Self Explanatory

Cleveland Rocks

Drew Carey was sort of right. Cleveland was OK. Rock Hall of Fame was a good stop. Found a good burger last night at The Winking Lizard Tavern.

However we got in around 9 last night and hotel staff warned us off bringing the kids out on streets to find dinner. Downtown - not in a slum but literally around a corner from Keybanc's HQ - was a little shady after dark.

Maybe Cleveland needs a little Rudy Guliani style clean up.

NY State of Mind

Crossed boarder into NY. Other than the increase in Yankees Fans it is welcome progress.

EDT

Just hit east coast time zone.
I'm coming' home, coming' home, Tell the world that I'm coming home!

-MSM

Sign of home

Found a dunkin donuts in chicago. I love the east coast.

Just hit Illinois

Happy to be in Land of Lincoln.  Go Cubbies. 

Our FastLane pass just worked.  Sign of getting East: toll roads return. 

Homing Beacon

Frozen Yogurt in a town named after her. Jane has found her center. 

Many trains...

The amount of freight trains and motorcycles we've seen on the road is insane.

Custer State Park

Mellow day in Custer State Park on Monday.  Meet some burros and bison.  Saw several pronghorn and something that someone told us is a yellow-bellied marmot.  Although I think the guy may have made that up.  There is a narrow driving path called The Needles carved out that overlooks Rushmore in a couple places.  It includes five tunnels that are one lane and only about 10 feet wide.  On the narrowest one we were pulling in the side mirrors to get the truck through.  We also found the lake where the final scenes of National Treasure II were shot.  It was a good day.

More pictures available here:  http://smu.gs/Npwtws

Trip to Rushmore

A few shots from the drive over to Rushmore.  We stopped at the Battle of Little Bighorn memorial which was a good stop.  Great talk by the Park Ranger.  Custer is buried at West Point, but many of the other fallen on both sides are buried here.

We went to the evening program at Mt. Rushmore which was fantastic.  Great speech by Park Ranger who led the crowd in song and the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a movie about the Presidents narrated by James Earl Jones.  Then all veterans in the crowd came to stage to participate in the lowering of the flag.  Great ceremony.

More pictures of the day here:  http://smu.gs/OXjuhr

Made it East of Mississippi

Just hit Wisconsin. Big day of driving. Most of South Dakota and all of Minnesota. 11 hours of travel. Longest drive of the whole summer.

Definitely a different day. To date we have been struck all trip by the frequent change in the landscapes. We have also been filling up memory cards like crazy. However, once we left the Black Hills today around 6:15am it was pure fields of hay and corn all day until we hit the banks of the river near LaCrosse. Scenery never really changed and the camera got a day off.

Just crossed into Central Time zone. Left Mt. Rush...

Just crossed into Central Time zone. Left Mt. Rushmore a few hours ago on our way to Lacrosse Wisconsin. We can almost smell the ocean!

Wall Drug

After counting 76 billboards for Wall Drug since leaving Rapid City we had to stop. The place is bigger than several real towns we drove through in Oregon.

Yellowstone

Just getting through the first wave of Yellowstone pictures.  We took a photo safari with a guide so you will see a few attempts at art.  But we also got plenty of Bison pictures and a couple geyser shots.

More shots found here: http://smu.gs/NlVrg6

More Bison!

Got stuck in traffic jam South Dakota style - Bison in the road. 

Wild Burros

Carrie and one of the burros that wander Custer State Park and beg food from the travelers. 

Wie Gehts? Bonjour? Brilliant!

Whenever I read the economic pundits the most common topic cited as dragging things down is the government debt issue across Europe. We are all supposed to be very busy worrying about this. What travels across the West are teaching us is Americans must be the only ones worrying. Every park and museum is jammed with euros who seem not very worried about the Euro.  Maybe the Greeks are still home - who would ever leave the beaches of Greece? - but everyone else Continental is over here stiffing the waiters and keeping espresso shops in  business.  At least three languages going during dinners out each night.  
Guess we should be glad for the trade....

A Rush

This is really a cool place. 
Looking forward to the evening light show. 

At mt. Rushmore in south dakota

Hello, Mt. Rushmore!

Tucker's New Roommate

We picked up a new house pet out West. 

Yellowstone

Great day in the park today.  Plenty of Geyser and bison photos to follow.  Made it over spectacular Beartooth pass into Montana.  On to Rushmore tomorrow. 

Mary makes friends

 Getting to know the locals in Jackson

We must be in Jackson.....

 Million Dollar Bar

Elk Horn Arch

Digger on Baldy

As Carrie says, Jack looked legit with his layer of blood and dirt after taking a tough fall at the end of the ride. 

Music fan

 It appears Idaho has at least one fan of our favorite band from Gull Island, Newfoundland!

Biking Baldy

Jack and I rode down Mt Baldy yesterday.  Our first time on serious single track.  Stellar ride through a forest recovering from a 2007 fire.  Jack did great.  Wearing the racing helmet we were issued may have been his favorite part. 

Trail ride

Great ride yesterday morning.  Morgan was a great guide.  We had a rain shower during the ride and she and our girls broke out in a chorus of "Rain is a good thing..".

Mary wants to adopt her mount Donna.  Jack won the name game with Silver as his horse.  I expected to lose the name game but did OK with Boots.  Jane pulled short straw with a horse named Sticky.  Carrie ended up on a huge horse called Budweiser.  She did great job controlling a horse that size.  Cat made friends with Reba.

Some more photos here:  http://smu.gs/ONKq36

Eastern Oregon

We exited the crossroads town of Burns, OR early Tuesday morning.  Jane had them all packed and ready to escape by 5:45am.  I think Jane is not planning for us to retire in the Burns metropolitan area.  The reward for her effort was a cool sunrise we enjoyed while driving east.

If you are into sunrise pictures or just into Eastern Oregon, more photos available here:
http://smu.gs/ONGqPT

Found these parasailers in ketchem idaho

Springing Forward

We switched from Pacific to Mountain time.  Feels like progress. 

FRENCH TOAST

FRENCH TOAST

WAFFLES

WAFFLES

PANCAKES

PANCAKES

RE:

Outside of pillow fort

Inside of fort

Sunset in Burns Oregon

It was worth having the picnic!

We're not in Tiburon Anymore

Picnic dinner from Safeway supermarket in Burns Oregon

Made epic blanket fort in the car on the way to su...

Made epic blanket fort in the car on the way to sun valley. Jack and mary

Crater Lake

We drove to Crater Lake National Park today.  That National Park pass still working hard for us.

I had never heard of this lake until I planned this trip.  It is the deepest and cleanest lake in the US.  It sits inside the mouth of a volcano that blew its top seven thousand years ago.  It has average depth of 1,200 feet and maximum of almost 2,000 feet.

I am not skilled enough with the camera to make it show you how blue the water is here.  However it looks in the photo gallery, it is more blue in real life.

Not much up here except a really blue lake and a lot of pine trees.  We stopped in Bend after the lake.  Nice town that seems to be trying to figure out what it wants to become.  After that it was two hours across high desert to Burns.  Kids decided on a picnic dinner as there were no restaurants in town that interested them.  No exactly an elegant meal, but it allowed us to catch a stellar sunset.

Some pics of all this can be found here:  http://smu.gs/NkX4p9

It is calling us

Jane is convinced Madaket is following us on the trip and calling us back home...

Oregon Town Names

We are learning that apparently anyone can make up a town name in Oregon. We knew about Boring,OR, but the towns of Lonely, Plush, Dairy, Wonder and Brothers were new discoveries. Oregon also has a Fall River and a town named John Day. That is not the Mayor, it is the town. I guess this should be expected in a state that has a county named "Malheur", which literally means Bad Smell.
Guess the locals have a sense of humor.

130 miles to burns oregon.

130 miles to burns oregon.

Snowball fights in August

view full image

"Snowball fight in August"
(taken at Crater Lake, OR)

Milestones

We hit a lot of milestones today.  We crossed a state line for the first time in almost a month as we entered Oregon.  We said goodbye to the Pacific which had been our front yard every morning.  We turned East for the first time all trip.  We drove the car through a tree.

And we saw our first elk and our first live banana slug.  Candidly, the elk were more handsome.....

More photos from today can be found here:  http://smu.gs/QvCRl1

Bridge Walk

On Friday we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge.  A touristy thing to do, but we are tourists here.  Usual fog and wind and dodging way too many bike tours made it a less than elevating experience, but it was still a cool thing to see up close.  I still am impressed that engineers and builders are able to span things like this and the Hudson River.

More pictures here:  http://smu.gs/NiMQWj

Left Eureka, CA this morning and now we're driving to Oregon. Last night we had dinner at The Avalon, which turned out to be pretty tasty. We were all pleasantly surprised by Eureka, as everyone we talked to cringed when we told them we were going there. Yesterday after we left Tiburon, we drove through Redwood Forests. The trees were even cooler and taller than the ones in Muir Woods, and it was interesting how the temperature dipped as we went further into the woods. The rain is coming here, so hopefully we'll get to Oregon and experience some nicer weather.

-Caroline

On our way to Oregon from Eureka, CA. Spent last night at the Red Lion Hotel in town and had dinner at a Mediterranean place called Avalon. Family loved their Grilled Peaches dessert! During the day we visited Avenue of the Giants and saw some massive Redwood trees. Definitely worth the stop! We also found some kids (hippies...) alongside the road playing guitar and singing in an attempt to get money for gas which they had run out of. Classic.

CDM

Us and Willie Nelson

The Murphy roof box is back out, meaning we are "on the road again"

Wish us luck

Mary Paddleboarding in Tahoe

                                         Notice Jack slinking up behind her...

Muir Woods

The two Jack's outside the entrance to Muir Woods

Even these trees are impressive to our "growing" Jack.  The camera can only get

about 1/10th of the tree in the frame.

Mom and I outside the gates- Great day for a walk in the woods.

Jack and Jack Sr. found a friend outside the gift shop.  Muir Woods is also known for it's banana slugs but the only place we saw them was in the gift shop in the form of chocolate.

A visit to the Japanese Tea Garden

                                          Catherine with Nana Dottie and Nana Sheila at the Japanese Tea Garden
                                           in Golden gate park.

                                       The ladies in front of an impressive piece of architecture.

                                           A pagoda sits on the hill overlooking the Koi Pond: