had this huge ice cream dessert, so we gave in. It was a 'turtle' something or another. It was a square of puff pastry with a hole in the top. In the hole, was a huge tower of vanilla soft serve drizzled w/ caramel and hot fudge and sprinkled w/ nuts.
We then rolled ourselves out of there, and headed 16 E ….we found a rock shop. This place had bins of rocks, some so huge you wouldn't be able to lift them by yourself (good for gardens). Tons of rose quartz and other pretties. We got some souvenirs and moved on.
http://www.scottsrockshop.com/default.htm
Connected to 36 E to 79 N to 44 E that goes through the BADLANDS...
http://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/home/thingstodo/parksmonuments/nationalparks/badlandsnationalpark
The Badlands - it used to be covered by an ancient ocean, and you can totally imagine that by looking at it, the rock formations are outrageous, they look like the surface of the moon!
The landscape changed from the way it was from Sturgis to Custer. Rt. 44 was back to open and completely flat.
I had to keep an eye on the speedometer – at one point I was pushing 90 mph – I was trying to do 70 on an average but it was very easy to creep to 80. It was the same in ....Wyoming.... along 85 – the roads are flat and there's not really anyone around…so….
.
I drove for so long and there was absolutely nothing in sight, I started getting nervous, I had a good amount of gas, and a jug of water in the trunk, plus we had drinks in the cooler, so I knew we were okay….but WHEN were we going to get there???
I had to pull over at one point because it looked like we were surrounded by white sand, but upon inspection, it was hard, white, sun-baked earth. It reminded me of sheetrock – gypsum???
Eventually we saw a sign for Badlands National Park with a road (240) off the left side of 44. Thank God!!!
We saw a Caution sign saying "Beware of Prairie Dogs" because they have the plague !! Mare got a picture of it.
The Badlands - it used to be covered by an ancient ocean, and you can totally imagine that by looking at it, the rock formations are outrageous, they look like the surface of the moon!
The landscape changed from the way it was from Sturgis to Custer. Rt. 44 was back to open and completely flat.
I had to keep an eye on the speedometer – at one point I was pushing 90 mph – I was trying to do 70 on an average but it was very easy to creep to 80. It was the same in ....Wyoming.... along 85 – the roads are flat and there's not really anyone around…so….
.
I drove for so long and there was absolutely nothing in sight, I started getting nervous, I had a good amount of gas, and a jug of water in the trunk, plus we had drinks in the cooler, so I knew we were okay….but WHEN were we going to get there???
I had to pull over at one point because it looked like we were surrounded by white sand, but upon inspection, it was hard, white, sun-baked earth. It reminded me of sheetrock – gypsum???
Eventually we saw a sign for Badlands National Park with a road (240) off the left side of 44. Thank God!!!
We saw a Caution sign saying "Beware of Prairie Dogs" because they have the plague !! Mare got a picture of it.
Our plan was to stay in Wall and visit the infamous Wall Drug Store and the road going through the Badlands National Park
(Rt. 240) went to Wall.
FINALLY we entered the park and saw a sign for this 240. It was around 5 p.m. so no one was at the gate collecting money…we got in for free! Yay!
We meandered down the road and it was crazy!! You have to see the pictures! Awesome craggy rocks!
We pulled over in a parking area and Ciff called me, I sent him a picture through the phone. I had to pee again and got mad because people kept showing up. We decide to move on and find a pee place so back in the car we went…..in a few minutes some things looked familiar…
'Didn't we pass by this already??' I asked
'I don't know, it all looks the same!' Mare replied.
I kept driving ….. I passed a particular sign for an area we saw before…..
'We DID go this way before!!! We're going in a circle! The road is a loop! The sign said 'Loop' and also road 'to Wall' I bet I took the '..Loop..' road !!'
We came right back from where we started and entered the Visitors Center.....
I peed, then 2 quarts lighter, I asked the lady where to go. She told us to go back on the road we were on.
Hmmmmmm…… I kept my mouth shut and just listened.
Tried it again. Went DOWN the road…..kept going…… saw some antelope…I stopped the car
'you guys know the way to Wall?? How about you back there?? You know how to get to Wall???'
I am met by blank stares…. 'how about San Jose`? do you know the way to San Jose`?
more blank stares…
I guess not… so I took a couple of pictures and we moved on…
We passed the parking lot we stopped in and I realized my mistake…
The parking lot has an entrance/exit at either end. My mistake before was that I exited the same way I went in, thus leading me back to the beginning, if I went out the other way, I would've continued the correct way!!!!
Ai Yi Yi!!! I guess I was driving a bit TOO much today!
'and look!' Mare noticed 'A bathroom was there the whole time!!'
There it was a small white outhouse building smack dab in the middle of the parking lot!! HELL-OO!! Damn! Just put me to bed will ya !!
Drove some more, dusk was settling, saw some awesome views when the road ascended….it was amazing!
Finally got to Wall. Mare hooked us up at the Best Western, they had a poolhouse with an indoor pool and Jacuzzi – we made use of them both.
You know, this is turning into a pretty decent vacation despite the circumstances..... makes you think... I guess no matter how crappy things are, you have to try and enjoy at least one part of your day .... I don't know...it's weird
We swam until we were exhausted, came in, showered the chlorine off ,went to the convenience store to nuke some soup (everything else in the area was closed).
We had chicken soup, cheese and crackers, and chocolate covered nutter butter cookies. Mare gives the chocolate coating a thumbs down.
Watched some TV and crashed.
(Rt. 240) went to Wall.
FINALLY we entered the park and saw a sign for this 240. It was around 5 p.m. so no one was at the gate collecting money…we got in for free! Yay!
We meandered down the road and it was crazy!! You have to see the pictures! Awesome craggy rocks!
We pulled over in a parking area and Ciff called me, I sent him a picture through the phone. I had to pee again and got mad because people kept showing up. We decide to move on and find a pee place so back in the car we went…..in a few minutes some things looked familiar…
'Didn't we pass by this already??' I asked
'I don't know, it all looks the same!' Mare replied.
I kept driving ….. I passed a particular sign for an area we saw before…..
'We DID go this way before!!! We're going in a circle! The road is a loop! The sign said 'Loop' and also road 'to Wall' I bet I took the '..Loop..' road !!'
We came right back from where we started and entered the Visitors Center.....
I peed, then 2 quarts lighter, I asked the lady where to go. She told us to go back on the road we were on.
Hmmmmmm…… I kept my mouth shut and just listened.
Tried it again. Went DOWN the road…..kept going…… saw some antelope…I stopped the car
'you guys know the way to Wall?? How about you back there?? You know how to get to Wall???'
I am met by blank stares…. 'how about San Jose`? do you know the way to San Jose`?
more blank stares…
I guess not… so I took a couple of pictures and we moved on…
We passed the parking lot we stopped in and I realized my mistake…
The parking lot has an entrance/exit at either end. My mistake before was that I exited the same way I went in, thus leading me back to the beginning, if I went out the other way, I would've continued the correct way!!!!
Ai Yi Yi!!! I guess I was driving a bit TOO much today!
'and look!' Mare noticed 'A bathroom was there the whole time!!'
There it was a small white outhouse building smack dab in the middle of the parking lot!! HELL-OO!! Damn! Just put me to bed will ya !!
Drove some more, dusk was settling, saw some awesome views when the road ascended….it was amazing!
Finally got to Wall. Mare hooked us up at the Best Western, they had a poolhouse with an indoor pool and Jacuzzi – we made use of them both.
You know, this is turning into a pretty decent vacation despite the circumstances..... makes you think... I guess no matter how crappy things are, you have to try and enjoy at least one part of your day .... I don't know...it's weird
We swam until we were exhausted, came in, showered the chlorine off ,went to the convenience store to nuke some soup (everything else in the area was closed).
We had chicken soup, cheese and crackers, and chocolate covered nutter butter cookies. Mare gives the chocolate coating a thumbs down.
Watched some TV and crashed.
Day 4 - September 5, 2008
Wall, South Dakota - Woke up, filled up on another pretty decent "continental breakfast", this time there were hard boiled eggs and toaster waffles also.
Headed for the infamous Wall Drug located a mere couple blocks away from the motel. The place is huge but there are only a couple of aisles worth of "drug store" merchandise, it is mainly a kitchy gift shop. They "have it all" and they have a digital camera kiosk that Mare used.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2216
There is an art gallery in back with old western pictures – cowboys and Indians - doing things like "lassoing a 'beef' " or "skinning a 'beef' " (cow/calf). Real cool photos. If you are into that period of history you can easily spend over an hour looking at them.
There is also a restaurant, and it smelled great, but we just ate. They offer 5 cent coffee, but since mine was "to go". I was charged for the cup. They make donuts right there and it was delish!
If you go, have a slice of fruit pie for me will ya? I had the donut and coffee and a bag full of postcards, and my bottle of water that I refilled( water fountains are in the backyard, it is how they attracted travelers to their store way back when) I couldn't carry anything else….I should have made the effort because they were FULL of fruit, not a wimpy pie whatsoever!!!
Should of got the cherry pie.
We spent a couple of hours there and we HAD to move on, it was almost noon.
We took I-90 East at this point, I was trying to stay away from interstates, and considering I am primarily from urban areas, I thought they were all the same, crowded, ugly and people trying to run you down. Not here…. There were cars and trucks, but it was pretty low-key, do-able.
For some weird reason, I got REAL tired within an hour, I felt drugged up (the Wall water??) I had a real hard time keeping my eyes open, so I pulled off and let Mare drive – she felt fine.
So I crashed.
We headed to Minnesota. Why? Why not? Never been there before. Never been to Wisconsin either, and that was next.
There are many billboards in South Dakota for touristy things like Native American art and museums…. I wish we had more time, but the car was jam packed, what would I get?
As for diners; it seemed more "Americana" mom and pop type places as opposed to chain restaurants , which is totally preferable in my book. Places such as "Chip's Diner" and
"Al's Oasis" and some thing called "Vet's 'Whoa and Go' "
There is a chain restaurant called "Taco John's" they were in Wyoming too.
We approached the Mitchell Corn Palace, but we just spent too much time in Wall, so we just kept going.
Just past Sioux Falls, we passed a group of buffalo grazing by the highway – obviously owned by someone… maybe if we went by back roads we would've seen more , but we didn't.
More huge sunflower fields.
Minnesota –
Now we are seeing pro-life billboards frequently hmm okay..
There are also "Kum & Go" gas stations….I wouldn't make this up. Not this time.
Also a chain of restaurants called "Pizza Ranch" the New Haven Italian in me cringed at the thought.
More "Taco John's". More "Whoa and Go's" .
We fill up on some more gas and I get back to driving.
Nightly we have been eating late; between 8:30 – 9:30 and crashing around midnight –
I REALLY wanted to eat earlier and go to sleep by around 10 tonight. Especially since that weird drowsy thing earlier. So the next town that had signs advertising food and lodging was Fairmont.
We got there shortly before dusk and my next blog will be about the motel.
Wall, South Dakota - Woke up, filled up on another pretty decent "continental breakfast", this time there were hard boiled eggs and toaster waffles also.
Headed for the infamous Wall Drug located a mere couple blocks away from the motel. The place is huge but there are only a couple of aisles worth of "drug store" merchandise, it is mainly a kitchy gift shop. They "have it all" and they have a digital camera kiosk that Mare used.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2216
There is an art gallery in back with old western pictures – cowboys and Indians - doing things like "lassoing a 'beef' " or "skinning a 'beef' " (cow/calf). Real cool photos. If you are into that period of history you can easily spend over an hour looking at them.
There is also a restaurant, and it smelled great, but we just ate. They offer 5 cent coffee, but since mine was "to go". I was charged for the cup. They make donuts right there and it was delish!
If you go, have a slice of fruit pie for me will ya? I had the donut and coffee and a bag full of postcards, and my bottle of water that I refilled( water fountains are in the backyard, it is how they attracted travelers to their store way back when) I couldn't carry anything else….I should have made the effort because they were FULL of fruit, not a wimpy pie whatsoever!!!
Should of got the cherry pie.
We spent a couple of hours there and we HAD to move on, it was almost noon.
We took I-90 East at this point, I was trying to stay away from interstates, and considering I am primarily from urban areas, I thought they were all the same, crowded, ugly and people trying to run you down. Not here…. There were cars and trucks, but it was pretty low-key, do-able.
For some weird reason, I got REAL tired within an hour, I felt drugged up (the Wall water??) I had a real hard time keeping my eyes open, so I pulled off and let Mare drive – she felt fine.
So I crashed.
We headed to Minnesota. Why? Why not? Never been there before. Never been to Wisconsin either, and that was next.
There are many billboards in South Dakota for touristy things like Native American art and museums…. I wish we had more time, but the car was jam packed, what would I get?
As for diners; it seemed more "Americana" mom and pop type places as opposed to chain restaurants , which is totally preferable in my book. Places such as "Chip's Diner" and
"Al's Oasis" and some thing called "Vet's 'Whoa and Go' "
There is a chain restaurant called "Taco John's" they were in Wyoming too.
We approached the Mitchell Corn Palace, but we just spent too much time in Wall, so we just kept going.
Just past Sioux Falls, we passed a group of buffalo grazing by the highway – obviously owned by someone… maybe if we went by back roads we would've seen more , but we didn't.
More huge sunflower fields.
Minnesota –
Now we are seeing pro-life billboards frequently hmm okay..
There are also "Kum & Go" gas stations….I wouldn't make this up. Not this time.
Also a chain of restaurants called "Pizza Ranch" the New Haven Italian in me cringed at the thought.
More "Taco John's". More "Whoa and Go's" .
We fill up on some more gas and I get back to driving.
Nightly we have been eating late; between 8:30 – 9:30 and crashing around midnight –
I REALLY wanted to eat earlier and go to sleep by around 10 tonight. Especially since that weird drowsy thing earlier. So the next town that had signs advertising food and lodging was Fairmont.
We got there shortly before dusk and my next blog will be about the motel.
Part 2 of Day 4 – September 5, 2008
The Budget Inn of Fairmont, Minnesota The Worst DUMP I have stayed in yet
Fairmont, Minnesota – Located roughly halfway across the state,
where I-90 intersects w/ Rt. 15
Fairmont, Minnesota – Where billboard signs on I-90 announced the "Budget Inn" to be $31.99 a night with laundry facilities.
Budget Inn - I thought this was a chain that usually kept their standards up like Days Inn or Motel 6.
It was nearing dusk, I was tired, I was hungry, we went through 2/3rds of South Dakota and ½ through Minnesota…..I wanted to STOP.
So we went here. It ended up being $49 because there were 2 of us. It was $31.99 for one person. Okay, fine, here's a travelers check. Laundry?? Great !! We REALLY need to wash clothes!
I get the key, bring it to the car, drive to car in front of the room, get out of the car, and …..where's the room key??
Okay, look in my pocket, no…look on the seat, no….look in my purse, no…. look on the floor, no…..
okay, the spirits are messing with me!!! Walk over to where the car was, maybe I put it on the roof and it fell off when I drove off….no
Something is REALLY messing with me! Mary Ellen and I again ransack those places and retrace my steps…no key!!
So, feeling like a fool, I go back to the office…I tell the lady I lost the key, and since it was getting darker at this point, I figured I'd find it in the car tomorrow in the daylight.
The lady gives me a 2nd key.
I can't get in. The key doesn't work for me OR Mare
Go back to the office – the key doesn't work.
The lady gets a "master key", comes back, opens the door, tells us she'll find us another key.
We walk in. Now, the fact that "something" took the key when I JUST had it, plus the fact, the 2nd key didn't even work, and the fact the door looked all ghetto, the paint was all scraped , the top lock was loose, should have told me something…..
The place was a DUMP!
It smelled funny – we wanted to air it out but the windows were painted shut – we turned on the air conditioner and kept the door open. Mare sprayed $2 "Designer Imposters" perfume in the air – anything would have been better!
All I wanted to do was to go out and eat and go to bed, now we have this crappy drama with a gross stagnant moldy smelling room, and we're waiting on the lady to come back with a key. I didn't even want to stay, so Mare called some places we passed by to get prices and availability. Either they were full or cost twice as much!
I smelled the pillowcases – they smelled like a person slept on them, they did NOT smell laundered.
I examined the sheets – they seemed fine – it was getting dark now! The comforters were nasty gray, but as a rule of thumb, motels don't usually launder the top comforter, so you should just not use them, just peel them back.
I didn't know what to do, I really didn't want to get in the car again. Why the Hell didn't I look at the room before paying???? Didn't I learn ANYTHING from the Sarnia experience???
The Sarnia experience – Several years ago, on one of our (my ex and I) Massachusetts to Detroit trips we needed to spend the night in Ontario (we always cut through Canada). Sarnia is an industrial town in Ontario, not too great from the part we saw, but we were very tired… we found a little cheap motel run by Indians (Hindu, not Native Americans) Indian/Pakistani…I really don't know…whatever, I'm not prejudiced, everybody irritates me…. So anyway, he pays for the room and I really have to use the facilities…so I dash in, pee, flush, wash hands and come out and look around the room…. It smells funny, I can't remember if the windows opened or not, I believe at least it was a struggle. So it smelled funny, it felt funny, I got a real bad vibe, so I really didn't want to stay…so I insisted we leave…I felt real bad because we would have to get back in that hot car and drive some more, but I just couldn't do it…I even cried (PMS??) …. So he asked for his money back we were leaving, and the guy charged him $10 because we "used the room" because I peed. He just paid it just to get the hell out of there. It was the most expensive pee I have ever taken.
Mare tried looking at the bright side – at least we'll never forget this place - all the decent places we have stayed in aren't as memorable as this.
Oh, she is trying to be positive, and she must be tired too , she drove a lot today……and it's getting later and later.
There was mold on the bathroom wall, and I washed my hands and looked down, there was a puddle on the floor, huh??
I turned on the water again, and it was squirting out of the drain pipe, adding to the puddle – nice!
I had to use the toilet, I wet a wad of TP and wiped it down, good thing, because it showed dirt on it…great! Note to self, put paper down before you sit on it.
They didn't even have enough TOILET PAPER!!!! there was a ¼ roll left after this , and no spares!! I am so glad I brought a roll from the apt. just for an emergency like this, so I broke it out.
It was getting late….. well, I did want an adventure, I sucked it up but insisted we get FRESH pillowcases…… and I wasn't going to shower, or take my shoes off in the bathroom and I was going to sleep in my clothes
Meanwhile the lady still hasn't come back w/ the key…we go to the office to ask for clean pillowcases. Her mother / mother-in-law was there, she did not understand English, so she had to go in back (where they lived) to get the lady. The lady came out, I told her we needed pillowcases, she looked confused, but I just repeated myself, she went in back.
Meanwhile, the husband is there, Mare decides to deal with the "we need a key" issue so we can go out to eat and get back in. He gives her a key, she walks to the room, tries it out, and it DOESN'T work for her.
She comes back, complains to him and makes him walk over there to do it. He gets it open, she takes the key.
The lady comes back with 2 pillowcases - there are 2 beds, each has 2 pillows, therefore we need 4 pillowcases…I'm sorry but they did not smell washed….I send her to get 2 more….she looks at me, I repeat myself she goes to the back again.
Mare comes back and hands me the key and says how the guy gave her an attitude. I get the additional pillowcases, and we walk back to the room.
I try the "new key"….it doesn't work!!!!!!
I am so PISSED!!! Something is SERIOUSLY messing with us!!!
Mare tells me that the guy said it was "so easy" to open and made her feel stupid, well here I am, I can't do it and I guess I'm stupid too. He also said if I couldn't find the key, I'd have to pay $5 for it. Oh really!!!
C'mon, just work!!! I just want to get something decent to eat and crash and have this nightmare end and get the hell out of here at the crack of dawn. Screw doing laundry, they are not getting one penny more of my money…..and speaking of pennies…IF I can't find the first key, I'll pay him the $5…….in pennies!! All 500 of them!!!! I'll do it too! I don't care!!!
I don't believe it….damn key still isn't working and it worked for him!!
Okay….relax, deep breath, let go of the aggravation, pretend you are walking up to the door for the first time, what do you do? Try it.
It opened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let's grab our purses and keys and get the hell out!!!!
We went to the nearest restaurant, a ¼ mi. up the road called "The Ranch" - they advertised a "salad bar" so that did it for us.
I went up to the salad bar – I had to search for a clean plate, a clean bowl, clean silverware…..dishwasher not rinsing quite right I gather. This was a dirty little divey town huh?
Again, the iceberg lettuce, oh look, herring in sour cream, oh yeah, we're in the Northern Midwest.
The salad bar wasn't that great, but it was okay…oh look there's some boiled egg dropped in the strawberry jello….I'll keep going thank you very much…
We had much needed salad, I had a cup of chicken noodle soup, I got a patty melt and mashed potatoes, Mare got the chicken fried steak one more time, and garlic mashed potatoes. I think I had it w/ cheeseburgers, my belly feels a bit clogged up.
We both got beer, I had one, Mare had 3.
We couldn't believe this place and couldn't wait to have it be over with, but at least we were laughing.
I told Mare the Sarnia story and wondered what is up with these Indian people and stinky dirty rooms with no air? I don't want to stereotype people, but come on!! We then thought, we don't know how things are in their country, maybe to them, this IS clean….. hmmmm…I don't know…. Even if you are poor, don't you know about soap and water?? I dont know....
We got back to the room and actually got in!
Put on the TV and watched cartoon network, "Space Ghost" was on – they had a sketch spoofing "Psycho" with Zorak being Norman Bates and they made it into a musical! Now this was weird!!
Sherry called me, I just got off the phone with her complaining about how scummy the place was and I just wanted to survive it and she calls me back and says "Psycho" the movie was on the Friday Night scary movie. Gee.. thanks!!
It got even better, the next thing on was a spoof on the Sopranos starring the Flintstones!!! Brilliant! Instead of the "Bada Bing" they called it the "Dabba doo"
I think they called the show "the Dabba Don". And we just were at the Flintstones park the day before…..was just yesterday??? Seems like a lifetime!!
Mare went around taking pictures of the place, the mold on the bathroom wall, the red stains on the mattress (paint?? blood??), the pizza stains on the wall, the hard crust of something on the inside of the lampshade. The gray cinderblock bathroom that looked like a prison – okay the WHOLE place was made of cinderblock, but it was unpainted gray in the bathroom.
I slept in my clothes, the next day I woke up feeling so gross, I just washed my face, put in my contacts, and brushed my teeth…that was it! I had it ! We are Outta here!!!
The Budget Inn of Fairmont, Minnesota The Worst DUMP I have stayed in yet
Fairmont, Minnesota – Located roughly halfway across the state,
where I-90 intersects w/ Rt. 15
Fairmont, Minnesota – Where billboard signs on I-90 announced the "Budget Inn" to be $31.99 a night with laundry facilities.
Budget Inn - I thought this was a chain that usually kept their standards up like Days Inn or Motel 6.
It was nearing dusk, I was tired, I was hungry, we went through 2/3rds of South Dakota and ½ through Minnesota…..I wanted to STOP.
So we went here. It ended up being $49 because there were 2 of us. It was $31.99 for one person. Okay, fine, here's a travelers check. Laundry?? Great !! We REALLY need to wash clothes!
I get the key, bring it to the car, drive to car in front of the room, get out of the car, and …..where's the room key??
Okay, look in my pocket, no…look on the seat, no….look in my purse, no…. look on the floor, no…..
okay, the spirits are messing with me!!! Walk over to where the car was, maybe I put it on the roof and it fell off when I drove off….no
Something is REALLY messing with me! Mary Ellen and I again ransack those places and retrace my steps…no key!!
So, feeling like a fool, I go back to the office…I tell the lady I lost the key, and since it was getting darker at this point, I figured I'd find it in the car tomorrow in the daylight.
The lady gives me a 2nd key.
I can't get in. The key doesn't work for me OR Mare
Go back to the office – the key doesn't work.
The lady gets a "master key", comes back, opens the door, tells us she'll find us another key.
We walk in. Now, the fact that "something" took the key when I JUST had it, plus the fact, the 2nd key didn't even work, and the fact the door looked all ghetto, the paint was all scraped , the top lock was loose, should have told me something…..
The place was a DUMP!
It smelled funny – we wanted to air it out but the windows were painted shut – we turned on the air conditioner and kept the door open. Mare sprayed $2 "Designer Imposters" perfume in the air – anything would have been better!
All I wanted to do was to go out and eat and go to bed, now we have this crappy drama with a gross stagnant moldy smelling room, and we're waiting on the lady to come back with a key. I didn't even want to stay, so Mare called some places we passed by to get prices and availability. Either they were full or cost twice as much!
I smelled the pillowcases – they smelled like a person slept on them, they did NOT smell laundered.
I examined the sheets – they seemed fine – it was getting dark now! The comforters were nasty gray, but as a rule of thumb, motels don't usually launder the top comforter, so you should just not use them, just peel them back.
I didn't know what to do, I really didn't want to get in the car again. Why the Hell didn't I look at the room before paying???? Didn't I learn ANYTHING from the Sarnia experience???
The Sarnia experience – Several years ago, on one of our (my ex and I) Massachusetts to Detroit trips we needed to spend the night in Ontario (we always cut through Canada). Sarnia is an industrial town in Ontario, not too great from the part we saw, but we were very tired… we found a little cheap motel run by Indians (Hindu, not Native Americans) Indian/Pakistani…I really don't know…whatever, I'm not prejudiced, everybody irritates me…. So anyway, he pays for the room and I really have to use the facilities…so I dash in, pee, flush, wash hands and come out and look around the room…. It smells funny, I can't remember if the windows opened or not, I believe at least it was a struggle. So it smelled funny, it felt funny, I got a real bad vibe, so I really didn't want to stay…so I insisted we leave…I felt real bad because we would have to get back in that hot car and drive some more, but I just couldn't do it…I even cried (PMS??) …. So he asked for his money back we were leaving, and the guy charged him $10 because we "used the room" because I peed. He just paid it just to get the hell out of there. It was the most expensive pee I have ever taken.
Mare tried looking at the bright side – at least we'll never forget this place - all the decent places we have stayed in aren't as memorable as this.
Oh, she is trying to be positive, and she must be tired too , she drove a lot today……and it's getting later and later.
There was mold on the bathroom wall, and I washed my hands and looked down, there was a puddle on the floor, huh??
I turned on the water again, and it was squirting out of the drain pipe, adding to the puddle – nice!
I had to use the toilet, I wet a wad of TP and wiped it down, good thing, because it showed dirt on it…great! Note to self, put paper down before you sit on it.
They didn't even have enough TOILET PAPER!!!! there was a ¼ roll left after this , and no spares!! I am so glad I brought a roll from the apt. just for an emergency like this, so I broke it out.
It was getting late….. well, I did want an adventure, I sucked it up but insisted we get FRESH pillowcases…… and I wasn't going to shower, or take my shoes off in the bathroom and I was going to sleep in my clothes
Meanwhile the lady still hasn't come back w/ the key…we go to the office to ask for clean pillowcases. Her mother / mother-in-law was there, she did not understand English, so she had to go in back (where they lived) to get the lady. The lady came out, I told her we needed pillowcases, she looked confused, but I just repeated myself, she went in back.
Meanwhile, the husband is there, Mare decides to deal with the "we need a key" issue so we can go out to eat and get back in. He gives her a key, she walks to the room, tries it out, and it DOESN'T work for her.
She comes back, complains to him and makes him walk over there to do it. He gets it open, she takes the key.
The lady comes back with 2 pillowcases - there are 2 beds, each has 2 pillows, therefore we need 4 pillowcases…I'm sorry but they did not smell washed….I send her to get 2 more….she looks at me, I repeat myself she goes to the back again.
Mare comes back and hands me the key and says how the guy gave her an attitude. I get the additional pillowcases, and we walk back to the room.
I try the "new key"….it doesn't work!!!!!!
I am so PISSED!!! Something is SERIOUSLY messing with us!!!
Mare tells me that the guy said it was "so easy" to open and made her feel stupid, well here I am, I can't do it and I guess I'm stupid too. He also said if I couldn't find the key, I'd have to pay $5 for it. Oh really!!!
C'mon, just work!!! I just want to get something decent to eat and crash and have this nightmare end and get the hell out of here at the crack of dawn. Screw doing laundry, they are not getting one penny more of my money…..and speaking of pennies…IF I can't find the first key, I'll pay him the $5…….in pennies!! All 500 of them!!!! I'll do it too! I don't care!!!
I don't believe it….damn key still isn't working and it worked for him!!
Okay….relax, deep breath, let go of the aggravation, pretend you are walking up to the door for the first time, what do you do? Try it.
It opened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let's grab our purses and keys and get the hell out!!!!
We went to the nearest restaurant, a ¼ mi. up the road called "The Ranch" - they advertised a "salad bar" so that did it for us.
I went up to the salad bar – I had to search for a clean plate, a clean bowl, clean silverware…..dishwasher not rinsing quite right I gather. This was a dirty little divey town huh?
Again, the iceberg lettuce, oh look, herring in sour cream, oh yeah, we're in the Northern Midwest.
The salad bar wasn't that great, but it was okay…oh look there's some boiled egg dropped in the strawberry jello….I'll keep going thank you very much…
We had much needed salad, I had a cup of chicken noodle soup, I got a patty melt and mashed potatoes, Mare got the chicken fried steak one more time, and garlic mashed potatoes. I think I had it w/ cheeseburgers, my belly feels a bit clogged up.
We both got beer, I had one, Mare had 3.
We couldn't believe this place and couldn't wait to have it be over with, but at least we were laughing.
I told Mare the Sarnia story and wondered what is up with these Indian people and stinky dirty rooms with no air? I don't want to stereotype people, but come on!! We then thought, we don't know how things are in their country, maybe to them, this IS clean….. hmmmm…I don't know…. Even if you are poor, don't you know about soap and water?? I dont know....
We got back to the room and actually got in!
Put on the TV and watched cartoon network, "Space Ghost" was on – they had a sketch spoofing "Psycho" with Zorak being Norman Bates and they made it into a musical! Now this was weird!!
Sherry called me, I just got off the phone with her complaining about how scummy the place was and I just wanted to survive it and she calls me back and says "Psycho" the movie was on the Friday Night scary movie. Gee.. thanks!!
It got even better, the next thing on was a spoof on the Sopranos starring the Flintstones!!! Brilliant! Instead of the "Bada Bing" they called it the "Dabba doo"
I think they called the show "the Dabba Don". And we just were at the Flintstones park the day before…..was just yesterday??? Seems like a lifetime!!
Mare went around taking pictures of the place, the mold on the bathroom wall, the red stains on the mattress (paint?? blood??), the pizza stains on the wall, the hard crust of something on the inside of the lampshade. The gray cinderblock bathroom that looked like a prison – okay the WHOLE place was made of cinderblock, but it was unpainted gray in the bathroom.
I slept in my clothes, the next day I woke up feeling so gross, I just washed my face, put in my contacts, and brushed my teeth…that was it! I had it ! We are Outta here!!!
Day 5 – September 6, 2008
Minnesota - Mare FOUND the 1st motel key!!!! Apparently it had fallen from me backwards, it went through the narrow opening between the driver’s seat and door and it was on the floor of the backseat. Who’d a thunk it?
So triumphantly I returned both keys and didn’t have to pay that rotten $5! Thank God!!! So HA!
We hit the road, back on I-90 E. Within minutes we approached Blue Earth. I saw Blue Earth on the map last night, but the font was smaller than the font of Fairmont, so we didn’t know if it would have a place to stay. Now that we approached it, a billboard announced food and lodging – damn! Should of stayed here last night…..at least the name is pretty.
We also saw a sign for the (60 ft.) “Green Giant” and within moments we saw his head looming above trees in the distance. That’s it! We’re pulling over! We got off the exit and found it easily, it is a little park between a Dairy Queen and a baseball field. The thing was HUGE! Hahaahahahaahahahhaa ! We took lots of pictures…Mare didn’t want to pose with the Green Giant….. that’s okay, while we were at Wall Drug, I refused to pose with the Giant Jackalope! (Look up Jackalope – I deny their existence and I am stubbornly sticking to my convictions!)
Back on the road…….Damn! Should have stayed in Blue Earth! I wonder if they have a Green Giant themed motel?
Maybe it would have been clean??
Hormel is in Minnesota and they have the SPAM Museum!!! I’m serious!
More Pro-Life billboards, more sunflower fields here and there.
I am taking note of the landscape changes:
Eastern Colorado and Wyoming; either flat or rolling hills, yellow grass, dry-looking, open sky. Trees collect near streams or creeks, open and grassy for the most part.
South Dakota; East of the Black Hills; mainly flat, sparsely treed, some low hills, yellow grass – prairie like.
Minnesota; I’m seeing a change, again with open sky and rolling hills, but it more greener, more lush, a bit more trees, crops and barns visible from highway – definitely farm country.
Time to pull over and eat….more like brunch-time. We got off
I-90 at Stewartville (Hello Heather!) the main road (30??) was the Laura Ingalls Wilder Highway. We found a place to eat, pulled into a parking lot, but it was closed. We went to grocery store up the block, maybe they sold sandwiches, when we asked about food, the young man that worked there told us to go “across the street to the café”. So we did.
By the way, the grocery store sold ‘cheese curds”. Huh?
Apparently, cheese curds are little bite sized lumps of cheddar cheese. This place had about a couple of pounds worth in each bag for sale.
Mare knows all about cheese curds “you know ...they have them at ‘state fairs’ ….’’ Huh? I still didnt get it.
Personally, I saw them for sale at the A&W fast food places.
(In the Broomfield area A&W was hooked up w/ KFC, you can get both types of food in the same place. A&W had of course their root beer, and burgers, fries I suppose, and cheese curds.)
Basically, they are breaded and deep fried, and that’s all I need (cheese freak that I am) is to get hooked on yet another greasy calorie laden food. So I never tried them. But here they were in Minnesota, sold by the bagful…..just like chicken wings.
At the café, I went with lunch instead of breakfast, and we both got beer/cheese soup ( I never had it before) and it came with a handful of popcorn on top….uhhh… okay. The soup was real good, didn’t taste any beer though, and the popcorn was alright, it just tasted like cheese popcorn, I ate it all before it got soggy.
I got a cheeseburger (yeah, I know what I said last night), I forgot what Mare got….then she got ice cream, and I got an ice coffee. I poured a “stok” shot into in.. (it comes in a little container like coffee creamer and is concentrated caffeine, it warns you not to have more than 2 a day, made in Broomfield too - I found that to be slightly amusing)
I snagged a handful of these from the gas station we stopped in on the way to Devil’s Tower Wyoming and they are in the glove compartment…just in case… (My driving has been dependant upon these little packets of joy)
Last night and this morning Mare made a few phone calls. She found out from her friend that a ferry goes across Lake Michigan from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Muskegon, Michigan. I thought about it, I was thinking about going south from Wisconsin, then through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania to New York.If we took the ferry, we would go through Michigan, Ontario and then hit New York.The distance was also shorter because the other way we would have to go East, then diagonally go North , this way we pretty much went East directly. The ferry was a little pricey, but if we went the other way, we’d probably have to stop for the night one more time, plus the price of gas fill-ups, and meals, the ferry seemed the way to go.
She called up the ferry place and we made a reservation for 6 a.m. I figured we can drag ourselves there, then crash on the boat.
So we continued on I-90 to Wisconsin. We had crossed the Missouri River in the middle of South Dakota, and now we were approaching the Mississippi.
The Mississippi River is the natural boundary that divides Minnesota from Wisconsin.
Again, I took note of the landscape; along the river on either side, the land rose up and was completely covered by trees. No more “open-sky” thing. The river was down in a chasm between the risen area of land. We crossed a bridge over the Mississippi into Wisconsin, and the way the land and trees were, it reminded me of what I am used to on the East Coast, higher hills, completely covered in trees, older, taller, denser.
It was like the land east of the Mississippi was completely different from the land west.
I would like to learn about the geological history. It is like the area east was mountainous, and the area west had that ancient ocean, and maybe where the river is, is a fault line and there was an earthquake and the plates shifted and maybe some of the ancient ocean drained down where the river is today?
Just something else I want to learn about.
In Madison, we had to switch to I-94 E, I gave the wheel back to Mare at this point to go to Milwaukee.....
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - We got there and toured the city.
I was hoping there would be some sort of Happy Days/ Laverne and Shirley tourist memorial thing, but didn’t see anything (bummer.)
We checked out the ferry sight, so we would be able to find it in the dark, then went in search of lodging.
After much searching and inquiring at 3 places we settled on the Super 8 on Rt.100 in the West Allis area.
Brian was manning the front desk, and when he said they had a laundry I was overjoyed!!! When he has a roll of quarters to sell me I nearly hit the roof with excitement ( I believe he thought I was crazy)
I was so gross from the night before. Mare treated again, and I was ecstatic. We brought stuff in, she took a shower, I gathered clothes to put in the washing machine down the hall, and I had to get some other stuff out of the car. I brought the key w/ me(credit card type swipekey)
I set it down ….somewhere….got my items…and…..you guessed it….I couldn’t find the key - again!!!
Thank God we were on the 1st floor! I figured she might be out of the shower by now, so I wandered to where I thought the room was, looked through a crack in the curtain and recognized the room….I knocked on the window and she let me in……yeah…. I lost the key……yeah, staple it to my hand…..
I took my much needed shower and headed for Chinese food….tons of Chinese food in that area….we also saw a bunch of “frozen custard” places. We got to the Chinese place around 8 – 8:30 “...you have buffet….” I guess they didn’t want to cook because it was late, so we had buffet, it was okay but the rice was dried out, so the rice went bye bye and I got more vegetables.
After the Chinese food we went to the frozen custard place and found out they also had burgers and sandwiches there (we should of just gone there and did it on one shot…oh well! I ate broccoli at the Chinese place, so I got my vegetables, so it worked out)
I called Brian (the front desk guy) to ask if he wanted any ice cream ( I was so grateful to be staying in a clean place I would treat him) he said he was “all set.” I don’t know if he thought I was crazy or “testing him” (like a “secret shopper”). I got chocolate with strawberries on top!! (Very good!)
Got back, threw the clothes in the dryer and it was 11:30 by the time they were dry, Mare fetched them. I went to sleep, after all, we had to get up at 4:00 a.m.
The blue dotted line in Milwaukee Bay is the path of the ferry we took
Day 6 - September 7, 2008
Lake Michigan - I woke up at 4. Mare was already in the shower, she only had about 1 ½ hrs. of sleep, she was texting, then wandered the halls and played Pacman during the night.
We got to the ferry fine, then boarded, she is sleeping now. It is 7 a.m. I went on deck for a while to see the sunrise, but then it got too cold.
The latest Indiana Jones movie is on and I tried to nap, but I can’t. Bobby texted me and I replied….I told him where we were at. I hate this!
I’m having a hard time now. I don’t know what is up w/ him, and there is nothing more I can do if he won’t tell me anything other than “he’s better off alone.”
I have to “focus on me”……..So I am confused, where to settle….CT or MA?? I have no clue. I just know I can’t be isolated. I need my alone time, but I also need friends, that was my major problem in both Western Massachusetts and Colorado.
My mother has been in Niagara Falls (NY part) since yesterday, she’ll be leaving some time early afternoon tommorow. If I can make it there maybe I can surprise her.
Niagara Falls, New York- I drove from the ferry landing in Muskegon, Michigan to here today, powered by the “stok”. Muskegon was a nice beachy-type community from what I saw. It was a 3 1/2 ferry ride from Milwaukee, we got there at 9:30 a.m. Got lost a bit trying to find the highway, but found a gas station, got a coffee (added the Stok) and a apple fritter for later and filled up on gas.
The drive through Ontario really started to take it’s toll, but Niagara was 1 hour away, so I could make it. Got to the Canadian side of the falls and parked in the ice rink’s parking lot near the Kraft factory. Tried calling my mother’s cell, but all I got was voice mail….. repeatedly.....arghhh!!!
The drive through Ontario really started to take it’s toll, but Niagara was 1 hour away, so I could make it. Got to the Canadian side of the falls and parked in the ice rink’s parking lot near the Kraft factory. Tried calling my mother’s cell, but all I got was voice mail….. repeatedly.....arghhh!!!
Okay its past 5:00 pm…..I've been up since 4 a.m…..drove through Michigan and Ontario, caffeined up and starting to get pretty goofy …..basically I needed to stop driving and be still, eat something and chill out.
I knew my mom and aunt were on the New York side of the Falls. I knew they were going to a casino. That's all I knew, so my goal was to find them, but even more importantly, to check in somewhere and get that over with. Mare said the last time she stayed in the falls there were cheaper places to stay a bit "further down" from the main drag. Made sense.
So I drove around…where? I asked….
I don't know,a bit further down she said…
we drove around…..now, let me tell you, it gets pretty scary a few blocks away from the main drag….. boarded up houses, and desolate shops….unfortunate. It looks like it WAS a cool neighborhood back in the day…I don't see anything….. we drove around and around. I was getting irritable, we went down 190 South...Tonawanda, Buffalo heading up next and that was too far from the Falls…nothing but industrial area.
I headed back…..I didn't care about being cheap I drove all this way , all day, I wanted to see my mom and surprise her.
Mare, I'm going back….
She thought the places were "around"
I couldn't find them.
Mare, you had around an hour and a half worth of sleep, I'm not listening
(I was very tired and grouchy)….
I went to the Seneca Casino…you can't miss it!! Well, it's a casino, it's on the New York side……they have to be here….
I pulled into a space near the entranceway and left Mare the keys in case someone hassled us about parking there. I went in….it was also a hotel, maybe they were staying there…I went to the front desk…
Me – do you have a "Gloria Coppola" staying here?
Receptionist – (looks on computer) how do you spell that?
Me – C-o-p-p-o-l-a
Receptionist – (shakes head) no
Me – how about ann Mancini?
Receptionist – (looking on computer) M- a – n- c- i-n –I ?
Me – (getting a bit hopeful because it seemed like she was reading it from the register log) yeah, first name Ann
Receptionist - No
Me – you sure?(I still thought she was reading the name from the screen)
Receptionist – no, there is nobody under any of those names
Me – okay
I walk away. So where the hell are they?
We go to another Super 8 up the street…I hang out in the lobby….nobody there. There were cameras set up viewing various areas, the front door, various views of hallways…and televison monitors transmitting the images, but nobody there to view them.
I considered doing some jumping jacks or something totally weird to attract attention in the chance that there was a camera on me, being viewed in some nearby office…but after a few minutes I gave up…no bell no nothing, so they can lose a customer as far as I was concerned.
Got back in the car, went closer to the falls, the days inn. I checked in and they had parking in the back and also in an underground garage, that's it!
We dragged our stuff in and took an elevator to the 7th floor.
We had a HUGE window in our room. it was taller than me (maybe 6 ft) and filled the entire outer wall of the room. It slid open like a sliding glass door, no screen, you could easily hop out of it and onto the ledge outside. I was afraid of standing too close to it while open while talking on my cell phone in fear of dropping it.
This would NOT be a good place to be in if there were kids.
But what a view!!! You can see the mist rising up from the falls to the left, and straight ahead across the river on the Canadian side was a giant Ferris wheel, to the right below were the border booths.
After taking a much needed bathroom break…I decided to try my mother again
Oh My God!!! She actually answered. I asked her where she was staying, they were staying at the comfort inn, but were now at….THE SENECA CASINO (yeah, I knew it)
We were a mere 2 blocks away, so I figured I'd walk over. NO MORE DRIVING!
I would scream if I had to get back in the car. I asked Mare what she wanted to do , I would totally understand if she just wanted to crash, but she wanted to come so we did a quick freshen up thing and took a walk.
My mom and aunt were near the back entrance way waiting and they were surprised we made it all the way from Michigan.
They took us to a restaurant inside that they just ate at and hung out with us while we ordered.
We ordered pretty healthy, we both got a ½ sandwich and cup of soup and split a salad. It was totally enough. We both got turkey sandwiches, she got a sweet potato soup, I got chicken soup…it was all good.
We hung out in the casino with them for a little while chit chatting, then it was time to go back to the room. We said goodbye to mom and aunt, they were going to visit a nearby shrine in the morning, then the bus was going to go directly back to CT.
Mare and I walked back and ended up talking for a couple of hours before crashing.
The view was great outside the window, the Ferris wheel was all lit up.
I knew my mom and aunt were on the New York side of the Falls. I knew they were going to a casino. That's all I knew, so my goal was to find them, but even more importantly, to check in somewhere and get that over with. Mare said the last time she stayed in the falls there were cheaper places to stay a bit "further down" from the main drag. Made sense.
So I drove around…where? I asked….
I don't know,a bit further down she said…
we drove around…..now, let me tell you, it gets pretty scary a few blocks away from the main drag….. boarded up houses, and desolate shops….unfortunate. It looks like it WAS a cool neighborhood back in the day…I don't see anything….. we drove around and around. I was getting irritable, we went down 190 South...Tonawanda, Buffalo heading up next and that was too far from the Falls…nothing but industrial area.
I headed back…..I didn't care about being cheap I drove all this way , all day, I wanted to see my mom and surprise her.
Mare, I'm going back….
She thought the places were "around"
I couldn't find them.
Mare, you had around an hour and a half worth of sleep, I'm not listening
(I was very tired and grouchy)….
I went to the Seneca Casino…you can't miss it!! Well, it's a casino, it's on the New York side……they have to be here….
I pulled into a space near the entranceway and left Mare the keys in case someone hassled us about parking there. I went in….it was also a hotel, maybe they were staying there…I went to the front desk…
Me – do you have a "Gloria Coppola" staying here?
Receptionist – (looks on computer) how do you spell that?
Me – C-o-p-p-o-l-a
Receptionist – (shakes head) no
Me – how about ann Mancini?
Receptionist – (looking on computer) M- a – n- c- i-n –I ?
Me – (getting a bit hopeful because it seemed like she was reading it from the register log) yeah, first name Ann
Receptionist - No
Me – you sure?(I still thought she was reading the name from the screen)
Receptionist – no, there is nobody under any of those names
Me – okay
I walk away. So where the hell are they?
We go to another Super 8 up the street…I hang out in the lobby….nobody there. There were cameras set up viewing various areas, the front door, various views of hallways…and televison monitors transmitting the images, but nobody there to view them.
I considered doing some jumping jacks or something totally weird to attract attention in the chance that there was a camera on me, being viewed in some nearby office…but after a few minutes I gave up…no bell no nothing, so they can lose a customer as far as I was concerned.
Got back in the car, went closer to the falls, the days inn. I checked in and they had parking in the back and also in an underground garage, that's it!
We dragged our stuff in and took an elevator to the 7th floor.
We had a HUGE window in our room. it was taller than me (maybe 6 ft) and filled the entire outer wall of the room. It slid open like a sliding glass door, no screen, you could easily hop out of it and onto the ledge outside. I was afraid of standing too close to it while open while talking on my cell phone in fear of dropping it.
This would NOT be a good place to be in if there were kids.
But what a view!!! You can see the mist rising up from the falls to the left, and straight ahead across the river on the Canadian side was a giant Ferris wheel, to the right below were the border booths.
After taking a much needed bathroom break…I decided to try my mother again
Oh My God!!! She actually answered. I asked her where she was staying, they were staying at the comfort inn, but were now at….THE SENECA CASINO (yeah, I knew it)
We were a mere 2 blocks away, so I figured I'd walk over. NO MORE DRIVING!
I would scream if I had to get back in the car. I asked Mare what she wanted to do , I would totally understand if she just wanted to crash, but she wanted to come so we did a quick freshen up thing and took a walk.
My mom and aunt were near the back entrance way waiting and they were surprised we made it all the way from Michigan.
They took us to a restaurant inside that they just ate at and hung out with us while we ordered.
We ordered pretty healthy, we both got a ½ sandwich and cup of soup and split a salad. It was totally enough. We both got turkey sandwiches, she got a sweet potato soup, I got chicken soup…it was all good.
We hung out in the casino with them for a little while chit chatting, then it was time to go back to the room. We said goodbye to mom and aunt, they were going to visit a nearby shrine in the morning, then the bus was going to go directly back to CT.
Mare and I walked back and ended up talking for a couple of hours before crashing.
The view was great outside the window, the Ferris wheel was all lit up.
Day 7
September 8, 2008 - Monday
We decided to stay the day and play across on the Canadian side, and so I booked the room for one more night…we'll leave after breakfast Tuesday. To tell you the truth, I was not anxious to get to CT and begin reality.
I was waiting for Mare to get out of the bathroom when I heard a horrible sound. I couldn't tell if it was coming from outside or from down the hall. I am not good with directional hearing. I didn't have my contacts in, so even when I looked outside, I couldn't see too well. The sound initially sounded like a cat (in horrible pain) or…it could've been a baby (some babies sound so horrid when they scream). I couldn't tell if anything in the parking lot was a baby or a cat…it was just too far down for me to see.
So I was kind of panicking, it sounded terrible; and I was wondering if someone was beating the poor cat. I was considering I had to go down and rescue the poor thing. I envisioned bringing it home in a box.
I begged her to come out as soon as she was done. She came out and I had her look out the window….did she see anything? She said she saw kittens running around and hopping over the fence. She pointed and I saw some dark shapes moving around. Is anyone near them, bothering them I asked….she didn't see anything bad happening and then the sound stopped…..okay….we'll take a look after breakfast I guess.
There was a Denny's downstairs so we were going to eat there, then do the pedestrian walk across the bridge to the falls.
Yesterday, when we entered the U.S. from Canada, all we showed were Mare's passport and my license. I handed my birth certificate to the person but he didn't even open it up to look at it. We had a barrage of questions such as if we had any fruit or cigars or anything, and how we knew each other and how long we have known each other and where were we coming from and where we were going and why.
After we apparently "passed the test" while an x-ray gun was aimed at my car trunk…we drove off. We concocted a story to tell next time, that we were "involved" and we met at the "Lilith fair"…or we were "retired exotic dancers"
So any way, since all they asked for was our licenses, I thought it would be safer to leave my birth certificate in my luggage in the room as opposed to carrying around with me, in case I lost it. So I just took the license.
Ate breakfast, then headed out for our trek.
I will tell you about where the Days Inn is situated. It is on a city block, on one half of the block, the half facing the falls are 2 food stands, the type you walk up to and order your food. If you face this part of the block, on the left is a small round building that sells hot dogs, sandwiches, buffalo wings, on the right is an identical building that sells ice cream. In between these buildings is a little park to eat your food. It was very cute, there was a see-saw for the kids, benches to eat it, green lawn, trees and flower bushes. There is fence separating this area from the Days Inn parking lot. The hotel and parking lot are on the half of the block facing away from the Falls. On the right side of the block was a small Indian restaurant called the Punjabi Hut. I saw it last night from the window and started craving it. I haven't had Indian food in 4 years!! Don't get me wrong, there were Indian restaurants in Boulder, and Louisville , just no one I knew was into it too much.
So here we were, cutting through the hotel parking lot aiming to get to the other side of the fence to look for the kittens. We ended up snooping in the little park. There was a storage shed behind the hot dog place. The door of the shed was open and I stuck my head in to see if the cats were there. A man walked up from the hot dog place "Can I help you?"
Okay, I'm snooping….I told him we were looking for kittens. Well, thank God he knew what we were talking about. We explained how we heard the noise from our room, etc. etc.
His name was Al, he was an older gentleman, late 50's early 60's. He looked like a biker guy; he had a long white ponytail, a gold earring and sunglasses. He owned both food stands and the Indian restaurant. He said they knew about the cats and that was the mother making the horrible noise (to protect the kittens) she was feral. They put food out for them, but the mother is impossible to catch. They have caught a couple of the kittens and given them homes. They would like to catch the mother (and have her fixed) because this isn't her first litter. We all chit chatted and mentioned eating at the Indian place later. Then we took off.
We went to the pedestrian path, but there was a sign saying it was closed. We had to go back and get the car! A man talked to us, he said they were "doing repairs" on the path, but suspected since it was so close to September 11, that it really had to do something with security. So we had to walk back. We got the car and drove through. The Canadian guard asked us the barrage of questions and let us through.
As we looked for a cheap place to park (the Clifton St./ Victoria Ave. area) Mare realized THIS was the area with the cheaper motels. Yep, right distance, wrong country! Hahaha! Apparently she thought she stayed in NY when really she was in Ontario. If she remembered she was on the Canadian side I totally would have know what she was meaning….I've stayed in this area myself both times I've been in the falls previously. Oh well, mystery solved!!
We parked and did the big walk. My Converse sneakers were KILLING me!!! The price for being fashionable (they were black with flames up the sides)
We took pictures of the falls, walked, sought the Chinese shops that sold silver jewelry cheap (found NONE). Walked some more. Got waffle cones for lunch.
Mare wanted to go on the Ferris wheel and take the elevator to the Skylon tower . They were both $10 each…I just wanted to do one…I guess I was feeling cheap. The Ferris wheel was right near the ice cream place, so we went on as soon as we were done eating.
Well, as soon as we started going up I decided definitely no elevator for me. I got the whole weak in the knees thing. I wanted to take pictures, but got the weak in the arms thing as well and just managed to take pictures with my cell phone that was in my pocket. It was cool, but I was too much focused on not freaking out. Mare was totally enjoying it so I was relying on seeing the pictures she was able to take.
The flyer for the Ferris wheel said it was 53 meters high (which would be roughly159 ft). Another one said it was 175 feet above the falls. Were they taking the hill's height in consideration? Any way it was high, and you had a good view of the falls and the surrounding area. It went around 3 times, and I was okay on the 3rd time around.
Okay time to head back, of course the U.S. border guard gave me a hard time. The U.S gave us a hard time years ago too. We had to get out of the car and they had a dog walk through the car and go in the trunk to sniff it out.
So this time around he gave me a hard time because I just had my license. I told him I left the birth certificate in the room in New York because the guard didn't even look at it yesterday. So he proceeds to tell me as of June 1st 2009 people will absolutely need a passport to go to and from Canada, he gives me the third degree about the contents of the car, and how I know Mare (much like yesterday) and he decides to let us go "just this once" yeah, yeah, yeah… Well, I HAD the right stuff yesterday, and no one bothered, maybe THEY need to be consistant…..note to self…..carry all your documents whether or not they do their jobs. I would have, but I had a fear of perhaps losing it.
So he let us through and we got to our room, chilled out then ate at the Punjabi Hut.
Hurricane Ike is heading up the Atlantic…. Fabulous lightning action through out huge window!!!
September 8, 2008 - Monday
We decided to stay the day and play across on the Canadian side, and so I booked the room for one more night…we'll leave after breakfast Tuesday. To tell you the truth, I was not anxious to get to CT and begin reality.
I was waiting for Mare to get out of the bathroom when I heard a horrible sound. I couldn't tell if it was coming from outside or from down the hall. I am not good with directional hearing. I didn't have my contacts in, so even when I looked outside, I couldn't see too well. The sound initially sounded like a cat (in horrible pain) or…it could've been a baby (some babies sound so horrid when they scream). I couldn't tell if anything in the parking lot was a baby or a cat…it was just too far down for me to see.
So I was kind of panicking, it sounded terrible; and I was wondering if someone was beating the poor cat. I was considering I had to go down and rescue the poor thing. I envisioned bringing it home in a box.
I begged her to come out as soon as she was done. She came out and I had her look out the window….did she see anything? She said she saw kittens running around and hopping over the fence. She pointed and I saw some dark shapes moving around. Is anyone near them, bothering them I asked….she didn't see anything bad happening and then the sound stopped…..okay….we'll take a look after breakfast I guess.
There was a Denny's downstairs so we were going to eat there, then do the pedestrian walk across the bridge to the falls.
Yesterday, when we entered the U.S. from Canada, all we showed were Mare's passport and my license. I handed my birth certificate to the person but he didn't even open it up to look at it. We had a barrage of questions such as if we had any fruit or cigars or anything, and how we knew each other and how long we have known each other and where were we coming from and where we were going and why.
After we apparently "passed the test" while an x-ray gun was aimed at my car trunk…we drove off. We concocted a story to tell next time, that we were "involved" and we met at the "Lilith fair"…or we were "retired exotic dancers"
So any way, since all they asked for was our licenses, I thought it would be safer to leave my birth certificate in my luggage in the room as opposed to carrying around with me, in case I lost it. So I just took the license.
Ate breakfast, then headed out for our trek.
I will tell you about where the Days Inn is situated. It is on a city block, on one half of the block, the half facing the falls are 2 food stands, the type you walk up to and order your food. If you face this part of the block, on the left is a small round building that sells hot dogs, sandwiches, buffalo wings, on the right is an identical building that sells ice cream. In between these buildings is a little park to eat your food. It was very cute, there was a see-saw for the kids, benches to eat it, green lawn, trees and flower bushes. There is fence separating this area from the Days Inn parking lot. The hotel and parking lot are on the half of the block facing away from the Falls. On the right side of the block was a small Indian restaurant called the Punjabi Hut. I saw it last night from the window and started craving it. I haven't had Indian food in 4 years!! Don't get me wrong, there were Indian restaurants in Boulder, and Louisville , just no one I knew was into it too much.
So here we were, cutting through the hotel parking lot aiming to get to the other side of the fence to look for the kittens. We ended up snooping in the little park. There was a storage shed behind the hot dog place. The door of the shed was open and I stuck my head in to see if the cats were there. A man walked up from the hot dog place "Can I help you?"
Okay, I'm snooping….I told him we were looking for kittens. Well, thank God he knew what we were talking about. We explained how we heard the noise from our room, etc. etc.
His name was Al, he was an older gentleman, late 50's early 60's. He looked like a biker guy; he had a long white ponytail, a gold earring and sunglasses. He owned both food stands and the Indian restaurant. He said they knew about the cats and that was the mother making the horrible noise (to protect the kittens) she was feral. They put food out for them, but the mother is impossible to catch. They have caught a couple of the kittens and given them homes. They would like to catch the mother (and have her fixed) because this isn't her first litter. We all chit chatted and mentioned eating at the Indian place later. Then we took off.
We went to the pedestrian path, but there was a sign saying it was closed. We had to go back and get the car! A man talked to us, he said they were "doing repairs" on the path, but suspected since it was so close to September 11, that it really had to do something with security. So we had to walk back. We got the car and drove through. The Canadian guard asked us the barrage of questions and let us through.
As we looked for a cheap place to park (the Clifton St./ Victoria Ave. area) Mare realized THIS was the area with the cheaper motels. Yep, right distance, wrong country! Hahaha! Apparently she thought she stayed in NY when really she was in Ontario. If she remembered she was on the Canadian side I totally would have know what she was meaning….I've stayed in this area myself both times I've been in the falls previously. Oh well, mystery solved!!
We parked and did the big walk. My Converse sneakers were KILLING me!!! The price for being fashionable (they were black with flames up the sides)
We took pictures of the falls, walked, sought the Chinese shops that sold silver jewelry cheap (found NONE). Walked some more. Got waffle cones for lunch.
Mare wanted to go on the Ferris wheel and take the elevator to the Skylon tower . They were both $10 each…I just wanted to do one…I guess I was feeling cheap. The Ferris wheel was right near the ice cream place, so we went on as soon as we were done eating.
Well, as soon as we started going up I decided definitely no elevator for me. I got the whole weak in the knees thing. I wanted to take pictures, but got the weak in the arms thing as well and just managed to take pictures with my cell phone that was in my pocket. It was cool, but I was too much focused on not freaking out. Mare was totally enjoying it so I was relying on seeing the pictures she was able to take.
The flyer for the Ferris wheel said it was 53 meters high (which would be roughly159 ft). Another one said it was 175 feet above the falls. Were they taking the hill's height in consideration? Any way it was high, and you had a good view of the falls and the surrounding area. It went around 3 times, and I was okay on the 3rd time around.
Okay time to head back, of course the U.S. border guard gave me a hard time. The U.S gave us a hard time years ago too. We had to get out of the car and they had a dog walk through the car and go in the trunk to sniff it out.
So this time around he gave me a hard time because I just had my license. I told him I left the birth certificate in the room in New York because the guard didn't even look at it yesterday. So he proceeds to tell me as of June 1st 2009 people will absolutely need a passport to go to and from Canada, he gives me the third degree about the contents of the car, and how I know Mare (much like yesterday) and he decides to let us go "just this once" yeah, yeah, yeah… Well, I HAD the right stuff yesterday, and no one bothered, maybe THEY need to be consistant…..note to self…..carry all your documents whether or not they do their jobs. I would have, but I had a fear of perhaps losing it.
So he let us through and we got to our room, chilled out then ate at the Punjabi Hut.
Hurricane Ike is heading up the Atlantic…. Fabulous lightning action through out huge window!!!
Day 8
September 9, 2009 Tuesday
This is it. Packed up, ate breakfast at Denny’s downstairs again. Saw Al in the lobby, chatted and said our goodbyes.
Back on the road, Hurricane Ike was farther South but we had the storm last night and today it was cloudy, some rain, but not bad.
Drove through New York and onwards to CT. Got on the Mass Turnpike. I had to adjust to new terrain through upstate New York and Massachusetts, no more flatness.
Note to self, too many tolls on Mass Turnpike.
Finally got to Mare’s house outside Hartford. I should have spent the night, but her friend was staying with her and I felt awkward. Another part of me just wanted to get the driving over with. So I dropped her off and headed to New Haven. There was construction on I-91 South so I was stuck in traffic forever.
I was torn, I was tired of the “power driving” I had been doing, yet I didn’t want this to end. Despite the bad circumstances, I had a good time seeing the country. But Mare had a life to get back to, and this was getting a bit expensive.
Hell, if someone else was driving and paying for the gas, I would have no problem going straight south to Florida at this point. I was tired, confused, and did not want to “start over” just yet.
I made it to my parent’s house in one piece.
I had been terrified to do this trip, intimidated by the huge trucks on the highway, but I had no problem with that. It was fine. So I learned it wasn’t as terrifying as I thought.
I would do it again in a heartbeat.
September 9, 2009 Tuesday
This is it. Packed up, ate breakfast at Denny’s downstairs again. Saw Al in the lobby, chatted and said our goodbyes.
Back on the road, Hurricane Ike was farther South but we had the storm last night and today it was cloudy, some rain, but not bad.
Drove through New York and onwards to CT. Got on the Mass Turnpike. I had to adjust to new terrain through upstate New York and Massachusetts, no more flatness.
Note to self, too many tolls on Mass Turnpike.
Finally got to Mare’s house outside Hartford. I should have spent the night, but her friend was staying with her and I felt awkward. Another part of me just wanted to get the driving over with. So I dropped her off and headed to New Haven. There was construction on I-91 South so I was stuck in traffic forever.
I was torn, I was tired of the “power driving” I had been doing, yet I didn’t want this to end. Despite the bad circumstances, I had a good time seeing the country. But Mare had a life to get back to, and this was getting a bit expensive.
Hell, if someone else was driving and paying for the gas, I would have no problem going straight south to Florida at this point. I was tired, confused, and did not want to “start over” just yet.
I made it to my parent’s house in one piece.
I had been terrified to do this trip, intimidated by the huge trucks on the highway, but I had no problem with that. It was fine. So I learned it wasn’t as terrifying as I thought.
I would do it again in a heartbeat.