More Boy Party 2009

Whoops!! We almost forgot the Circus at Grandma's Boy Party. Check out the Elephant in the background. Jace's biggest memory of the Circus was the Elephant peeing in the garbage can.

As you can see the Boy's really did have a great time. Thanks for another Great Party Year Grandma!!! YOU ARE THE GREATEST..

The Trip Home

Who would have thought that a building in the middle of South Dakota with corn cobbs nailed on the side would be such a tourist draw. But it really was pretty cool and a good break. The from and side of the building have these murals. They change them every year at a cost of about $190,000. They were puting up some of the grass to frame the murals.

These workers were wrapping the grass into bundles to put on the building.

Below is the St. Louis Arch and the Alamo.

Below is the Golden Gate Bridge and the Grand Canyon. Below is Wall Drug. It takes up nearly the entire block. It reminded me of a giant Hamilton Store in Yellowstone. Again a nice place for a break.

Some of the National Grasslands of South Dakota.

We traveled to Minneapolis via I80 and I35. The main attractions were the State Capitals and center of the country as seen on previous Blogs. The trip home was via I90. The 400 miles across South Dakota has the Corn Palace and Wall Drug as the main sites.

We arrived in Casper about 9:30 Friday Night, but that was after gaining an hour with the time change. It really did feel like 10:30. Just a short 4 hours home on Saturday.

Minneapolis - St. Paul City Tour

A fun item on the trip was a City Tour of Minnepolis and St. Paul. Here are a few pictures. The bride below is in the location of the first bridge built accross the Mississipi River in 1855. This is one of the narrowest parts of the river and thus the 1st bridge was built here. This is St. Anthony Falls. It is the only natural falls on the Mississipi River.

Minneapolis has hundreds of art statues and displays around the city. The spoon and cherry below is very popular.

This was a cool horse built from scrap and drift wood from along the river.

This is the St. Paul skyline. Pretty cool that the tallest building on the skyline is the Wells Fargo Building.

This is the St. Paul Cathedral and is built on the tallest point in St. Paul. It is an amazing building and seats 3,000. The marble and stained glass inside were beautiful, but did not photograh well.

Minneapolis had lots of beautiful parks and 22 lakes in the city. St. Paul filled in their lakes and only have 2. Both economies were heavily reliant on the Mississipi River.

State Capital almost missed

Whoops we almost missed a Capital. Yes the South Dakota State Capital is 35 miles North of I90 in Pierre, S.D. So what is another 70 miles when you are already driving 700 miles that day.

I was only a 12 hour day from Mitchell, S.D. to Casper.

State Capitals

As Shane, Todd and Craig will tell you, we never pass a State Capital without pictures. Grandma has this thing about Capitals. I think it might be a School Teacher thing.
So on this trip, the first one was Lincoln Nebraska. It is quite a unique tall tower.

The Iowa Capital in Des Moines. What a very pretty gold dome.

Then St. Paul has the Minnesota State Capital. Our tour guide said this is second only to the Utah State Capital in beauty for the United States. I am not sure I agree with that after seeing as many as we have visited?

Who knows we may have to detour off I90 going home to see the South Dakota going home.

Half way from Boston to San Francisco

Did you know that there is a bridge across the Platt River and I80 that is 1733 miles from Boston and 1733 miles from San Francisco? Yes!! The following are pictures in that area. This is the Platt River at that point.

This is the Bridge across the river.

The above Mosaic is at the center line in the country. Below is the Bridge across the Interstate. It is a bit of a tourist trap, but a nice place to take a break.

It is about 750 miles from Green River to Lincoln, Nebraska and about 11 hours.