Day 8--Glacier National Park

Today, I spent the day in Glacier National Park. After leaving my hostel in East Glacier Park around 9:00am this morning, I first drove out to the Many Glacier area of the park. Despite the name, there weren't any glaciers easily accessible. That is true throughout the park--due to global warming, most of the glaciers have melted (and the rest are predicted to by 2030) which means that all of the remaining glaciers are a relatively long hike from the road. And, since today was a hot day (it got up to around 93, which is atypically warm for this area) and the elevation was high, I did not hike out to any of the glaciers. Despite not seeing a glacier, Glacier National Park is beautiful. In the Many Glacier area, I took a short hike (1.5 miles or so RT) out to the shores of Swiftcurrent Lake.

After briefly exploring the Many Glacier area, I went into the main area of the park along the acclaimed Going to the Sun Road, first stopping to see Rising Sun lake.

After my first stop seeing Rising Sun lake, I went to have lunch at the restaurant in the Rising Sun area as there is no other food that side of the park. While it was a sitdown restauarant in a park lodge, the prices were not unreasonable (it cost me $12.34 for a Roast Beef Sandwich with taxes and tip).

After lunch, I continued along Going to the Sun Road. I pulled off at an area named Jackson Glacier hoping that I would get to see a glacier. I took a hike (not sure how long it was in distance...it felt very long, took around an hour, and I was exhausted afterwards given the steep climb). However, I did not make it to the glacier, as I turned around at this waterfall, which was nice but not worth the trip.

I then proceeded back along Going to the Sun Road, admiring scenery out my windshield until reaching Lake Macdonald, the largest lake in the park and the location of the park lodge. At Lake Macdonald, I decided to take an hour-long boat tour (costs $16.75) which was very nice on a hot day, although I heard that the scenery was not as stunning given how hazy it was getting. Below are some pictures from the boat:

After the boat tour, I did a little more exploring around the park, stopping at Apgar (sp?) Village, where I got more good views of Lake Macdonald. I then headed back to my hostel in East Glacier Park (a 50+ mile drive from the west end of the park) and got a late dinner. Overall, Glacier is spectacular. I think it would be especially cool for avid hikers who have more time, as they can take very exciting but long hikes and still see the park, and to see at a more leisurely pace on the water in a boat (they have rentals for motorboats, rowboats, and kayaks. Some companies offer rafting and float trips in the area as well). Tomorrow, I hope to get an early start in order to stop at Waterton Lakes National Park (the Canadian side of Glacier) on my way to the Canadian Rockies. Yes, I'm celebrating the Fourth of July by crossing into Canada.

Next Stop: Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

Days 6 and 7-- To Yellowstone and on to Glacier

Yesterday, I left Greybull around 9:00am to head into Yellowstone National Park. The drive from Greybull to the entrance of Yellowstone is under 100 miles and I was able to complete that stretch in around 2 hours with a stop in Cody, which is very much a western town and tourist gateway to Yellowstone (didn't explore much--just stopped at Walgreens and for gas). Once entering the park and stopping at an overlook of Lake Yellowstone, my first stop was at the Bridge Bay Campground, which is where I spent last night. I stopped at the campground first because I realized it may be after dark when I get back to the campground. After setting up my campsite and grabbing lunch, I proceeded to do a big loop around the park, stopping at most, if not all, of the major areas (I did not see Old Faithful erupt although I did when I visited Yellowstone 10 years ago).

Yellowstone is a vast (I believe my loop, which did not cover all of the park, was well over 100 miles) and beautiful park that is a must see. I don't know how well my words can explain it, so I'll include some pictures from yesterday and today.

I left my campsite around 7:15am this morning and quickly stopped by some areas I missed in the park before heading out to Glacier National Park. I took US 191, which goes through Big Sky, which was a very pretty road, to just outside of Bozeman. From there, the scenery got much more dull on the interstates and US highways I took until just before I arrived in East Glacier. After arriving at my hostel in East Glacier, I went to the Two Medicine area in the park, which was spectacular.

I had dinner at a pizzeria (although I had sliders and fries), which was one of the few places to eat in East Glacier (the best regarded place, a Mexican restaurant, had a 45-minute wait). Tomorrow, it's on to see the rest of Glacier (probably won't get to Waterton Lakes, the Canadian side of Glacier, until Saturday morning).

Days 4 and 5--La Crosse, WI to Greybull, WY, with a stop in the Badlands!

Since I was unable to post yesterday and because my time in the Badlands was split between yesterday and today, I'm combining the two days in one super-post!


I left La Crosse, WI around 8:30am Central Time yesterday and quickly began my long drive (the longest in terms of mileage of my entire trip) to Badlands National Park. The drive was pretty easy, almost all of it was on I-90.  After crossing the Mississippi River (less than 3 miles into the drive), the scenery became quite bland, although not ugly, through the farmland of southern Minnesota and eastern South Dakota. Roadwork slowed the pace a bit through Minnesota but the 80 MPH speed limit in South Dakota made up for that.

I stopped for lunch and a break in Mitchell, SD, home of the Corn Palace, which seems to be a well recognized attraction (picture below).

After lunch and my very quick visit to the Corn Palace (my parking spot had a 15 minute limit so I could not see it at a leisurely pace), I got back on I-90. I regret not stopping at a Scenic Overlook that overlooks the Missouri River (I mistakenly guessed it wouldn't be particularly scenic given the preceding ~200 miles of South Dakota).

Around 4:15pm Mountain Time, I arrived at Badlands National Park.

Above are pictures from some of the first outlooks in the Badlands that I stopped at before arriving at the Cedar Pass Campground, where I spent the night. The Cedar Pass Campground is located in close proximity to the main Visitor Center and Lodge/Restaurant. 

After finding my campsite, I set up my tent for its first night of use.

Despite being billed as a two-person tent, a twin air mattress was a very tight fit. After setting up the tent, I went up to the main visitor center and lodge. Unlike many national parks, the lodge doesn't have much historical value or charm (after all, Badlands only became a national park in 1978). I had dinner in the lodge restaurant, which was somewhat overpriced (prices weren't great--$12.75 for a Buffalo Burger and $5.95 for a Brownie a la Mode--but weren't terrible either) and not very good, both in service (some of that can be excused because one of the chefs didn't show up) and in quality (the Buffalo Burger was not very good and they almost messed up a Brownie a la Mode with the combination of very little ice cream and a not very good brownie).

After dinner, I returned to the campground and attempted to do some reading on my iPad, but it was too buggy to sit outside (I made a run back to the lodge for insect repellent, and while it helped, it was still too buggy). I made it an early night, going to bed before 10pm.

Due to my early bed time last night, I woke up by 6:30am (I slept quite well in the tent) and was seeing sites by 7am. I did the Badlands Scenic Loop Road, which had some very nice overlooks as well as some bison sightings! Below are some of the highlights:

After visiting the Badlands, it was on to Mount Rushmore. Despite having the National Park Service Annual Pass, I had to pay $11 to enter Mount Rushmore since the parking lot is operated the private concession company Xanterra (they appear in lots of the parks).

As many before have said, Mount Rushmore is not as big in person as it seems in many pictures. Regardless, it is a landmark. As well, the Black Hills region of South Dakota, where Mt. Rushmore is located, is very beautiful.

After Mount Rushmore, I went to Wind Gap National Park, home to the densest cave system in the world. However, due to time constraints, I was unable to take a cave tour. After seeing some of the scenery in that area (which is still nice, especially the town of Hot Springs), I started to make my way towards Greybull, WY, where I'm spending the night right now.

The drive to Greybull got increasingly scenic along I-90, and once I got off of  I-90 and on to the Big Horn National Scenic Byway, it was especially spectacular.

I arrived in Greybull to the Historic Hotel Greybull (picture below) around 7pm Mountain Time. Greybull is a very small, sleepy town but the hotel is nice. I had dinner at the diner down the street, which served a perfectly good cheeseburger for the price of $6.50.

I have a much shorter day of travel tomorrow. Next Stop: Yellowstone National Park

Day 3: Escanaba, MI to La Crosse, WI

I continued my journey across the country this morning, leaving my motel in Escanaba, MI around 8:30am Eastern Time. However, before I got far, I made a quick stop at the lakefront in Escanaba, which I missed yesterday.

Above are a couple of pictures I took at the Escanaba lakefront, which was a pretty place to start my morning. But, after a few minutes, I had to get on the road. While my final destination today was La Crosse, WI (French Island to be exact), I also made a stop at the Taliesin Estate, the summer home and center of experimentation of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, in Spring Green, WI. Much of today's driving was quite pretty but it was overcast driving across Wisconsin. I got to Taliesin at just before 1:00pm Central Time, well before my 1:45pm Highlights Tour, which highlighted the interiors of both Frank Lloyd Wright's studio building/architecture school (which still operates today) and house. While the tour did not allow pictures inside the buildings, I was able to take some pictures of the exteriors and surrounding scenery (I couldn't get a great picture of the Wisconsin River, which the house overlooks).

This is the best pic of the Wisconsin River

Exterior shot of the studio

An outbuilding on the estate where a staff member still lives today

The exterior of the main house

The surrounding countryside (typical of much of Wisconsin)

After finishing my tour at Taliesin around 4:30pm, I drove the remaining two-plus hours to La Crosse, arriving to my AirBnb host at around 6:45pm. This is my first time using AirBnb and so far, I'm pleased. My host seems nice and she has a nice big dog and the accommodations are nice and affordable. Shortly after arriving, I treated myself to a nice steak dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which really is a level above other restaurants of its type in terms of quality and what you get for the price.

Next Stop: Badlands National Park, SD

Day 2--Midland, ON to Escanaba, MI

Today, I drove from Midland, Ontario to Escanaba, MI, a town situated along the shores of Lake Michigan on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, which was a drive of around 550 miles (including a long detour where I-75 was closed on the Upper Peninsula). I departed Midland around 7:30am. The Canadian highways I took until crossing the border at Sault Ste. Marie were far nicer than most American roads. My one regret about the route is that there were few places to pull aside to appreciate the scenery of Georgian Bay. However, I could appreciate much of the general prettiness from behind the wheel. Once I crossed the border, I proceeded to US-2, the Lake Michigan Scenic Highway, which is a very impressive scenic road. I couldn't take advantage of some of the first scenic points as I was concerned about running out of gas (gas stations were few and far between in this area), but once I got gas, I pulled over at the Epoufette Bay Scenic Overlook, where I was able to capture this picture.

I finally arrived at the Hiawatha Inn in Escanaba around 6:00pm. However, I didn't rest long once I arrived as I wanted to go see a 6:40 showing of Ted 2 (luckily, the movie theatre was just around the block). I enjoyed Ted 2 as I am a HUGE Seth MacFarlane fan but I did not think it was as great as the first one. After seeing the movie, I went to Culver's, a Wisconsin-based (very midwestern in my opinion) quick service chain that I have become fond of over the past year in Sarasota, where I had a burger.

I'm back at the motel now and am prepared to continue my travels tomorrow morning. I can take a bit more of a relaxed schedule as my distance is shorter and I have a time change that essentially gives me an extra hour. But I'm also taking a detour to visit Taliesin, the home and estate of Frank Lloyd Wright located in Spring Green, WI (I became a big fan of his after visiting Taliesin West in 2003). I'll post more about it tomorrow!

Next Stop: La Crosse, WI

Day 1: Mendham, NJ to Midland, ON

Today was the first day of my 40-day, 10,000+ mile cross-country road trip. For today, I was planning to travel from Mendham, NJ to Midland, Ontario, a trip of around 525 miles. I left Mendham shortly after 7am this morning and arrived in Midland at 7pm, making a long mid-morning stop around 40 miles west of Binghamton, NY, a lunch/gas stop outside of Buffalo, and a mid-afternoon stop in Burlington, Ontario (as well as two brief other stops). Rush hour traffic in Toronto added a fair amount of travel time. Today (as well as tomorrow and Monday) is one of the days that I was planning to cover an especially large distance, largely due to the fact that there was not much sightseeing that I was planning to do. While much of my distance today was on large highways, I also did a sizable amount on smaller highways, shortening my time on I-81 and avoiding the New York State Thruway. This also proved to be a prettier route, although I did not take many pictures.

After arriving in Midland, I was quite tired. I went to the small downtown area and  got a sandwich at Dino's Fresh Food Deli. Afterwards, I walked around the marina, which is situated on Georgian Bay (which I'd say is more of a lake than a bay). I did manage to take some pictures at the Midland Marina.

I'm resting at the motel (Kings Inn Midland), which is fine for a ~$50 per night motel and preparing for an early start tomorrow.

Next Stop: Escanaba, MI, on the Upper Peninsula

Countdown to Hitting the Road

It's probably about 57 hours or so until I hit the road. Doing a test post to see that the syncing with Facebook and Twitter works but I'm very excited!