When Dan was a child, he lived in Illinois for about a year and a half. He shared a story with Evan and I about a bell tower in town that would chime on the hour but at dusk it would play a song. It was a fond memory of a community that they all enjoyed living in.
On Day 3 of our trip, we left our hotel in Champaign-Urbana and drove through the University of Illinois campus. There were some beautiful buildings, expansive quads and a small farm that the agricultural students must use. Below is a picture of Evan and I in front of their bell tower.
We drove through Illinois and then crossed the state of Iowa. The east and west sides of the state were pretty but central Iowa was beautiful with its lush cornfields and acres of gorgeous sunflower fields. We stayed the night in South Sioux City, Nebraska which is just over the Iowa border. We captured the “Welcome to Nebraska” as we drove across the Missouri River.
We stayed at a Delta Hotel by Marriott which was our favorite hotel on this trip. It sat on the Missouri River and to Ev’s delight, it had a pool. Evan swam in their pool and Dan soaked in the hot tub while the sun set. Evan said that he was going through withdraw having not been able to swim for three days.
There was a handsome steakhouse on site so we ordered dinner and curled up in comfy clothes in our room and watched the sun go down. Below are a few pictures of the sunset.
On Day 4, we drove through Nebraska and into South Dakota, along with thousands of bikers heading to Sturgis. We saw some pretty funny sights, including a woman reading her Kindle on the back of a motorcycle and another woman wearing nothing but an American flag bikini.
We enjoyed gaining another hour as we crossed into the Mountain time zone. When Dan and I drove east, we had a pretty stormy day driving through South Dakota. Today it was clear and we were able to see more of the beautiful landscape. We drove through The Badlands National Park. It’s difficult to explain the beauty of the Badlands and their spectacular rock formations. There are deep canyons and sharp peaks. There are “yellow mounds” displaying beautiful colors and trails winding their way through the over 240,000 acres that the Badlands spans. We saw prairie dogs and long horned sheep. We didn’t see any rattlesnakes or bison. Here are some of our favorite photos from our visit.
We drove through the Black Hills and into Rapid City or what Dan kept referred to as Radiator Springs. We stayed at the Alex Johnson Hotel in the downtown area. It opened in the 1920’s and has hosted several presidents, many celebrities and apparently it’s haunted. We didn’t encounter any spirits during our stay. The hotel lobby reflected the area and the era it was built in but the hotel rooms and rooftop restaurant were modern and had an art deco flare.
All of the street corners had statues of past presidents. Here are Dan and Evan with President Reagan.
Everyone we met was incredibly friendly. We were asked quite often where we were from because nobody is from here. Many people, like us, have traveled a great distance. We enjoyed all of the character that the hotel portrayed and the friendly faces. Our room was incredibly small though. I think the inside of our car is more spacious. We kept tripping on each other and climbing over beds to get to luggage. Our air conditioner didn’t work and it was almost 100 degrees outside. My blow dryer set the smoke alarm off in our room the morning that we left. The look on Dan’s face spoke a thousand words. I think this was when we decided that it was time to head home. 🙂
Chasing Waves 