Out West 2016 - Day 9

June 4, 2016 (Saturday)

The day started with a visit to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum in Burr Oak, Iowa. We checked out the museum but did not take the Masters Hotel tour. The Ingalls Family lived there in 1876-1877. The Masters Hotel is the only childhood home of Laura Ingalls Wilder that remains on its original site. The hotel tour was $8 for adults.

Effigy Mounds National Monument

Our last National Park site, for this trip was the Effigy Mounds National Monument, located in Northeast Iowa. We watched the video and learned about the reason why the monument was created.  There are over 200 American Indian mounds located in the area of the National Monument. The interesting aspect is that some of the mounds are shaped as animals – bears and birds being the most popular. The history behind the mounts is very much unknown; however, archeologist believe that the mounds delineated territories of choice gathering and hunting grounds. The visitor center also has some displays that are interesting.

Madison Capital Building

One last state capitol to visit, the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison. The capitol campus was very nice. There was a lot of people activity in the area.  The current Capitol building is the third one since Wisconsin became a state in 1848. The building is the tallest building in Madison and was constructed between 1906 and 1917 for $7.25 million. Interesting fact: the exterior dome in the largest granite dome in the world! Another interesting tidbit is that per state law any building within a one-mile radius of the capitol must not be taller than the base of the columns surrounding and supporting its dome.

Summary: We drove a lot of miles and gas cost us between $2.16 - $2.44/gallon. Our total gas cost was $443.37.

Out West 2016 - Day 8

June 3, 2016 (Friday)

Mississippi River & Rec Area - Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock

Rainy day…well at least it was not an all-day rain. Our first stop for the day was the Mississippi River and Recreation Area – Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock. There were a few displays on the viewing floor. The person at the top was very talkative and told us all about the area surrounding the lock.

Minnehaha Waterfall

Upon recommendation, we headed to the Coldwater Spring portion of the recreation area. It was quite rainy at that point so we did not hike out on the trail, but we had our lunch there. The Coldwater Spring is at the very end of the Minnehaha Park. The Park is not very well labeled and we did not find a map.  Eventually, we were able to find the Minnehaha Waterfall. The waterfall was really nice, as was the park in that area.

Near the park was a local ice cream place that my cousin that lives in St. Paul recommended – Grand Ole Creamery. The portions were HUGE – a double is four scoops!  It was excellent ice cream!

The Cathedral of St. Paul

Continuing our quest to visit capitol buildings, St. Paul, the capitol of Minnesota was our next target. The capitol is under major preservation work through 2017. The capitol was constructed in 1905 and was designed by Cass Gibert, this is the first comprehensive preservation since original construction. There are 20 memorials in the capitol grounds – it was too rainy for us to explore.

St. Paul Capital Building

Leaving the capitol area, we got some amazing views of Cathedral Hall. The Cathedral of St Paul sits on the highest point of the city and is the third largest church in North America.

We spent the afternoon visiting my cousin and her family. It was a nice break from being on the road and of course it was great to get a chance to visit! For dinner we had some carry out fried chicken, fries and coleslaw – it was good (I’m not a fried chicken fan)!

Heading south from St. Paul, we stayed at the Comfort Inn in Rochester, MN for the night. 

Out West 2016 - Day 7

June 2, 2016 (Thursday)

Theodore Roosevelt - Maltese Cross Cabin

We headed back to the Theodore Roosevelt South Unit and got there when they opened. We watched the 17-minute video (just okay), checked out the museum displays (they were just okay) and looked at the Maltese Cross Cabin, Roosevelt’s first ranch cabin that was relocated next to the visitor center. From there we headed back east to the Theodore Roosevelt Painted Canyon Visitor Center. There was not a ton to see there, but I got my passport book stamped.

Knife River Indians National Historic Site

Our next destination was the Knife River Indians National Historic Site. We learned all about the Hidatsa people (15-minute orientation video) and got to look at artifacts that have been recovered from the village sites. Just outside of the visitor center was the Village Trail that leads to some of the village sites.  Quite honestly, the trail is pretty hot without much shade. I would recommend checking out the full scale reconstructed Earthlodge, which is right near the visitor center and not walk the rest of the way. There were some way signs to read, but not much else to see if you opt to walk the rest of the trail. If you do want to check out the rest of the trail you will see the remains of the Awatixa Xi’e Village (Lower Hidatsa Site) and Awatixsa Village (Sakakawea Site). The remains are basically grass fields.

Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

Near the Knife River area are some other sites – Fort Mandan and Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center (Washburn) to name a few. We stopped by the Lewis and Clark location, but did not think it was worth the cost to visit the museum with the time we had available. The outdoor sculptures were neat.

Bismarck Capital Building

We took a drive to the state capitol of North Dakota – Bismarck.  Traffic was pretty heavy in the area and the capitol was the ugliest one we have ever seen! It is a 21 story building, which is said to be art deco style. It is the tallest building in the state of North Dakota and is known as the Skyscraper on the Prairie. In 2012, there was a slight debacle when Minnesota’s house majority leader (Matt Dean) called the building “embarrassing” saying that it looks like a State Farm Insurance office building. The North Dakota governor, Jack Dalrymple responded that those that don’t appreciate it know nothing about architecture. [1][2] Dean’s comments came while arguing for Minnesota to pay to fix its own capitol. [3] The original capitol building burned on December 28, 1930.

1.     "North Dakota bridles at neighbor's Capitol insult".  Associated Press. April 20, 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.

2.        "Gov. Dalrymple fires back after Minn. lawmaker calls Capitol embarrassing". Retrieved 20 April 2012.

3.         "N.D. Capitol called 'embarrassing' as vote fails to fix Minnesota's". Retrieved 19 April 2012.

 Continuing east we stopped for dinner at the Spitfire Bar and Grill in West Fargo, ND. It was very good! After dinner, we drove a few hours farther and stayed at the Best Western in Alexandria, MN. There was a very good breakfast there. 

Out West 2016 - Day 6

June 1, 2016 (Wednesday)

Jewel Cave National Monument

Jewel Cave National Monument is the third longest cave with 180 miles of passageways. Tickets for cave tours are available first-come, first-serve basis. We got there before it opened, since it was obvious from prior first-come, first-serve we needed to be there to get early tickets.  My parents did not want to take a lot of stairs so we just went on the Discovery Talk Tour – which was free with the yearly National Park Pass, or $4/adult. The Discovery talk was about 20 minutes long and provided an overview of the natural and cultural histories in one cave room. It was an easy up and down in the elevator. The Scenic Tour (moderately strenuous) is the popular tour and is $12/adult and lasts an hour and 20 minutes. In the summer months, a Historic Lantern Tour is also available – it sounds awesome if you want a good adventure! The cave temperature is 49 degrees year-round.

Devil's Postpile National Monument

Trekking into Wyoming, we stopped to check out Devils Tower National Monument. This was our westerly most destination for the trip. The visitor center did not have much to see. There is a nice hiking trail around the monument. We were lucky and able to see some climbers (they were only part way up the 867-foot-tall tower – it takes 4 to 6 hours to climb to the top). The site is really unique – it is very weird to be driving along in the Black Hills and then see the huge rock piles sticking out of the ground. The site is considered to be Sacred to the Lakota and many other tribes that have connection to the area. The rock columns found at this park are very similar to what we saw at Devil’s Postpile National Monument in California, the main difference is that the size at Devils Tower are much larger.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

We stopped at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park – Painted Canyon. The site offers an excellent overlook of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Once we made it to Medora, we had dinner at the Little Missouri Saloon and Dinning. It was the most happening place in town – busy with great food!

After dinner, we took the 36-mile driving loop at the Theodore Roosevelt South Unit.  The loop took us about 1.5 to 2 hours to drive. There was not a lot of traffic in the evening. We saw a lot of wildlife: horses, deer, prong, bison, and prairie dogs.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

We stayed at the Best Western Plus Heritage Hotel & Suites in Dickenson, ND. It by far had the worse breakfast of the trip. We would have stayed closer to the Theodore Roosevelt Park, but the reasonable priced hotels did not have very good reviews.