Day 4: Rapid City, SD to Cody, WY

And I thought that yesterday was a long day.....we didn't get into Cody, WY and our Super 8 motel until almost midnight. (hense the fact that I'm posting this in the morning instead of last night!)

We checked out Presidents Park in the Black Hills. This is a really neat park if you get a chance to see it. It's really off the beaten path, and it took a lot longer to get to than I thought it would. The park features sculpted busts of all 42 presidents of the United States, standing among the trees, 20 feet tall each. My favorite part was the differences in dress from the beginning to modern day. The early presidents were depicted wearing bow ties and then later regular ties. All the ties had some sort of texture to them, it would have been interesting to see where the inspiration for the ties came from. George W. Bush's tie had a republican elephant pattern on it.

Tom and Lincoln, Jenny and FDR at the President's Park

Next we drove for a bit and visited Devils Tower National Monument. We sat through a ranger presentation on climbing the tower which was pretty interesting in itself. The fastest someone ever climbed the tower was in 18 minutes! We took to the trail around the monument (which turned out to be a lot longer than we thought it was) and got to see some climbers up on the tower.

Devils Tower National Monument

After the Devils Tower we headed toward Cody, WY - slowly but surely. We ran into a rain storm while going over the rocky mountains. It also happened to be at dusk which made for a bad combination - darkness, rain and wildlife. It was kind of funny - after we got through the mountains we stopped at a McDonalds and were pouring over the WY map when two other couples came in also inspecting their maps.

After a stressful final hour and a half of driving (and wildlife crossing the road - deer, raccoon, lots and lots of bunnies and even a few mice) we made it to Cody, WY.

You can view more pictures by clicking here.

We visit Yellowstone today!!! We may not have internet access while we are in Yellowstone so it may be a few days before I post again.

Day 3: The Black Hills

We started the day at Mount Rushmore National Monument. I really enjoyed seeing this landmark in person - very cool. We walked the presidential trail from which you can see the sculpture from different angles, and checked out the visitor center.

Mount Rushmore

The next stop was the Crazy Horse memorial. I had no idea that they had been working on it for 50 years already! The monument is HUGE, in fact it's not a carving in a mountain like Mount Rushmore, it's a mountain being carved into a figure in the round - meaning it will be carved on all sides. The 4 faces of Mount Rushmore fit into the HEAD of Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse Monument
(scale model in foreground, mountain in background)

The third stop was Custer State Park. The park features an abundance of all sorts of wildlife and we saw deer, pronghorn, turkey, buffalo, prairie dogs, and burro.

Buffalo at Custer State Park

We returned to Mount Rushmore for their evening lighting ceremony at the end of the day.

Mount Rushmore lit up at night

Check out more pictures by clicking here.

Day 2: Sioux Falls, SD to Rapid City, SD

Today we headed west on highway 90 across South Dakota. The first stop was the Porter Sculpture Park. This park is just in the middle of some farm fields. When we arrived we were greeted by the artist and what I think was his father. The artist gave us a quick overview of his work and sent us on our way. The park highlight is a huge bull head. Apparently his next project is going to be a huge horse. The work is bizarre and somewhat disturbing, but interesting none the less. He's even got hand painted signs describing the work.

Bull head sculpture at Porter Sculpture Park

Next we visited the Mitchell, SD Corn Palace. There wasn't much to see, as they had already started taking down the 2007 display and constructing the 2008 one. It's an interesting concept I guess - putting corn on a building - but I don't really get it.

Corn Palace

The third stop today was a rest area along hwy 90 that overlooks the Missouri river. This was the 4th time that we crossed the river since we left home yesterday morning.

Next we got to feed (wild) prairie dogs at this little tourist stop just outside the Badlands National Park. You paid the guy who owns the land $.50 and got a small bag of peanuts to feed the prairie dogs. They weren't too interested but I did get one little guy to take 2 peanuts out of my hand. The place also features a huge concrete prairie dog....

Feeding the Prairie Dog

Badlands National Park was next. We went to the Painted Desert two years ago so the landscape here was familiar. There was a neat sunset that we got to watch, but overall nothing too special, just more of the same. However we did get to see a bunch of wild prairie dogs running around a field. We also saw rabbits and deer in the park.

Badlands National Park

After the Badlands we checked out Wall Drug. I knew after 300 miles of bad billboards that they place would stink, and of course it did. Really not much point to stop here except to say that you did - but Tom got a free bumper sticker so he was happy.

We ended the day in Rapid City, SD. We'll be checking out Mount Rushmore tomorrow!

See more pictures from today by clicking here.

Day 1: St. Louis to Sioux Falls, South Dakota

We left around 10 am this morning on our road trip, stopping briefly in CoMo to drop stuff off with family, then off across the rest of Missouri, up north through St. Joseph and into Iowa.

Believe it or not, there is a state worse than Illinois to travel through - Iowa. I should have known when we entered the state and were greeted by orange construction cones...

The state is boring as heck and when we tried to take a break at the Louis and Clark monument but somehow passed it without knowing it. We were watching for signs - but apparently Iowa isn't as sign obsessed as Missouri and didn't bother to mark it even though it was on their road map. Their rest areas claimed to offer wireless internet, but I couldn't get past their tourist page when I tried to log on.

We did stop and visit Trinity Heights in Sioux City, IA. I'm glad we saw something in this dumb state! Trinity Heights was actually really cool. It's a park (for lack of a better word) featuring a 30 foot statue of Mary and one of Jesus. The statues are very well done and impressive as you can imagine. Inside the visitor center is a life-size wood carving of the last supper. (Photo: Me standing beside the 30 foot statue of Mary)

Finally we made it to South Dakota and are spending the night at a Best Western in Sioux Falls. We have lots of cool things on the agenda for tomorrow...stay tuned!

You can see more pictures from today by clicking here.

Dumb A$$ Dish Network

Dish Network sent us a broken "replacement" DVR to replace the one that wouldn't record correctly. Only the one they sent us wouldn't even connect to the satellite, let alone record.

Who hates Charter Cable?

I saw this banner ad on stltoday.com this morning, and being one of MANY who hate Charter Cable, I just had to share it. Click on the image to see it bigger. It shows 2 screenshots from the banner ad, the first one is at the beginning, then they pull back and you see the whole voodoo doll and the text "switch to DirectTV today" comes on. Funny Funny.

The best part is that it's not a point.roll or bad boy banner ad where the ad covers up part of the page content like so many of stltoday.com's banner ads are anymore.

Fire at "the rock" church

The photo above is a striking shot from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, taken at the height of a 5 alarm fire at St. Alphonsus "Rock" Catholic Church last Thursday night. The 135-year-old church is a fixture on North Grand. I've attended mass here a couple of times, and I really feel for the congregation.

Given that the church is located in a sketchy part of north St. Louis, you wouldn't think that they would attract people from all over the metropolitan area, but their faith and dedication to their church really is inspiring. It is one of the largest African American churches in the area - but you don't notice that walking in, you notice their excitement and welcoming attitudes
towards everyone - white, black, visitor or not.

Mass at the rock is generally 2 hours long with a strong gospel choir, and passionate homilies. The kiss of peace lasts 20-30 minutes because everyone wants to shake hands (and/or hug) with everyone else.

They are going to rebuild, but say it may it may take awhile for it to be complete.

Please remember the St. Alphonsus "Rock" congregation in your thoughts and prayers.

Miracle Girls

A year ago I posted about the Herrin twins - 4 year old twins in Utah who were conjoined and shared several organs, mainly a kidney, liver, and large intestine, a pelvis and two legs between the two of them.

The girls are doing AWESOME! Watch the video they put together showing the girls at birth through now.

Simpsonize Me

You upload your picture and it creates a simpsons character out of your image. Beware though, it's busy a lot and you can't get on it to make your character.
http://simpsonizeme.com/

The Simpsons Movie Premiere Contest

The Simpsons Movie Premiere Contest

14 Springfields around the country submitted videos explaining why the premiere of the upcoming Simpsons movie should be in their town. I've watched them all....and have to say, I could do better than most of these videos!

Florida was the worst, closely followed by Colorado. My home state, Missouri, presented an interesting concept but having the whole movie about "not" wanting the movie premiere kind of defeated the purpose. At the end they should have had someone run in and tell everyone that they were supposed to want it or something... I think Kentucky has the best cinematography.

I have a hard time deciding whether to vote Missouri because it's my home state or Kentucky because they had the best video....

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

We're almost there - the moment many of us have been waiting for - the release of the 7th (and last) Harry Potter book. Everyone has their predictions of who will live and who will die and we'll know very soon.

I saw a very interesting article today about the security measures Scholastic has been taking to ensure that no one gets an advanced copy and that we all get to experience that magical moment when we begin reading the book with no spoilers in mind. Completely innocent as the article states.

Harry Potter and the Sinister Spoilers

So I saw a half a watermelon on the side of the highway today - the left side by the center median. How strange is that?

White Castle Withdrawl?

Florissant White Castle to pull up its drawbridge for a while

Apparently the locals might experience 'withdrawal problems,' city councilman says - if they tear down the old restaurant and build a new one in it's place....

Seriously...

First Anniversary

Today is our first wedding anniversary! We didn't do anything especially exciting today, but we also didn't do any household chores or any of that kind of stuff. We started out attending Sunday mass at St. Ann in Normendy where we got married a year ago today. They had their parish bbq this afternoon so we stuck around long enough to see Fr. Bill rollerbladeing with the kids and had some delicious food courtesy of the men's club. Then we headed down to forest park and had our photo taken at the same bridge where our wedding pictures were taken. After that we headed home, played some Wii games and relaxed. I can't believe it's been a year since our wedding!

Dish Network is going down...

For the second time in a week our DVR from Dish Network did not record the television show that it was set to record. The first time was America's Next Top Model last Wednesday night. Minor inconvenience since Top Model is repeated Sunday nights. Tonight the piece of junk didn't record Gilmore Girls....the LAST Gilmore Girls episode ever. Dish Network will be hearing from me soon...

Where do you fit in technologically?

Do you cringe when your cell phone rings? Do you suffer from withdrawal when you can't check your Blackberry? Do you rush to post your vacation video to your Web site? The questions below allow you to place yourself in one of the categories in the Pew Internet Project's Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users.

http://www.pewinternet.org/quiz/index.asp

My Results : Omnivore
Omnivores make up 8% of the American public.

Basic Description
Members of this group use their extensive suite of technology tools to do an enormous range of things online, on the go, and with their cell phones. Omnivores are highly engaged with video online and digital content. Between blogging, maintaining their Web pages, remixing digital content, or posting their creations to their websites, they are creative participants in cyberspace.

Defining Characteristics
You might see them watching video on an iPod. They might talk about their video games or their participation in virtual worlds the way their parents talked about their favorite TV episode a generation ago. Much of this chatter will take place via instant messages, texting on a cell phone, or on personal blogs. Omnivores are particularly active in dealing with video content. Most have video or digital cameras, and most have tried watching TV on a non-television device, such as a laptop or a cell phone.

Omnivores embrace all this connectivity, feeling confident in how they manage information and their many devices. This puts information technology at the center of how they express themselves, do their jobs, and connect to their friends.

Who They Are
They are young, ethnically diverse, and mostly male (70%). The median age is 28; just more than half of them are under age 30, versus one in five in the general population. Over half are white (64%) and 11% are black (compared to 12% in the general population). English-speaking Hispanics make up 18% of this group. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many (42% versus the 13% average) of Omnivores are students.

An ambiguous mascot to yet another ambiguous mascot...

Rivermen washed away, Chancellor approves Tritons

I thought I'd be excited when UMSL finally changed their mascot from the Rivermen....but they changed it to something equally ambiguous...the Tritons. What's a Triton was my first thought when I saw the headline....

UMSL Graphic Design Thesis Presentations

The UMSL Graphic Design seniors presented their thesis projects a couple weeks ago, and I thought I'd share them with my readers. Many of the projects were quite good and should win these students some great design jobs after they graduate. The projects below are just the students who had an online portion to their project, there were 16 total projects presented.

Seams: Measuring the Means of Design
"My mission for my thesis project was to take these subjects and use my knowledge and apply my skills to create something simple that can stand out and make a difference. Attempting to help make the public aware of graphic design was my goal. Also for students that are entering into the design field to have a better understanding of how to communicate their passion and create seamless design."


STL Arnor Spot
Creating an identity and promotional material for the St. Louis Arnor Organization.


Can graphic design be fine art?
Can fine art be made on the computer?
Creating a campaign to get graphic design students to study fine art as part of their college course work.


Boneyard Culture
Dominoes are played all around the world, but don't have as much popularity in the United States as they do elsewhere. This website was designed to help people understand dominoes and generate excitement for it.


Impact
Exploring design's roll in society.

Just when I thought stltoday.com couldn't get any more annoying...

If you live in St. Louis and want to find out what is going on in the news, many people turn to stltoday.com to have the story. Recently though, they have added some extremely annoying rich media banner ads, and I'm tired of it. I was annoyed by the hummer ad (that covers your content and then snaps back up on top where it belongs after playing for several long seconds). Today when I visit, I get the hummer ad, hit refresh to get a different ad because I'm not going to sit there and wait for it to disappear, and what do I get but a Ray Vinson Mortgage ad that has "Ray's" voice when I accidentally drag my mouse over the ad - not click like most banner ads that feature sound. The ironic thing is that I designed banner ads at the last company that I worked for, but honestly, I don't feel that any of ours were used in such an obtrusive and obnoxious way as these on stltoday.com. And by the way, I make it a habit not to frequent businesses with annoying advertising, be it billboards, television/radio commercials or web.

Well I've had enough of this crap blocking me from what I really want to see. From now on, if I visit stltoday.com and one of these obnoxious ads come up, guess what, I'm leaving the page. I'll go visit myfoxstl.com if I really want the local news. For national news, I'll stick to cnn.com where I've never seen such obtrusive banner ads.

Archbishop quits hospital board over Sheryl Crow

Archbishop quits hospital board over Sheryl Crow

I generally don't agree with the St. Louis Arch bishop, but I actually do on this issue. It's a catholic hospital, and should uphold catholic values.

Muse Fashion Show (at Stephen's College)

Kudos to the girls at Stephens for putting on the awesome fashion show last weekend. There were many neat designs displayed, including my sisters which are pictured above.

how to get to paris

• Go to Google.com


• Click on Maps.


• Click on get Directions.


• From St. Louis, Missouri


• To Paris, France.


• And read line # 23.

Sully Doodle, 2000-2007

Please Pray for Fr. Vince

I know that no one who reads my blog has any clue who Fr. Vince, but please pray for him anyway. He is a very close friend of my fathers, he was the pastor at the church where my parents attended when they first moved to Columbia (Sacred Heart) and was the priest who baptized me when I was 27 days old. My earliest memories of him are showing up unannounced at our home bring ice cream for us kids. Vince had surgery to remove esophagus cancer last fall. Below is a report from his sister:

"He has said for over a month that he has not felt well. Last Friday he had a test run and found that he had gall stones. As of today we had not heard what the treatment was to be. That is until this afternoon (March 19). We received a call from Bob Heinz telling us that Vince had called him around noon telling him that he was in severe pain and vomiting. Bob went over and was going to take him to the hospital but Vince was unable to walk to the car, so they called for an ambulance.

Tests were run and found that he had a twisted intestine. Vince called bob around 3:00PM to say he was going to surgery and while on the phone they came for him.We were on the phone with family and the hospital and asked the doctor to call when he finished surgery. Thank God it was Dr. Starke who did the surgery since he did the other one and knows Vince’s insides.

Dr. Starke called about 8:00PM and this is the report: Vince got through surgery okay. He had a bowel obstruction from adhesions, which he said are common for one having had stomach surgery. While in there he took out the gall bladder. Vince has been on blood thinner and they had to reverse that before doing surgery. There was no sign of further cancer. The big concern is Vince’s level of strength.

Update 4:30 A.M. – Dr. Starke called to say that Vince is not doing too well. They had to put him back on the ventilator. His blood pressure is down. He said his condition is not irreversible. So it is definitely up to prayers now."

New Logo:

I just noticed the other night that La Quinta Inn has updated their logo. I think it's an improvement, which isn't always the case with the recent hotel logo redesigns (see post from last July).

St. Louis Survey

This is a silly survey I got off myspace, but it is kind of interested too. I have lived in St. Louis since August 2001...and I think I've done more than some St. Louis natives!

In St. Louis I have seen/been to/experienced:

1. The Adams Mark Hotel -- never stayed in it but I have been inside. My dad stayed at it for a conference when I was a kid and then when we came to St. Louis as a family a couple years later he insisted on taking us inside to show us the big horse statue in the lobby!
2. The Old Spaghetti Factory -- many times
3. Driven over the MLK bridge -- yup
4. Driven Over the J.B. Bridge -- yup (well not me in the drivers seat but I've been over it in the car)
   
5. Driven over the Poplar Street Bridge -- yup
6. Been to Pops -- no
7. Been to The Oz -- no
8. Been to Westport -- yes, not a big fan
9. Been to Mardi Gras -- no I think it's just silly to get a huge crowd of people together in the streets to drink. I'd rather drink comfortably at home.
10. Gone to the top of The Arch -- yes but not since I moved here
11. Ridden Metrolink -- many times
12. Shopped at Plaza Frontenac -- no..because I prefer to shop where I can actually afford things.
13. Eaten at Imo's Pizza -- not in the restaurant, but I've had the pizza and it's yucky.
14. Shopped at South County -- yes, only a couple times, it's out of the way.
    
15. Shopped at West County -- yes, they don't have many stores I like
    
16. Shopped at Galleria -- yes, nice mall, will be interesting to see what happens when hwy 40 is closed tho
    
17. Shopped at Union Station -- yes, tourist mall, I used to see movies out there riding metro down from the UMSL dorms my freshman year though
    
18. Shopped at The Mills --yes, they don't have many stores I care for
19. Been to Pink Galleon (any location) -- yes, I hate smokey bars though.
20. Gone to Octoberfest in Hermann -- I think we drove out there once or twice when I was a kid.
21. Been to Ted Drewes -- yes, and I even had some at a department meeting this afternoon!
22. Walked along the Riverfront -- yes
23. Been to the Art Museum -- yes - was going every semester while I was in school for art history classes
24. Been to Six Flags -- yes, at least once a year for the last 5 years or so
25. Been to the St. Louis Zoo -- yes, one of my favorite St. Louis spots!
26. Been to Ronnies Theatre -- no, but I don't think I'm missing anything
    
27. Been to the Muny -- yes
28. Been to Silo X -- I am seriously afraid of haunted houses...but I want to go to a REAL haunted house with real ghosts and spirits and such
29. Been to Forest Park -- yes, it's really quite nice
30. Been to Fast Eddies -- nope
31. Been to the car show at the Edward Jones Dome -- no but I had to pay extra for my parking when I was working downtown and it was going on!
32. Been to a reception at Orlando Gardens -- no but I visited to see about having our wedding reception there.
33. Been to The Hill -- yes
34. Been to (old) Busch Stadium -- yup
35. Been to Busch Stadium II -- yup
36. Been to The Checkerdome -- just learned that this is the old arena, and the answer is no because they tore it down before I moved here.
37. Been to The Keil Center/Savvis Center/Scottrade Center -- I saw Pope John Paul II there back in 1998 (it was Keil then)
38. Been to a concert at Riverport/UMB Pavillion -- yes
39. Skied at Hidden Valley -- nope
40. Been to Hacienda on Manchester -- yes, I love me some mexican food
41. Flown out of Lambert Airport -- yes
42. Been to St. Anthony's Hospital -- no
43. Eaten at Eat Rite -- ha no but I consider it whenever I drive by
44. Been to The Tivoli theatre -- no
45. Eaten at Cecil Whittaker's Pizza -- nope
46. Been to the "'Revolving Restaurant" downtown? -- no
47. Eaten at Crown Candy Kitchen -- yes
48. Been to the V.P. Fair -- yes, loved it, trying to forget about the ride home on metro
    
49. Been to Dogtown for the Hibernian's St. Patty's Day Celebration -- nope
50. Been to Ameristar -- no
51. Been to Harrahs -- no
52. Been to Casino Queen -- no
53. Been to Fairmount Park for horse-race betting -- no
54. Been to Dave & Buster's in Earth City -- yes
55. Gone Bowling at Brentwood Lanes -- no
56. Sat on that big Tortoise in Forest Park -- yes
57. Seen the hot air balloon race at Forest Park -- not the race, but I have seen the glow twice
58. Been to the Lemp Mansion -- no but it is supposedly haunted so I want to check it out
59. Been to Grant's Farm -- yes, I love to feed the goats from the baby bottles!
60. Met Marshall Faulk in person -- no and I wouldn't know him if I saw him
61. Met Nelly in person -- no
62. Met Ozzie Smith in person -- no
63. Eaten at Cunnetto house of Pasta -- yes
64. Ridden in the Moon Light Ramble -- no
65. Eaten at Helen Fitzgerald's -- no
66. Been to the Old Cathedral -- yes
67. Hung out on Delmar -- yes, one of the first places I went with people from the dorm when I moved here.
68. Been to Meramec Caverns -- no, surprisingly
    
69. Taken classes at Meramec/Forest Park/Flo. Valley -- nope
70. Been to the notorious East Side -- ha no!
71. Have you ever been asked what high school you go to -- Yes and I tell them Hickman and they look at me like "huh?" Then I explain that I didn't grow up in St. Louis
72. Gassed up your car at the giant Amoco sign at the Highest Pointe in St. Louis -- I honestly can't remember. I know I've met up with people at that station
73. Eaten at Blueberry Hill? -- yes
74. Gone down a slide at the City Museum? -- they are so much fun!
75. Gone sledding at Art Hill? -- no
76. Gone ice skating at Steinberg rink? -- yes
77. Been to Dirt Cheap Cigarettes and Liquor? -- yes
78. Mentioned Buckley? -- LOL NO
79. Been to the science center? -- yes
80. Been on the AB brewery tour? -- no but I have been on Schfley's tour at the Bottleworks!
81. Been to Tower Grove Park? -- no
82. Been to Laumier Sculpture Park? -- yes, I love it there
83. Left St. Louis via the AmShack? -- ha no
84. Moved away and come back? -- nope

Wii have something to play tonight!

Tom got me a Wii!!! We've been looking whenever we are in a store that sells this exciting new game system, but hadn't found one in stock yet until today. More to come later...

Why I love craigslist...

Examples of why I love craigslist, here are two posted today:

2 to 3 foot female boa constrictor for trade:
very healthy snake. around 2 to 3 foot female guyana red tail boa. also a 20 gallon tank.will trade for a ps2,go carts,pocket bikes and other interesting trades. also looking for a registered female pitbull.i also have more high end boas i might consider trading.

Free somewhat busted lamp & bookshelf:
I just ditched a somewhat busted bookshelf (the little pegs that hold up one of the movable shelves are missing) and a somewhat busted 3-bulb stand-up lamp (the kind that normally has a long tubular papery shade over it, but the shade got torn up by my darling little cat, and it turns out I hate the lamp anyway) by one of the dumpsters behind the 6600 block of Washington Ave in U City (just south of the loop). So if you want some slightly busted furniture, by all means....

It's a girl!

Find out all the details on the St. Louis Zoo website!
(image from stlzoo.org)

sick

i am sick.
throat hurts.
nose running.
sinuses swelled.
ears popped.