South Dakota is a tourist extravaganza!!! (Part one)

South Dakota is AWESOME!  I know, I never thought I would say that either, but I was amazed at all of the tourist possibilities!  Lola and I managed to explore 4 fantastic attractions in one day,
but there were many that we had to pass up. 
We started the day in Mitchell, SD at "The World's Only Corn Palace",
visited a few dinosaurs along the way,
traveled back in time to 1880 Town,
hunted down Jackalope memorabilia at WALL DRUG,
 and eventually made it to Mount Rushmore! 

Here are highlights from the Corn Palace and 1880 Town. 
There were just too many pictures for one post!

Who doesn't love a grinning ear of corn?

Lola is studying up on how the Corn Palace was made. 

First they grid it out and decide the colors to use, and then find corresponding colored corn cobs to use.  The cobs are cut in half and put in place.  The outside of the Corn Palace is decorated in this way. 

 We did not go inside however, so I'm not sure if it is any different. 

I did notice many visitors leaving the Corn Palace with corncobs-on-a-stick, even at 10 am! 

I love this picture! One of my top 5 of the trip. 

I took this one with my cell phone too!

I love how the rays of light shine down evenly around her and "American Pride" is centered above her.

 Just another Majestic photo! 

Each of the pictures on the palace is made with corn cobs, as described above.  Pretty cool actually.

I wish that I could say that I have trained Lola to look in the right direction when taking pictures, but I have not.  For this perfect shot I must give credit to a helpful flying insect and good timing!

Artsy Road Trip Shot  : )

(You might recognize this as the background on this blog)

Another favorite thing about South Dakota: 

Most of the Sinclair gas stations still have these Dinosaur statues!

Roaring with the Dino

Just outside of 1880 Town. 

The sky was absolutely PERFECT for these shots!

Mooby the Golden Calf? 

Just a random golden cow outside of the entrance to 1880 Town.

(Random cow shots WERE on our checklist . . .)

One of many stuffed "people" in South Dakota.

This wagon was featured in the movie, "Dances With Wolves".

Upstairs in the main building is an entire showcase of Dances With Wolves props, parts of the movie were filmed here! Oh, and before I forget, the people at 1880 Town were WONDERFUL!  Very friendly and welcoming, even dog-friendly!  Lola and I enjoyed it very much!

Senior Portrait.

  

I smile every time I look at this picture!

 

One of the things I loved most about 1880 Town was that the buildings

and props were open for exploration and GREAT for pictures!

See?  The sky was PERFECT! 

So Beautiful!

Oh, and did I mention they have A CAMEL?!?

Lola was pretty unsure about it, especially when I petted it.

I couldn't resist, it was a very friendly and curious camel.

There was also a miniature pony that had black and white coloring and

was barely bigger than Lola.  I tried, but neither of them wanted a picture together! 

Another great picture! 

This shot took all of Lola's strength and patience to make it through--There was a little kitten slinking around my feet helping me take the picture and it was killing Lola that she couldn't come see it. I was surprised that she did such a great job staying in the coach until I was finished! And what nice posture!  Good Girl!

Oh yeah, I tried it out too!

Another saloon! 

Lola just looked so natural in front of a Fire Station, I couldn't resist.

Lola jumped right up and stuck her face out the back of this stage coach.  Sometimes I swear she knows she's a model.  She comes up with the best poses from time to time!

This is where I had planned for her to pose.  It took some convincing though. 

Lola was pretty sure the back of the Wells Fargo coach was better.

I much enjoyed the symmetry of this shot.

Lola behaved so well at 1880 Town!

One of those "A-HA!" Picture moments, another favorite : )  Once again, PERFECT sky that day!

 (And no, Lola is not in this picture, she was helping me take it)

Even though Lola was a good girl, she still ended up in The Clink! 

A few too many drinks at the Saloons perhaps?

But don't worry, I busted her out in no time and we continued on our way through Marvelous South Dakota, The Land of Tourist Opportunity!

Stay tuned for Part two!

~Crystal and Lola

Lola's Quest Across the U.S.--Day 4

WOO!  Day 4!  By our fourth day we had settled nicely into the routine. 

We started our journey off in Aurora, IL at 1,097 miles on the odometer and left the hotel at 9:10 am. 

Day four took us through Wisconsin, almost killed us with a "monsoon" in Minnesota, and ended for the night in Mitchell, South Dakota.  Here are some of the Highlights:

"Where's my coffee?"

This is a picture of Lola patiently waiting for me to get my morning coffee from the Starbucks in the Outlet mall.  What a good girl!  I sort of wished that I 1) had lots of extra money, and 2) had lots of extra time to shop at the Chicago Premium Outlets.  It was huge and seemed to have a great selection of stores. 

Yabba-Dabba-Doo!

The outlet mall also had a good selection of rides to play in.  We chose this picture for our friend Andrew because we weren't going to be able to go to the Flintstone's themed campground in South Dakota.  He was really looking forward to some Prehistoric Lola pictures, so we couldn't pass this one up!

Woo-Hoo, Wisconsin!

For one, let me just say that I loved when rest stops had giant signs like this to take pictures at! 

Thank you, Wisconsin.  Secondly, I must say that I think Wisconsin is a beautiful state! 

 I enjoyed driving through it even more this year! 

Picture with Paul Bunyan statue: Check! 

Sadly we did not find a Paul Bunyan with Babe the Blue Ox, but no cross-country journey would be complete without at least one picture with a Paul Bunyan statue!  We found this gem in the Wisconsin Dells, another awesome place that I must go back to.  I have never seen so many water parks in one place!



Lola and Gambrinus, the Beer King 

This statue of Gambrinus, and the following World's Largest 6-pack of beer are in La Crosse, WI.  I loved La Crosse and really wanted to spend more time there.  This was an interesting stop that I had been looking forward to since I started planning the trip home!  It just sort of comes upon you at the end of one of the main streets.  VERY COOL, they were even bigger than I had imagined them!

Interesting, although I am skeptical about the 565 miles . . .

See tiny Lola at the bottom of the beer cans?  They were massive!

 

         A cool view in Wisconsin, right before entering Minnesota.

A rare moment when Lola decided to wake up and join me. It lasted about 5 minutes before she jumped back down and fell asleep again.  Just had to check out the scenery I guess . . .

Welcome to Austin, Minnesota, home of the SPAM MUSEUM!!!

Unfortunately we arrived right at closing time and the windows were mirrored,

so the SPAM Museum exhibits still remain a mystery to me.  Sad.

Mr. Spam and the Hogs

We were at least able to get a few shots outside. 

Doesn't Lola look like a natural swine herder?

Busted.

In the last 5 minutes before closing, we were able to rush into the gift shop to pick up a few spectacular tidbits.  Just as Lola was helping me decide on this lovely Spammy the Pig for my mommy (which she ultimately decided to keep), the Security Guard came up and escorted Lola out of the building!  The man gave me some attitude and told me I could keep shopping, but that he would need to take Lola outside. I was extremely uncomfortable letting a stranger take her outside and quickly ended my shopping spree.  Lola was perfectly fine of course, and had a swarm of children smiling at her. But I was a little put off, I must say.  So yeah, the SPAM MUSEUM is a stickler for rules, apparently. I still would like to go back someday (without Lola) just to see exactly WHAT is in the Spam Museum. 

HALF WAY HOME!!!

So, I couldn't capture a good picture of it, but Southwestern Minnesota has a stretch of wind turbines that is awesome.  The sunset that night was a gorgeous coral/orange with shades of blue that illuminated the turbines and created a spectacular view.  It was a much-welcomed peaceful end to a stressful, death-defying drive through the monsoon.  ; )  I would love to do this last part of the days' drive again.

 

Random picture of the day: 

Lola and the Little Green Giant serving Fudge and Jelly Beans

 outside of a gas station in a small Minnesota town. 

And finally . . .  South Dakota! 

Our last "new" state.

We rested up for the night in Mitchell, SD after a long, amazing day.  The next day was packed full of tourist delight and picture taking, so it might be another LOOONG while before I get it posted.  But keep checking back, because there are some EXCELLENT pictures . . . One word: Jackalope!

Sorry for the long wait on finishing our journey.  It turns out that Lola and I have very little spare time now that we are back home with so many great friends and family to visit with!

~Crystal and Lola



Lola's Quest Across the U.S.--DAY 3

Our third day of this journey brought us out of New York, briefly through Pennsylvania, across Ohio and through Indiana.  We stayed in Aurora, IL for the night. 

We did not stop in Pennsylvania, so this is the only picture I took of our brief time there.

We made it to Ohio! 

This rest stop was very diversity-friendly.  There were probably another 5 languages on this sign! 

We stopped in Cleveland because I was super stoked about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (which I will be going back to someday without Lola!), and to my surprise the Cleveland Brown's Stadium and a Science Museum were right next to it.  GOLDMINE!  I highly recommend going, it was easy to get to and could have provided hours of tourist entertainment had Lola not been a dog . . .

Super cool ship, I think they gave tours of it too! (We didn't check)

Cleveland was beautiful, so ridiculously hot and humid.  Lola needed a break in the nice cool grass.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! 

I wasn't as disappointed that I couldn't take Lola in when I saw the sign that said no pictures allowed, but I did really want to go see all of the awesome stuff!

Cleveland Skyline

Another shot of the fireman tribute.

  My young cousin Jacob said it looks like the fire is a hand trying to grab them.

This sounded like a nice place.

I really loved the views on the way from Cleveland to Aurora.  The sky was beautiful that day!

Field in Indiana

YAY!  

P.S. This picture just reminded me about how much I HATE tolls!

 (Which also reminds me that I have 3 toll bills to pay online because I kept running out of cash. 

Would it kill them to take debit?)

Being in Aurora was a dream finally realized!  Being that Wayne's World is one of my top favorite movies, it felt extra special checking this one off the list.  The next day, while driving through Illinois I heard Bohemian Rhapsody AND Dream Weaver!  It was an amazing moment in my life!

Lola didn't really care though.  She was sleeping.