Category: Daily Journal

Daily Journal

Gutzon Borglum Korczak Ziolkowski and Dr Harley Niblack – Day 110

Gutzon Borglum, Korczak Ziolkowski, and Dr. Harley Niblack

Day 110 – July 19, 2003 – Saturday

Are you familiar with the artwork of Gutzon Borglum? Korczak Ziolkowski? Dr. Harley Niblack? We spent most of the day visiting their studios and seeing their work. We also met Ruth Ziolkowski; she has been pursuing her husband’s artwork since he died in 1982.

Gutzon Borglum and Korczak Ziolkowski were both sculptors. Harley Niblack was a world-class woodcarver. While you may not know the name Gutzon Borglum, you are undoubtedly familiar with his work — Mount Rushmore. Neither Boz nor I had ever been to Mount Rushmore. It’s even more impressive than the photographs, and the whole facility is really well done. Our national park pass was not accepted at Mount Rushmore. I don’t understand why.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a monumental granite that represents the first 150 years of the history of the US with 60-foot sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents: George Washington (1732-1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). The entire memorial covers 1,278 acres. The memorial attracts approximately 2 million people annually.

We watched a movie that tells the story of Mount Rushmore, and then we walked through the Exhibit Hall. Fascinating! We visited the Sculptor’s Studio, and we looked at the Monument from several perspectives. The movie theater and exhibit hall are almost hidden, and the brochure distributed to visitors doesn’t effectively show you where they area. So, when you visit Mount Rushmore, be sure you see the movie and the exhibits.

We met a nice family from Puyallup, Washington in the area where everyone poses for photos with Mount Rushmore behind them — Jason, Joshua, Heather, Jessica, Janet, and Jeff. We met Dean and Joanne at the voting booths where visitors can cast their vote for their favorite President. I was half-joking about getting a black magic marker so I could eliminate Bill Clinton as an option. Dean said he would help, and we began talking.

We had lunch at the Freedom Grill at Mount Rushmore. The hot dogs were pretty good (first dogs we’d had in quite some time). The Walnut Fudge Bars we had for dessert were great.

As we were climbing into the car to leave, we met Emily, Ken, and Eric. Then we met their parents. I was talking with the kids while Boz began talking to their Mom. They were on a trip from their home in Illinois to California to visit their Aunt Di. Boz learned that the trip was to celebrate Mom’s triumph over breast cancer. She endured mastectomy, radiation, chemotherapy, and all the horrors related therewith, and the doctors just gave her the great news that she is cancer-free. How fantastic! She removed her cap to show us that her hair is starting to grow back. Boz commented to young Emily that she must have been a big help to her Mom during all this, and she proudly said: “I learned to make coffee.” I told the boys that I thought they had a very beautiful baldheaded Mom, and little Eric said his Mom isn’t always bald. I told him I understood that, but she looks mighty good without hair. Older brother Ken said, “She’s the best Mom, and she’s EVEN MORE beautiful with her hair.” What a wonderful family. Bozzie and I were both crying as we left Mount Rushmore!

I did not know the name Korczak Ziolkowski, and I was not familiar with his work until I did the research for this trip. Korczak worked with Gutzon Borglum on Mount Rushmore, and then he was recruited by Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear to produce a sculpture of Crazy Horse in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Crazy Horse is the world’s largest sculpture. 641-feet long and 563-feet high. Crazy Horse is ten times the size of Mount Rushmore. The work began in 1948, and it is a long way from completion. The 90-foot tall head was unveiled on June 3, 1998. It’s quite a sight to see, especially when you view the mountain with the 1/34th scale model in the foreground.

As we walked out of the theater after viewing the orientation movie, “Dynamite & Dreams,” Bozzie Jane (having just seen her in the movie) recognized Ruth Ziolkowski standing anonymously in the crowd waiting for the next showing. We introduced ourselves, met her daughter Anne, chatted a bit, and gave them lucky beads. Ruth worked with Korczak to prepare three books of detailed plans to be used with his scale models so the work could be continued after his death. Since 1982, Ruth had managed the project with the help of 7 of their 10 children. It was a real honor to meet Ruth and Anne and to have an opportunity to speak with them about this amazing effort.

The huge visitor complex at the Crazy Horse Memorial has the theater, museums, art and sculpture galleries, restaurants, Indian crafts, an Indian museum, and much more. Gale and Jim helped us find our way around. It’s quite a place. The funding is one of the most amazing aspects of this massive project. The project has been financed entirely through private donations and from admission fees — not one cent of federal funding.

From the Crazy Horse Memorial, we went into the nearby town of Custer. We did a U-Turn when we saw Reetz’s Old Fashioned Pie Shop. We met Terry (he and his wife own it) and Ashlee, Lacey, and Luressa. The Rhubarb Pie was great, and we really enjoyed taking with Terry and Ashlee.

There are a ton of tourist attractions in and around Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. We stopped at The Flintstones Theme Park, The Maze, and a few others. We stopped at Mistletoe Place to pick up a South Dakota ornament for our Round America Christmas tree.

Our last stop of the day was at the National Museum of Woodcarving. Since I enjoyed Tinkertown so very much, we thought this would be an enjoyable tour. Most of the museum is the life work of Dr. Harley Niblack. While his woodcarving does not, in my opinion, match the work of Ross Ward at Tinkertown, many of Dr. Niblack’s woodcarvings are animated. In 1954-55, he designed and built the animations at Disneyland. We enjoyed the movie about his life more than the exhibits themselves. The last room features displays of the work from some of the top caricature carvers in the country, and their work was very impressive.

We met a lot of people today. In addition to those already mentioned, we met a nice Wisconsin family having a roadside picnic near Mount Rushmore — Rob, Heidi, Jace, Allie, and Trish. We also met some nice folks in Deadwood this morning — Pat, Rhonda, and Skip. Boz met a young man in the Comfort Inn parking lot in Rapid City who had seen our car several hundred miles away in Dickinson, North Dakota a few days ago.

We saw a few sights before we arrived in the Mount Rushmore area.  We visited Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood — where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried.  We drove by the Homestake Gold Mine in Lead, South Dakota.  We drove through Sturgis, South Dakota where 300,000 bikers take over the town in August each year.

We really enjoyed today. Mount Rushmore was high on our To Do list for this trip. Meeting Ruth Ziolkowski made Crazy Horse even more enjoyable. And we met some really nice people.

The thought for the day is how precious our Moms are. I get tears in my eyes just thinking about Emily, Ken, Eric, and their Mom. My mother died of breast cancer. I hope their mother has a long and healthy life!

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:

Mount Rushmore — Crazy Horse Memorial — National Museum of Woodcarving

Deadwood – Day 109

Deadwood

Day 109 – July 18, 2003 – Friday

The Cruiser was ready late yesterday. New transmission. $2,100, but no charge to us as the car was under warranty. We picked it up from Rob at Charbonneau Car Center, said hi to Nick, Casey, and Mitch, and we hit the road. We drove south from Dickinson through the southwestern corner of North Dakota. Not much down there. The road is as straight as an arrow with only a couple of towns, including Bowman and Buffalo.

It was only an hour and a half or so to South Dakota, our 30th state. We stopped in Belle Fourche, the geographical center of the 50 states. We met Julie at the Visitor Center there. She’s nine months pregnant, and she has two sons and is REALLY hoping for a girl. We gave her both pink and blue beads.

We met Sandy, a delightful lady with a stop sign, on road construction between South Dakota and Wyoming. We spoke with her for about 10 minutes before the Follow Me Car came to lead us through the maze. Wyoming then became state #31.

Wyoming was going to be a drive over the line and back state, but my Dad encouraged us to do more. We stopped and met the folks who own the historic general store in Aladdin, Wyoming (population 15). On the front porch, we met four really cute kids — Nick, Katlyn, Alex, and Phillip. We also met their parents, Julie and Phillip.

A California capitalist laid out the town of Aladdin and chose its name from Aladdin of Arabian Nights fame. The Aladdin Store was built by Bill Robinson in 1896. It was first a saloon.

We had lunch at the Cowboy Cafe in Hulett, Wyoming. Lacey was our waitress. The Apple Pie was very good.

We saw the Devil’s Tower National Monument. Devil’s Tower is a volcanic neck. It is part of the first United States National Monument, established in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt. The movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was filmed there.

Then we saw Sundance, Wyoming (where the Kid got his name) before we crossed back into South Dakota. After his release from the Sundance Jail in 1888, Harry Longabaugh acquired the moniker the Sundance Kid, which entered the popular imagination with the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” which won several Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay. Robert Redford, who portrayed Longabaugh in the movie, later named the Sundance Film Festival after this character. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” was the first movie I ever took Boz to see when we began dating in college.

The northeastern part of Wyoming and the western part of South Dakota are especially beautiful places. Wyoming, Arkansas, and West Virginia were just the odd states out in our trip. Each state was off the logical route. We’ll spend more time in each of these states when we go Round America again. Yes, believe it or not, Bozzie Jane and I were already talking about doing the 50 states again.

Our destination for the day was Deadwood Gulch, South Dakota. Deadwood is the old mining town where Wild Bill Hickock was shot in the back by Jack McCall while holding Aces and Eights in a poker game at Saloon No. 10. Deadwood is now a nicely-themed casino town. We especially enjoyed walking around inside the Midnight Star Casino (owned by Kevin Costner’s brother) and the Celebrity Casino. Both have great displays of movie memorabilia.

We walked all up and down the Deadwood streets. There was apparently a Corvette meeting of some type in town or nearby because we saw Corvettes everywhere.

Boz and I did something that we’ve never done before. We walked out of a restaurant after our drinks were served and before our meal was served. Saloon No. 10 served us the worst tasting drinks that either of us have ever had. The waitress pretty well ignored us when we politely complained. After a half hour or so and no indication that our appetizers would ever come, we just got up and walked out.

Out into the street we went to catch the last Wild Bill Hickock shooting “show” of the day. It wasn’t much better than the terrible drinks at Saloon No. 10. The emcee bragged that the show has been running consecutively for 89 years. It was free, and we got what we paid for. We respectfully suggest that Deadwood should bring in someone with some entertainment talent to re-do their shows.

Down the street in Deadwood we went in search of another restaurant. We chose the Chinatown Cafe. Our waitress was excellent, though she never got into a conversation with us or told us her name. The Chinese food didn’t hold a candle to our favorite in Atlanta, Tien Tsien, but it beat the heck out of Saloon No. 10.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Geographical Center of the 50 States — Aladdin Wyoming — Devil’s Tower National Monument — Sundance Wyoming — Deadwood Gulch South Dakota
 

Prairie Dogs Wild Turkeys Buffalo and Some Trail Horses – Day 108

Prairie Dogs, Wild Turkeys, Buffalo, and Some Trail Horses

Day 108 – July 17, 2003 – Thursday

Not the most exciting of days. We did get good news from Rob that the replacement transmission had come in. If all goes well, the car will be ready today.

We spent the day in Medora, North Dakota and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Medora is a nice tourist-oriented town — themed better than most. Cute shops.

The Theodore Roosevelt National Park features the unusual Badlands landscape, but that’s about it. We did see prairie dogs, wild turkeys, buffalo, and some trail horses.

As usual, the people we met were the highlight of the day. We met Lori and Gail at a business in Dickinson. We enjoyed lunch at the Cowboy Cafe in Medora, and we met waitresses Annie, Marcy, Amber, and Tasha when they asked about the beads as we walked in the door. Tasha served us, and she was a delight — a high school girl from a small town just across the border in Montana. She plans to go to bible college in Portland, Oregon.

The pie was very good at the Cowboy Cafe. Tasha had a twinkle in her eye when she recommended the Sour Cream Raisin Pie, and it was really good. Bozzie ordered Peach Pie, and it was excellent as well. Larry and Joyce were seated at the next table, and they suggested that we eat Ground Cherry Pie whenever we get a chance. A Ground Cherry is a wild cherry that the Amish seem to use a lot. We decided to be on the lookout for it. Larry and Joyce are from Ohio. They no longer have a home; they are traveling the country permanently! Just visiting relatives. Nice folks.

At one of the scenic overlooks in the National Park, we met Marlene and Sol from Philadelphia. They’ve been on the road for a month with another month to go. They’re headed to where we’ve just been, so we gave them a lot of ideas on places to see, and vice-versa.

Both Boz and I have noticed that not as many people ask about the beads in North Dakota. They spot them, and we can see a funny look in their eyes, but not nearly as many ask. Folks here are so nice and so well mannered that we interpret it as manners; they don’t want to be nosy or say anything that might offend.

Rob called late in the day to advise us that the PT Cruiser was ready. I’ll do a radio show in the morning, and then we’ll hit the road for South Dakota and Wyoming. We’ll spend two days there, and then we head back to North Dakota — going first to Minot to see the underground missile silos and the North Dakota State Fair.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Medora North Dakota — Theodore Roosevelt National Park — Cowboy Cafe
 

Enchanted Highway – Day 107

The Enchanted Highway

Day 107 – July 16, 2003 – Wednesday

It’s funny how things happen. We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere this morning as we drove down the amazing Enchanted Highway and saw the World’s Largest Metal Sculptures produced by artist Gary Greff. The car started making a funny humming noise. Within a mile, we were coasting. Transmission problem.

Fortunately, cell phones seem to work better here — probably because the terrain is so flat and there isn’t much to block the signals. Chrysler Roadside Assistance dispatched Rick and his tow truck. He hauled us into the town of Dickinson where we met Rob and the delightful group of guys working at Charbonneau Chrysler. The transmission had to be replaced, so they tried to arrange to get a new one overnighted from the nearest spot — Minneapolis (700 miles away). They were kind enough to loan us a car, so after talking with all the guys and meeting some nice folks who also had car trouble (Aaron, Shane, and their dog, Eight Ball), we headed back to the Enchanted Highway where we saw the six fabulous sculptures that stretch over a 32-mile stretch of county blacktop road. These are not just any sculptures, they are huge sculptures — some over 100 feet high.

As we pulled into the last of the sites, we saw two men painting fence posts. I hollered out to one of the men asking if he was the artist. Much to my surprise, he said yes. Bozzie Jane and I spent the rest of the day with Gary. We visited his shop and then he was kind enough to take us to his home where he showed us his latest projects. It was a fascinating day. Even more fascinating because Gary wouldn’t have been out there painting fence posts earlier in the day, so the transmission was a problem in some ways, but it enabled us to meet a number of really nice people and have a special afternoon with a very interesting and talented artist who is producing something that is truly unique.

Gary is a native of Regent, North Dakota. He was a teacher and a school principal and had never done any art work or welding prior to 1989. He then began dreaming of ways to bring people and businesses to the small community of Regent — fearing the town would someday die if it relied solely on farming. A hay bale strongman built by a farmer inspired him. He watched people pull off the road to snap photos of the oddity. He wondered how many people would stop for huge metal sculptures. He began designing, welding, and painting. The Tin Family was erected in 1991; Teddy Rides Again in 1993; Pheasants on the Prairie in 1996; Grasshoppers in the Field in 1999; Geese in Flight in 2002; and Deer Crossing in 2002. He was working on Fisherman’s Dream. In 2002, Geese in Flight was named the World’s Largest Scrap Metal Sculpture by the Guinness Book of Records.

Geese in Flight was begun in 1998 and completed in 2002. Gary chose to sculpt geese because the birds are significant to North Dakota. They fly through the state every spring and fall, migrating north or south. The geese are enjoyed by bird watchers and hunters alike. The sculpture is 110-feet high and 154-feet wide. It weighs 157,661 pounds! While this is the largest of the sculptures, they are all huge.

Gary leases the land from the farmers for $1 for 20 years with the right to renew at that point. So, the farmers in the community are behind his project. The idea of the project, obviously, was to bring tourism and people to Regent to revitalize their farming town. Gary used to be a teacher, and then he was a principal, and then he became an inventor. He worked for several years on inventing prepared, diced onions like you would buy garlic in the grocery store. The product was even chosen as one of the most inspirational products at a New York food show. But, he spent all of his life savings on the product development and didn’t have money left over for marketing and so the product has been shelved. He’s been doing the Enchanted Highway since then. Gary said he didn’t have enough money to have a website. He was hoping at some point to have a website just for the Enchanted Highway. We set up a website for him that night as a gift — www.enchantedhighway.net, and we maintain the website for him.

The Enchanted Highway is off Interstate 94 (Exit 72) approximately 20 miles east of Dickinson, North Dakota. It then extends for 32 miles south to the town of Regent. The six sculptures are spread out along the 32 miles of The Enchanted Highway.

There is no charge to see The Enchanted Highway. Gary depends solely on donations to finance his work. Please send your tax-deductible donations to Enchanted Highway, PO Box 184, Regent, ND 58650. When in Regent, be sure to visit the Enchanted Highway Gift Shop. We met Claire at the Enchanted Highway Gift Shop. The pralines and cream ice cream was very good. We also met Belinda at Gary’s home.

One of the things that’s unique about North Dakota is the grass just seems to grow everywhere; it’s like the whole place is carpeted with grass. Texas has a lot of grass, but a lot of ugly grass. North Dakota has prettier grass.

We were reminded again today of the impact of Forks in the Road. We probably would have never met Gary Greff if the transmission had not failed on our car. We were also reminded that people can do amazing things when they are committed, focused, and persevere. It was truly incredible to us that Gary has built the Enchanted Highway with little or no money.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Dickinson North Dakota — The Enchanted Highway — Regent North Dakota
 

Major Item Checked Off My Lifetime To-Do List – Day 106

Major Item Checked Off My Lifetime To-Do List

Day 106 – July 15, 2003 – Tuesday

We saw Zurich, Malta, Dunkirk, and Glasgow today. These are all towns in Montana — named by the Northern Pacific Railroad as part of a program to attract immigrants to the area back in the late 1800’s. We drove from Havre — in the middle of Montana — all across the eastern half of the state on Highway 2. There isn’t a lot to see, but we enjoyed the drive.

We left the Great Northern Inn Best Western in Havre, Montana at about 9:30 am. Worst towels on the trip, but a nice room. We were headed for the bison death area.

The Wahkpa Chu’gn buffalo jump (or bison kill) is located behind the Holiday Village Shopping Center near the northwest corner of Havre. Over 2,000 years old, it is one of the largest and best preserved buffalo jumps anywhere. In prehistoric times, Native Americans would drive bison over the edge of the cliff, killing or severely injuring the animals. Afterwards, the Native Americans skinned the animals and preserved the meat. The buffalo jump is now an archaeological site.

When we were trying to locate this unusual spot, we learned that Havre has another attraction. Small grids of purple colored squares could be seen in some of the sidewalks in the downtown area on the north side of the city. These are skylights for a sort of underground “mall” built in the city over 100 years ago. Throughout its history, this underground area has been host to a brothel, a Chinese laundry, a saloon, a drugstore, opium dens, and rooms used for smuggling alcohol during Prohibition. The underground area is now designated “Havre Beneath the Streets.”

In Saco, Montana, we saw the one-room schoolhouse that newscaster Chet Huntley attended as a boy. The school has been turned into a museum and is now named “Huntley School.”

We saw a few Quirky spots along the way — including one big hill covered with animal sculptures of various types — grasshoppers, a giant fly, dinosaurs, bear, elephant, and much more. We never saw a sign, and we have been unable to determine the origin of these giant statues.

On the side of the road outside Malta, we met Dan and his mother. We were at “the big buffalo rock.” The sign said the Indians had an area a little bit north of here, where all of the rocks were rounded and appeared to be like sleeping buffalo. So, the Indians considered it a sacred area. Two of the rocks that were saved were on display at this spot in the road.

Dan lived in Culbertson, Montana — near the North Dakota line. He suggested that we try to eat at the Pitchfork Fondue and see the Medora Musical in Medora, North Dakota. We received that same suggestion this morning in an email from one of our online travelers and email pen pals, Becky Brown. Dan told us where Medora was, and we calculated that we MIGHT be able to make it if we put the old PT Cruiser in high gear, didn’t run into Vincent Passarelli, and didn’t stop for many photos.

We were in a hurry, but when we hit the North Dakota border (29th state on the trip), I had to jump out of the car for a photo. Boz took a photo of me holding up a sheet of yellow paper with a big black checkmark on it. While it was the 29th state we have visited on the trip, this is the 50th state I have visited in my lifetime, so I checked off “Visit all 50 States” from my lifetime To Do List.

We passed through some of Badlands National Park on our way to Medora.

Nine cars were passed (hated to do that as this increased our total passes in 21,000 miles from 13 to 22), but we pulled up at the Pitchfork Fondue just in time to watch them dropping pitchforks holding a dozen huge steaks each into the boiling oil. We enjoyed a delicious Pitchfork Fondue steak dinner, met and spoke with some delightful people, and enjoyed the Medora Musical performed in the big, beautiful Burning Hills Amphitheater. The musical is a look back at the “Wild West” days of the region and includes Theodore Roosevelt.

We were very excited to be in North Dakota as the people of the state have been so wonderful in emails over the last several months since a number of the newspapers in the state ran stories about our trip. When I got out of the car at the border between Montana and North Dakota, it was an especially big deal for me. We were surprised thus far with how great the scenery is in North Dakota.

We met a lot of really nice people today. Dan. Bill and Char and Tami at dinner. Jody and Wally after dinner. Stephanie and Denise at the Amphitheater. Margaret, Sweeney, Sally, and Jan at the musical.

If you haven’t planned your next vacation, a trip to the Dakotas, over to Yellowstone in Wyoming, and up north from Yellowstone to Glacier National Park in Montana would make a wonderful vacation! We thoroughly enjoyed western Montana, and we know we will really enjoy the Dakotas!

We were reminded today of the power of goals. Success is a journey…not a destination. Most people will make careful plans for small trips and none for their longest trip, that is, for their entire life. In training employees over the years, I have asked: “If you don’t know where you’re going, how can you expect to get there?” We should begin with the end in mind. In 1971, I read a book that had a profound influence on my life. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Our children have read it. I have given the book to many friends and fellow workers. While the book teaches many valuable lessons, the main message is: “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” The book caused me to realize the power of positive thinking and goal setting. I have been a goal person ever since. One of the things that I have wanted to do is to visit every state. Now that I have accomplished that, the goal is to finish this trip and see all 50 states in one continuous trip. That goal will be accomplished with another 45 days on the road.

Random Comments:

We understand the newspaper story about our trip written by John Garrett appeared in a number of newspapers — not just the Memphis paper.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:Havre Montana — Buffalo Jump — Saco Montana — Medora North Dakota — Pitchfork Fondue — Medora Musical
 

Best Scenery in America – Day 105

Best Scenery in America

Day 105 – July 14, 2003 – Monday

Glacier National Park is absolutely breathtaking. Bozzie Jane and I vote it Best Scenery in America so far. It’s hard to imagine that we will find a place that’s any prettier…but we know better than to say that at this point as we continue to find a variety of things that we feel are EVEN better than something great that passed before.

The western entrance to the Glacier National Park at West Glacier is not far from Kalispell, Montana where we spent the night. There are a lot of tourist trap-like places between Kalispell and West Glacier. Columbia Falls (a town with no falls), Hungry Horse (great name), Martin City, Coram, and then West Glacier are the towns between Kalispell and the National Park.

The Hampton Inn was very nice in Kalispell, and we loved the Huckleberry Pie at Bojangles Diner, but there didn’t appear to be any sights to see in Kalispell. We read about a nice mansion there, but we never saw a sign, so we missed it.

Hungry Horse has a dam, and the town advertises itself as the “friendliest dam town in the west.” As we did a few days ago in Coulee City, the town that advertises itself as “the friendliest town in the west,” we stopped to check out the friendliness factor. No one bowled us over, but the young lady who served my Huckleberry Milkshake (lunch) at The Huckleberry Patch Restaurant was extremely efficient. We would like to invite everyone who lives in the Northwest to come down south to meet truly friendly people.

Hungry Horse must be the huckleberry patch capital of the world as there were huckleberry stands and shops throughout the little town. The House of Mystery is probably fun — on the eastern edge of Hungry Horse, but Boz wasn’t feeling her best this morning, so we didn’t go in.

The scenery became more and more beautiful as we drove from Kalispell through the Park to Logan Pass at the top of the Rocky Mountains midway along the “Road to the Sun” drive that is THE drive to take through Glacier National Park. Montana is an especially beautiful state!

We were able to use my shiny, new National Park Annual Pass at Glacier National Park, so it didn’t cost $10 to get in. The Park Ranger at the entrance did not look like or act like an actor and was not the least bit friendly. She remained beadless.

If you are 62 years of age or older, U.S. citizens can purchase a Golden Age Passport for $10, which is a lifetime pass to the national parks. Gee, I can’t wait to be 62.

The “Road to the Sun” is a wonderful drive. Spectacular scenery. Lakes, streams, waterfalls, bridges, trees, spectacular colors, and the stars of the show — glaciers. The road is two-lane, and the guardrails are limited. It is a scary drive as you get high up in the Rockies. Boz was on the outside of the mountains during the scary part of the drive, and with us at least, being in that position is much scarier than when you are in control as the driver. I would say the drive through Glacier National Park is not for the faint of heart…people who are not good at driving cars, should stay away from there. People who’ve had anything to drink should stay away from there. People taking Benadryl should stay away from there. People afraid of heights should stay away from there.

Logan Pass is at an elevation of 6,680 feet, and it marks the Continental Divide. This was the sixth and last time we would cross the Continental Divide on the trip.

We got some pretty good photos of Glacier National Park, but as we’ve written many times before, there is no way to appreciate sights like these from photos or video. The experience is 360-degrees, and the colors are simply more vibrant than our camera can capture.

Glacier National Park is known for tours in gorgeous bright red antique tour buses. Wayne, the driver of a red bus, told us that the buses were the original buses used for the park. In the 1930’s, the White Motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio designed and manufactured a style of bus that would become one of the primary modes of transportation throughout National Parks. The buses survived in Glacier because of the famous “Going to Sun Road,” built in 1933. Prior to the road’s opening, the only access to Glacier’s high country was still by horseback. As soon as the road opened, it was acclaimed for its beautiful scenery and daring engineering. Many people feared the breathtaking drop along the road, and found it hard to sightsee while driving; thus, the red buses became one of the most popular modes of transportation to the park’s high country. In the fall of 1999, old age, metal fatigue, and reliability concerns finally stopped the historic “Reds.” Ford Motor Company donated $7 million to have them totally refurbished. So the buses were brand spanking new, bright red with black, and they have wood paneling inside — just gorgeous. And of course, they have the open top where you can not only look out the sides, but you can look up and see the beautiful blue skies and white clouds in Glacier National Park.

In terms of National Parks, I rank Glacier National Park #1, Big Bend #2, and the Grand Canyon #3.

As we came down the mountains from the Park, we reached Browning, the tribal headquarters of the Blackfeet. We saw the Rocky Mountains in our rearview mirror, but nothing but flat plains for as far as the eye could see ahead and on either side of the car. We understood there is nothing but plains all the way through Montana to the Dakotas.

We saw horses running in the wild near St. Mary, Montana. Beautiful horses.

At the city limits of Rudyard, the sign proclaimed the town to be the home of “596 nice people and 1 old sore head.”

I stopped to photograph two lonely trees in central Montana. In this part of the state, you can often look as far as the eye can see with nary a tree in sight.

We drove through about 20 small towns on Highway 2 between the National Park and Havre, Montana — our resting place for the night. Two towns offered special attractions — Cut Bank and Kremlin. Cut Bank is known to many of us as it is often the coldest spot in the nation every winter. It was 80-degrees when we were there today. The World’s Tallest Penguin is in Cut Bank — 27-feet tall made from 10,000 pounds of concrete. Kremlin is special in name. We decided to turn off the highway into the town, and we never saw a single solitary person. We did, however, see an “array” of grain silos just outside of town…or perhaps they were flying saucers.

We met Pam, Mike, and Patty when we stopped to hike down to a lake for some photos in Glacier National Park. We then met some folks from Georgia — Nancy, Jamie, and Mott — and their dog Sport. We also met Myron and Lynda; they were celebrating their 41st anniversary. We met Woody, driver of one of the gorgeous red National Park tour buses, and then we met two brothers, Jason and David. We made Kinder’s acquaintance tonight at dinner.

We managed to stop by and get the last room at the Best Western in Havre — after calling for several days to hear there were no vacancies.

We drove around town looking for a place to eat, but about all we found were small casino/bars. Then we spotted Rod’s Drive-In. A strange layout, but several cars lined up to get food. We pulled in. The specialty was the Uglyburger. We had two, and they were very good. Kinder took our money. She was wearing a T-shirt that said “I got Ugly at Rod’s Drive-In.”

Random Comments:

One more day in Montana. Then we just touch the edge of Wyoming (sorry Wyoming) as we head to South Dakota for two days — Deadwood, Rapid City, Mount Rushmore, the Chief Crazy Horse Sculpture, Wall Drug, and then a number of stops in North Dakota.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Hungry Horse Montana — Glacier National Park — Cut Bank Montana — Kremlin Montana — Rod’s Drive-In
 

2000 White Crosses on the Side of the Road – Day 104

2000 White Crosses on the Side of the Road

Day 104 – July 13, 2003 – Sunday

It was a pretty drive from Spokane Washington, across Idaho, and 120 miles into Montana. Mountain driving in Idaho and Montana, but the roads thus far are situated in valleys, so the driving hasn’t been at all tense.

We met Gene at the hotel in Spokane. We met Dan, Linda and Don, and Peggy and Herman from Libby, Montana at a late lunch. Linda said she would have 201 pies for us if we come back again. Then we met Freddie at dinner in Kalispell, Montana.

We saw the Bing Crosby Room at Gonzaga University in Spokane as well as the truly beautiful Davenport Hotel. The Bing Crosby buildings at Gonzaga are interesting as Bing was a dropout there. I know there must be a lot of parents out there hoping the universities their kids dropped out of will name buildings after them!

Gene suggested that we see the historic Davenport Hotel in downtown Spokane. It is a really beautiful old hotel. We passed through a town named Athol. We may have pronounced it incorrectly. We laughed for miles. Sometimes the silliest of things can be fun. We wondered what the people from Athol are called…Athols?

Bonners Ferry, Idaho had a very special spot on today’s agenda. It had been over 50 days since my last haircut, and I planned to get my hair cut at the Barber Ship in Bonners Ferry. The Barber Ship is a houseboat that has been turned into a barber shop. Sadly, the ship/shop was closed on Sunday. Boz and I probably didn’t even realize this was a Sunday. We don’t watch or listen to the news, and we don;t read the paper. That way, we don’t see or hear all the bad news. The one downside is that we often do not know the day of the week.

The highlight of the day, and one of the highlights of the trip for Boz, was seeing the Kootenai Falls just outside Libby. It’s a beautiful spot that many miss as it was not marked along Highway 2. Fortunately, we used several reference books, and one of the books reported the mile marker.

The Falls go down several different ledges and levels and then the whitewater sprays everywhere. We saw guys in kayaks trying to stay in the river against the current, and we saw kayakers coming down the river. We walked over through beautiful wooded area with trails, and a lot of other people were doing the same. We went to see the swinging bridge, which we chose not to walk across. We understand “The River Wild” was filmed here.

To the Kootenai Tribe, the Falls is a sacred site – the center of the world, a place where tribal members can commune with spiritual forces. Kootenai Falls on the Kootenai River, adjacent to U.S. Highway 2 between Libby and Troy, is a scenic attraction not to be missed.

Another highlight was Huckleberry Pie for dinner at Bojangles Diner in Kalispell. Neither of us had ever eaten a huckleberry before. It’s a little round berry about half the size of a blueberry, and it has a completely different taste from anything we’d ever eaten. As our waitress said, it tastes “very huckley.” Delicious.

We saw a muffler man with a flag in Algoma, Idaho.

We notice that the mountains in Idaho tended to have rounded tops.

We passed through the infamous Hayden Lake and Ruby Ridge areas. From the 1970’s until 2001, the headquarters of the Aryan Nations was in a 20 acre compound at Hayden Lake. In September 2000, the Southern Poverty Law Center won a $6.3 million judgment against the Aryan Nations from an Idaho jury who awarded punitive and compensatory damages to Victoria Keenan and her son, Jason, who were attacked by Aryan Nations guards in 1999. Bullets struck the Keenan’s car several times and the car crashed. Aryan member held the Keenans at gunpoint. As a result of the judgment, Richard Butler turned over the 20-acre compound to the Keenans who then sold the property to a philanthropist who subsequently donated it to North Idaho College, which designated the land as a “peace park.” Ruby Ridge refers to a violent confrontation and siege involving Randy Weaver, his family, Weaver’s friend Kevin Harris, federal agents from the United States Marshals Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The events took place on August 21, 1992 on the Weaver family property, located on a hillside between Caribou Ridge and Ruby Creek near Naples in northern Idaho.

We crossed the Moyie River and stopped at the Moyie Springs Bridge Overlook.

Idaho is state #27, and Montana is state #28. I forgot to get an Idaho license plate photo for my virtual license plate collection — realized it about 12 miles into Montana — so we turned back and got one at the border. We have, of course, seen Idaho license plates at every stop since. BUT, if we hadn’t gone back to get the photo in Idaho, we’d have probably never seen another Idaho license plate for the rest of our lives.

We saw the World’s Largest Eagle in Libby.

The Yaak River was very pretty, so we stopped at a spot where the river was flowing through the mountains. The water was an interesting shade of blue.

Across Highway 2 in Montana, we have seen many white crosses indicating traffic fatalities at that location. There are way too many of these. It’s very sobering, but the American Legion-sponsored program seems like a great way to remember those who died and warn the rest of us about the hazards of the roads.

The Montana American Legion White Cross Highway Fatality Marker Program began in 1953. The unique idea of marking fatal traffic accident sites with a white cross was the brain child of Floyd Eaheart, a member of the American Legion Hellgate Post #27, Missoula, Montana; after six lives were lost in the Missoula area over the 1952 Labor Day Holiday. The safety program started out as a county and later district project for the Missoula American Legion Post. However, the idea was so good that it was soon adopted as a statewide program. The American Legion’s White Crosses can be found within the borders of Montana, along state and federal highways, secondary and forest service roads, and even city streets. One white cross is erected for each traffic fatality. Not all highway fatalities are marked. Due to a federal ruling, white crosses are not allowed along interstate highways. Only about half of the 132 American Legion Posts in Montana currently participate in the program. Since the White Cross Program’s inception, 50 years ago, it is estimated that over 2,000 white crosses have been erected along Montana’s highways.

The lesson of the day was to drive especially carefully in Montana so the American Legion wouldn’t be erecting any crosses with our names.

Random Comments:

We will see Glacier National Park tomorrow. Then on Tuesday, we will drive across the rest of the state. This will put us in South Dakota at Mount Rushmore on Wednesday. Two nights there, and then we spend a few days in North Dakota where we expect to meet up with some of our email friends. We have received hundreds of emails from really nice folks in North Dakota because several of the newspapers across the state ran stories about our trip. We are REALLY looking forward to North Dakota.

A phone call yesterday advised us that a story about our trip ran in the Memphis, Tennessee newspaper travel section. The article was written by John Garrett — http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/online_traveler/article/0,1426,MCA_533_2095132,00.html.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Bing Crosby Room at Gonzaga University — Davenport Hotel — Barber Ship — Kootenai Falls — Bojangles Diner — Hayden Lake and Ruby Ridge — World’s Largest Eagle — American Legion White Cross Highway Fatality Marker Program
 

And a Garbage-Eating Goat Sculpture – Day 103

And a Garbage-Eating Goat Sculpture

Day 103 – July 12, 2003 – Saturday

Spokane, Washington. We decided to spend a leisurely day here today and complete the catch-up work on the web site photos. Spokane is a lovely town, and it seems like an especially nice place to live and raise a family.

The highlights in Spokane are along the Spokane River where Spokane has an exceptionally nice park called Riverfront Park. The Marriott Courtyard sits right on the river, so we just walked out the door and began our walk on the Centennial Trail.

Just across the river is Gonzaga University. Gonzaga gained prominence recently due to an exceptional basketball team. Back in 1887, Father Cataldo started Gonzaga University as a mission school for Indians. Gonzaga’s most famous dropout was local boy Bing Crosby.

The river is very pretty — lots of ducks, geese, and beautiful landscaping and bridges. The river flows through two falls that are used to generate electricity. Spokane has a wonderfully designed Convention Center right along the river and Waterfront Park.

Riverfront Park is home to a lot of great art — wonderful sculptures of all shapes and sizes. An absolute highlight was the World’s Largest Radio Flyer Wagon. It’s huge! The wheels are about 8-feet in diameter. Children of all ages climb the ladder in the back, and slide down the slide built into the handle.

Bozzie Jane did reconnaissance work on pies today. The Desk Clerk at the Marriott said Cyrus O’Leary’s was THE place to go — famous for homemade pies. It was just past the big red wagon, so we stopped for lunch and pie. Our waitress, Mariah, was just darling. She’s a senior at the University of Wyoming majoring in chemistry. She will either go to graduate school or law school. She’ll be a big success at whatever she does — sharp young lady and delightful to talk with. We also had a great time talking with Chris, the manager. Chris told us a lot about Spokane, the two big annual events, and he suggested some spots we need to see in Idaho tomorrow. Our lunch was great, and we really enjoyed the pies. We narrowed our want list to three, and we had Sizzling Skillet Apple Pie, Sour Cream Lemon Pie, and Boysenberry Pie. The Sour Cream Lemon won the best citrus pie in America in a contest last year. All were excellent!

We rolled out of Cyrus O’Leary’s and headed back to Waterfront Park to see the absolutely gorgeous fully-restored 1909 Loof Carrousel. It was originally located at Spokane’s Natatorium Park. We sat and watched children riding. Beautiful hand-carved horses and animals.

Right near the Carrousel is an incredibly unique piece of art — a Garbage Eating Goat Sculpture. Boz held a piece of paper under the goat’s mouth, and it was immediately sucked up. The trash passes through the goat and out its rear end into a trash compactor. What a hoot!

Chris told us that Spokane has two huge events. Hoopfest is the World’s Largest 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament, and Bloomsday Run is the World’s Largest Individually-Timed Road Race. 43,000 people race in the Bloomsday Run. There is a wonderful sculpture commemorating the race in Waterfront Park just across from City Hall. It wraps a corner and features sculptures of perhaps a hundred runners. Very unique and impressive.

We visited the Spokane Falls, and we walked by the IMAX Theatre, and the U.S. Pavillion Entertainment Center.

The center of Waterfront Park has a beautiful Clock Tower. It was constructed in 1902 and was originally part of the Great Northern Railroad depot.

We walked the Centennial Trail along the Spokane River and Waterfront Park.

We thoroughly enjoyed a relaxing afternoon just walking through Waterfront Park. We took a late afternoon nap — perhaps the first such nap in 103 days, and we just relaxed in the room and watched a little TV and worked on the website this evening. A nice, relaxing day!

And a Garbage-Eating Goat Sculpture

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Spokane Washington — Riverfront Park — Gonzaga University — Cyrus O’Leary’s — 1909 Loof Carrousel — Garbage Eating Goat Sculpture 
 

Look Mom No Trees – Day 102

Look Mom, No Trees!

Day 102 – July 11, 2003 – Friday

Very few people would look at the three photos at the top of this page on our website and guess that we spent the day in Washington state. Central and eastern Washington state along Highway 2 don’t look anything like what I expected — NOTHING like western Washington. While there were apple trees and cheery trees and your regular run-of-the-mill roadside and forest trees, there were also many miles of wheat fields without a tree in sight. There were even areas that looked like desert.

We drove half way across Washington state today — from Wenatchee to Spokane — almost to Idaho. It was a short, relaxing day — only on the road for about 8 hours.

The morning was spent catching up on some website work. We hit Dusty’s In N Out Burger for lunch, regarded as the best hamburger in Wenatchee. Dusty’s has been in business since 1949, and we enjoyed their “sloppy” Dustyburger. Traditional hamburger bun filled with a hamburger patty topped with mustard, ketchup, red relish, cheese, onions, and lettuce. We both enjoyed our goopy but good Dustyburgers.

In Wenatchee, we visited the Washington Apple Commission to learn more about apples. Beulah was very nice and very informative. Wenatchee is the apple capital of the world. Beulah advised us that we should have eaten that pie at the Cottage Inn or the Windmill. She looked like she would know. She’s lived there all her life. A little trim lady, but I bet you she knows her apple pie.

We stopped and saw both apple and cherry orchards as we drove east through the Wenatchee Valley. Orchards for miles. A huge percentage of the apples grown come from Washington state.

Reluctant photographer, Bozzie Jane, had her creative juices flowing as she took artsy photos of cherries growing on a Washington cherry tree. She got a good close-up, even though we didn’t have a lens designed for extreme close-ups. It’s interesting that George Washington cut down a cherry tree, and cherries are a big crop in Washington state, the only state named after a President.

We really enjoyed the scenery as we left the Valley and went up into the mountains. Then we were blown away when we saw flat wheat fields for as far as the eye could see. Wheat fields cover much of the area from central to eastern Washington. Later, we saw a deep gorge, and in the eastern part of the state, some of the terrain is desert-like. Boz and I competed to see who could get the best wheat photo; I think Bozzie Jane won. She was on a roll today.

We passed through a few small towns and saw some colorfully painted barns. I took a photo of a painted barn outside Waterville. I also took a photo of the homemade rest stop in Waterville. It is a tiny little town, but it had a drive-thru espresso shop. In the little spot called Douglas, we took photos of the Douglas General Store with classic old west architecture, as well as the Farmer’s Community Hall with not one but two outhouses.

The town of Coulee City advertises itself as “The Friendliest Town in the West,” so we decided to drive through town and see for ourselves. We saw very few people, and no one was friendly to us. We chalked it up to false advertising. Of course, it was over 100 degrees today, so perhaps all the friendly folks were inside on this unusually hot day in this part of the world.

From Coulee City, we headed for Grand Coulee Dam. The Dam is the biggest public works project in the history of the world and the largest concrete structure in the world. Very impressive. We met a delightful group of dam workers at the Visitor Center — Molly, Beth, Jeremiah, Clayton, Shery, Craig, John, and Allisha.

We learned that the visitors to the Cooley Dam are the strangest in August. For some reason, they come in with really stupid questions and do stupid things. People ask, how do you get electricity out of the water? Or they’ll ask if the electricity in the water hurts the fish or if removing the electricity hurts the fish…things like that.

The Dam folks gave us some interesting facts about the dam and how it works. When they added a power house back in the 60’s, it tripled their electrical power capacity. And prior to that, the water came down a cement fall area, and it was always a white…almost like Niagara Falls. It would cool, just like an outside air conditioner. It would cool the entire the town of the Cooley Dam area. No one had or needed an air conditioner. But when they added that other power structure, it reduced the need for so much water, and depending on the level of the lake, the level of need in the area for irrigation and just what they do in the power plants, it’s pretty much just a trickle down the cement right now. When the water is flowing over the dam, it lowers the temperature by 20 degrees over a huge area.

Between the Dam and Coulee City, we stopped in the town of Grand Coulee and saw the Gehrke Windmill Garden. The life’s work of Mr. Emil Gehrke — hundreds and hundreds of windmills and whirlygigs that used to reside in the yard of his home. Thank goodness someone saved this amazing collection. Grassroots art again.

Mr. Gehrke was really proud of his windmills and whirlygigs. He had them in his backyard and when he was getting quite elderly, he contacted this city to ask if they would like to have them set up in a park area for everyone to enjoy. Turns out that not only did they say no, but they said, “hell no.” The city had been trying to get him to remove them from his backyard even while he was building them enjoying them himself. After his death, there was some land donated and some folks voted to put his items all in one place for people to enjoy.

We hope Mr. Gehrke is looking down from heaven and realizing that his work is being appreciated.

A few more small towns, and then we hit Spokane. We checked into the Marriott Courtyard to grab some computer time and get to bed early. The next few days will involve longer drives than we’ve had lately — wide open spaces across Montana.

I guess the lesson for the day is that it’s hard to be friendly when it’s really hot. It’s also hard to write a lot about a pleasant, relaxing day when not much exciting happened.

Random Comments:

Boz and I were surprised by the temperature in Washington State. Bozzie said if anybody ever told her it would be 100 degrees in Washington, she would have told them they were nuts. We were also surprised by the diversity of the landscape from western Washington to eastern Washington.

 

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Wenatchee Washington — Dusty’s In N Out Burger — Washington Apple Commission — Coulee City Washington — Gehrke’s Windmill Garden — Grand Coulee Dam
 

Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure – Day 101

Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure

Day 101 – July 10, 2003 – Thursday

We drove halfway across Washington state today — heading back east.

Today was a big day for pie. First, we had Cherry Pie in the cafe made famous in the TV series, Twin Peaks. Then we followed up with Apple Pie in Wenatchee, the apple capital of the world and the home of the world’s largest apple pie.

We had a lot of fun today. We saw the Snoqualmie Falls, the various locations where Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure were filmed, the Bavarian village of Leavenworth, and more. We saw the world’s greatest cow statue in Carnation, and we visited Dick and Jane’s Art Spot in Ellensburg. We met some especially nice people today.

We ran into Ralph, sales manager at the hotel in Lynwood, Washington, and he gave us a ton of sights to see. The desk clerk told us we needed to look up Ralph before we left town. Ralph had seen the elusive billboard on Whidbey Island, though he too believed that it had been taken down.

The first sighting of the day was an especially nice totem pole in Fall City.

The Carnation Research Farm just outside Carnation, Washington was built by the founder of the Carnation Company as a dairy stock farm. This historic 817 acre farm has been transformed to accommodate Leadership and Executive Training for the Nestle Company. We visited because we wanted to see the World’s Champion Milk Cow Statue. During the 1920s, the cow named “Segis Pietertje Prospect” had a yearly yield that exceeded 16,500 quarts of milk and 1,400 pounds of butter — ten times that of the average cow! Can you imagine producing 45 quarts of milk a day?

We saw a sign that said, “Blackberries killed and removed permanently.” I guess blackberries cause a problem for some crops.

Twin Peaks was an Emmy Award-nominated, Peabody and Golden Globe-winning television serial drama. Twin Peaks initially aired on ABC in 1990, and in its first season was one of the most successful television programs on TV. Declining ratings in the second season led to the series being canceled. Despite its short life as a TV series, Twin Peaks quickly became a pop culture hit. In addition, the series has been credited with influencing several television series in different ways, including Northern Exposure, Picket Fences, and others. These series have been referred to as “the next Twin Peaks,” either before their run or after popular success, and examine the human condition and the underworld of a seemingly perfect suburban setting.

Boz and I enjoyed the show, though we haven’t been Twin Peaks fanatics. Our reason for coming to the North Bend – Snoqualmie Falls area is cherry pie, the favorite dessert of FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle McLachlan) on Twin Peaks. After all, we are on a pie trip, and some of the most famous pie in TV history needed to be part of the trip.

While tasting a fresh piece of cherry pie at the Double R Diner, Cooper proclaimed “This must be where pie goes when they die.” The restaurant also made a “damn fine cup of coffee.” The Double R Diner seen on the series was actually the Mar T Cafe located at 137 W. North Bend Way in North Bend, Washington. The TV series was set in the North Bend area.

So, we made our way to the Mar T Cafe, and we had cherry pie and a cup of coffee in the same spot where Kyle McLachlan seemed to order a piece of “cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee” each week. We met Marissa and Heather at the cafe. They told us to go next door to a tourist information place, and we met Ed. Ed Stowie was an actor in several episodes of Twin Peaks. He told us all about the show, and he directed us to a number of locations that were used in the show. He also told us about people who come from all over the world to see the locations where Twin Peaks was filmed. We saw the mountains that are called the Twin Peaks. We saw the famous sign from the opening of Twin Peaks TV show. We drove to Snoqualmie Falls and saw the beautiful waterfall. This was the hotel and the waterfall featured in Twin Peaks. We also drove to Fall City where we saw the Colonial Inn. It was a roadhouse in Twin Peaks.

While in North Bend, we also saw the Train Depot, a railroad graveyard, and a giant log.

We then drove to Roslyn Washington. This town was the setting for the TV series, “Northern Exposure.” Northern Exposure was a quirky TV show about the cultural clash between a transplanted New York doctor and the townspeople of fictional Cicely, Alaska. It featured stories of how people of diverse backgrounds and experiences strive to accept their differences and co-exist. Plots revolved around the intricacies and eccentricities of the citizens of this small town. The show aired from 1990 to 1995. It was a Top 20 TV show for several years.

We took our 10,000th Round America photo today — looking down main street in Roslyn, Washington. This entire town was transformed into “Cicely, Alaska” for the TV show. We took photos of places we recognized from the show — Dr. Joel Fleischman’s window, the radio station, the bar, and some signs. We spent a little time watching a movie crew at work filing some scenes from a science fiction movie that was using some locations in town.

Dick and Jane’s Art Spot in Ellensburg, Washington scored high on the Quirk-O-Meter at first glance. I don’t recall how or where we heard about it, but we drove to Ellensburg to see it. It features a yard full of art — brightly painted wooden figures, bicycle wheel sculptures, and bottle cap decor. As I looked more closely, I realized this was not like some of the questionable art we have seen filling some yards across America…these folks really are artists.

Dick & Jane each received a BA in Art from Central Washington University, in 1971. Dick Elliott and Jane Orleman created the art site predominantly from their own play, but it is also a collection of the work and play of over 35 artists. Dick & Jane’s Spot is dedicated to the philosophy of “one hearty laugh is worth ten trips to the doctor.” They have been working on “the Spot” for 27 years. There are over 10,000 bottle caps and thousands of reflectors. The pieces in the yard are always changing. Old pieces decay and new ones are added. We met two tourists, Kathy and Tony, at Dick and Jane’s Spot.

When we were hundreds of miles away, we spoke to our son, Ryan, and we were distressed to learn that the first employee he ever hired for his business makes his home in Ellensburg! We were so very disappointed that we didn’t realize it and missed meeting Michael Stowe.

For some reason, I had on our list to go to Cashmere, Washington to Liberty Orchards to get some applets and cotlets candy. So, to Cashmere we went. The brochure says: “The blossom-fresh flavor of crisp Washington apples, the tangy goodness of ripe apricots, and the nutty richness of crunchy English walnuts have made our namesake Aplets and Cotlets our top sellers since 1920!” We were too late for the tour, but we bought some candy. Not my favorite. I wish I could remember why I thought we needed to go.

Cherry stands on the side of the road began to get our attention, so we stopped at one and met Josh, a fruit farmer from Cashmere. He was also a forest firefighter. Nice guy, and the best cherries we have ever eaten.

Leavenworth, Washington is a stunning Bavarian Village and a great success story. A small timber community, Leavenworth became the headquarters of the Great North Railroad in the early 1900s. The railroad relocated to Wenatchee in the 1920’s. With no easy access to the railroad, the sawmill closed in 1926, and the lumber company headed for more profitable areas. With the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression of the 1930s, followed by the war years, Leavenworth’s economy spiraled downward. These hard times plagued Leavenworth through the 1940s and 1950s. With little hope of an economic rebound, stores were closing and people were leaving as there were few job opportunities.

The city struggled until 1962 when community leaders approached the University of Washington Bureau of Community Development looking for ways to save the town. Out of this work came the idea to use the town’s beautiful natural surroundings and a Bavarian theme to attract visitors to the area. The town underwent an amazing transformation. The first six buildings were remodeled in 1965 and 1966, and the others soon followed. Two of the leaders instrumental in this effort were Pauline and Owen Watson, longtime residents of Leavenworth. One of the most impressive facts about this entire project is that it was financed with private money – no federal assistance at all. Simply dedicated people mortgaging everything they had! Leavenworth has become a premier destination for family vacations, holidays, recreation, and getaways.

Bavarian-themed shops are uniform in appearance throughout Leavenworth. It is as if you were in a village in Bavaria! Boz went shopping at the Nutcracker shop, because Ryan has received a Nutcracker as a Christmas gift every year. There are fabulous mountain views from Leavenworth — a beautiful area!

We even spotted the World’s Largest Suit of Armor in Leavenworth.

Smallwood’s Harvest is a tourist stop in Peshastin. Surrounded by fruit trees at the base of the beautiful Cascade Mountains, the farm at Smallwood’s Harvest offers attractions for young and old, including a petting farm, a maze, an enormous pumpkin patch every fall, shopping, and fun things to do.

It was well past supper time when we rolled into Wenatchee, Washington. We checked into the hotel and asked where we could get the best pie in town. Riley took care of us at the Comfort Inn. We took her advice and headed to Prospector Pies for dinner and pie. Ryan was our waiter. The Toll House Cookie Pie and the Dutch Apple Pie were both very good. Wenatchee is the Apple Capital of the World and is home of the World’s Largest Apple Pie.

The lesson for the day is to always take advantage of the assets you have. Leavenworth was almost dead as a town, and Pauline and Owen Watson knew something had to be done. They looked around and realized that Leavenworth’s assets were one of the most beautiful settings anywhere — a setting that lended itself to a Bavarian theme. So, they came up with the absolutely crazy idea of having independent businesspeople re-do their storefronts to have a Bavarian theme. The town took what it had and capitalized on it, and Leavenworth has become a significant tourist attraction and a thriving town.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today: 
Carnation Research Farm — Twin Peaks — Double R Diner — Snoqualmie Falls — Roslyn Washington — Northern Exposure — Dick and Jane’s Spot — Liberty Orchards — Leavenworth Washington — Smallwood’s Harvest — Prospector Pies