Off to California. Day one.... pretty much slept the whole way. Stopped in Watertown, South Dakota. Found a bunch of license plates. And that is kind of it.
Next day: Happy Independence, America (of the United States)! One more year under your over-indulged, bulging belt.
Road trips are difficult on us photojournalist-wanna-be types, especially those of us who have husbands with an agenda. Take South Dakota, for example. We currently are driving through Huron, home of the largest pheasant. He won’t turn around and let me take a picture of the pheasant. And things go by too fast. How am I supposed to write about the wonders of it all. There was also what must be the world’s second or third largest buffalo in front of the Chevy dealership. Earlier on we drove through a town (“Iroquois”?) who were the 2006 winners of the 9B State football championships. I kid you not - and we got to drive through it (but I couldn't convince the man to turn around for a real photo op). This road trip is hopping.
And we just saw a truck driving on the railroad tracks with special wheels.
Less notable was our stop in De Smet - former home of Laura Ingles Wilder. First we went to the Ingles homestead but as it was $10 a person and 2 hours to do the tour and enjoy the activities, we passed (on grass....we pass on grass all the time).
We did, however, indulge in the hometown tour. Just us girls. The boys still passed. $30 later we saw the real original Surveyors House from the Shores of Silver Lake. Poopy copyrights don’t allow us to take pictures in there. What's up with that? In case you are wondering, the house, the “two story mansion”, is no longer on the shores - they moved it in town....right close to the school house that Mary, Laura and Carrie attended (pictured below). That too is the original, but we could take pictures in there.
They also built a replica of Brewsters school - the one that Laura taught at and Almonzo picked her up from every weekend.... that romantic, sacrificial man.
After that we headed out for a
(oh, oh - road kill.... a little bambi, dead on the road. sad.)
tour of the Ingles home with a lot of their actual possessions. Pretty darn cool if I do say so my darn self. No pictures allowed in there either - lame. It was pretty cool itself, though.
Neighboring the house was a regular old house where two young entrepreneurs were selling lemonade. Maddy said "Ah! The future of America" and had to support their industriousness with a purchase of a small beverage - $.25.... $1 for a large. Those girls are no stupid dummies. Probably one of the highest income lemonade stands in this here country.
If you are a Little House on the Prairies fan (I’d call myself a very stronger liker but perhaps even a fan; Mia on the other hand is without question, a fan.) this is a great little stop. I’m sure the homestead was pretty neat-o as well, but there is only so much we can spring for these little tours. Not to mention the angst that certain teenagers (we own one) have about not just getting on the road, darn it.
More on the grand 4th July later....
Back.
We stopped, we swam, we dined, we skipped the fireworks (what kind of Americans do that, anyway?). The highlights? Dinner at the Cactus Cafe, across the road from good ol’ Wall Drug, home of the free water. Yes, folks, we are in Wall, South Dakota. Dinner itself was not much to talk about unless of course you want to know about the buffet complete with soggy spaghetti swimming in oil, over-cooked corn on the cob bathing in a heavy butter-water mixture or other equally greasy and heart-attackish type options. The real story is in the two youngest of the Ackermann clann. Cade stepped up to the salad bar and proceeded to only put sliced red onions on his plate. Yummy salad. He did later go back for some pickles and two mini pickled corn cobs. The apple has fallen far from this tree..... Then, during our meal, Lucy asked what time it was. I said that according to my watch it was 7:30 (for example... I really don’t remember what time it was and I don’t want to lead you astray) but here (the “here” being Wall, South Dakota) the time was 6:30. She told me that I should buy a watch that would tell me the time there. We all had a good laugh at her expense before I explained that you could change the time on a watch. Fortunately she was in the mood to also laugh at herself, otherwise we could have had a scene on our hands.
After dinner we spent a lovely evening with some local wildlife.
Not sure what Lu was doing here, but we just went with it.
The only other interesting tidbit was mocking Maddy as she sat in her pretty little bikini at the side of the pool with her feet dipped in, doing her nails. She looked like the perfect California 90210 teen..... all she needed was some lipgloss.*
That was Independence Day 2013. Not exactly a banner day, but a good one none-the-less.
*one of the latest family jokes..... During the last week in Quito, in the midst of chaos with stuff everywhere, Maddy discovered a new tube of lipgloss sitting on the sewing desk. Her version is that she just saw the lipgloss and said matter-of-factly “oh, lipgloss” - like saying “Look here, there is some lip gloss misplaced on the desk”. My version is a little more like (read with a ditsy blond voice and a high-pitched squeal/giggle “Ooooooh! Lip Gloss!! OMG!”. Read “this is the best thing that has ever happened to me!”. since we were the only two present, we’ll go with my version......
Results from the end of day two: Ackermanns: 38; Game Board: 13 (Washington D.C. gets its own plate)
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