Mount Rushmore, Wall Drugs and Yellowstone

July 13, 2009, Mt. Rushmore Bound

Left the Badlands and headed for Mt. Rushmore National Park in Keystone, SD. On the way out of the Badlands we had to stop in the town of Wall to show Hazel Wall Drugs. After all, you see the signs for Wall Drugs hundreds of miles out. So you are very curious as to what’s in Wall. I can’t share that with you but if you know about Wall then I can only say it has changed over the last 25 years since Bryant and Tina were there last. We had planned to camp as we left the Badlands but then the sky opened up and dropped more rain and hail than we have ever seen before, time for a hotel.

July 14, 2009, Cody, WY
Today we are off to Cody, WY, a real cowboy town, founded by no other than Wild Bill Cody. We spent the night and had fine barbecue sandwiches at Bubba’s. The next morning we had breakfast at Granny’s where the waitress called Bryant “a little shit” because he thought she was going to take his OJ away before he was finished.

Now for the real outdoor adventure—we are Yellowstone bound to bond with nature. We camped at Bay Ridge campground on the east end of the park, a campground that we later discovered was in the coldest part of the park and across from Lake Yellowstone. The days were sunny and beautiful but the nights were FREEZING COLD, around 37 degrees. Bryant was almost forced to take Hazel and Tina to the airport. We have never been so cold. Bryant claims that he was warm, but he drank enough vodka to keep his blood boiling. The next morning when the sun rose, we rented a motor boat and toured Lake Yellowstone. It was magnificent. (See pics.) During our stay, we saw a number of animals roaming the park. The animals we’nt even concerned with all of the crazy tourists taking pictures of them. Dominic, we’re going to take you to Yellowstone one day. You will love the elk, buffalo, bald eagles, deer, and many other animals.

Brookings South Dakota and Beyond

July 10, 2009, Brookings, South Dakota

On the way to Brookings, we stopped at Tavern on Grand in St. Paul, MN, for a taste of Minnesota’s state fish, walleye. It was excellent. (See pics.)
Lots and Lots of windmills on the horizon.

Arrived in Brookings, SD where Tina and Hazel's brother was doing the annual July Arts Festival. All of the work was quality – the artist’s must use only natural material and must make their art themselves. Tina had to hold down the fort for Robert for a while but she didn’t make any sales. They also had great food at the Festival incluidng two roast beef sandwiches Bryant mangaged to eat before dinner. We had dinner with Robert at Bravo’s, a French restaurant in Brookings. Very good. (See pics.) Unfortunately, our Road Food recommendation closed before we could get there.

July 12, 2009, Heading for the Badlands
Left for the Badlands in SD today. This was our first night of camping. We cooked hamburgers and chicken wings for dinner—very good. Bryant, of course, kept the fire burning well into the morning hours. The weather was great for camping. The Badlands National Park is awesome as well as the Black Hills of SD. On to Mt Rushmore tomorrow.

Back to the states through Sault Ste Marie

July 8, 2009, Sault Ste Marine, Here we Come

We left Toronto with our pizzas in hand on July 8, heading for Sault (pronounced Sioux) Ste Marie, Canada. On the way we spent the night in Sudbury, ON, Canada and guess what we found—a great seafood restaurant—Joey’s Only Seafood Restaurant. The owner, Joey, was very personable. He immediately caught our accents (we didn’t even know we had one) and struck up a conversation about President Obama and the US. He had many good things to say about the US. His fried haddock went down easily in the comfort of our hotel room. All this eating takes a lot out of you so we dined in. See pics. Bryant tried to get more fish in the morning to carry with us on our way to Sault Ste Marie, however, Joey’s wasn’t open yet. Therefore, we did a “Derek” and ate leftover cold pizza from Standard’s Pasta and Pizza. Still the best pizza we ever ate, even cold!

July 9, 2009, Sault Sainte Marie, Canada
We had a long drive today from Sudbury to Sault Ste Marie, then to Wausau, Wisconsin, where we spent the night. It was an exhausting drive from Sault Sainte Marie to Wausau, on dark one lane roads. We found ourselves dodging lots of deer. Our next stop will be Brookings, South Dakota to see Tina and Hazel’s brother, Robert, who is doing an Arts Festival there at Pioneer Park. As you may recall, Robert is a jewelry maker from North Branch, MN. From Brookings we’ll head to the Bad Lands where we plan our first night of camping. Stay tuned…

July 5, 2009, Heading for Ottawa, Canada’s Capital

July 5, 2009, Heading for Ottawa, Canada’s Capital
Today we arrived in Ottawa, Canada’s Capital. We took a brief self-guided tour of the downtown area and then found a wonderful Italian Sub Shop, where we had lunch before leaving. For desert we had beaver tails, which is delicious fried dough sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Yum, Yum. Tina says she must hit the gym upon her return. We’ll see. That afternoon we left Ottawa for Toronto
July 6, 2009, Toronto Bound
Our next stop was Toronto where we happened to arrive on about day 6 of a garbage strike. There was a lot of trash built up but the merchants managed to haul much of it out of their immediate area, though the trash overflowing from city receptacles was massive. Needless to say, we did not spend the night in Toronto. We took a self-guided driving tour of downtown Toronto and then retreated to our hotel (outside of the city). The next day we took the subway downtown for a walking tour and a visit to a four-story, two block shopping center. What a place! But Bryant, of course, had to eat again. He had some jerk chicken legs that he says were delicious. We then walked 30 minutes to Little Italy. Guess what we did there? Yup. We ate again—at Standard Pasta and Pizza—the best thin crust pizza we’ve ever had. See pics. We all liked the pizza so much we went back on the way out of town the next day for two pizzas to go.

July 3, 2009, Quebec and Montreal - Wonderful Places

July 3, 2009, Quebec, a Wonderful Place

Believe it or not they let us into Canada. We arrived in Canada July 3 and we made Quebec our first stop. It didn’t take us very long to fall in love, again, with the city—wonderful sights, beautiful buildings and character, but most importantly, great food, beer and wine. The history of Quebec is intriguing. Quebec was celebrating Cirque du Soleil’s 25th year and they performed free every night. We took a short walking tour in Old Town Quebec and then had a great meal at Restaurant Le Relais, a French/Italian restaurant on Sainte Anne Street. See pics. We took a bus tour the following day and then had another fine meal at Portofino’s on Couillard Street. (Leslie, you are right, Quebec is a lovely quaint city with lots of culture. I could almost see you walking down this cobble stone street.)

July 4, 2009, Montreal, next stop

Our next stop was Montreal where we arrived during a three week long Jazz Festival. It was truly an amazing sight. The streets were wall to wall people. See pics. The site itself was 6 blocks long and 2 blocks wide, with at least 6 stages. Cirque du Soeil on Place Jaque Square was in Montreal as well, though shows were not free. We ate another fine meal in Old Town Montreal, where many artists display and sell their wares.