Final stretch....

We began another cold day with breakfast at the hotel before leaving for Colorado. After looking at the maps, we decided to head south to make sure we could drive through Nebraska. The scenery was much of the same we had seen over the last few states - lots of corn fields, cows, and farms.



Mission accomplished - we are never going to Nebraska again.

We then headed west to the great state of Wyoming. Scenery was again very similar to what we had seen.



We only saw the Southeastern corner of Wyoming and we know there is more to see there, especially in the parks and in the mountains. We plan to visit soon.

We finally got into Colorado around 6:30 PM mountain time. We drove past one of the Budweiser brewing sites, which we plan to come back to soon for a tour of the facility. We couldnt find a good 'Welcome to Colorado' sign so we took this picture to have for the time being.



We are staying in a hotel tonight and our furniture is to be delivered in the morning. The internet will be set up Friday so it may take some time to get the pics of our house up on the blog. We hope you've enjoyed this first leg of our journey. We can't wait to fill you in on the next chapter - LIVING IN BOULDER!

Where the Buffalo roam....

We woke up this morning to another cold day. There is nothing like waking up to wind at 40 MPH and the temperature at 30 degrees. We headed south to Keystone,SD to the site of Mount Rushmore. The weather didnt get any better there either but at least it was clear.









We then headed to the Crazy Horse Monument. This statue is not complete but has been under way for over 50 years. No one knows when it will be completed because the project is funded solely on donations and admission/concession profits. You can only see the face of Crazy Horse now but the second picture shows what the statue will look like when its complete. When it is done, it will be the largest statue in the world.





The area between the two monuments is mostly rolling hills and full of wildlife. The town of Custer, SD has access to the Wind Cave Park and also the Custer State Park. We took these pictures to give everyone an idea of the terrain out here. It was really beautiful out there today.









We also found a Mammoth Archeological site outside of Custer in a town called Hot Springs. Years ago, a local hotel owner broke ground to build a new hotel and found no less than twelve different mammoths buried in what they believed to be a sink hole filled with water roughly 25,000 years ago. The site we saw is only excavated during the summers so what we took pictures of is the actual site, just done up for tourists.







On our way home, we took a northern route to be able to see more of the two parks. We had seen tons of deer throughout the day but we finally saw the good ones on our way out. Oh, and a buffalo is the same thing as a bison - so we found out.









This was the best view we had of all the bison we saw. You can sort of make out the black shapes of around 150 bison in this valley. Obviously the picture didnt turn out as we had hoped.



We head out to Colorado in the morning. We will try to get some pics up of the last leg of our road trip and of our house when we can but that will depend on when we can get the internet setup in our house, hopefully Thursday!

A surprising turn of events...

Who knew that South Dakota had better cheese than Wisconsin? On our travels across the great state of SD we stumbled upon a small dairy farm in the very tiny town of Dimock (pop. 125!). We got the impression they didn't get many visitors since their whole office was one lady and a small fridge with cheese! But we did get to step inside the factory and take a peek at how the cheese was made, not to mention sample tons of cheese! We got to try bacon cheese, salsa cheese, and tons other of the best tasting cheeses we've ever had. This is a picture of one of the only two dairy farms in SD.



So of course being the cheese lovers we are we promptly bought 3 pounds of cheese, and I had to get a t-shirt!



After getting tons of cheese, we went to the next town and stopped to visit the world's only corn palace. We're not really sure what the big appeal is; we discovered it's just a big building decorated on the outside and used as a basketball arena on the inside. But we did get a good picture!



Leaving the corn palace we made many stops along the side of the interstate (there wasn't much traffic) to take some pictures. One is a giant teepee we found at a rest stop, and the others just random spots along the road we thought were pretty. SD is such a beautiful state to drive across! There are just endless miles of farmland along the sides of the interstate. Tons of cows line the road along with bright red barns. It sometimes looks like the fields are never-ending and that the road might meet the sky. It's very peaceful to just ride and look out across the fields.













Our last stop for the day was at the Badlands. The Badlands National Park is right outside of Rapid City, SD. It's an incredibly beautiful national park that you can drive through or hike, bike, or camp. It has all sorts of animals from bison, deer, big-horned sheep, prarie dogs, and coyotes. We drove through the park on a pathway that was about 30 miles long and winded us through the rock formations. The Badlands were not what we expected; unlike the Grand Canyon you view the Badlands from the bottom of the rock formation. We have lots of pictures of all the formations and open fields we saw; a few from the top of rocks. We also did not see any bison, which was disappointing, but saw lots of deer and even a big-horned sheep.















For the next two nights we are staying in Rapid City, SD and touring Mt Rushmore tomorrow. So hopefully we'll have lots more pictures to put up tomorrow pending the weather! It's supposed to be in the 20s and possibly snowing!!

The Dakotas....

Today we just spent most of our time driving. We finally got our Minnesota picture! Unfortunately in Minnesota it is against the law to stop on the side of the highway, so neither one of us could get out to be by the sign!



After leaving Minnesota, we crossed into North Dakota. We did not get a picture in all of North Dakota! We were actually not in North Dakota very long at all before we hit South Dakota. Here is our sign! Again, we weren't sure about stopping, and it was kind of getting cold! We spent about 7 hours driving today, and the Dakotas are so beautiful! We saw a beautiful sunset across the farmland this evening! We're staying in Sioux Falls, South Dakota tonight and then heading to Mount Rushmore and the Badlands tomorrow for the day.



Will also forgot to add his picture from the Mall of America yesterday. We found a Sharper Image store at the mall, and Will found his new favorite toy. You can't really see the color that well, but it was blue for Luke Skywalker!



Since we haven't had many pictures to add the past two days, I just wanted to add some random pictures. Here are some of us and Gracie!






I found this old picture on Robin's computer....oh memories.....

A short travel day

We woke up this morning in Chippewa Falls and headed on our way to Minneapolis, MN. The Mall of America called out to us and we just had to stop and briefly visit.





6 hours later, we headed to our hotel for the night.

It's all about the CHEESE!!!!

We woke up this morning in Chicago to a very cold and sunny day! We went over to the John Hancock building and went to the top to see views of the city. It was amazing being up so high! Will and I swear we could feel the building swaying a little bit.





After leaving the John Hancock building, we found my favorite store across the street, H&M, and went in to do a little after Thanksgiving shopping for some gloves!
We then left Chicago and drove up to Racine, Wisconsin. We, of course, stopped at the Wisconsin sign to get a picture. I was REALLY excited to be in there and get some cheese!



And as soon as we drove into Wisconsin we saw snow on the side of the road!
(Will thought it would be appropriate to take a picture)



Our two goals in Wisconsin were to get some cheese, and to get some kringle from a bakery in Racine. The little town was actually not far out of our way at all. Kringle is this delicious danish pastry that is only made in 4 bakeries in Racine. The Goodsons have been getting it for Christmas for years, and since I love kringle we thought it would be neat to actually go to the bakery where it's sold. Here is a picture of the bakery. And we got ourselves some yummy pecan kringle.



After getting our kringle, we headed to get some cheese. Sorry we didn't take a picture....it had gotten kind of cold outside! But we went to a place called Mars Cheese Castle! Unfortunatly, it was not really a castle made of cheese, but instead a giant deli that sold only Wisconsin cheese. We sampled just a little, and sent a lot to our new house in Boulder! So I was very happy that we got our cheese!

Tonight we are staying in Chippawwa Falls, Wisconsin. It's right outside of Eau Claire, WI. We are seriously in the middle of nowhere! I cannot tell you how many dairy farms and rolling hills we passed along the way, but it was a pretty drive. There isn't snow up here, but it's about 27 degrees outside tonight!
Tomorrow we are heading on out to the Mall of America....should be exciting! The next day we're heading to North Dakota....everyone should check the high on Sunday in Fargo!!