While we were up in Iowa City, we saw Air Force One and President Trump were going to be at the Eastern Iowa Airport. We drove up to Cedar Rapids and saw Air Force One land. President Trump never left the airport, so I was unable to get a picture of him.
He was in town surveying the destruction of the derecho. From the airport, we went into Cedar Rapids to see the damage from the storm.
We stayed near home for most of the summer in 2020. We tried to cook different foods and we took Pixel on drives and walks. We planted a small garden of tomatoes and peppers. I amped up my eBay sales. Andrea had surgery in Iowa City.
We left on Friday to head to South Dakota. We made it to Sioux Falls early on Saturday morning. I have not spent much time in Sioux Falls. It was nice. We went to see the “Arc of Dreams” and Falls State Park. South Dakota has a few natural places, but the state is good at creating road-side attractions (e.g. Corn Palace, Dignity, and Mount Rushmore) and we saw them all.
We made it to Mitchell early and checked-in at our KOA kamping kabin. We went to the Corn Palace. I saw there was a drive-in movie theater showing “Twister”, so we went there at 8 p.m. Well, it did not start until 20 minutes after dusk which turned out to be around 9:30 p.m. We waited there for about 90 minutes and asked for a refund right as the movie was starting. I forgot to see the Corn Palace at night.
On Sunday, we woke up really early and made it to the Badlands around 8:30 a.m. We entered Mountain time zone which helped. We stopped to see Dignity in Chamberlain. They were limiting people in the Minuteman Missile site. We were able to walk through the museum with two other people. We wear masks when going into buildings. I would say 50% of people do and almost no one wears them outside.
Afterwards, we stopped at the Ranch Store to feed the prairie dogs. In the Badlands, we hiked the Notch Trail which is somewhat challenging. It has a ladder and some steep/tight curves. It does have any railings. It was difficult and hot, but it was fun. We saw some bighorn sheep in the park too.
In Wall, we got a buffalo burger to eat outside and then, made our way to Rapid City. Our room was not ready, so we went to Mount Rushmore. The memorial is doing construction and getting ready for the President’s visit/fireworks, so we could not walk further than the start of the flags of the states. Afterwards, we drove down to Custer State Park and came back to our hotel.
It is our only hotel until we head home, so this might be the only post for the week as I will not have much internet access.
Here are some pictures from the past seven months which includes Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Quarantine:
I also created a few videos:
Bev found park hopper tickets for us. We parked at Disney Springs, walked to Saratoga Springs to board the bus to Epcot. Once in Epcot, we rode Test Track and watched the Epcot Experience which shows the future of the park.
We walked around the world once. We had a few things like the cheese dip in Ireland and the scallops in Coastal Eats. The Remy Scavenger Hunt is going on, so we searched for and found Remy in most countries.
We took the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios as we could hop. The Skyliner isn’t a direct line to Hollywood. You do have to go back to Caribbean Beach to get on the line that goes to Hollywood, but it is fun and you are not walking.
We rode Toy Story Midway Mania and walked through the new Star Wars Land. We ate at PizzeRizzo and rode Star Tours. Then, we took the Skyliner to Art of Animation to walk around that resort.
Later, we met Bev for Epcot Forever, the new fireworks show. We ended up walking 33,000 steps throughout the day!
Andrea and I went to Mall at Millenia, IKEA, and back down to Disney. We went to Pop Century and boarded the new Skyliner. The Skyliner is amazing! It is a lot of fun and it is peaceful. We took it from Pop Century to a hub at Caribbean Beach and on to Epcot. It takes you to Epcot’s back door. As we did not have tickets, we went around to the different hotels looking at their different Christmas decorations. We ate at Pei Wei where it was buy one, get one. Andrea got a poke bowl. That fast food place is a great deal. Afterward, we went to Publix, the Hy-Vee of Florida.
Pictures from Mickey’s Christmas Party
When I was in Orlando, Mireya planned and booked a trip to SE Iowa.
I picked her up at the Cedar Rapids Airport on Friday morning. We went to the Amana Colonies and then, we ate lunch with Andrea in Iowa City. We walked around Iowa’s campus for a little while and then, we headed to Burlington. We stopped by the farm, drove downtown, and ate chicken lips at Martini’s. Mireya had her first Smores and Murphy’s pond and then, we celebrated my birthday over at my aunt and uncle’s.
On Saturday, Andrea, Mireya, and I woke up early and headed to Galesburg to catch the train into Chicago. Amtrak is so nice and fun. I do like taking trains. We arrived in Chicago around 10:30 a.m. and walked around shopping a little. We ate lunch at the Walnut Room and stopped by a French place for coffee.
Later, we went to my college roommate’s home for some Smores again! We ate at Yolk, got a tour of Chicago, and went to the Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute is definitely one of the best I have visited.
After the Art Institute, we went to get some Garrett’s popcorn and caught our train back to Galesburg.
For some reason, this post was not published.
Andrea and I couldn’t decided where to go for Labor Day. We were 99% committed to Minneapolis when we switched to Kansas City at the last moment mostly due to distance (though hotels in Minneapolis seemed more expensive).
Neither Andrea or I had been to Kansas City. It was different. It was a mix of the Midwest and South. We went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art which was amazing. I highly recommend it. We saw many impressionists.
We saw a few other places in Kansas City. The Power and Light District looks like an exciting place. I only knew the area from The World Cup. They always show the area during the match where fans always gather.
We actually stayed in Overland Park, Kansas. We ate at a BBQ restaurant before we left. It was okay, but I didn’t think it was great BBQ.