50 States in 50 Days

Once upon a time there was a man named Robert Lund and his wife Elaine.  They lived in Marshall, Michigan.  Robert loved magicians.  He began collecting all sorts of stuff.  He collected posters, tricks, Houdini's barrels and boxes, and tons of stuff from unknown magicians too.  When he got enough stuff he bought space to make a museum.  The building was a wreck, a real fixer-uper.  But after that was all done he opened the american museum of magic.  Throughout his life he collected articles.  When he died Elaine continued to run the museum.  They had 3 buildings filled with magic.  Elaine passed away in May of this year.  This is where the next story begins.  A mand named Jim loved magic.  He learned tricks and when he was 16 he began to visit the museum driving from chicago to marshall from time to time.  This man now runs the Lund's museum.

While we were there Jim taught us how magicians were just like any other guy.  They had good days and bad days.  Sometimes they didn't have more than a penny to their name.  But they all loved what they were doing.  This was a point Jim wanted to stress to us.  He wanted us to love what we do in life.  He later stressed the importance of reading too.  He showed us how lots of tricks were handmade by their owners and sometimes very crudely but when far away they look real.  He showed us how magicians knew what stuff was theirs.  One magician, Blackstone, had orange belongings...when the show was over they just picked up and left with all boxes and stuff painted orange.  There was soo much to see and hear about it was incredible.  I can't begin to tell you it all.  In october they are going to have a magic show though and I know I'm looking forward to going back to see it.  I also have to say that Jim really knew his stuff and was really good at the magic tricks he did for us.  I can't think of anyone better to run the museum.

After the museum we drove home....blah blah blah blah...I know you don't care anymore, we're home already.  But we took our arrival picture, unpacked and ate at Q before I left to sleep at a friends house.  Yes, soo exciting.  We are all super glad to be home because there is no place like it.  This is really the last time I'm going to write a blog entry.  So Asta!

-Carly

The ^GOOD: There were soo many stores to choose from that no one could complain they didn’t get to go where they wanted too.

 

The _BAD: Some of us are shoppers, some of us are not.  Some of us have style, some of us are fashionably challenged.

 

The UGLY:

Ryan’s face…haha, just kidding.  I love Ry!  No, really, let me tell you the real ugly.  We woke up this morning and took care of business.  After packing the van with all our bags we took the shuttle to the mall.  That’s not so bad you say?  Well this wasn’t any mall, it was MALL OF AMERICA!  Yes, it’s truly horrible.  When we got there mom immediately pulled out the map that she marked on last night.  This map marked all the stores locations and the ones we were destined to enter today.  First we ascended the escalators to reach the third floor which we had not seen previously.  After a quickly paced laboring lap we descended ONE level.  Then mom and dad made us go into the first store, ZUMIEZ.  The place was aweful.  They carried Billabong, Roxy, Quiksilver, Volcom and more.  I could not believe the suffering we were about to endure.  Mom made me try on a few things and Ryan get a shirt and jacket.  I ended up with a dress!  I couldn’t believe it.  Mom even made dad try on a pair of snowboarding boots that he HAD to buy.  Afterwards, we continued on.  Ryan, Dad and I continued to A&E while Mom took Syd for torture at Old Navy.  Ryan tried on real clothes and look fantastic.  It was terrible.  I can’t believe they made him dress so nicely.  In the end, he got three shirts there and I caught a break-they had no weapons against me there!  We met up with Mom and Syd outside Forever 21 where the punishment let up a bit.  We didn’t have to go in there.  We were relieved until Dad suggested buying Nestle cookies!!!  The cruelty – how could they buy us a snack at a time like this?!  Then came my true chastisement.  I was sent into a store called Ragstock with just Ryan.  Their clothes were unique…I could barely stand it.  In the back they had what they called “Recycled Clothing”.  It was too cool for me.  When at last I’d had enough of trying things on Dad came in the with credit card!!!  Ooh the pain.  The day at the mall ended with a trip for Syd to Justice, a trip for me and Ryan to PacSun and one for Mom as payback to World of Charms.  Finally, Sydney, Dad, Ryan and I were forced onto the Timberland Twister – a rollercoaster that spins as you twist and turn, rise and fall.  I had had about enough and was exhausted.  Thank goodness, Mom and Dad decided it was time to head out.  We caught the shuttle back to the hotel.  We had suffered soo much we even said, “Thank you!” AND “I love you!”  It disgusts me.

 

HAHA!  You really thought it was going to be the Ugly didn’t you.  Well if you haven’t caught on by now I was completely joking.  Ryan, Sydney, and I are so lucky to have parents who spoil us like they did today.  We are lucky to be on this trip and to have the opportunities we have.  We’ve been in the car since about 2 or 2:30 pm (our time).  Shortly after getting into the care we crossed the border and took our picture.  I have to say though.  Driving 100 miles after shopping all morning is really tiring so I’m about ready to kick back.  This is Carly ending her last blog entry for the trip ::tear tear::  I hope everyone enjoyed reading what I had to say because I know sometimes too many details get boring so I apologize if I ever bored anyone.

 

Shalom out everyone! (That’s for Dr. Gildenberg)

This morning we woke up in Hot Springs, South Dakota.  We got out of bed, got in the RV, and headed straight over to Mt Rushmore.  It was pretty cool, but i dont appreciate art that much, so after 2 minutes i was ready to go.   I mean, how long can u look at 4 faces on a rock??  Well, apparently it was interesting to mom and dad because we went on this short hike through the woods.  It was hot and not very enjoyable for me, but while walking we got a lot closer to the faces, and everyone thought that that was so cool.  Except me, because its still 4 faces on a rock, youre just closer to them.  However, near the end of the hike there was a lady who told us all about how they actually sculpted the faces and it made me appreciate it jus a little bit.  They had to do a lot of hard work to get those faces up there, and it turns out they never finished.  There was the sculptors scale model where the lady was talking, and Washington had a whole coat on, Lincoln had a whole face and a tie i think, and Jefferson was holding something over his shoulder.

After leaving Rushmore, we got in the car and headed up to Wall Drug.  It was a pretty cool place,  It started out as a struggling drug store, and it didnt make very much money, so the owners put up signs saying they give away free ice water.  People would come in, get some ice water, and usually end up buying something else before heading back on their travels.  They still do have free ice water for anyone who visits.  We went there, got burgers and pie in the cafeteria, (it was fantastic) and then walking through all the shops they have there.  They had all kinds of stuff, brass animals sculptures, sculptures made out of knives, guns, cowboy boots, wall drug merchandise, candy, and many other things.  

After leaving Wall Drug we headed into Pierre, and got a hotel.  We got all our stuff in the room, then put on bathing suits and went swimmng in the pool.  After that, we headed upstairs and warmed up our leftover pizza from Idaho, and ate it.  We hung out in the room, watched some TV and then headed out to get ice cream.  We all got our ice cream and it was bigger than we expected so when i was half down i traded with syd who barely had eaten any and i ate most of hers before tossing it, and everyone else finished theirs.  We were all happy, and headed back to the room, watched more TV, then went to bed.  However, that wasnt easy.  On the aero bed, my bed, the rubber seal fell off at the last hotel and no one noticed so when i blew it up, air jus leaked out so it was flat again withing minutes.  So dad took and plastic bag, stuck it over the release hole and closed it, and the bag worked great as a seal for one night.  No one except mom could sleep last night.  Twice during the middle of the night my bag leaked air for about a minute and then everyone talked about it.  I don't remember it happening the second time but dad fixed the problem and i was woken up when he re-inflated the bed.  After that we all went to sleep, and slept well. 

Ryan

Editor's note: Despite the problems with the fridge, the pizza from Idaho had been frozen in the RV's freezer - not as bad as it sounds.

     Today began in Riverton, Wyoming.  The hotel we stayed in provided us with a bed for each of us.  I don't know about everyone else but I slept great!  After a breakfast downstairs, I had a traditional bagel with shmeer, we packed up and checked out.  Since our adventure in the Smoky mountains we've been gasing up in the morning so we went to the gas station about 100 yards away.  Then to a long overdue carwash.  The car looked impressively clean until we got back on the road and the first bug exploded on the windshield.  I drove the first 120 miles to Casper, Wyoming.  There we stopped to pick up more picture printer paper.  Mom drove to the state border where we captured our Nebraska picture.  Then when we saw the sign for Wyoming we decided since it was much prettier than the one in Yellowstone we'd run across the highway and take another picture.  It was kind of weird that the last time we ran across it was my turn to write too.  The difference was that in the entire time we were across and crossing the street there was only one car that passed by.  When we reached Crawford we went to Trailside Museum.  There there were exhibits about the mammoth bones and other bones that were found in Nebraska.  I was actually surprised that there were rhinos and giraffe like things in north america.  There were even elephant like creatures in north america.  I only think of those things as being in Africa.  After getting there 15 minutes before closing we were out 8 minutes after.  We were too late to show up to the Last Chance Winery so we moved on to South Dakota.  We are now camped out in a room in Hot Springs, South Dakota.  We had dinner in a great mexican place, did havdallah in the room and now it's time for bed.  So I hope everyone had a good shabbas and keep checking for updates!


P.S. Comment - we like to hear from YOU!

Henry - Sorry, I couldn't skip Wyoming but the good news is that it's not as bad as everyone claims North Dakota is!

P.P.S. I forgot to tell you all about the fire in Nebraska.  It was east of I-90 and it was HUGE.  Apparently there was a forest fire and it started about 2 days ago.  It was so bad they had to evacuate a few towns.  It's still not under control.  I think the fire was spontaneous combustion because it gets really hot during the day.  The high here in Hot Springs, only 60 miles from the border and 60 miles from the sight of the smoke, was about 115^oF.  Anyhow it was huge and they only let people return to their homes today after, I think the news channel said 5pm.  Some people lost their homes but the firefighters are confident they have it under control now and they are just being cautious by monitoring it on account of the winds.

In an attempt to cut down Saturday’s 9 hour drive, we pushed beyond Butte and spent the night in Ennis, MT. Leaving the hotel, it was only a couple hours down to Wyoming, where the road took us right into Yellowstone National Park. We had intended to avoid Yellowstone because we heard that traffic moves very slow through there. We gave it a try and found it wasn’t bad at all.

Inside Yellowstone, the first traffic we encountered was at a point where people were stopping to see something. We got out and found there were a few moose nearby. One was bathing in the stream, one was hiding in the tall grass and the third was off in the distance. This would not be the last moose we would see.

As we passed through the park, we saw signs for “Old Faithful” and it was on our way so we headed for it. On the way we came upon other geysers and hot springs – some even boiling – and stopped to view them. One area had been a plain grassy knoll up until 1959 when an earthquake nearby opened the earth allowing water and steam to spew out.

We continued on to Old Faithful and parked the car. Lue and I headed over to the visitor center to find out the where and when. The kids waited in the car. Once near the visitor center, we heard a ranger tell someone it would erupt any minute. We couldn’t decide whether to run back for the kids and the camera or wait in hopes of seeing it, figuring we’d bring the kids to the next eruption. As we got a little closer, it erupted shooting hot water and steam over 100 feet into the air. Afterward, we found out that the next eruption wouldn’t be for another 92 minutes. Most of the other geysers weren’t scheduled to erupt until even later (it was kinda funny, they had all the times posted on this board; kind of like the movie times at the cinema). We decided not to wait and moved on to have lunch near a lakeside picnic area. We grilled hot dogs and had carrots, grapes, pita chips and hummus.

We continued on to Grand Teton National Park. I think we all agreed that it appeared Grand Teton had more to offer than Yellowstone (based on our small samplings). Both are beautiful parks with lakes, mountains, trails and forest. Both offered many things to do such as camping, hiking, biking, fishing, kayaking, rafting and more. I think we could spend a week in either park and stay quite busy.

We finished Grand Teton around 5ish and decided to cut into that 9 hour drive and headed east. Carly drove us to Riverton, WY where we bedded down for the night at the Comfort Inn. Before reaching Riverton, though, we were on U.S. 20 which has a 65 mph speed limit except in the small towns. At one point Carly said a sheriff was behind her with his lights on. I told her to just pull over and let him by since he must be after someone else. As she pulled over, so did he. He came to the window and told us Carly was going 55 where the limit was 35 through town. None of us had seen a 35 mph limit sign; we didn’t even see a town. I told him that he shouldn’t give her a ticket and that in the last 11,000 miles we’ve been traveling, Carly has never gone one mph over the limit. She is VERY diligent about her speed and doesn’t deserve a ticket. I told him I didn’t see the sign and that, if he had to give someone a ticket, I should get it because I was up front supervising her. In the end, he let her off with a warning. Since it was her first time getting stopped, I thought it would make a great photo for the album but I decided I’d better not push it.

We had a nice steak dinner and headed for the hotel where we lit our Shabbat candles, said the blessing over them and did the same with the wine.  It appears we're only about 5 hours away from NE instead of the 9 we had anticipated so we're going to try to stay ahead.