USA

Whoa, we are getting really close to the start of our South American adventure – we leave tomorrow!  We’ve been hanging out in Brookings with my family, mainly relaxing, eating and drinking for the past week.  We had a great little road trip to get here!  We left Michigan on Thursday, June 5th and drove to the Quad cities in Iowa.  Friday morning we drove to Omaha and spent the day (and night) with family and friends.  Saturday morning was spent in Lincoln with more family and friends and then we had a long drive out to Chadron, NE.  Sunday we spent in the Southern Black Hills of South Dakota and then explored the Northern Black Hills on Monday.  Tuesday was a long drive day from Western to Eastern SD with stops at Wall Drug, the Badlands and the Corn Palace.  Here’s what we saw along the way:

Quick stop by Memorial Stadium in Lincoln

Exploring Wind Cave National Park

Brandon’s first visit to Mount Rushmore!

Custer State Park

Cruising around the Black Hills

Top of Little Devil’s Tower in Custer State Park

Both of us on Little Devil’s Tower

View of the Needles

Bison on the side of the road

Waterfall in Spearfish Canyon

Relaxing with some beers at Crow Peak Brewery in Spearfish

The Badlands

More of the Badlands

Hiking in the Badlands

More hiking in the Badlands (I went a little photo snap happy!)

After a whirlwind day of packing & moving from our apartment in Chicago, we spent our first full week of fun-employment in my home state, Michigan. Some of the highlights include:

• Giving Erin a tour of the dense urban environs (this is in fact sarcasm) of the town where I did most of my primary schooling
• Participating in “Be a Tourist In Your Own Town” and exploring East Lansing / MSU’s campus
• Climbing the sand dunes at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and hiking around
• Camping at Sleeping Bear at a spot where Lake Michigan was steps away (apparently we got the most coveted camping spot in all of the park according to the park ranger)
• Taking in the sunset over Lake Michigan from the dunes
• Exploring downtown Traverse City and imbibing good beers and cider from local establishments
• Hanging out with the family
• And relaxing and doing absolutely nothing productive, save for the strenuous marathon of “The Wire” on Amazon Instant Video that I partook in

Below are a few of the pictures we took from the past week:

Stopping by the MSU Dairy Store for some frozen treats

Me looking doofy on the mean streets of my hometown

View of Lake Michigan from our campsite

Flight of beers from North Peak Brewery in downtown Traverse City

Flight of 10 hard apple ciders at Northern Natural Cider House

A meadow we passed through on one of our hikes

View of Lake Michigan from the dunes

Watching the sunset over Lake Michigan

All in all, it was a great way to spend our first full week of freedom. Next up on the docket is the road trip to Erin’s home state of South Dakota, with some pit stops in Iowa and Nebraska.

As we’ve been getting ready to head South, Brandon and I have been crossing a few things off our Chicago Bucket List.  Even after living here for the last 4 years, there are still some must dos (and eats!) before we leave.

Dinner at Girl and the Goat

A few more visits from family (and runs past Wrigley)

A trip to the Sky Deck at the Sears Tower

Up next: Dinner at Honey Butter Fried Chicken with a stop at Black Dog Gelato on the way home.  And then maybe a walk to burn off 1/100th of the calories consumed 🙂