2011 Trip Summary (for those who care)

Total distance traveled: 4232.2 miles
Total gasoline used: 118.879 gallons
Average mileage: 35.6 miles per gallon (Thanks, Honda!)

Approximate route traveled (based on gas stops along the way):

--Karyn

Home Again

Final Odometer Reading - That's 4,230 total miles, if you're keeping track!

Back home again after a wonderful trip.  Thanks to those who followed along with us.  We hope to take you on the road again soon.

Ciao!

-Rich & Karyn

Knoebels Amusment Park

To enhance our multi-theme trip (featuring baseball, roller coasters, and historical monuments), we decided to swing by Knoebels Amusement Park in Elysburg, PA.  It was a very different amusement park experience for both of us.

2011 Road Trip Game #3 (PNC Park)

2011 Game #3 Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates

Final Score: Pirates 7, Cubs 4

PNC Park, on the outskirts of downtown Pittsburgh, is a great ball park, no matter how you look at it.

Cheap Seats

So, we got the only tickets they had left... 31 rows up from the field. Behind home plate. For $32 per.

These would be more than $100 at the Fens... If you could get them.

Ok. Let's go Buccos!

-Rich

Roller Coasters!!

In between games in Minnesota and Pittsburgh, we made a few stops along the way.  First was a detour to Mount Rushmore, and the last two days we have been in Sandusky, Ohio, enjoying Cedar Point Amusement Park.

Highway Driving - I-90 East

Checked into a Chicagoland-area motel for the night.  The drive today was, for the most part, very scenic.  Most of South Dakota is very beautiful, as evidenced by these photos.  I look forward for a return trip there one of these years.

Off to bed.  Tomorrow, the rest of the drive into Sandusky, Ohio and Cedar Point park.

-Rich

Wall Drug!

One of the most exciting things we saw in South Dakota was the collection of "Wall Drug" signs along I-90 west.  The first sign we noticed for The World's Largest Drug Store said, "Only 355 miles to Wall Drug!"  And, according to the signs, anyway, there is a Wall Drug sign in Kenya.  No doubt about it then-- we had to go.

Mt. Rushmore National Memorial

In the three hours (or so) that we toured the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial, I must have said, "This is amazing" a half dozen times.

Rushmore Caves & Presidential Wax Museum - Pre-Rushmore Activities #2 & 3

Since our final stop of the day was going to be Mount Rushmore, which prominently features Presidents, we decided to go first through Rushmore Cave and then the Presidential Wax Museum.

Crazy Horse - Pre-Rushmore Activity #1

Our day began at Crazy Horse Memorial, a truly impressive historical site, monument, and work-in-progress.

Rocking On

 
This is absolutely incredible.

-Rich

Thoughts on the Highway

A thought I had somewhere in rural Minnesota was the way interstate highways are treated everywhere in the U.S., except the northeast.  At home, to get from Point A to Point B (no matter the distance between), we will usually jump on the highway to get there.  I often take the highway to get from one side of Warwick to the other.  The interstate highways are the way to get around.  Elsewhere in the United States—not so much.  The interstate highways are exactly that as you head west: a way to get from one state to another.  Sure, they will still get you from A to B, but you’d only take the interstate if A and B are several hundred miles apart.  If you wanted to go anywhere locally, it wouldn’t make sense to even think about an interstate, since the freeway might be 50 (or more) miles away.  Instead, state and county roads service the points between A and B.  It’s a very different idea than the way we travel at home.

The World's Largest Twine Ball (created by one man)

Today, I realized a life-long dream.

My Ole South Dakota Home

We left Minneapolis this morning, and made a pit stop at the World’s Largest (by one man) Ball of Twine in Darwin, Minnesota.  I am sure that you have all viewed the video that Rich posted featuring Weird Al’s musical interpretation of the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota.  There will be a separate post about The Ball of Twine shortly.  As for the rest of our day, we ended up taking a slightly more scenic route than we would have without the aforementioned side quest. 

Checkout

Just checked out of the Grand Hotel Minneapolis... Next to Bob Uecker! So suave in person.

The Brewers team bus is loading now and we're heading off to The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota!



-Rich

2011 Road Trip Game #2 (Target Field)

2011 Game #2 Milwaukee Brewers at Minnesota Twins

Final Score: Brewers 8, Twins 7

Hot Dog ("Big Dog") - 5/5

Tonight was our third night and second game in the wonderful city of Minneapolis.  In honor of the occasion, we rated a second hot dog at Target Field (check the Hot Dog page for details).  Also in honor of the occasion, we gave the visiting Brewers permission to win a game in dramatic fashion.

An Afternoon in Minneapolis (The Skyway and the MIA)

We spent the afternoon at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA).  It's a really nice art museum, very much like Boston's Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) or a scaled-down version of NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

7/1/2011 - Target Field - MLB Ballpark #33

2011 Game #1 Milwaukee Brewers at Minnesota Twins

Final Score: Twins 6, Brewers 2

Hot Dog ("Dinger Dog") - 3/5

 

The last time we came all the way to Minneapolis to see a Twins game, there could have been 20 feet of snow and we would have had a baseball game that started on time.  Well, maybe not 20 feet, but there certainly wouldn't have been a 2 hour, 1 minute rain delay.

Rain Delay

The start of the game is being delayed by rain... Something that would not be happening in a stadium with a retractable roof... Or at the Metrodome.

Last Ball Park trip, we had two rain delays in thirty games. This trip? One for one so far.

If nothing else, it makes me realize how lucky we were in '09.

-Rich

Target Field Tour

This afternoon we went on a tour of Target Field, which is the fourth major league stadium that we have officially toured (Fenway Park in Boston, Camden Yards in Baltimore, Progressive Field in Cleveland, and now Target Field in Minneapolis).  The weather was uncomfortably warm but the tour was very interesting.