Bonus Posting: Video of the Pooh Themed Graduation Speech

Attached to this posting is a video recording of the speech that Katie gave at the 2004 Churchville-Chili HS graduation ceremony at the Eastman Theater (unfortunately all the graduations are now held at the field house at RIT).  This video was shot on an 8mm camcorder by Katie's brother, Doug, who was 10 at the time (I was busy with my Nikon D-100 and a borrowed pro lens) so this is fair warning that if you are prone to motion sickness you may want to close your eyes at various points in the video.  If you listen closely at the end of the speech as the applause is occurring Doug asks if he can stop now.  Poor little guy must have been getting tired.  Anyway, I thought some of you might enjoy this after taking the time to follow along on our adventure.  It does do a better job explaining the relationship between Katie and Pooh than the posting on the subject.  Enjoy.

Sleepless in Seattle - Our Final Day

Katie and Pooh in their new home.

My last day in Seattle was to be a long one as Amy and I were to return to Rochester via a red-eye flight leaving Seattle at 11:55 PM with a connection in Chicago.  The day began by checking out of the Travelodge Hotel we were living in since Wednesday night.  We then moved the remainder of Katie's belongings to her apartment and finally brought Pooh over to check out his new home.  We had a whole day to kill so we decided to venture downtown to the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market.  We wandered the stalls of the various seafood providers and fresh fruit and vegetable stands as well as a variety of craft stalls.  What is amazing is that these booths are all setup and torn down each and every day!

Never did see any fist fly :-(

We ate lunch at one of the seafood restaurants in the market (I assume they don't have to tear down everyday) and I had to try a cup of the clam chowda (that's how we say it in Maine) and even though it was on the other upper corner of the country, it was pretty good.  After lunch we worked our way through more of the market and took in more sites including what is supposedly the very first Starbucks.  We then worked our way toward the Space Needle, a remnant of the 1962 World's Fair.  We chose not to wait in line and pay the fee for the ride to the top and instead decided a couple hours in a movie theater was in order.  Thanks to today's wonderful technology Siri was able to find a showing of Man of Steel along our walking route back to the market and where Katie's Prius was parked.

Produce at Pike Place Market

We had dinner after the movie and then walked back through the market at around 7:00 PM and sure enough, all the stalls were vacant and all those fruits and vegetables you see in the picture were gone, leaving empty stalls behind.  We were worried that the Ice Cream establishment we were eyeing earlier in the day would be closed as was the case for most of the eateries along the market street but we lucked out and were able to grab a cone before heading to the airport.
We had no issues with security and the flight was on time and both Amy and I were very tired from our long day without sleep and as the plane climbed to its cruising altitude of 37,000 feet we both fell asleep until our approach into Chicago and subsequent hop to Rochester, arriving back home shortly after noon.

Katie and me back when I had the hair  and she didn't

This was quite an experience for me, spending 5 days in a compact car with my adult daughter and her beloved Pooh bear (not too mention way more "stuff" than should fit in a Prius).  I hope you have enjoyed this blog as much as I have in trying to make it both entertaining and informative (I didn't think about providing links until the 3rd or 4th post).  I did this for few reasons.  First was to capture the experience while it was fresh and (hopefully) have a permanent record for both Katie and me to look back on in the years to come.  Secondly, Amy and I plan to do some traveling and RV'ing in our retirement and I've thought about doing a blog when that time in our life comes so I thought I'd see what that was like.  And lastly I wanted to share what Katie and I (and Pooh) were up to with close friends and family as it was taking place.  So if you followed us in our adventure I thank you.  If you are just reading this for the first time, I encourage you to go through the postings in the order they were posted (reverse of how they are presented on blogspot).
Oh, and if we were to ask Pooh for a good reason for why we did this blog, he is likely to say
“When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.” - A.A. Milne

Visiting the Campus of U Dub

Katie's Kitchen table and chairs

This morning we returned to Katie's apartment to assemble the furniture we purchased from IKEA the yesterday.  This took us until lunch time.  We went to Northgate Mall for lunch in the food court and then more shopping to help Katie get situated in her new apartment.  Once we delivered her new purchases to her apartment, we then returned to our hotel room situated on the outskirts of the University of Washington campus.  We walked to campus from the hotel via a bike trail that runs throughout the area.  One thing you need to know about the U Dub campus is that it is on a hill and all paths leading to the campus are up hill and very steep.  Once on campus we worked our way through a variety of malls (this campus has more than one) and located the university bookstore to purchase the requisite t-shirt or jersey.  Once we located merchandise to our liking and not too harsh on the wallet (not an easy task) we headed to the area of campus where Katie will be working as a post-doc for Professor Daniel Gamelin.

Fountain with Chemistry Building off to the right.

I must say this campus is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen and I have visited plenty of campuses with my three children as they tried to figure out where to go to school.  As we approach the area where the chemistry building is we traverse across a large brick courtyard with a variety of buildings and a very interesting tower structure with 3 brick towers arranged in a triangle.  As one leaves this courtyard to the south, you find yourself at the top of a series of steps lined with trees leading down to a large fountain and off in the distance you can see the peak of Mt. Rainier.  Once we are at the edge of the fountain Katie points to the building to the right and informs us that it is the chemistry building.  Given that the perimeter of the fountain is lined with rose gardens, Amy points out that Katie's new place of work has views of a water fountain, rose garden and Mt. Rainier.  Not too shabby.

Katie's New Apartment

Most of what was in Katie's Prius

Today (July 5) was the big day for Katie as she finally got her keys to her new apartment.  The apartment is located in the gated complex, Clock Tower Apartments, and her unit comes with a free covered parking space.  Katie is very excited about this as she is sick of birds and the trees of Chicago dropping various things onto her car.

Kitchen in Katie's new Apartment

The unit is very nice with a bit more room the place she lived in for her last 3 years in Chicago.  After unloading her car and moving all the stuff previously removed from the car and sitting in our hotel suite, it presents a pretty impressive pile of belongings.  How she managed to squeeze all that into a Prius is beyond me (note- the picture here does not include her 32" TV and my luggage and camera bag).  One big reason all of Katie's belongings fit into the Prius is that she got rid of all her furniture under the theory that it would cost more to move it than it was worth.  That leaves her with a bit of shopping to do.
After lunch (left over pizza from our dinner with Jamie and Larry) we headed south to the IKEA store on the other side of the city.  Of all the IKEA furniture Katie had in Chicago the one piece she really liked and wanted to re-purchase if possible was the small kitchen table with 4 chairs ($149 total).  It must be a popular piece as we were able to find the exact same item 5 years later at a different IKEA location.  In addition to this unit, she bought a new TV stand a utility shelf, pots and pans, dishes, glasses and flatware.  By the time we returned to her apartment and unloaded it was after 6:00 PM and we all agreed we would go get dinner and call it an evening.  Assembly of the new furniture could wait until the morning.

4th of July in Port Townsend

Ferry boat ride from Edmonds to Kinston

Our first full day in Seattle was the 4th of July and as such Katie would not be able to get the keys to her apartment until Friday so we needed something to do for the day. As it turns out, Katie's very close friend Jamie, from her time at the University of Rochester, now lives in Port Townsend. Katie made arrangements for us to spend the day with her.  Amy and I had the opportunity to get to know Jamie quite well the summer Katie graduated from the U of R because Jamie spent that summer in Rochester working and came to our house many times to visit. She became a sort of surrogate daughter during that summer and we were looking forward to seeing her as much as Katie.

Kettle Corn booth a the Kingston 4th of July Festival

After breakfast we headed to Edmonds, about 10 miles north of our hotel, to catch a ferry across Puget Sound to the town of Kingston.  This time on the ferry allows me to claim virtually all modes of transportation for this trip once I take a plane back to Rochester (see my second posting - Train? What Train?).  We landed in Kingston about an hour before Jamie could pick us up but the holiday made it easy to figure out what to do as the town of Kingston was having a little celebration with arts and crafts booths just off the ferry landing.  We browsed the booths and bought a bag of freshly made Kettle Corn and we all agreed that this was the only way to go for Kettle Corn.
Jamie eventually picked us up and after hugs all around we drove from Kingston to Port Townsend and took a long walking tour of the town with a stop for lunch at Sirens Pub overlooking Puget Sound.  I had a Salmon sandwich and a locally brewed Scotch Ale.  Very yummy.  Jamie has a very unique job in Port Townsend that keeps her involved in marine animal activity in the area and after lunch she showed us an elephant seal that had decided to use the local downtown shoreline to do his molting.  She explained to us why the elephant seal needs to do this and what some of the theories are about why this particular young male decided to hang out in town while molting.

Katie and Jamie outside Jamie's work place.

After checking out the mischievous elephant seal we walked the shoreline all the way to the Port Townsend Marine Science Center where Jamie works.  This non-profit facility serves as a research support and educational center for the marine life in and around the sound.  As best I remember from her description is that their primary purpose is education but also server as a means for gathering experimental data for research projects by using volunteers to help gather the data.  Part of the educational initiatives that the center is involved in is what is best described as a marine petting zoo or as they like to call it, touch tanks.  What this is is a bunch of tanks containing a variety of ocean invertebrates.  We were given a special guided tour of this facility and Jamie was able to get my normally very squeamish daughter to touch all sorts of weird and slimy ocean critters.

Point Wilson Lighthose

Jamie had to leave us for a couple of hours to go pick up her boyfriend and we took the opportunity to walk further out on the peninsula to the Point Wilson lighthouse for some picture taking - my first Pacific coast lighthouse!  We then walked back into downtown Port Townsend and waited for Jamie and her boyfriend, Larry, to return and join us for dinner.  On our way back to Kingston to catch the ferry back to Edmonds and our hotel, Jamie took us to "the end of the earth".  This is a short little path that ends at the top of a bluff that gives the appearance of the earth just ending.  We missed the 8:20 ferry by just a few minutes and had to hang out, once again, at the ferry terminal in Kingston.

End of the world.

Lucky for us the party was still going strong at the little park near the ferry and we were entertained until the 9:40 ferry left and we were able to make our way back to crash after another long and eventful day.  I'm going to need a vacation when I get home just to catch up on sleep and rest!

The Story of Katie & Pooh

Katie and Pooh @ 3 months old.

Katie was born shortly after 6:00 AM on December 16th 1986.  After the excitement of the moment had settled down and Katie was taken to the nursery and Amy was in some much needed rest, I ventured home to freshen up.  Before returning to the hospital I wanted to pick up something special for my new born daughter so went to the local Sears and searched through their plush stuffed animals.  I found this wonderful Pooh bear made by Gund (my new friends, the Hoffmann's, assured me that a Gund would last forever).  Upon returning to Highland Hospital in Rochester later that afternoon I placed the Pooh bear into the crib of my new born daughter.  To this day, without exaggeration, Pooh bear has spent every sleeping night with Katie.  He has travelled on camp out trips with the Girl Scouts, gone on class trips and every vacation our family has taken.

Katie and Pooh at the Churchville-Chili 2004 Graduation

When Katie graduated from high school she was valedictorian of her class and was to give a speech at graduations, as is customary.  When she took the podium and completed the requisite thank-you acknowledgements to the attendees she began her speech by telling everyone in the Eastman Theater that there was someone special in her life that she'd like them to meet.  She then reached into the podium and pulled out Pooh bear, held him up to the full auditorium and said "Everybody, this is Pooh bear.  Pooh bear, this is everybody".   This is how her valedictory speech began and it continued using the story of Christopher Robin's departure from the 100 Acre Wood to go off to school and his promise to return and to always keep Pooh in his thoughts.  Katie's Pooh bear was a metaphor for the comfort and security of home and family.  The speech was very emotional and memorable.
Unlike Christopher Robin, who had to leave Pooh behind, Katie has never left Pooh behind.  He has been through 4 years of college at the U of R, 5 years of graduate school at Northwestern University in Evanston, Il and is now traveling the rest of the way across the country through exotic desert like terrain and through enchanted forests to be with Katie in Seattle as she starts her next chapter in a post-Doc position at the University of Washington.

Pooh always willing to go wherever Katie leads.

This one plush stuffed bear from the premier stuffed bear company that was a gift from me has meant so much to my daughter throughout the years that it only seemed appropriate to give him a major role on this biggest journey to date in Katie's young adult life.  Hopefully this little history will answer some of your questions you may have had about Pooh and Katie and why this blog is being done the way it has been done - featuring a ragged 26 1/2 year old stuffed Pooh bear that certainly showing his age.  This particular Pooh bear has seen a lot of life with Katie and for both his sake and hers, hears to hoping my friends Marty and Jeannine were right and he lasts forever.

Day 5: Seattle Here We Come

Capone's in Coeur d'Alene

Today was the final day of driving as we leave Butte, Montana and head out for 600 miles of I-90 straight to Seattle.  After two days of getting up before the sun we decided to give ourselves a treat and sleep in until 7:00 AM.  We got up and had yet another continental breakfast in our Super 8 motel and we pulled out of the parking lot just before 8:00, bypassing the gas station across the street and heading up the on ramp just a few hundred yards up the street.  After driving driving for 90 minutes or so I see that the gas gauge has 1 tic left and I say to Katie "We need to get gas soon.".  About 3 seconds after I say this the chime warning you that you are low on fuel went off and Katie pulls out her iPhone to find the nearest exit with a gas station.  Keep in mind, we are in western Montana and, although its not as uninhabited as Wyoming, its pretty close.  Katie's first reaction upon glancing at her results was "Oh-Oh" which got my heart racing a bit.  She then says "Why didn't we just fill up at that station across the street from the hotel?".  Of course I didn't really have a good answer other than "It's a Prius, isn't it?  We shouldn't have to gas up".  We finally find one about 30 miles down the road and we fill up the tank and it takes 9.6 gallons.  Given the fact that we have been getting over 50 mpg and the tank is 11.9 gallons I figure we could have gone another 100 miles!  Why was I panicking so much.

We decide to get off interstate 90 at Coeur d'Alene to find a place for lunch.  We traveled through a portion of this town that Katie says is a major tourist/getaway town for this region of he country.  We quickly pick a joint that looks interesting and find ourselves in a very nice establishment called Capones Pub & Grill.  The back of the menu indicates they were featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives".  The food was excellent and we both enjoyed our respective sandwiches.

Columbia River

The rest of the journey was pretty much uneventful, which is what one would like on a cross country trek.  We did pull off on a scenic turn off with a panoramic view of the Columbia river.  It was quite the view but it was also very hot outside so we only stayed long enough for a quick look, kind of Griswold family vacation style.
Once we hit Seattle our pace drew to a crawl as we tried to make our way to the intersection of I-90 and I-5 so that we could turn north and make our way to the hotel.  We finally made it and were checked into our room by 6:15.  We strolled across the street to an upscale plaza of shops and restaurants and found a place to eat.  After we were done we strolled around the place and stumbled across a big Bartell Drugs store.

Kodak Kiosks and Complete RSS System in Bartell Drugs

Bartell Drugs is one of the biggest customers of the photo equipment that I work on so I had to stop in and check it out.  Very impressive array of Kodak equipment in an inviting arrangement with easy chairs to sit in while you work on your photo projects via a Kodak Picture Kiosk.
After leaving the Bartell Drugs we found an Apple store and directly across the parking lot was a new Microsoft retail store.  It was pretty hilarious to walk from one to the other and see virtually the same setup in the Microsoft store complete with the geeks wearing nametag lanyards that were identical to Apples with the exception of the corporate logo.  Nice try, Microsoft.
At 9:00 PM Katie and I left for the Seattle airpot to pick up Amy and as I write this, our little band of travelers has grown by one and we are now 4 as Amy joins Katie, Pooh and me on our adventure.

Day 4: Yellowstone National Park

Pooh enjoys sunrise at Grand Teton National Park

Today started out with sunrise pictures of the Grand Tetons from Lunch Tree Hill.  This required another 5:30 AM alarm and the beds at Jackson Lake Lodge are really comfy so this alarm was not well received! But in order to maintain my status as serious amateur photographer,  I had to drag myself out of bed and get out the door.  Katie wallowed in her comfy pillow top bed but promised she'd be right behind me.  From the window of the cottage we were in it was difficult to tell if the skies were clear as predicted or not so I expressed my worries as I was leaving.  Before I was half way across the parking lot it was evident that there really wasn't a cloud in the sky anywhere so I texted Katie lest she was using my fear of an overcast sky to stay in and catch some more shut eye.

The view from our breakfast table.

 I made it to the top of the hill before any sun had hit the peaks of these majestic mountains but by the time I had my tripod setup the top portion of Grand Teton mountain was lit by the sun and it wasn't long before most of the peaks were in bright sun as well.  As I snapped a few pictures to check exposure and framing, Katie and Pooh joined me on the hill.

After I was done with the morning shoot we returned to the room to shower and pack and then make our way to the lodge for a breakfast buffet in the Mural Room.  This restaurant is famous for its magnificent views of the mountains through the west facing wall made up entirely of ceiling to floor windows.  We, being a party of 2, were fortunate enough to be seated right next to one of these windows and our breakfast was consumed with continued viewing of the Grand Teton Range aglow in morning light - magnificent!

Old Faithful near the end of its eruption

We checked out of the lodge as soon as we were done with our breakfast and began the short drive north to the southern entrance into Yellowstone National Park.  Shortly after entering the park we ventured to the first visitor center along the road and discovered that Old Faithful was due to erupt at 10:21 +/- 10 minutes.  A glance at our watches indicated that it was around 9:15 and knowing that it was 35 minutes from this visitor center to the Old Faithful region of the park, that looked like a perfect plan A opportunity.  We made our way over to the location and after spending some time finding a parking spot (which turned out to be a primo spot) we walked into the arena where Old Faithful was located.  We found a seat that looked promising and sat down around 10:05 to wait for the event.  The people around us were very fun to listen too and kept us entertained while we waited.  As the time got passed 10:11, Katie figured we were in the alloted time window and the thing could (and should) go off at any minute.  I planned to snap as may pictures as I could with my Nikon and asked Katie if she would be willing to shoot vide with my panasonic point and shoot.  She said, "maybe".  Well, my little camera now has 9 false start videos and one actual video of Old Faithful going off.  You see every once in a while as the actual eruption is getting ready the thing will bubble a bit and shoot some water up 2 or 3 feet, everyone gets excited and starts their camcorders only to have it die back down.  This is where everyone jokes about how unimpressed they were and try to convince their children that are growing more impatient after each false alarm that the last one was the real thing and wasn't that exciting.  My child wasn't buying that.  As 10:21 came and went, Katie exclaimed that the geyser has less than 10 minutes to stay within the alloted time or its name was in jeopardy.  At 10:25 Old Faithful blew and its name was safe once again.

Emerald pool at Biscuit Basin

After leaving Old Faithful we pulled into Biscuit Basin, an area of hot springs and other geothermal phenomena, to check things out and actually take a hike on one of the numerous trails in Yellowstone.  This particular trail begins halfway around the boardwalk that circumnavigates the basin full of hot springs.  The trail is a 2.5 mile loop that will take you up to a bluff that overlooks the basin and affords a view of much of the valley including the Old Faithful region.

Mystic falls

From the overlook the trail loops around and brings you to the Mystic Falls, a 70 foot waterfall on the Mystic River.  The hike was a nice break from sitting in the car all day and the only major downside was Katie forgot to put sunscreen on and she is paying the price as I type this in our hotel in Butte Montana.  After we left the falls we returned to the basin and finished our walk around the boardwalk and left the area and headed north towards Mammoth.
Along the way we made a couple of stops along the road to see some of the sights, including Gibbons Falls.  By the time we made it to Monmouth it was 2:30 and we hadn't eaten anything since the wonderful breakfast at 7:00 AM.  We grabbed a bite to eat at the Mammoth Terrace Grill.  After consuming our chicken sandwiches, we visited the Mammoth General Stores for some potential souvenirs before exploring the hot springs.  We walked around the hot springs for an hour or more before deciding it was time to leave this enormous park in order to continue the real purpose of this trip - getting Katie (and Pooh) to Seattle.
As we left Mammoth we made one last stop at the visitor center because we saw an Elk grazing on the lawn adjacent to the parking lot.  As we approached it to take pictures, we noticed that an entire herd of nearly 30 were laying down in the shade of the trees across the street in the center of town!  Evidently this is fairly common as the Elk believe they are the rightful residence of this town and us humans were just visiting.  Well, that is certainly the case for Katie, Pooh, and I and we cannot wait for another opportunity to visit again soon.

Pooh wishes he didn't have to leave this enchanted forest.

Day 3: On to the Grand Tetons

Profile view of George Washington

Today we decided to get up early and eat our breakfast on the road by consuming breakfast bars purchased on our way back to our hotel from the Grizzly Creek grill last night.  My goal was to get into the Grand Teton National Park area in time to do some afternoon sight seeing before checking into our room at the Jackson Lake Lodge inside the park.  I set may alarm for 5:30 and we were on the road by 6:00 AM.  We thought we could get some early morning sun hitting the presidents as we drove pass Mt Rushmore but the clouds were covering the sun at the time and I was not willing to wait (rare for me, but I had places I wanted to be by a certain time).

Recovery from the Jasper Fire

I did take a few pictures of the busts as we drove out of the area, including some angles rarely seen on postcards.
As soon as we left he region of Mt. Rushmore we found ourselves in the Black Hills National Forest and were witness to the devastation of the Jasper fire of 2000.  The scenery through this area was amazing and we were awed by the number of dead trees that resulted from this unfortunate event.  Once through the Black Hills Forest we were into Wyoming and about to embark on 400 miles of absolutely nothing (or at least it seems that way).

Pooh by the famous Moulton barn.

The state of Wyoming  is the least populated state in the union with just over 500,000 people and with its size, it is second only to Alaska in population density at 5.86 people per square mile.  Their largest city is the capitol of Cheyenne with just slightly more than 50,000 people.   We saw several town signs proclaiming populations in the range 10 for the smallest to around 1800 for the biggest town we drove through.  This largest was Wright where 40% of our nation's coal is mined (so we were told by a nice lady staffing the information booth at a rest area we visited. Maybe she was originally from South Dakota).  Besides the small towns that popped up every 15 miles or so, the one thing I was in awe of was the complete lack of trees.  The visibility was incredible as we could see all the way to the horizon and, at times, the complete 360 degree view did not give up a single tree.  I don't think I could live without trees!

An Instagram from an iPhone shot of the Moulton barn. 

As we drew closer to our destination the terrain took on a more interesting shape and composition with rolling hills and small buttes.  Things turned back to more my liking as we entered the Sheshone National Forest followed by the Teton National Forest, the latter giving us a clue that we were getting close to our destination.  As we came around the bend and crested a final hill, the majesty of the Teton Range was before us and Katie exclaimed, "Wow! Is that where we're going?".


First on my agenda was to see if we could locate the famous abandoned Mormon homesteads that are often photographed against the backdrop of the Grand Teton mountains.  I had done some research before leaving home and was pretty sure I knew where to go. We did find the famous barn built by T. A. Moulton and Pooh enjoyed the view and I even got an interesting Instagram shot of the famous building.  One of the other cluster of buildings that also offers interesting photo ops was overrun by a herd of Buffalo and we couldn't really get close enough.

B&W Instagram from Jackson Lake Lodge

We made our way to the visitor center at Grand Teton National park and then proceeded into the park and worked our way north towards our destination for the evening - Jackson Lake Lodge.  Along the way we pulled into occasional scenic overlooks and even saw a young grizzly bear! I was just glad that the mommy bear wasn't anywhere to be seen.  We drove up signal mountain that offered fabulous views of the surrounding area and glimpses of the southern end of the range.  We pulled into the lodge around 6:00 PM, got checked in and went to get a bite to eat and a cold beer to wash it down with.  We spent an hour or so in our room and then returned to the lodge for an Ice Cream cone and some sunset photography.  The current plan is to be up before the sun to see if sunrise photos from the lodge will be as good as I'm imagining them.

Day 2: Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands

Panoramic view in the Badlands

We left Austin, Minnesota a little before 8:00 and the highway was virtually empty and with visibility of over 10 miles on the virtually flat lands of the great planes, that is saying something.  We continued to have the road virtually to ourselves for the first couple of hours of driving.  Once we were in South Dakota we stopped at a rest area/information center.  They take their information centers seriously in South Dakota!  Before I even had a chance to ask anything the little old lady behind the counter began spewing more information my way than I could digest.  She did it with such enthusiasm and vigor that I just had to listen to wealth of choices I had in the great state of South Dakota, including something known as The Corn Palace.  The next thing I know we had about 5 days worth of itinerary lined up with about 6 hours to accomplish it.  We decided to whittle the choices to a couple, the first of which was the next rest area/information center we would visit.

Sign over the counter at the Information Center

A little over 150 miles of traveling brings us to the Missouri River and our second well staffed South Dakota rest area/information center.  This one doubles as a mini Lewis and Clark museum as it is evidently built on the site that Lewis and Clark camped for several days both on their way out and 2 years later on their way back.  We ate our lunch, stretched our legs and too in the views of the wide Missouri River.  Pretty neat!
One thing I noticed traveling on from the Lewis and Clark mini museum is that billboards are everywhere along this stretch of I-90 and one is never left with a wanting for something to read.  The problem is that even though a bill board appeared every 300 to 400 feet (very little exaggeration here - at least in one section of road) there were only about 5 unique ones being shown and most of them were for Wall Drug, which we started to think might be a bigger attraction than Mt. Rushmore.

Pooh takes in the views at the Badlands

The second change in itinerary that we decided to make based on the enthusiastic suggestions of our friendly South Dakotan hostess was to leave I-90 and take a 35 mile detour through The Badlands National Park.  This was indeed a very wise choice and we are grateful for the suggestion (I know wonder if the Corn Palace might have been something to see after all).

    The Badlands are a very unique sight to behold.  In part, they remind a little bit of Chimney Bluffs near Rochester NY but of different color and very different scale.  In other places the views remind you of canyons of the states farther south.  One thing that Katie kept mentioning and I had to agree was just how quite it was once you were away from the other tourists.  The air was still and there wasn't a sound to be heard anywhere.  I wondered if it had to do with a lack of animals.  There was some vegetation (they do get 16 inches of rainfall a year) and warnings to be on the lookout for rattle snakes.

Pooh looks so much bigger than those guys

Once we left the badlands we were only a little over an hour away from our destination for the night in Keystone SD and the Mt. Rushmore National Monument.  Not only that, we are also beyond the location of Wall Drug and are no longer bombarded with bill boards advertising this western marvel of merchandising.  Maybe next time I'm out this way I'll have to check it out to see what all the fuss is.  We drive past our hotel which is situated in the heart of the brief tourist trap that is 2 miles outside of
Mt. Rushmore to visit said attraction before checking in and settling down.  I'm sure there is a lot of fascinating information to gather and absorb at all the theaters showing movies and the museum full of exhibits, but the big busts themselves are, well, just shy of that.  One could actually hike up them and I'm sure that would make for interesting views and perspectives but our take away is that we can say we've been there and we were really glad we spent time in the Badlands instead of rushing here.  Better yet, maybe we should have visited Wall Drug.

Day 1 - Leaving Chicago

Kristina picks me up at Union Station

My train arrived around 11:30 and my daughter, Kristina, who also lives in Chicago, decided to meet me at the station.  This was an awesome gesture on her part that was motivated by (a) the goodness of her heart and the love for her father or (b) the complete lack of confidence she has in her old man's ability to find his way from Union Station to her sister' apartment, or (c) she was jealous of the road trip time Katie was going to have with her Dad and she wanted a piece of the action, however small.  Which ever reason it was, I am truly grateful and love her with all my heart.

The car is well packed!

We arrived at Katie's and grabbed subs at Potbelly or something to eat before heading out.  Katie was very proud of her packing job as she lifted the hatch of her Prius to show me how well all her belongings fit. I stood there admiring her handiwork and then asked, "Where does my stuff go?". After some awkward silence and a couple "Um"s I begin to worry that my luggage wasn't part of the plan.  I then remembered that JC was flying to LA in a few weeks and Katie was going to meet him there so I suggested he take one of her suitcases with him.  Everyone thought that was an excellent idea and with that bag out there was plenty of room for my stuff.

Pooh says Goodbye to the old place.

Now that everything and everyone had a place in the car its time for goodbye's.  JC takes takes what Katie called the band aid approach and gives her a big hug, jumps in his car and heads back to Indiana.  Kristina,on the other hand, must be in the small camp of long goodbyes are beat.  Once the hugs are done we finally hop in the Prius, program Tommy (what we cleverly name our TomTom brand GPS) and get ourselves situated (Kristina stands on the sidewalk with sad puppy dog eyes while this prolonged departure takes place).  We pull away with a final wave and 7 hours later we find ourselves in Austin Minnesota just 20 miles from Rochester!

Train? What Train?

Approximately one hour after posting my initial blog post I received a call from Amtrak.  The recording informed me that there was a disruption in the service of my train and alternate transportation would be provided. This is already starting off to be an interesting adventure!  

Friday night:

There is no status on the train (bus) so we leave the house @ 10:00 just to make sure we get to the station before the bus gets there and departs. Amy stays with me while I wait. There are plenty of other people waiting too, including a couple Amish families. One had the cutest toddler-aged little girl in a black bonnet that was taking it all in with big dark eyes. It gets to be close to 11:30 and Amy is getting tired and decides to head home.

Well, it's now quarter to 12:00 (midnight) and I'm on the bus heading to Buffalo to get on the train. Depending on whether or not they expect to stop along the way, we should be on the train shortly after 1:00. Time will tell.

It's now past 1:00 in the morning and the driver is seeking directions at a convenience store!  I get out my iPhone and search for the station.  The map app tells me that we're only 2 miles away.  As the driver Approaches the intersection near the train station he turns left instead of right and continues to head further away from the station.  I decide to get out of my seat and inform him of his mistake. He turns around and a couple minutes later we're at the Buffalo train station.  I cannot fathom why buses like that aren't equipped with GPS navigation systems!

We must have been the last bus to arrive at the train because it wasn't in my seat for more than a minute and the train started moving.  I don't know how far behind we are but we're on our way at 1:30 AM.

It's 9:15 Chicago time and we're just leaving South Bend now.  Another hour or two and I should be in Chicago!

The Eve of the Big Trip

I am about to embark on a week+ long journey with my eldest child, Katie.  She recently received her PhD from Northwestern University located in Evanston Il, a northern suburb of Chicago.

Katie's hooding ceremony.

The next leg of her journey brings her to a post-Doc position at the University of Washington (U-Dub) in Seattle.  Getting her to Seattle is the purpose of my new blog.  She has asked me to be her co-pilot as she drives from Chicago to Seattle.  I couldn't be more honored to join her on this exciting adventure as she kicks off the next stage or her already amazing life.

I reside in Rochester, NY and I therefore need to get to Chicago before this journey can officially begin.  I will make this first leg of the journey on the evening of June 28th by stepping on the 449 train leaving Rochester at the lovely time of 11:00 PM (scheduled, seldom on-time).  This will get me into downtown Chicago at 9:45 AM on Saturday June 29th (again, scheduled but seldom on time).  I will then make my way to her apartment where the fun will begin.

I will attempt to post each day of this adventure along with what pictures I can convince myself to take with connected devices (iPhone or iPad) instead of my usual Nikon D300.  I won't spoil the adventure for the few readers that may find this blog with an upfront itinerary.  You'll have to return or read on to the next postings to see where we've been.  Those of you that know Katie well will understand the title of the blog and for those who don't, stay tuned.  Until then, thanks for reading.