Going To California

This summer’s epic road trip is almost over. We’re driving from Ashland, Oregon to my home in Sacramento, California. Back to my “normal” life.

Here’s the stats from this trip:

56 days

12,491 miles

5 time zones

30 U.S. states

3 Canadian provinces 

15 National Parks and Monuments (including 2 in Canada)

16 state and provincial parks

14 family members visited

0 Starbucks visitations

What can I say? It’s been fun to experience so many places. Dad and I make a great travel team.

Until next time…

The Wizard

Crater Lake National Park. We were stopped at an overlook when a random child asked Dad how Wizard Island got its name. (I think the kid thought Dad was his father.) Without missing a beat, Dad explained that the cinder cone looks like a wizard’s hat. This seemed like a satisfactory answer to all concerned.

Nice job, Dad.

The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood

Two of my favorite people met us on the Oregon Coast for a couple of nights of camping out together. My brother Jackson and my sister-in-law Wendy. I don’t get to see them very often and this was the longest time we’ve hung out together in quite a while. One of the fun things we did was to visit a really cool aquarium in Newport. One great idea the curators had was to make sculptures of sea creatures out of random plastic found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The message was pretty clear: take better care of our oceans, folks.

Thanks for making the time to be with me and Dad, you guys. I love you both so much.

Color Bars

We checked out the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon. There’s an area called the Painted Hills. I’ve seen pictures of it in calendars, but this is the first time I’ve been here in person. The area has layers of different colored soils that show evidence of climate fluctuations over the eons. Once upon a time, this used to be a temperate forest. Now it’s high desert. I guess the only constant is change.

As the name suggests, there are also lots of fossils to study in the region. Dad ask why I would be interested in fossils since I’ve been traveling with one all summer. Boy, his attempts at self-deprecating humor always land as bad dad jokes.

Even More Family

We stopped in Boise, Idaho for a visit with my Aunt Suzanne and Nana (my maternal grandmother). It sure was nice to see them. It had been a very long time, so we had a lot of catching up to do. Suzanne has a nice house with a beautiful garden in back.

I’m very lucky to have a loving extended family. One of the pleasures of road trips is getting to see those who live far away from me. I love you Suzanne and Nana!

City Of Bison

Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley is Bison Central. It’s the perfect place for humans to safely observe these magnificent creatures (sort of) up close. We spent a long time parked by the side of the road with other tourists, taking pictures and looking through binoculars. I noticed that the males keep the females very close by, matching their wanderings step by step. When the males fight each other, it’s usually about a girl.

This was one of the best days on this trip because we also got to check out the big waterfalls on the Yellowstone River.

Yellowstone National Park

Believe it or not, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve visited Yellowstone. I think it’s my fifth, but it might be my sixth. I’m not sure. The first time was 20 years ago in the summer of 2005 on a road trip with  Dad and my brother Jackson. It was very memorable because we had a musical jam session with some other campers we met that lasted way past the quiet hour cutoff time.

Lots of fun.

Born To Be Wild

One of the most beautiful roads in America must be the Beartooth Highway (U.S. 212 between Red Lodge, Montana and Yellowstone National Park). It winds up into the mountains with lots of hairpin turns and crosses over a 10,000 ft. pass. We later hiked and camped at Island Lake (9,500 ft.). It was spectacular but really cold.

This road is very popular with motorcyclists during the summer. They like to ride in big groups. At the overlook stop I overheard some of them talking about coming from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. It sounds awesome. Dad has no idea how close I came to hopping on the back of a Harley-Davidson and leaving him to find his own way home.

North Dakota

North Dakota is a favorite state of mine, especially the prairies and badlands in the western part. One thing that I notice is that it’s very clean. There’s almost a complete absence of roadside trash and the farms and ranches are well kept up. It’s very pleasing to the eye when you’re traveling through. Only one complaint: our campsite on the Missouri River featured some very aggressive biting flies. They were very mean to me and Dad.

Holy Cow!

What’s that large object out on the open prairie? It’s “Salem Sue,” the world’s largest Holstein cow. She lives in New Salem, North Dakota on a hilltop overlooking the I-94 freeway.

Of course, we had to stop and check her out. She looks to be in good shape with a brand new paint job. I feel a little bad for her having to stand outdoors in the same place through all of North Dakota’s seasons.

Bird Woman

If you visit the grounds of the North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck, you’ll find a statue of Sakakawea. As many folks know, she was a Shoshone woman who accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition, serving as a guide, interpreter, and sometimes diplomat. All this while traveling thousands of miles with a newborn baby. Quite an accomplishment, although it should be remembered that she wasn’t given a choice in the matter.

Dad says that he once heard that she has the most statues of any American woman. It’s odd, because very little is known about her, other than what I already mentioned.

The Other Twin Cities

The cities of Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota are neighbors, separated by the Red River of the North. In the photo I’m standing on a bridge in a lovely park that connects the two towns.

The interesting thing is that this Red River flows north into Canada, meaning that it’s in a separate drainage system from that of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. We even saw a “Continental Divide” sign on the highway pointing this out.

I very much agree with the sentiment expressed by the graffiti on this bridge.

Highway 61 Revisited

We’ve been traveling down Minnesota’s North Shore and enjoying the sight of Lake Superior rolling by. The air quality has been pretty bad due to ongoing Canadian wildfires, but we had rain this morning so we hope that clears things up a bit.

The road we’re on is Minnesota State Highway 61. It’s not the same road that Bob Dylan sang about, although young Robert Zimmerman grew up not far from here in Hibbing. Dylan’s song is about U.S. 61 which follows the Mississippi River all the way from Minnesota to New Orleans, Louisiana. It cuts through the region where the Delta Blues was born and thus has legendary status.

How do I know we’re not on the same road? I have yet to see forty red, white, and blue shoestrings. Nor have I found a thousand telephones that don’t ring.

Born In The U.S.A.

I’m glad to be back in my home country. Canadians are nice, but Minnesotans by reputation have their own brand of nice.

Bilingual

Where I'm from, you'll sometimes find signage in English and Spanish, but it's not everywhere and it can feel like an afterthought. Canada is a truly bilingual nation and signs of it are everywhere. As you can see, making sure everyone understands can save lives.

Sometimes, you will even see indigenous languages, too.

D'où je viens, on trouve parfois des panneaux en anglais et en espagnol, mais ce n'est pas partout et on peut avoir l'impression que c'est une idée secondaire. Le Canada est un pays véritablement bilingue, et on le voit partout. Comme vous pouvez le constater, s'assurer que tout le monde comprend peut sauver des vies.

Parfois, on y trouve même des langues autochtones.

Inland Sea

Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area. Let me tell you, it is big! It literally takes many hours to drive from one end to the other. It even has many shipwrecks. We read about a guy who had to watch his gold-plated yacht sink to the bottom before his very eyes. (I’m guessing he could afford a new one.)

We stayed at a provincial park right on the water with a wonderful beach. I dipped my toes in cool, clear water.

Contraband

We had a little hiccup while crossing from the United States into Canada. We were asked if we had any cannabis products. (This is the fourth time I’ve been to Canada with Dad and it was the first time we’ve been asked this question at the border.) Dad declared that we had some CBD gummies for me (yes, they are legal). Well, we ended up having to give up my stash and deal with a lot of paperwork, and even a cursory search of Dad’s car by the authorities. The people there were nice about it, but it was a bit surprising.

The customs officer described the process as “surrendering the items to the Crown.” I couldn’t help but picture King Charles III relieving himself of the stress of being a monarch by munching on my gummies.

And The Tide Rushes In

We camped for two nights in New Brunswick’s Fundy National Park. It’s a really beautiful place. The Bay of Fundy is world famous for its extreme tides. In the photo, if you look over my right shoulder, you can see the beach at low tide. Very cool.

Canadians love to go camping, so I’m glad we had a reservation. Apparently this park has a total of 600 campsites. They were all full.

Octopus’s Garden

As far as I know, this restaurant in Alma, New Brunswick is the first one I’ve ever seen named after a Beatles song. We stopped by for coffee and goodies.

Dad has a theory that everyone has a Beatle personality. He says I’m a Ringo. Maybe that’s why I like the song.