Married to Wilson: The Wilsons See 'Merica: Part Two

The conclusion of our trip:

Day Four:

(734 miles)

We met up with my best friend from grad school Deidre for breakfast in Coralville. One of the nice things about moving around is that you have friends all over the place. Deidre is one of those friends where we just pick up where we left off. She visited us twice in New York and it was so nice to be able to visit her town!

So blessed to have a friend like her!

After our visit we drove quite a long ways through the Midwest. So thankful for all their farmland that produces our fruits and vegetables. It is a beautiful part of our country!

"Oh beautiful, for spacious skies"

I would most describe the Midwest as one of my favorite Dixie Chicks songs:

“Many precede and many will follow

A young girl's dream no longer hollow

It takes the shape of a place out west

But what it holds for her, she hasn't yet guessed”

Everybody join in “WIDE OPEN SPACES…”

My acapella 90s singing was not the only thing we did on this trip.

For example we also discussed sustainable energy sources and what our government needs to do about it.

Wind Mills Galore!

After driving through Minnesota for a while and a long time in South Dakota (the 46^th least populous state) we made it to Rapid City, SD for the evening.

This was our longest travel day of our excursion and we were exhausted at the end of it.

Day Five:
(375 miles)

That morning we drove about 30 min to Mount Rushmore, nestled in the city of Keystone, SD (population 342).

As you enter the National Park you’ll go under the flags of the fifty states. Each column is marked with the year that each was state was admitted to the union.

Representing New York, admitted into the Union in 1788!

450 thousand tons of granite were removed from the mountain to construct the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. No workers died or were seriously injured during its construction from October 4, 1927, and October 31, 1941.

Gutzon Borglum's sculptor's studio of the monument (1/12 scale)

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson wrote the first known recipe for ice cream? Guess we know who my favorite President is now.

We had lunch at Belle Fourche, SD before getting back on the road. We passed ever so briefly through Wyoming before entering Montana.

We passed Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, MT before stopping in Billings, MT for a yummy Cracker Barrel dinner. We spent the night at a hotel nearby.

Beautiful mountains in the distance.

Day Six:

(550 miles)

We stopped in Butte, MT (rhymes with chute, although it still made me giggle) for lunch before passing through Idaho and continuing our drive to Spokane, WA.