Day 8: Rest stop

Yesterday (as I'm posting Friday morning) I finally made it to Minnesota, the first planned stop on my trip. After 8 days of driving, it feels nice to know that I won't have to be driving all day long. But rest stops are also relevant because, MN is now in first place on my best-road-stops-along-the-way challenge. They have shade (both for parking and for pets) and nice walking trails; if it weren't for the mosquitos (I'm getting eaten alive), they'd be nearly perfect!

Anyway, on to the day... first we went to Falls Park in Sioux Falls, SD. The park was really pretty, but the most noticable thing when getting out of the car was the smell - it STINKS! The park was in really nice shape (they were getting ready for the 4th) but the smell and garbage in the river were sad. Regardless, we walked around and enjoyed the morning - it seemed like a park that could be really nice in summer time. But it seems there is no one around to enjoy it. When we drove through downtown, the place is empty. On a Wednesday at 9 am I think I only saw 10 cars - TOTAL (parked or otherwise) - in the center downtown district. Weird.

Falls Park, Sioux Falls, SD

Then after trying to find two other items in the city, but failing (couldn't find one park, and then a statue I was looking for had been removed - looks like the place went out of business). We were on the road, aiming for Devil's Gulch. This is where Jesse James supposedly had his horse jump a far distance to get away from the sherrif. Who knows if it's true, but the spot is nice and had some fun trails. Maybe the most interesting part was the guy who runs the gift shop. He told me that the name came from Native Americans who called it Spirit Canyon because the wind howled through the gulch, but when the white man came, the represented devil spirits and so it was then known as devils gulch. Also, he explained the trees - after all my complaining about wanting someone to plant a tree for shade, apparently before white men, there were really no trees out there. But then you could get land if you planted so many trees (for erosion control) so settlers brought in trees and seeds and so now they've spread all over; so I guess really none of those trees are native.

A view of devils gulch from below

After crossing the Minnesota border, we went looking for a super tiny church. Apparently, there is a challenge out there to find the smallest church in America and this is what MN has:

Looks like a doll house!


The inside might fit 8 really close friends

When we got there, a man and his two kids were there. When I walked it, the place was pretty much full. I felt like a giant in the tiny space. But apprently they do hold services here on occasion. Nutty!

Back on the road, the rest of the day was mostly just finding weird things. Like this water fountain that was made for both horses and people. The street side is for horses. I tried to drink out of it, but it was turned off!

Built in 1914

In Blue Earth, MN there is a huge Green Giant statue. We stopped and took pictures and they rested in the park, when my GPS told me that this town is also where the Eskimo Pie was first invented. Excited, I figured there must be a place in town that sells them. Well, I would be wrong... the town, while full of nice homes, is completely closed up. The shops are all out of business and it was more empty than Sioux Falls (admittedly it is much smaller). I couldn't believe that they were missing out on the tourist attraction of Eskimo Pies, but I lost out here... actually, I think what happened to the town is that the WalMart at the highway exit has probably put all the small shops out of business. Isn't progress grand? (I wonder if WalMart has Eskimo Pies? Nah, it wouldn't be the same)

Green Giant

Hailey taking a break in the park

After Blue Earth, we headed to Austin, MN. On the way, I got a phone call from four friends (Laine, Theresa, Sabrina, and Laura) back in Seattle. They called to say hi and see how I was doing - that totally made my day! And they gave me tips to avoid having to eat McDonald's any more on this trip :)

In Austin, we drove past the SPAM museum. Yes, you read that correctly - there is a museum devoted to SPAM (and a restaurant across the street that serves SPAM all day!) It would be fun to walk through it, but with Hailey, I just took a picture and drove past. Add that to my list of places to come back to (but maybe I'd skip the free samples; SPAM should only ever be eaten in Hawaii, and even then, that's pushing it).

Do I get my degree revoked if I go inside?

And then it was on in to Minneapolis. I met up with Marsha, who I haven't seen in nearly two years. It is so good to see her, plus she cooked me a dinner of salmon, asparagus, and rice. The best meal I had in a long time.

Both Hailey and I were so tired last night after all this driving. She went right to sleep, but I was kept up by a drunken argument in the next room (there were some funny lines I heard, but nothing I can repeat on this PG rated blog) and eventually had to complain to get them to stop. Hailey just slept right through it.

And other than dinner, food was eggs, OJ, and a muffin from the hotel for breakfast with a peanut butter and banana sandwich for lunch and again later for a snack. Not bad, but I do feel like I needed more food. Luckily when my Seattle friends called, Theresa gave me the names of some local co-ops, so I'll restock soon. :)