Great Faces. Great Places.

South Dakota welcome sign

There's that classic South Dakota welcome sign and wouldn't you know, it came out pretty good! Heather has exponentially improved her ability to take pictures of welcome signs as we zoom past them!

But before reaching the South Dakota border, we made a couple of stops.

The first stop was an immediate one outside of Yellowstone at the North Entrance. At the North Entrance is the Roosevelt Arch, an entrance way dedicated to President Roosevelt, our "conservationist President".

During the dedication of the arch in 1903 (which now bears his name) he said: "This Park was created, and is now administered for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." As you can see in the below picture, "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" is now what is carved at the top of the arch.

Roosevelt Arch - North Entrance, Yellowstone

Our second stop was a bit further away, a 7 hour drive via I-90, at America's first national monument Devil's Tower (guess who proclaimed it a national monument? President Roosevelt!).

Devil's Tower

Devil's Tower from the walking trail

Devil's Tower is exactly what it looks like: a humongous rock in the middle of nowhere. It reminded us of the famous Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Australia that we visited when I was studying abroad in 2003.

Uluru/Ayers Rock, Australia - 2003

Besides the fact Devil's Tower is an unbelievable rock formation, what's very interesting is that it also has a similar significance to the Native Americans as Uluru does to the Australian Aborigines. From what we read, every June, Devil's Tower is closed to climbers as a sign of respect to the Native Americans who wish to visit it in peace.

We thought about climbing Devil's Tower (sense the sarcasm?), but instead opted for the easy walk on the trail around it. We spent about an hour there and then headed 2 hours east to Mount Rushmore for the lighting ceremony that started at 9 PM. And it was well worth it!

The ceremony starts with a patriotic monologue by a park ranger, a short video on how and why Mount Rushmore was built and ends with all active and retired military personnel taking the stage for the audience to acknowledge their commitment to our freedom. Some might think of it as cliche or perhaps over the top, but we really enjoyed it.

Active and retired military personnel taking down the US flag

Lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore recognizing active and retired military personnel

But the arguable best part of the day was what we saw when grabbing dinner at the Mount Rushmore dining room: a tray that starts with "What does baseball have to do with Mount Rushmore?" How fitting! We got a good laugh at that.

On Sunday, we started our day touring the Black Hills of South Dakota. Our first stop was the Crazy Horse Memorial, a project that started in 1948 and is not close to being complete. Instead of paying the ludicrous $10 per person charge to see a work in progress (that many TripAdvisor reviewers said is a tourist trap), we just drove by it and took a picture.

Crazy Horse Memorial

We then made our way to the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway, regarded as one of the top scenic drives in the country. The first road, Needles Highway, is a mountainous, winding road that is named after the high granite "needles" around it. One of the features is a structure called the Cathedral Spires, a bunch of "needles" in a row.

Cathedral Spires on Needles Highway, Black Hills

Another feature of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway are the many tight, one way tunnels. Before entering the tunnel, you're asked to honk your horn so an oncoming car doesn't enter after you do.

Needles Highway, Black Hills

After Needles Highway we rode on the so-called Wildlife Loop because, well, we didn't quite see enough wildlife at Yellowstone. But at least this time we saw something other than bison and elk (although we did see them too). We saw burros! And got to feed them!

Feeding the burros

And of course we ran into a bison traffic jam.

Bison traffic jam on Wildlife Loop, Black Hills

Once the bison traffic jam finally cleared after about 30 minutes, we went back to Mount Rushmore to experience it during the daytime.

When you enter the memorial, you are greeted by a large stone entrance bearing the memorials name and in the not too far distance, you get a glimpse of the great faces along with the Avenue of the Flags, a walkway leading toward the mountain that is flanked on both sides by flags of the 56 states and territories.

Mount Rushmore entrance

Avenue of the Flags, Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore

For us, the first thing that popped into our heads was how in the world did they do this?

For those that are as unfamiliar with the Mount Rushmore story as we were, the effort was led and started in 1927 by a man named Gutzon Borglum, a Danish-American artist and sculptor and completed after his death in October 1941. Borglum created a miniature sculpture of Mount Rushmore (below), which served as the guide for the miners, sculptors and rock climbers. Each inch of the sculpture was to represent one foot on the mountain.

Miniature Mt. Rushmore sculpture created by Gutzon Borglum

As you can see in the sculpture, the memorial was supposed to include the depiction of each president from head to waist. We were told that the reason why the memorial stops with their faces is because of unanticipated changes in the rock formation, however some other stories say its because of a lack of funding. Regardless, it's still pretty spectacular!

Mount Rushmore from the Presidential walking Trail

Mount Rushmore

After getting our patriotic fix for the year, it was time to continue our journey 2 hours east on I-90 to Badlands National Park.

Badlands National Park

I was told that the Badlands are like nothing I have ever seen, weird and something that you might find on the planet Mars. Boy was that accurate! It's a pretty spectacular place with some pretty spectacular rock formations and colors. Take a look.

A very interesting and spectacular place to say the least!

After 2 hours of driving through the Badlands along Badlands Loop Road, it was onto Minneapolis to visit Heather's brother Josh, his lovely wife Kim and most importantly........our baby niece!

It was a long day however, so driving 9 hours in the middle of the night to Minneapolis was not in the cards. Instead of falling asleep at the wheel, we drove 5 hours to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and massacred a ton of I-90 bugs along the way.

The I-90 bug massacre

But when we reached Minneapolis after a 4 hour drive on Monday morning, we got to meet our precious, beautiful niece Alexandra Rose for the first time!

Brian bouncing baby Alexandra

Heather holding baby Alexandra

As they say in South Dakota, Great Faces Great Places.   :)

The show must go on however, and tomorrow morning we depart for the last leg of our trip: Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland along with 4 baseball games at Miller Park, US Cellular Field, Comerica Park and Progressive Field.

Cheese heads..........here we come!

Better late than never: Kansas City Recap!

Apologies for the lag in recapping our stop in Kansas City, but the last couple of days have been busy spending quality time with friends and the fam including celebrating my little cousin Kash's 5th birthday party on Wednesday. Check out this awesome new hoop that my cousin Matt (Kash's dad) got him for his birthday!

Kash jamming on his brand new hoop

We finally arrived in Denver on Tuesday night 9 PM local time after getting delayed 4 hours due to that flat tire in the middle of nowhere. What an adventure! Tomorrow morning we're off to Arches National Park in Moab, Utah and then Yellowstone on Monday until next Saturday, July 20th. We should have access to the Internet in Moab, but not too sure about Yellowstone. We will do our best to keep the blog up to date!

Heather and I both really enjoyed Kansas City. Directly from the diner where I ate that awesome waffle, we went to Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals. Kauffman Stadium is about 10 minutes outside of Kansas City in a sporting complex that also houses Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs (think the Meadowlands).

Kauffman Stadium

Arrowhead Stadium

As you can see, from the outside Kauffman Stadium doesn't look like much. It kind of looks like a big monstrosity in the middle of a parking lot. The inside though? Absolutely awesome. What a fantastic job they did on the stadium. If you're a baseball fan, you're probably familiar with the can't miss fountains out in CF (the largest privately funded fountains in the world), but they also have a dedicated kids section called the Outfield Experience and a really impressive Royals Hall of Fame with statues of 3 Royals greats: George Brett, Frank White and Dick Howser.

In front of the fountains

George Brett statue 

View from our seats

The game itself was not nearly as great: the Royals got blown out by the A's, it was about 100 degrees and to top it all off, Heather got hit by a foul ball in the back and we didn't even get the ball (yes, I'm never going to live that one down). I thought at that very moment she would want me to drive her to the airport to head back to NYC, but she was a trooper. She went to the first aid office, got some ice and enjoyed a concrete (frozen custard with a blend of different ingredients) afterwards.

Heather enjoying a concrete after getting hit by a foul ball

After the Royals game, we headed to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and American Jazz Museum, which were both fantastic, but the best part of the day was definitely our dinner at Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue in Country Club Plaza...

Jack Stack BBQ

Prime Ribs, Beef Ribs, Lamb Ribs and Burnt Ends

Zagat rates Jack Stack's as the #1 BBQ place in the country and it definitely didn't disappoint! Heather and I shared Prime Ribs, Beef Ribs, Lamb Ribs and Burnt Ends (pieces of meat cut from the point half of a smoked brisket and cooked further). If you ever are in Kansas City, Jack Stack's is a must!

Another must is Country Club Plaza. The Plaza, as it's called, is an upscale shopping district and residential neighborhood with classic European influences (especially those of Seville, Spain) that opened in 1923 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_Club_Plaza). I never knew this, but the reason why Kansas City is nicknamed the City of Fountains and Kauffman Stadium has those fountains in CF is due to the numerous fountains in Country Club Plaza. With over 200 fountains throughout the city, Kansas City claims to have the 2nd most fountains in the world behind Rome!

And the last must is what we did all day Monday: The World War I Museum. Wow! Everything you ever wanted to know about World War I is at the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial. We got there at about 11 AM and spent a good 5 hours touring the grounds and the exhibits. Highly recommended!

National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial

Liberty Memorial

WWI Service Vehicle

View from the observation deck of Liberty Memorial

So that was our stop in Kansas City. We're done with baseball stadiums until Milwaukee (which is definitely a relief to Heather!) and now the focus will be on beautiful scenery and wildlife from a bunch of national parks. We're looking forward to it!

The Arch, Busch Stadium, Anheuser Busch Brewery oh my!

St. Louis was a 2 day whirlwind adventure! Here it goes...

Day 1: Walking Tour around the Arch, Journey to the Top of the Arch, missed Riverboat Tour, Old Courthouse (where the famous Dred Scott case was held), Cardinals vs. Marlins game

Day 2: Rescheduled Riverboat Tour, Anheuser Busch Brewery Tour, Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, Missouri Botanical Garden, Free Counting Crows concert at Fair St. Louis

So Day 1. Why did we miss the Riverboat Tour? You guessed it. Because of me...kind of. The only tour to the top of the Arch available was at 1:20 PM and the Riverboat Tour started at 2:30 PM. Things at the Arch got a bit backed up and......we missed the boat. But we didn't just miss the boat. We got to the top of the Arch, got back down at about 2:28 PM, ran to the boat (at which point Brian fell on his face) and got there at 2:33 PM. When we got there, the boat just left the dock. But luckily we were able to reschedule for the next day at 10:30 AM.

The worst part of the whole thing was that going to the top of the Arch is not that great. You sit in this little pod thing where you feel like you're being sent up to Mars and you get out onto this small and enclosed observation deck where you feel like a sardine. The second you get out of the pod, you just want to get back in to go back to earth. At least I got a cool picture of Busch Stadium from it though.

Busch Stadium from the top of the Arch

The grounds of the Arch itself are wonderful. The Arch is part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. The park is a memorial to Thomas Jefferson's role in opening the West, to the pioneers who helped shape its history, and to Dred Scott who sued for his freedom in the Old Courthouse.

Heather with Old Courthouse

After the day of touring the Arch, we headed over to Busch Stadium. It's literally right downtown only a few blocks from the arch, which is really neat. The outside area of the stadium is really nice and they did a great job with the facade. In front of the stadium are statues of all of the Cardinal greats: Musial, Bob Gibson, Brock, George Sisler, Hornsby, Slaughter, Dizzy Dean. Really nice touch. They also have the 3rd base entrance dedicated strictly to Stan Musial with an additional statue of him.

In front of the stadium (where the statues are)

3rd base entrance in front of Musial statue

The inside of the stadium is really nothing special, but the views of the arch are breathtaking! Thanks to Richard on his recommendation of where to sit, we had a perfect view.

On the 2nd day, we took the Riverboat cruise, which we absolutely loved. If you ever goto St. Louis and you have to choose between taking a small pod or going on a boat, choose the boat. The cruise had a park ranger narrating and the views of the Arch from the river were spectacular.

We then headed over to the Anheuser Busch Brewery for a free tour, which was a lot of fun. We even got to meet some Clydesdales!

And then we finished the day checking out the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis and the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Cathedral Basilica

Inside of Cathedral Basilica

Missouri Botanical Garden

Missouri Botanical Garden

Overall, we really enjoyed our 2 days touring St. Louis. There was a lot to see and do and the Arch up close and personal was a thrill!

Stay tuned for a post on Kansas City sometime in the next couple of days. Tomorrow we have a full day here in Kansas City and then we will start the 10 hour drive to Denver!