Feliz Navidad

Playa de Santa Maria, Cabo San Lucas

We headed south for the holidays and are mesmerized by the wide sandy beaches and sparkling turquoise waters on the shore of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Our hotel offers every indulgence possible, but we are living a double-life, masquerading amidst the rich and famous. At this moment, I long for the simplicity we found this summer in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Another Year Nearly Gone

I stopped blogging after our summer trip, but I miss it, so I am starting again. It doesn't matter if no one reads it -- I'm doing it for myself. Because I am still looking east. At Northwestern, where Charlotte is, and Middlebury, where Hannah will be in the fall, and New York and D.C. and Boston, where I lived until I was 25. Some days, I wish I were 25 again, but most days not.

September Morn

It's hard to be back home, but as I continue down life's highway, I have found that adventure doesn't always have to be the discovery around the bend. Yes, I'm sitting in my garage office and the view out the window is the same as it has always been, but my perspective is different. I wear a new hat. I am finding new places inside my self. The journey is not ended -- it just goes at a different speed now.

In a Highway State of Mind

As Far As It Goes

Well, we've reached Evanston/Chicago, as far east as we will be able to make it on this trip. It's been pretty low-key here so far, hanging out with Hannah and Charlotte. After Medill Cherubs Journalism Boot Camp, Hannah mostly sleeps, with occasional breaks to eat and to see her fav bands at Lollapolooza.

Charlotte alternates between being her sweet self and appearing on stage in dowdy outfits for her roles as the Mayor's Wife and Mrs. Merkle in Northwestern's summer production of Bye Bye Birdie. The rest of the Simon clan arrive today for a reunion of sorts in celebration of a purple summer.

Big Reasons to Love Road Trips Through America

Milwaukee Adventures

Time to hit the road again: This time, we decided on Milwaukee -- a good place to check out the beer scene, do laundry and re-acclimate to civilization as we contemplate our final destination. On the way, however, John decided to go off the map. This decision necessitated a consultation with an official from the Wisconsin DOT to steer us in the right direction.

Our first stop in Milwaukee: Lakefront Brewery, which brews in strict accordance to the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516. Six bucks gets you a 45-minute tour (very interesting), four beers (very tasty), and two souvenir glasses (the kind you drink from, not the kind you need to see with after drinking the four beers).

We love downtown Milwaukee's Historic Third District, where we are staying in the old Gimbel's Department Store, now converted to a Marriott. Today, we got a glimpse of a forthcoming movie being filmed here called No God, No Master and ate lunch at the historic Public Market.


Riverwalk is a great place to get some exercise, catch the Milwaukee nightlife and, of course, drink more beer.

Door County, Wisconsin

We're having a wonderful time here in Door County, the finger of Wisconsin that points northward between Lake Michigan on the east and Green Bay on the west. We're staying in the quaint, Nantucket-style town of Fish Creek in a boutique hotel called The Whistling Swan.


After breakfast on the veranda yesterday, we rented bikes and took a leisurely 10-mile tour of Peninsula State Park. The ride was so leisurely, John had time to sit and read a book (schoolwork, probably!)

The ride took us along the coast of Green Bay and on beautiful wooded trails. As you can see, it was a sunny day, but the air was cool. The highlights of the ride included a stop and tour of Eagle Bluff Lighthouse...

And a nap and a swim at Nicolet Beach. The water was so refreshing in the middle of the day.


Lauren pitched her play, "Heartland," to every Wisconsin theatre she could find, including the American Folklore Theatre in Peninsula State Park.


In the evening, we patronized the Peninsula Players theatre, attending the opening night performance of "Is He Dead?" a gender-bending comedy by Mark Twain. It was very well done by Equity actors from top theatres in the midwest. Plus, the theatre itself is gorgeous, and although you can't see it in this photo, it's right on Green Bay.


Today (Thursday) was rainy, but we made the best of it -- strawberry-rhubarb, cherry-peach and mixed berry pies for lunch at Sweetie Pies down the road!

Lake Superior

The Lake Superior Circle Tour is a 1,300-mile trip that takes you around the world's largest freshwater lake, through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario. We spent the last two days driving 298 miles of the route around the lake's southwestern perimeter in the three U.S. states from Lutsen, Minnesota, to the Porcupine Mountains in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where we camped overnight and took a dip in the chilly waters after breakfast. Here are a few Lake Superior pix and facts:

Average water temp: 40 degrees

Volume of water: 3 quadrillion gallons

Surface area: 31,700 square miles

Water turnover: 191 - 199 years

First Circle Tour: 1960, by a Thunder Bay bus,
in celebration of the completed road around the lake.

We left Superior from Ontonagon, Michigan, and drove south into Wisconsin on Monday. Stops along the way included Eagle River, the winery at Three Lakes, and De Pere, southwest of Green Bay.

No Fish Tale

We've been having a great time on North Shore -- hiking Carleton Peak, lake fishing, kayaking, eating good food (lots of that), playing games (pool, ping-pong), avoiding garter snakes at White Pine Lake, soaking in the hot tub, driving around looking at trees and waterfalls and shore birds, walking on the beach, and talking to locals. And because Henry doesn't believe any fish tales, here's a close-up of John's catch:

Lutsen Lodge

We're spending the week at Lutsen Lodge on the North Shore of Lake Superior, and the weather has conspired to sock us in with white fog. It's mysterious and romantic and sort of cold (about 65 degrees at its warmest) -- a very different experience than it would have been in hot, sunny weather.


The Lodge has a special spirit all its own, having opened more than 100 years ago and having hosted such infamous guests as Al Capone, who oversaw the importation of alcohol from this spot during Prohibition. The Swedish-style main building was built in 1952 and has stone fireplaces and heavy hewn pine timbers, reminiscent of a ski lodge. The food is excellent (walleye and lake trout with wild rice being the local favorites), and is served in a dining room that overlooks the beach and lake (the bottom windows in the above photo). Our room is situated in a modern condo on a hill above the main lodge. It's very spacious with a great view of the treetops, and nice amenities, like a mini-kitchen, hot tub and internet access. You can see the rooftops of the condos in the bottom photo below.

What have we been up to in all this fog? Reading and writing, of course. Plus, the weather didn't stop us from taking a guided shore tour by sea kayak. We also hiked the Temperance River and visited Grand Marais harbor, where we had a lovely lakeside dinner at the Angry Trout. Who says you have to be married to have a honeymoon?

Wisconsin and Points North

Like the weekend in Minneapolis, Monday and Tuesday were days to visit John's old friends and favorite places. Here are some highlights.We ate lunch with former paramedics Chuck Larsen and Steve Koch. Steve owns Bunny's and generously treated us to lunch and Bunny's sweatshirts, which we needed right away as the weather grew stormy once we left the city for points north.

Here are more of the old paramedic gang in Webster, Wisconsin. From L to R: John, Brookshaw, Funk, Joe, Joe's wife Mary, Judy and Emily Brookshaw. The Brookshaws were our hosts for the night.

Tuesday was rainy, but we enjoyed Duluth nonetheless. When the cargo ships come into the harbor from Lake Superior, the lower part of this bridge rises to let them them in. We walked across to get a view of the city and its lighthouses.

Gooseberry Falls was spectacular with all the rain. This is the middle set of falls that flow into Lake Superior. Next stop: Lutsen Lodge.

Minneapolis

Spent the weekend in Minneapolis seeing Justin, Jackie and Josh. Met Josh's cat, Vladamir, did a little used bookstore shopping, went for a walk; but mostly, we just ate a lot.


Chris (on violin) and his band, The Poor Nobodys, entertained us on Saturday night. Check them out online. They're terrific!

Justin and Jackie hosted Sunday brunch for the whole family. Look at Jackie's homemade gooseberry turnovers. They were as delicious as they were beautiful.

Eastern South Dakota

When driving from Rapid City to Minneapolis, there's nowhere to go but the Mitchell, South Dakota, Corn Palace.

By the Numbers

Number of states visited so far: 9
Number of states where Lauren had never been before: 3
Number of atomic fireballs eaten by John to stay awake while driving: 17
Number of miles driven: 2,838
Average miles per gallon: 26.5
Most expensive gas: $3.18/gallon (Baker, CA)
Cheapest gas: $2.24/gallon (Rapid City, SD)
Number of goth girls observed in downtown Rapid City: 1
Number of times John ignored Lauren's navigation: 2
Number of times John had to pull over and backtrack: 2
Highest elevation: 12,000, Medicine Bow Peak, Wyoming
Only road with 1,000-foot dropoffs on either side: Utah Route 24
Number of days without cell phone service: 6
Hottest day so far: July 6, 107 degrees, Route 24 east of Capitol Reef, Utah
Coolest day so far: July 6, 43 degrees, Boulder Mountain, Route 12, Utah
Number of amputees encountered: 4
Number of bison petted: 1
Number of scary thunderstorms: 1
Percentage of trip completed to date: 39

Crazy Horse

Here we are along the Mickelson Bike Trail in South Dakota. It's a 114-mile trail that runs north-south between Deadwood and Edgemont. We rode about 10 miles in the middle of the trail from Hill City to the Crazy Horse Memorial. We're standing on one of the trestle bridges on the trail, which is built on an old railroad bed.

Crazy Horse Memorial was begun in 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski at the invitation of Lakota Chief Standing Bear. Below is Ziolkowski's bronze model showing what the completed momument will look like.

Although only the face is done today, one can imagine the vision for this huge memorial. What is hard to imagine without being here is the scale of the project. For example, the entire Mount Rushmore carving would easily fit into Crazy Horse's head. The carving is done by carefully transferring the measurements from the scale model to the mountain, and then blasting away chunks of rock to gradually carve this massive mountain man.