From Wisconsin to Sioux Falls

How windy is Wisconsin? Our drive consisted of us watching one corn field after another blowing from one direction to another. Chad captured some great video of it...I think. We drove mainly on back roads and saw some beautiful farmland, lots of cows and drove through a town called Kickapoo.

We were in Madison for about half an hour, 20 minutes of it spent navigating through - you guessed it - construction.

We spent the night camping next to the Mississippi in Perrot State Park. We saw a beautiful sunset while eating dinner and were also swarmed by mosquitoes when setting up camp.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any Wisconsin cheese. I passed by one shop thinking there'd be plenty more. Well, there was only one more and it was 6 o'clock in small town Wisconsin on a Sunday. Boo.

We drove from Wisconsin this morning to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We were both super exhausted from campground sleeping - we've been spoiled by hotels. We're headed to the Badlands tomorrow.

Oh yeah - there's a T in Michigan. Who knew?

Chicago

After dropping Dexter off at day camp, Chad and I headed over to Hyde Park for our Obama bike tour given by Bobby's Bike Hike. We were running a tad behind and were afraid we were going to miss it, but lucky for us - they were running behind too.

Obama Bike Tour highlights:

• University of Chicago - what a beautiful campus
• Obama's former bachelor pad and current family residence (I could only peek at it through much shrubbery)
• bicycling next to Lake Michigan

We attempted to eat at Dixie Kitchen, an Obama fave, but it was closed. Boo.

We thought we'd give public transportation a shot, but after waiting 20 minutes for a train we gave up and drove into the city. After tons of traffic, we finally found parking and ventured around.

We wondered around Millennium Park and the Chicago Cultural Center. We definitely want to come back for a long weekend. There's just so much to do in Chicago.

Lots of Driving

These past couple of days have involved a lot of driving. Yesterday we made it to Cleveland and spent a brief amount of time wandering around. Here are a few snap judgments I've made about the city.

• this city is full of smokers - just about every other person I saw had a cigarette in their hand
• not a dog town - everyone stared at Dexter like he was some sort of foreign creature
• lots of things are easily accessible - even their sports stadiums (football included) were right in the center of the city

We drove way too much today - staring around 9 a.m. and not getting to our hotel until 8:30.

Pluses for today

• I discoverd that there are wineries everywhere in this country - even Ohio
• lunch in Bowling Green - great college town
• driving past a camouflaged silo
  

Today's not so great moments

• Indiana lasts forever - I never thought we would leave the state.
• driving through Gary, Indiana - Yes, it is the home of Michael Jackson. However, it is the most ghetto place that both Chad and I have ever seen.

Here are a couple of realizations that have come to us on our 5th day. Shirley (our GPS) will always find a way to take us through a

1. ghetto (ex. Rochester, Buffalo, and Gary) AND
2. construction areas

I'm psyched for Chicago tomorrow - Obama bike tour here I come!

Niagara Falls

We made it to Niagara Falls today. I was a little worried at first because of all of the touristy build-up around the state park, but once we ventured a little further in - everything was simply amazing - really.






A few fun facts about our day:

• the Canadian side of the falls is just as built up as the American's - it made me not feel so bad about us constantly ruining a beautiful thing
• Chad and I began the first segment of our travel show. I'm hosting and he's doing everything else - it should be a hoot!
• Just say no to the park trolley. It only costs $2 for a reason.
• Dexter attended dog day camp for the first time today and even got a certificate at the end of the day

The Three B's

It was getting to be late afternoon and Chad and I were close to the point of passing out because we were so hungry. Shirley (our GPS) "found" a drive-in restaurant for us and right where it should be according to Shirley's finish line flag is The Three B's - a roadside cafe. We saw a picture of a dog and outdoor seating and make a sharp turn into the parking lot. If you are ever driving through Ontario, NY on Route 104, you must stop by The Three B's.

Awesome cheeseburgers and delicious milkshakes! We sat on a picnic table in a special pet area and the staff even brought our food out to us.

Lake Ontario

In our efforts to stick to back roads as much as possible, I picked a town on the map as a mid-point destination that would take us close to the water. That place was Oswego, NY. We were lucky enough to find the Fort Ontario Historical Site. It had a gorgeous view of Lake Ontario and Chad loves war history - score for both of us.

The Village of Mexico

Upstate New York loves naming towns - no, make that villages - after Spanish names. We stopped in Mexico, NY after seeing a beautiful waterway.

Back road driving

We hit the road this morning with the intention of doing something Erie Canal related. We found a place in Rome, NY called the Erie Canal Village. Even though we knew it wouldn't be open, we had hopes it would lead us something touristy. How wrong we were. Not only was the Erie Canal Village not open - it appeared to be deserted and the perfect spot to film one of those 'we're lost and don't know yet that we're going to be attacked by the ghost of lost children' movies.

We continued through Rome and Chad described it best by saying it's "like an industrial town without the industry."

We decided to take back roads and drove through the countryside. Here are some things that we came across:

• Bridal shop and tuxedo rental store in the middle of the woods
• School bus stops that I mistook for outhouses
• Horseshoe clubs (who knew it was so popular?)

Our road trip has begun!

After an early and busy morning - Chad, Dexter and I set off for the first day of our long anticipated cross-country road trip. It started off with some minor squabbles over car space. In the end I conceded and left a few unnecessary items (bag of alcohol included) at home. When packing it seemed important to have the Bombay Sapphire with us for those hot summer nights when nothing will taste better than a gin and tonic. I'm sure they'll have alcohol in Montana.




We stopped in Vermont for lunch at one of their welcome center rest stops. All states should take a lesson from Vermont. This place was beautiful. It was full of wildflowers, a few picnic areas, a large fenced in area for dogs, and it had WIFI. The restrooms even had flowers in them. And there was still crazy moose greeting you on the way into the welcome center.

Our original intended endpoint for the day for Lake George in the Adirondacks. Upon arrival to the campsite, we opted to keep on going for fear of the rain. We didn't want to get stuck with a tent we wouldn't be able to dry completely before packing it back up. We did drive for a long while through them and it's just beautiful. The area reminded us a lot of Cape Breton in Canada.

We stopped by this bridge on the Hudson River and Dexter immediately wanted to jump in the play with the geese. We ended up in Utica for the night and hope to find something Lake Erie-esque to see here before we make it to Niagara Falls.