SoB 2012

Total mileage for the trip!  It felt like I travelled THOUSANDS of miles more than I did last summer, but this summer's trip only beat last summer's by...(doing the math, carry the two)...FIFTY-SEVEN POINT FOUR MILES?!?!  That's crazy.

Drove through 29 states, visited 35 RoadsideAmerica attractions, and added 34 smashed pennies to my collection!

Can I just say how much I love my car?  I had a brief panic attack when I thought I had to pull over IMMEDIATELY and get an oil change, but my mechanic said I would be fine until I got home.  Still, I'm going to drive as little as possible before her scheduled oil change on Tuesday, just in case.  I always think of the end of the chase scene in "The Blues Brothers" when I get home from a big trip.  (Anybody?  They get out of the car at the bank, and the car just falls apart?)  Maybe I'll splurge on an ultimate car wash - one of those inside and out deals.

 Much love to Julie and Chris, who took care of my plants while I was gone - they look AMAZING!  This guy is HUGE.

 And this one?  He was a recent addition, and couldn't stand on his own when I left.

 It's hard to see, but this guy has a whole new...leg?...branch?...climbing up the window!

 Just another one with lots of growth.

 The big picture.  My feelings were a little hurt, because why did they take off with Julie?  It's like they're teenagers, and I'm the nagging mom, always pecking and plucking at them; Julie's the super cool aunt who checks on them once a week to make sure everyone's alive.  I'm sure the greenhouse-like conditions of the apartment didn't hurt, either.

 I'm DETERMINED to get healthier, so I opened a new bottle of vitamins this morning...and they're neon yellow?!  How healthy and natural can neon yellow coloring be?

 Inside of my smashed penny book...

...and OUTSIDE of my smashed penny book!  I ran out of usual spaces, so I had to improvise.  I actually don't want another book, because the second one would only be half filled, and that would drive me crazy.

So, laundry's done, car's unpacked - things are slowly but surely getting back to...normal.  :)

Home Sweet HOME!!!

I drove NINE HUNDRED FOURTEEN MILES TODAY!!!  I left my crazy hotel at 6.  Here's the story with that -

There were 3 hotels in Wolf Lodge.  One was abandoned, the nicest one was full, and he referred me to the 3rd.  The 3rd says, "Well, there are no rooms HERE, but we have some vacancies at our other location..."  You know what's coming?  Yep!  The one I thought was abandoned!!  The woman assured me it was clean, but there was no staff there, so if I called 0, I got the hotel down the road.  Weird, but of course it ended up ok.

 Who wouldn't think that was abandoned?!

 Doesn't look so bad with cars in the parking lot.

 Room was fine, but AGAIN no additional lock on the door!  That's at least the 3rd room I had this trip with only one lock!  Not cool.

 Too bad it was 6am, otherwise I SO would have gone in this bar.

 Dinosaur statues on a hill while going 70mph.

 I did a u-turn for this one - the colored material caught my eye.  Description below.  I want everyone to notice that I did NOT do a self-portrait with this sacred site.

 Stopped for breakfast at Deb's Diner in Harlem, MT.  I sat at the bar (of course), and noticed this donut with the heart-shaped hole.

 THIS WAS MY BREAKFAST!  Now, I've got to be honest and tell you that the hashbrowns and eggs were not good, but the bacon was the BOMB.

 Metal dinosaur statue on the side of the road.  Did a u-ey for this one, too.  (Didn't have the best day for pictures.  I could not get things lined up for the life of me!)

 I know some of you are saying, "Now I KNOW those are not the glasses Bridget's been wearing for the last 7000 miles..."  Well, you're right.  When I got in my car after breakfast, I sat on my original pair.  I LOVED those glasses!  And I got them at Grocery Outlet, so you know I'll never find another pair like them again.

 So the town before Cut Bank was Shelby, and it was the cutest town EVER.  I'd just about decided that I could move there, when I saw this penguin.  If Shelby is anywere NEAR the 'Coldest Spot in the Nation', then I'll pass.

See the man on the wall of the building?  It's just a statue really.  And here is another photo that I just couldn't get right...

I also got 2 smashed pennies today.  And now I'm back in Walla Walla!!  I'm headed to bed.  I'll recap tomorrow, because I know there are some things I forgot to tell y'all...  :)





Steeeven...

That's one of my favorite Ke$ha songs - does anyone know it?  That's also the name of the seagull THAT I SAW THIS MORNING!!  It was SO COOL!  I got to the lobby around 5:50, and at 6:30 I'd decided that he wasn't showing up, and I might as well get on the road...AND HE SHOWED UP!!  It really was weird.

 See him in the parking lot?

 A little bit closer...

 A little bit closer...  I never did see him 'tap' on the door, but he didn't need to - lots of the hotel guests were regulars - construction guys - and they'd throw him something on the way out.  There were some crows in the parking lot, but he was the only seagull.

 When I left Duluth, the next stop on my GPS was West Glacier, MT, so I had no planned smashed penny or RoadsideAmerica stops for over 1000 miles!!  That means I had to make my own.  The problem is, once I pass something at 70 mph, I'm probably not going to turn around.  Like the saucy cow yesterday?  I don't know that I would have stopped for that if it hadn't been planned.  I mean, I would have noticed and appreciated it, but not gotten out to take a picture!  Anyway, here's my 1st find of the day - a HUGE chair in Minnesota!  (I was fussed at for not being more careful and detail oriented with my blog.  But - as it usually happens - I've left my maps and paperwork in the car and I am too tired to get them.  If anyone ever REALLY wanted to know some details, I'd tell them.)

 Check out this guy!  Again, just a random find...  What you don't see in the picture, is the restaurant attached to this guy's back end.  In Minnesota, called the Big Fish, I think.

 My big fat head is blocking the view of the door.  They weren't open, otherwise I would have gone in.

 Check out that bubble!  AND check out the sweatshirt!  When I left Duluth, it was 55.

 Me at a reststop in Minnesota.  (I've been told that if I had a smart phone, these pictures would have exact coordinates.  sigh)  Doesn't stand out too bad, but I only have one earring.  The other popped off when I took off the sweatshirt.  I found it outside of the car.

 Crookston, MN.  My friend Jeremy wanted me to take a picture of SOMETHING around a theater, and I thought this was it?  But nope...

 It was the 'Chocolate Rainbow'!!  Funny thing, as soon as I saw this, I KNEW I'd taken a picture of the wrong thing, because I figured Jeremy would think this was funnier than the train car.

 Restaurant Jeremy recommended.  (He and Chris went to school and met here, so I called them for suggestions.  Chris was no help.)  I had the grilled cheese and tomato soup combo.  The grilled cheese was a grilled cheese, but the tomato soup??

 The best I've ever had IN MY LIFE.  This picture is NOT appetizing at all, but those are tomato chunks in there.

 Visited the UMC campus to see where it all started (Chris and Jeremy)...

 Some of you might be wondering, "Why can't she take a picture of something WITHOUT being in it?!"  (shrug)  It's what I do.

 Also at the entrance to campus.  I thought it was a GRAVE, but it's just a memorial.  I was parked in a no-parking zone and security was coming, so I didn't try to get a better shot.

 duh-duh-DUH!!!

 I need to look this up.  How is ANYWHERE in North Dakota the geographical center of the...OOOHH...  I just read the sign.  I thought it said the "United States", NOT "North America"...  That makes a little more sense.

 My nails are NOT French manicured, they're just all chipped.  I am NOT going to buy a bottle of nail polish remover just for the trip.

 My fortune last night.  Of course my immediate response was, "Well, it is most enjoyable to talk with you, as well, Mr. Fortune Cookie!"

In a weird setup in Wolf Point, MT.  Going to sleep so I can get up early and get on the road!!

Homesick

Stick a fork in me, I'm done.  I'm ready to be home, back in my own bed.  I'm probably missing tons of cool sites in my hurry to get back to Walla Walla.  ...sigh...

I forgot to mention the 3 Waffle House employees who were SO NICE to me yesterday morning.  I was somewhere in Ohio, looking for breakfast, and there it was - Waffle House.  I figured it might be my last chance for the year, so I stopped.  Got my usual, and while WH employees are usually pretty friendly, this crew was above and beyond.  I told them so, too, but they probably thought I was crazy.

I bought my 33rd smashed penny of the trip this evening!  I don't think I told you this, but smashed pennies at Niagra Falls are ONE DOLLAR and one cent.  Hmph.  Of course I got one anyway.  My last one tonight was in front of a gift shop in Duluth.  GPS said I wouldn't get there until 7:39, and then I hit construction, so I was just sure it'd be closed, but nope!  Turns out it was in a schwanky shopping center where I had to PAY FOR PARKING, so this smashed penny cost me TWO DOLLARS and fifty-one cents!  Since I'd paid for parking, I went ahead and ate dinner there, too - tofu and pineapple and vegetables.

I left all of my maps and paperwork in the car again, so I have no idea where these pictures were taken.  (Today was the perfect day to put my top down, but it would have been too much work to clean up the car and secure all of the papers!)

This wasn't even a RoadsideAmerica stop!  I just saw this guy and thought he was photo-worthy.  Not long after I left the hotel, so still in the bottom half of Michigan.

 Babe and Blue statues outside one of my smashed penny stops.  They were all surrounded by barbed wire.  You could get closer for a dollar.  Um, no thank you?



 RoadsideAmerica stop #33!  They call it a Risque Cow, or something like that.  Last stop in Michigan.



 Random STUFFED BEAR in a convenience store!  You can see me in the reflection better than you can see him.

RoadsideAmerica stop #34 - Concrete Figures. This was CRAZY! There were SO MANY of them!!

I liked how he used glass to decorate.  (Their manes are drinking glasses.)

Ok, this guy is actually kind of creepy - he looks like Jason.

The plaque says that this is the 2nd Lincoln-Todd monument.  Looks like I have to find the first...

Tonight I am in a Super 8 in Duluth, MN.  Just saying that makes me want to barf, but it (this Super 8) is also a RoadsideAmerica stop!!  They supposedly have a bird that taps on the glass door every morning for bits of the continental breakfast.  They call him Steven Sea...gull - GROAN!!  I was going to test the check-in clerk before booking a room, but I didn't have to - they have a little shrine for him set up at the front counter.  I need to take a shower and get to bed so I can be down there waiting for him at 6am.

Rejuvenated!!

Well, a little bit, anyway...  :)

If I had to do this blog all over, you know what I'd do?  I'd highlight people that I met along the way.  I just got done talking to Don Keplinger down on the patio, and he just wanted to talk and talk and tell me all sorts of interesting things about the area!  And Dave from Island Pond Visitor Center and Patty from the Irish Cove and Peter and his dad Jon that I met in Linesville and the guy that gave me a free ice cream sundae yesterday because, "Although it's Monday, I want you to enjoy a sundae in Hell!"  Oh, and the two guys at the front desk of the hotel last night - they had this routine going on that was CRACKING ME UP!!

Ok, let me talk to you a LITTLE bit, at least...

In Linesville, where the ducks walk on the fish?  I met the NICEST father/son duo who gave me all sorts of tips about the area, and I ended up having a FABULOUS crazy hotdog based on their recommendation.  I was wearing my t-shirt from the psychiatric museum I visited on the 1st leg of this trip, and wouldn't you know Jon (the dad) was interested in the same thing?!  Well, we got to talking, and he took a picture of my shirt.  (I have a funny story about that, but I don't want to embarrass him.)  He's keeping a blog, too.  He put a link to MY blog on his blog, and overnight, my views went up 1000% - NO JOKE!  Turnabout is fair play, so here's the link to his - http://joncrispin.wordpress.com/  I can't wait to be able to sit down and get caught up on it.

 So, in Linesville, Peter and his dad recommended this hotdog place (UGH - I've left all of my maps and paperwork in the car, and I don't remember the name!).  Mr. Ed's?  I got there about 10 minutes before closing, so I told the woman behind the counter to give me whatever they were famous for, without looking at the menu.  She gave me this FOOTLONG MESS!  And it was delicious.  I don't know if they have smaller versions available.



Hank's Frozen Custard.  A no-brainer.

Where I ended up that night.  What did we do before GPS?  How did we survive?  I punched 'lodging' into mine, and the first two options were SCARY.  One...I probably shouldn't even tell you this...but at one of them, this guy came out of his room in his underwear, yelling on his phone and scratching himself while I was waiting the FIVE MINUTES it would take for the lady I talked to over the buzzer to come to the office.  I left without even telling her not to bother.  The other one smelled like an ashtray, and the woman didn't seem to understand what I meant when I asked for a 'non-smoking' room.  So, "Irish Cove" pops up 3rd on the list.  It's 2.4m in the other direction, and I ALMOST gave up and went to a chain, but I'm so glad I didn't! 

On my way to HELL!!  ...Michigan...

They really capitalize on the town name.

 For some reason, I could NOT get a good self-portrait with this sign in the background.  After about 7 tries, this guy asked if he could take my pic.  I normally tell people no, but I was getting frustrated.  See, Mom!!  I TOLD you I don't look good in pastels!!

There were 3 commercial buildings in Hell, all pretty much sharing the same parking lot.  They were called 'uptown', 'midtown', and 'downtown'!!  I think a husband/wife team ran all 3, because I ran into him in all of them, and he was always behind a counter.  Anyway, at the ice cream shop, he brought me a sundae that he'd invented.  He wanted me to guess what the toppings were.  There was a yellow sauce over Moose Tracks ice cream, and it was delicious, but I finally gave up.  He said he was going to name it "Popeye's True Love"?  OLIVE OIL!!  He put olive oil and sea salt on the Moose Tracks, and it was amazing.  He didn't charge me because he was conducting 'research'.



I just thought this was funny.

 Legs Inn.  Polish restaurant where I ate last night.  13 miles from anywhere.  Neat building, and these legs on top of it somehow make it my RoadsideAttraction #32.



 Maybe I should have tried something different, but I went with good ol' potato and cheese periogis.  And a beer.  That I COULDN'T EVEN FINISH!!  (Mainly just because I knew I still needed to drive.  AND I just realized this photo is upside down.)



 I need to read the literature, but THIS is a famous...thing...at Legs Inn.

 So I procrastinated last night and did NOT plan well for stopping for the evening. By the time I left Legs, it was 9:30, and they are SERIOUSLY 13 miles from anything... I was headed for Mackinaw, but I was tired when I saw this lodge all lit up on the side of the road. SCREECH!! Asked about a room at the front desk, and these two HILARIOUS guys told me that yes, there were vacancies. I said, "Single?", and one guy frowned and said "Taken" and the other smiled and wiggled his eyebrows and said "Maybe"! They were CRACKING ME UP. They quoted me a price, and I said - out loud - "SHIT!!", and picked up my purse to walk out. Well, then the haggling started - I've never haggled for a room before! I ended up paying more than I normally do, but FAR LESS than they normally charge - SUCKERS!

The pool has a waterfall?!?

Lobby

View from my BALCONY!!!