Greetings from Eastham, Massachusetts – in the heart of Cape Cod!
We are enjoying time with Dick’s step mother Helen Jo Howard. The gingerbread town including the seacoast (blue frosting) is the pride of the Chatham Bars Inn, where we enjoyed a Christmas Eve feast last night.
There was a dusting of snow last night to make things even more festive!
Merry Christmas to all! God bless us every one.
We finally got our SD plates on the car!
In the meantime – we have been fine-tuning our final winnowing, saying good-by to many friends here in the Capital District. We’ve also done monumental battle with the bureaucracy getting all the documents (some with notary and some with Apostille) needed for the Malta excursion. Current plan is to leave the cozy care of Brooks Jensen and Lynn Ashley where we have been since Dec 1. What follows is a list of our ‘planned’ itinerary over the next months. ‘Planned’ in quotes because it is certainly subject to change. We are looking forward to see so many of you along the way!
Dec 22-26: Massachusetts
Dec 26-29: Connecticut
Dec 29- Jan 3: NYC
Jan 3-5: Cornwall on Hudson
Jan 5-10: NYC
Jan 10-12: Rockville, MD
Jan 12-17: Towson, MD
Jan 17-19: Virginia
Jan 19-26: North Carolina
January 26-31: Georgia
Jan 31-February 1: South Carolina
Feb 4-6: New Orleans
Feb 6-20 En route to Kansas City
Feb 20-22 Kansas City (everything’s up to date…)
Feb 22-25: Tucson
February 25-28: Kapaa, HI
Feb 28-Mar 10 : Japan
Mar 10-15: Cambodia
Mar 15-30: India
Mar 31 – Malta
Went to Cornwall on Hudson yesterday to visit grandchildren Cyrus and Maggie (and their parents 🤣). Early Christmas.
Today we went to adorable Montessori preschool holiday concert then made our way home with a stop at Mohonk Mountain House. These photos don’t do the place justice, especially during the Holidays. Worth a trip to go see it for yourself!
Hi, folks! Since December 1, we have been staying in Voorheesville with our friends Lynn Ashley and Brooks Jensen on Swift Road.
We’ll be here until December 21 when we set off on The Journey.. We start with ‘Family Christmas in New England’.. We’ll post about those visits as they happen.
Our ‘dance card’ is very full these next couple of weeks. For example, last night we were with friends Greg and Lauree in Albany for fireworks. They have a place overlooking the Mall so we were sheltered from the cold.
Thanksgiving in Baltimore was great! We were with Caitlin (our daughter) & Alex and their five sons. We’ll start celebrating Christmas this weekend with Seth (our son) & Megan and their children in Cornwall on Hudson..
We flew from Rapid City to BWI yesterday. Got in early enough to take Amtrak to DC to visit the US Capitol Building
The Capitol has many statues – each state is allowed 2 but we were there to seek out one in particular. Joseph Ward http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Ward_(1838-1889) was the great grandfather of Heather Ylitalo Ward – wife of Evan (Chris’s younger son). Very cool he is in the US Capitol and has been since 1963.
While we were there we also took the photo of the statue of Kamehameha I. This is a contribution from Hawaii, where Heather and Evan live.
The trip back to Baltimore on Amtrak was complicated by a 1++ hour delay because we had to stop halfway so our train could take on passengers from another Amtrak train stranded by engine trouble. We are REALLY looking forward to European train travel – the US train system leaves MUCH to be desired.
Yesterday, Saturday 11/21, we started with our Christmas present from Helen Jo Howard- Dick’s step mother. She and Dick’s dad enjoyed a helicopter ride over 30 years ago in the same place. Sweet!
It was FABULOUS! The bird’s eye views of Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse were stunning. Perfect weather helped… And yes. It is all very moving. We drove to each memorial museum later in the day to dig in and learn who, what, why and how each monument came to be. The story behind the carving of Crazy Horse was a revelation. If you can possibly see these works…you won’t be disappointed.
Next….the Needles Highway. Our friend Lynn Ashley grew up in the area. Like touring Spearfish Canyon- we had NO idea such beauty awaited. The ‘Needle’ mountains were formed by magma bursting through to the surface from the center of the earth. Surreal, truly.
Our helicopter pilot suggested hiking at Sylvan Lake. This was another ‘wow’ place. Massive boulders emerging from a crystal clear, still lake. Seeing these ‘out of this world’ places makes us wonder why we had to finally GET there to even HEAR about them.
To top off the day we headed back to Mount Rushmore to see it lighted after dark.
What a great day. Drove to Spearfish Canyon late morning. The weather was ideal – blue skies and 50 degrees! You drive along a road through the canyon with stops for things to see. First was Bridal Veil Falls.
Then farther up the road is a trail that leads to Roughlock Falls. A 1 mile trail gently uphill with breathtaking scenery all the way. The photos from an iPhone don’t do it justice.
Pleasantly tired, we set off to Deadwood – site of Wild Bill Hickok’s demise. Pleasantly preserved old town but not much to see – so off we went to Custer National Bison Preserve. You are not supposed to get out of the car and we didn’t. One bison walked right up to the driver side door to say hello.
Tomorrow – helicopter ride to see Mt Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument!
First things first. Chris says she has never seen me so relaxed and open-hearted. I would say much the same about her. No doubts or misgivings about our plans and plots. Fun, fun, fun.
There is land, lots of land, out here. We left Sioux Falls this morning with the plan to drive to Mitchell, SD to see the “World’s Only Corn Palace”. https://cornpalace.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_Palace This is corn palace # 6, I believe, in this part of the state since early 20th century. It is basically a sports and concert venue about 75 miles from Sioux Falls. But about half way there we were distracted by a road sign that took us off the interstate to the prairie home of Laura Ingalls Wilder. In keeping with our plans to be spontaneous we headed north from route 90 and went to De Smet, SD (pop 1056) to see the place. Unfortunately the visitor center was closed but we were able to wander around the buildings and see the prairie around the area and imagine what it must have been like to eke out a living there 100 years ago. Even today it is very remote and windswept. We had lunch at the Oxbow restaurant in De Smet. Talked to the owner and learned that De Smet High School has 200 students. Even smaller than Voorheesville..
On the road then to Mitchell to see the corn palace. The cool thing about it is that the outside walls are completely covered in mosaic art made entirely of corn cobs and other parts of the corn plant.
Finished at the Corn Palace and headed back to Sioux Falls. BUT, made another detour – this time to Howard, SD!
I poked my nose into the local hardare store hoping to buy a postcard to mail to myself postmarked from Howard, SD but alas, the post office closes from 12:30 to 1:15 and we couldn’t do that.
Back on the road to Sioux Falls.
By the way – they drive FAST here. The speed limit on the interstate is 80mph and i’m sure many of the folks passing us were doing more than that.
When we got back to Sioux Falls, we went to The Falls – from whence the town takes its name.
The stone is an interesting red color – according to google it is “Sioux Quartizite”
Tomorrow – on to Rapid City in the western end of SD – Crazy Horse monument, Deadwood, Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Spearfish Canyon, etc.
Yesterday we drove from Northfield MN to Sioux Falls, SD. It is, as they say, “The Great Plains”. Flat farm country for mile after mile. Very peasant but very redundant after the first half hour.
The big excitement for the day was that we stopped for lunch at the Blue Line Diner in Newell SD where a lady backed her car into ours in the parking lot. No injuries. Not a lot of damage, but enough. We were able to travel on unimpeded after the exchange of info.
Today was first full day in South Dakota. We thought we had everything we needed to get new Driver Licenses and register the car. Driver Licenses turned out to be pretty straightforward. Car registration not so much. We’ll get it done for sure but it is a multi-step process taking days to weeks.
So we are now officially residents of South Dakota. Never in my life before did I think I would ever write that sentence. It makes the whole adventure seem all the more concrete. No more NYS income tax and once we get the care registered, a break on car insurance.
We can’t register to vote in SD unless we spend one month here. That was a surprise to me as we thus can’t really vote at all, now. On the other hand, I am more than a little surprised at how little that seems to concern me. I grew up being taught that voting was an almost religious duty but in my current circumstance, I don’t think I will miss it.
Impressions so far of SD. 1. Everyone is NICE. They are all open and conversational and nice. We’re not in NY anymore, Dorothy… 2. Sioux Falls is Very spread out – it feels like everything is 12 miles away no matter where you start and finish. 3. Dakota Post – our mail forwarding service is terrific. We stopped in to pick up a package. The people are nice (they are, after all, from SD), well organized, and helpful.
Tomorrow is a tourist day. Maybe see the Sioux Falls (after which the town takes its name) and other such things.
After a couple of years of deciding to take the leap and 3+ months of planning and execution (figuring out where to go and when, researching residency and taxes, giving bunches of stuff to family and friends, starting the sorting and winnowing of boxes of family papers and photos, many trips to Goodwill and similar organizations, selling the house, multiple garage sales, etc) we finally hit the road this morning. Got up at 3:30 am to leave for the airport at 4 am (Thank you for the ride, Brooks!) and catch a flight to Minneapolis via Detroit. From there rented a car and drove south to Northfield, MN, a charming small town with 2 liberal arts colleges, St Olaf’s and Carleton. There we are visiting niece Christine, her husband Seth, and their 2 kids Jo and Ben. Spent some time learning about Jo’s passion for dragons and learned how to play foursquare – a playground game that is sort of like volleyball without the net.
Spent the afternoon walking to St Olaf’s and attended a wonderful family concert by the St Olaf’s orchestra. Truly memorable!
All in all, a great day to start the grand adventure!
Home and Heart 