Road Trip Day 3 - Wall, South Dakota

My wife and I by Dam #7 on the Mississippi River
Photo by Barbara Gammon, Copyright 2011. Do not copy.

We drove through hundreds of miles of corn fields on day three of our cross country road trip. We crossed the Mississippi River which was bigger than I expected it to be this far north. We stopped and took a few pictures at the crossing in Minnesota near Lock and Dam #7. I hadn't realized that the Mississippi had locks installed to make it navigable as far north as St. Paul. It makes sense though, as the information sign at the rest stop points out that the from source to mouth, the Mississippi has a vertical drop of 1488 feet, of that, 857 feet of drop occurs between the Mississippi's source at Lake Itasca and the northern border of Iowa.

After the Mississippi, I-90 climbs up onto the plains. More corn fields. Interestingly, though, the corn fields here are doing double duty as wind farms. Rows of modern windmills stretch as far as the eye can see. I couldn't tell which manufacturer produced these windmills, but the website Wind Energy, The Facts says that the most popular models produce 1500-3000 kW of power.The U.S. Energy Information website says that the average U.S. home consumes just under 11,000 kW hours per year. For comparison, the average coal-fired power plant in the U.S. produces roughly 220,000 kW of power though this type of plants vary widely in size and output.

Windmills ended abruptly once we reached South Dakota, despite the fact that there were just as many corn fields along the highway. They seemed to be replaced with billboards which lined the highway. As a native Vermonter, where billboards are prohibited by law, I ordinarily prefer landscapes uncluttered by advertising. In South Dakota, however, they only serve to break up the endless corn fields.

I'm beginning to suspect, however, that the quality of the attraction is inversely proportional to the number of billboards on the route to it. Wall, South Dakota and, specifically, Wall Drug have the highest billboard count along I-90. We did not expect much from Wall and our expectations were met. We arrived in the early evening and checked into the first place we saw, the Sunshine Inn. We asked for a non-smoking room and got one that smelled of smoke. Continental breakfast consisted of prepackaged cinnamon rolls, coffee and orange juice. It was cheap in every possible meaning of the word.

Wall Drug itself is essentially a small mall full of tourist shops. Several gift stores, a cowboy boot shop, leather goods, camping equipment, knives, books, jewelry, and similar offerings are peddled from individual stores inside the Wall Drug complex. There is  T-Rex robot that comes to life every 12 minutes or so and a small outdoor area with some static displays. For me the most interesting thing was the photo wall in the very back building. While it mostly chronicles frontier life, there is one photo that more accurately reveals "how the west was won." It shows a number of U.S. Cavalry Soldiers posing proudly on horseback in and around a mass pit grave filled with native American bodies at Wounded Knee. Read Lorie Liggett's introduction to Wounded Knee here.

Don't feel compelled to make a stop at Wall Drug, its reputation and billboards notwithstanding, there's not much to see here. The best thing about Wall, South Dakota, is that it is located at the entrance to the Badlands National Park. We ate dinner across the street from Wall Drug at the Cactus Cafe & Lounge. Not recommended. They offered an all-you-can-eat dinner buffet for $10.95 which featured a soup and salad bar, spaghetti, fried chicken, baked beans, and pizza. It was not particularly good, but it was close and easy after a long day of driving.

Me posing with the Green Giant.
Photo by Linda Sylvester, copyright 2011.
Do not copy.

I should also mention that we had a celebrity encounter in Blue Earth, Minnesota. We actually had the opportunity to get our pictures taken with the famous Green Giant. There's a sign next to him which gives some statistics such as the fact that it cost $43,000 to build him out of fiberglass and that he stands 55 feet six inches tall. You'll have to go to Blue Earth and read the sign for yourself to see which of the Green Giant's body parts measures 48 inches...

Road Trip Day 2: Chicago Traffic and Wisconsin Dells

The second day of our journey from New Hampshire to Montana was spent entirely on traveling. We ended up in Mauston, Wisconsin. We had originally intended to stop in a place called Wisconsin Dells, but when we got off the exit, we discovered that Wisconsin Dells is apparently the Las Vegas of Wisconsin. There were waterparks, an amusement park, themed resort hotels, and more people than we had seen since we left Chicago behind earlier in the day.

We stopped in to a couple of hotels, but the only one that had a double room left for the night was about twice the price we had planned to pay-- although it was a suite with a jacuzzi in the room and offered a free shuttle to the nearby casino. We decided to get back on the highway and look for a room in the next town. Mauston had a hotel right off the exit for the price we wanted.

In all we covered 617 miles on Saturday. We would have gotten further, but traffic in Chicago slowed us down considerably. It was stop and go for about an hour. We also got a late start, getting on the road about 9:00 am and stopping at a grocery store for supplies. By the way, sandwich meats and cheese cost about twice the price we are used to at the Giant Eagle grocery store in Ashtabula... On the other hand, in much of Pennsylvania and Ohio, gasoline was only about $3.43 per gallon, about 25 cents less than we are used to. In Illinois, it was back up in the $3.65 range and it dropped to $3.45 in Wisconsin. Be warned though, the very first gas station off I-90 in Wisconsin, Love's, was priced 10 cents/ gallon higher than the next one just a few miles down the highway.

Chicago as seen from I-90
Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2011. Do not copy.

We stopped for dinner at "The World's Largest Culver's," home of the famous Butter Burger. Well, the butter burger consists of an ordinary hamburger on a bun that has been lightly buttered before it was dropped on the grill for a light toasting. The hamburger patties themselves were even thinner than those found on a regular McDonald's hamburger. My son, despite our warnings, ordered the cod. Being from New England, he was disappointed. Culver's does not get a recommendation despite its prolific signage along I-90.

I'll also mention that as we waited out the traffic in Chicago, there was an air-show going on. We were able to watch the jets flying in formation and performing high-speed acrobatic maneuvers over the city, which helped to pass the time.

Our goal for day three of the trip is to reach Wall, South Dakota which will be about 645 miles and leave us only 8-9 hours away from Bozeman, Montana. With an earlier start and no major cities in the way, that should be no problem.

Road Trip-1st Day

We planned to be on the road by 7:00 am, but, of course, it was 7:20 when we pulled out of the drive-way. Still, that's pretty close, so we were off to a good start. We headed down Route 7 in Vermont which runs past the Bennington Monument. The Bennington Monument is a Revolutionary War monument that looks just like the Washington Monument, a hollow obelisk with open window holes at the top level so those inside can look out. I haven't visited the historic place despite being so close. As of today, it is on my list of places to visit.

Then we drove on through New York uneventfully. Interstate 90 runs nearly in a straight line the entire distance that we need to travel and we'll drive just about 2000 miles each way on this road alone. In New York, this important commercial route parallels an earlier commercial route, the Erie Canal. There are markers alongside the highway announcing that you are entering the Erie Canal Heritage Corridor.

For many miles in New York, I-90 runs alongside rivers and canals that made up part of the Erie canal and even today there are working locks visible from the highway. The water is held level above and below the lock and boats are routed through narrow waterways where the water level is raised and lowered to lift or lower the boat. This keeps the canal flowing smoothly and makes it passable for barges that would otherwise be unable to travel here.

In western New York, the area along both sides of I-90 is vineyards. There are miles and miles of grapes in well-manicured rows. Given the relatively short harvesting period for grapes, it is hard to imagine that these vineyards could be harvested without migrant workers. It seems as though it will take hundreds of people to pick all these grapes when they ripen,but that those jobs would last only a week or two.

We arrived in Niagara Falls at about 2:30 in the afternoon, parked our car for $5 and walked across the bridge to Goat Island. As we looked down at the river below us, it is broad and relatively shallow, which means it runs very fast. A person in that torrent would have no chance to swim to safety before being carried over the falls.

We walked along the paths of Niagara Falls State Park which has no admission fee. There is a trolley that will take you around the park to view the sights for $2 for adults and $1 for children. We preferred to walk after spending all morning in the car. We took pictures from the pathways that run alongside the river and the falls.

Niagara Falls from the American side
Photo by Brad Sylvester, copyright 2011. Do not copy

We also went out on the observation tower which provides a view of the face of the falls. The base is completely obscured by mist at all times and walking anywhere near the bottom of the falls (on the roped walkways, of course) will get you thoroughly soaked unless you are wearing a poncho or other rain gear. The same is true for those who ride the boats that run tourists to the base of the falls: The Maids of the Mists.

Niagara Falls is an impressive display of the power of nature and of water. I have to say though, I expected it to be a bit bigger. The gift shop, in addition to the usual assortment of shot glasses, T-Shirts, and other touristy logo-gear, has historic facts about the falls, including a photo of a young boy who was rescued after being swept over the falls in 1960. It's hard to imagine that this boy could have survived the plunge. He was spotted swimming for dear life in a whirlpool at the base of the falls and was rescued by one of the Maids of the Mist boats, according to the signage.

Niagara Falls is a must-see attraction for anyone passing through this part of the country. You can spend $13 or $14 for the boat ride and $11 for the Cave of the Winds Tour, or you can spend absolutely nothing. The park admission is free and the trails provide a good view. For $1 per person, you can get access to the observation tower and the elevator to the bottom of the gorge to view the falls from downstream.

We spent between 90 minutes and two hours at Niagara Falls. It's not something I would travel four or five hours to see, but it's definitely worth a detour of a couple hours if you're passing by. It's one of the great natural attractions in the United States that you hear so much about, so just to get the chance to experience it for yourself is worth it, especially for those on a budget.

I should also mention that there are a number of luxury hotels surrounding the falls and at least two casinos (one on the American side). If you're combining those activities with a visit to the falls then it might be worth driving further.

When I have more time, I'll put up a more extensive slide show of the photos I took of Niagara Falls, perhaps when we get to Montana or, at worst, when we get back home to New Hampshire in September.