Halfway Point

I think we are just about at the halfway point of the trip - tonight is night 6.  Here's what we've been up to:

Day 1 - Wednesday, July 6
We left Connecticut at about 9:00 am and really faced no issues at all.  We made it across New York and Pennsylvania and then into Ohio, staying in a hotel just past Youngstown.  It was a very uneventful day...

Day 2 - Thursday, July 7
We started the day at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.  I had really wanted to go there.  I wasn't disappointed - it had all sorts of neat music memorabilia, from Lady Gaga's crazy meat dress (which was sent to a taxidermy place after she wore it) to Bruce Springsteen's notebooks filled with his song lyrics (I wish I could have flipped through it!) to Michael Jackson's bedazzled glove from Billie Jean.  It was a neat place...

We ended up making it all the way to Chicago and so we got to Susie's house a night early, definitely a good thing!  The drive was unexciting - it's very flat and there is a lot corn.

Day 3 - Friday, July 8
We spent the day with Susie and Alan.  Dad got to drive his Tesla, which he enjoyed.  Dinner was with lots of family and a fun time was had by all. It's always nice to catch up with everyone!

Day 4 - Saturday, July 9
We left Chicago bright and early to make our way west.  We managed to cross Wisconsin, Minnesota, and into South Dakota before stopping for the night in Sioux Falls.  It was pretty uneventful - there were a lot of corn fields but at least it was more hilly than Indiana...

Day 5 - Sunday, July 10
We hit lots of big South Dakota landmarks today...  The drive in the eastern part of the state was pretty dull but once we got to the Badlands, things got more interesting.  Badlands National Park was very cool - it was ridiculously hot, otherwise I might have been willing to explore some of the trails a little more.

All across the state, there were about a million billboards for Wall Drug, a tourist trap of store that we obviously had to stop at.  We ate lunch there but managed to not spend anything else - go us! It was very tacky...

We then made it to Rapid City and checked in to our hotel (the place we booked cancelled on us but rebooked us somewhere else - whoops...).  Since it was pretty early still, we decided to do Mt. Rushmore then instead of the next day.  I'm glad we did since we got see it in daylight but also got to stay and see it lit up after it got dark.  It was a neat place.

Day 6 - Monday, July 11
We originally planned to do the Crazy Horse Memorial, Jewel Caves, and Devil's Tower Monument today on the way to Billings, Montana, but we were worried about fitting all of that in so we scratched the caves.  That turned out to be a mistake since I really think we could have skipped Crazy Horse - that was very underwhelming...

The drive to Devil's Tower was on some very rural roads, that was, um, interesting.  Let's just say that there are some very remote places in Wyoming...  Devil's Tower itself was very cool.  Though there are lots of lovely hills surrounding the area, it really is massive and so random looking.  We didn't really walk many of the trails but what we did see was neat.

The drive to Billings was uneventful.  Pretty scenery in parts, flat prairies in other parts.  And that is where we are now.  We head off to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons for the next two days - can't wait!