I’ll wrap up our adventures with our journey west, during which we visited with John’s niece and were joined by our great friends Tony and Joy for the bulk of the return trip. Because this is a tad long, I’ll do a separate accessibility update.

Amherst to Chicago, by way of Cleveland

It took two hops to get us to Chicago early enough to meet Tony and Joy and to join John’s niece Lynanne and husband Kuyar for a lovely lunch at Inspiration Kitchens just west of Chicago. I indulged in a plate of biscuits and gravy. mmmmmm

I had made the fortunate error of forgetting we gained an hour that second day. That meant we could meet early at nearby Garfield Park Conservatory.  Here’s a shot as we left the parking lot (that’s “Johnny on the spot” if you are having trouble with the fine print), plus sadly the only picture I took inside the immense and remarkable indoor gardens — multiple adjoining greenhouses each devoted to a theme, e.g., ferns, or cacti and succulents.

Our first (unscheduled) stop as we hit the road was Trainland U.S.A.  We knew we had to stop when the sign said it was the largest train display in America. It wasn’t, but it was quite large, the effort mostly of one man since 1964. A long U-shaped space with train scenes both sides, divided into about 20 or so regional themes from Florida to New England to the midwest, mountains, and California. A fun bit was that each segment had several buttons to press that would animate a little scene — a porter carrying bags, a log loader, spotlights, etc., even fireworks. It was all very charming and inventive. Here’s a slideshow. Note the feline friend at the end … there were a bunch of friendly cats on the grounds.

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We saw the Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines in passing, Then at a rest area we saw up close the immense size of the blades for the wind turbines dotting the landscape.

Now in South Dakota

Next was one of our favorite stops, the Porter Sculpture Park, a collection of crazy metal art, the work of one Wayne Porter, seemingly in the middle of nowhere just off the freeway.

 

This is just a taste, plus there were a lot of stories and poems on signs interspersed, including this one relevant to our trip. The artist himself was onsite, so we had a chance to chat him up as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next roadside attraction was this remarkable 50 ft statue called Dignity of Earth and Sky in South Dakota.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made a new friend at Wall Drug …

… stopped to wave at some giant stone faces — I think it’s the Beatles …

… then we were on our way to the Crazy Horse Monument.

I had heard the stories of the stubborn crazy man (Korczak Ziolkowski) who labored for decades practically alone to create a mountain sized monument to the American Indian.  A large new welcome center, museum, movies and artifacts gave a much more sanguine picture. The artist had worked on Mt. Rushmore and was a respected sculptor. His vision was not just his new monument, but that it be the center of a Native American cultural center that included a museum and the Indian University of North America. His stubbornness in accepting help was in large part a reluctance to yield control lest these larger objectives be lost. His family has carried on his work since his death in 1982. As you can see, the face is finished; the horses head comes next.

Here comes Wyoming

Devil’s Tower came next. It’s hard to appreciate the sheer size up close, much less in a picture; it loomed above the landscape from a considerable distance away.  Fun fact, the hexagonal columns are not basalt, a common extrusive igneous volcanic rock, as I had always assumed. Rather it is phonolite, a less common extrusive igneous volcanic rock with an “intermediate chemical composition between felsic and mafic” (look it up)

Impressive in its own way was this menu item at a nearby cafe. Since I had already had my biscuits and gravy this trip, Tony took a hit for the team.

Montana for a bit, back through Wyoming and into Idaho

We made a strategic decision to stop in Billings rather than go on to Bozeman in order to take a diagonal through Yellowstone the next day by entering the NE corner. Little did we know what an adventure that would be. It was beautiful as we began to climb, 3000, 4000, 5000 feet, fabulous vistas opening up beneath us

The road narrowed, the switchbacks sharpened, 6000, 7000, 8000 feet with no sign of stopping. 9000, 10000, at just shy of 11000 feet we reached what appeared to be the top, an extensive geological “dike”, a sheetlike layer of rock several miles across, covered in new snow.

There was a minor hiccup as we encountered, along with other travelers, a gate they had forgotten to unlock, cars queued on both sides, wondering for a bit if we might have to go back the way we came. But all was well, and it was a spectacular way to enter the park. Alas we were not there to linger at famous sites but during the drive we spotted a lot of wildlife and roadside geothermal activity.

 

The day ended with a Boise State Capitol drive-by

On to Oregon

The remaining drive was uneventful, with stretches so far from civilization that they exceeded the apparent extent to which my iPhone navigation buffers a route. It was fun to watch us fall off the end into an empty Tron-like landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our last night was at Tony and Joy’s new house in Ashland. We were treated for my birthday to an Oregon Shakespeare Festival production of the Rogers and Hammerstein classic Oklahoma!, which featured same-sex couples for the two main romantic pairs and a multi-cultural cast. The endeavor was played straight so to speak, with the same earnest and innocent charm you’d expect. The gender fluidity was taken completely naturally, adding a layer that made the story feel more contemporary. For instance, the song “I’m just a girl who can’t say no” sung by the character Ado Annie, can be done as innocent and flirtatious in keeping with the times it was written. But Ado Andy’s hilarious interpretation to his boyfriend certainly spoke more directly to me!

Back in California

It was good to be back to our familiar surroundings are our cats, who have stuck closely by our sides since we got back. Here’s Jonah and John immediately after settling in.