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Alex and Mason did some overdue catching up and I nodded and chuckled politely at what I guessed to be the appropriate intervals.

OMG OMG OMG the last Midwest Adventure blog post! Can you stand it?! I barely can. But all good things must come to an end…even if it’s a week late.

Anyhoo…when last we left you, we had turned in for the night in lovely, wintry Missoula. When dawn stretched her rosy fingers through the early morning mist and we reluctantly wiped the sleep from our eyes, it had snowed more overnight and the car needed a good brushing and scraping before we could leave. But this was the home stretch, and we knew we were going to see Portland in the early evening if all went well, so we headed out with our hearts full of that good ol’ McDougall “can do” spirit. Continue reading “Midwest Adventure Day 11: Missoula to HOME”

Well, it seems like I should really close the loop on this thing and bring us home, right? At one point I thought I might be able to condense our last two days of roadtripping into one post…but SURPRISE – it hasn’t worked out that way. Still, dear reader, I promise we’re almost done.

He looked at me, then at the sky and said, “Shit! Welcome to Alaska!” Then he walked on, shaking his head.

But I just realized that we still have to reach back to Day 9 and wrap it up – sorry. As I said at the end of the previous entry, we left Minot a little after noon to head for Casper, Wyoming. Alex has a photog buddy who recently started working at the paper in Provo, Utah, and given how graciously Alex had tagged along with me on those two family-focused jaunts to Fort Snelling and Minot, there was no question that we should take advantage of his friend’s offer to show us a good time in Provo, and even take us on a scenic hike. Continue reading “Midwest Adventure Day 10: Casper, WY to Missoula, MT”

“Help ya find somethin’?” We turned to see a sixtyish guy in a camouflage jacket and fur-lined hat, smoking a cigarette and smiling at us.

Okay, please bear with me through the potential confusion here. Alex and I have arrived back home and our trip is over, but our last few days of travel were so hectic that I did not manage to keep this blog updated as I’d really wanted to do. But this post is an important one because it covers our mini-tour of Minot and I know you’ve been waiting for it. So this will be kind of a hindsight thing, but still valuable I hope. Continue reading “Midwest Adventure Day 9: Minot, ND Tour”

“Oh yeah, central North Dakota. Such a wasteland. And soooooo flat. Ugh, you’re gonna be so bored.”

Hi and welcome to Day 8, which was really just a travel day. After a lovely complimentary breakfast at the Best Red Quinta Roof Hampton Lodge (sorry, they’re all starting to blur together) in Minnetonka just outside Minneapolis, Alex and I piled in the car and set out for Minot. When we started with the knowledge that we had a 7.5-hour drive ahead of us, it seemed pretty daunting and burdensome at first. But actually, with good conversation, a podcast episode, a stop for lunch and really gorgeous weather, it was completely tolerable. And I have to say – Continue reading “Midwest Adventure Day 8: Minot, ND Arrival”

Oh man. How to get today down in writing. It’s late, and I’ve just spent a bunch of time preparing the photos I want to share with you (more on those in a bit). So I need to get this written out here now because I’ve promised it to you, but at this point I just know there’s stuff I’m going to forget…so please consider this a first pass at recounting today’s events. Continue reading “Midwest Adventure Day 7: Fort Snelling, Minnesota”

You’ve waited long enough for it – so I’m happy to tell you that yep, we finally got underway this morning! I’m typing this from a very nice hotel room outside Green Bay, Wisconsin that we got at a huge discount (thanks, Travelocity!), so I guess that tells you right off the bat that we reached our destination and the route we’d chosen for ourselves worked out great. Continue reading “Midwest Adventure, Day 6: COMMENCE ROAD TRIP.”

Whoops – sorry, looks like I missed a day there! And Day 4 was not exactly uneventful, I’d have to say…which I suppose is exactly why I didn’t manage to get a post up here. A quick synopsis of Tuesday, then:

• Checked out of Red Roof Inn MELVINDALE (see ya later, weirdass hotel).
• Drove into Detroit to finally see the Motown Museum – it was great (and you can go to yesterday’s Walking Photo to get a very brief rundown). Continue reading “Midwest Adventure, Day 5”

Hi, kids. With any luck I’m going to keep this entry short. The above photo is from my outing today (see below), but I think this spiffy green flag should serve nicely as a rallying cry for Alex’s and my imminent road trip. I mean, the fact is that if you’re just gonna slap two abstract nouns onto a flag with zero context, it could really be a rallying cry for anything. How about “QUALITY FACTOR”? Or “VAGARY RAMBLE”? For now we’ll stick with “SAFETY EXCELLENCE”…but stay tuned. Continue reading “Midwest Adventure, Day 3”

ALEX BULLETIN: Alex’s originally-scheduled flight back from NYC on Monday was canceled, and he’s now returning at 4:00 PM Tuesday afternoon. Not sure how much that puts him behind with trip preparations, but for now I’m still figuring we’ll leave Grand Rapids sometime on Wednesday.

Okay, so don’t let this confuse you, but Continue reading “Midwest Adventure, Day 2”

As bleary-eyed as I was for the 5:24 AM flight to Denver (thanks for getting me to the airport, Liz!), I still enjoyed seeing this sunrise from the plane. It didn’t hurt that I was sitting in First Class – not because I’m some high roller type, but thanks to the miles we rack up on our Visa card. Continue reading “Midwest Adventure, Day 1”