June 27 SLASH!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's all I really need to say to explain this unscheduled stop. Slash. Oh yes! While I was in St. Louis, I found out that Slash would be making an appearance at the first annual Sunset Strip Music Festival. He would be the special guest of B-Real and Sen Dog of Cyprus Hill. I don't like rap or hip-hop, but I was willing to sit through it to see Slash.

Appetite For Destruction, the debut album from Guns N Roses, was the soundtrack to my life when I was in the 9th grade. It's not that I identified with the "sex drugs and rock and roll" that the songs talked about. But that album was a great outlet for the teen frustration I felt on a daily basis. So to be able to finally see Slash in person, in the flesh was a huge deal for me.

Before he came on the stage, my friend Laurie and I had to sit through FOUR hours of music that under normal circumstances we would never voluntary listen to. There were three reggae bands. Ugh! The lead singer of one of the bands was what I would call "homeless chic." He was white with unwashed dreadlocks and just looked very smelly. Then another reggae band did a REGGAE cover of The Doors' "Light My Fire." I think I heard Jim Morrison sit up in his grave and plug his ears.

That being said, it was WORTH sitting through all that garbage to get to see Slash. Very early on in the evening, I staked out my position in front of the stage and I did NOT move for four hours (a major accomplishment considering how much water I drink and how often I have to pee!) When Slash finally did come out just after midnight, he played guitar right over me. Here are a few pictures to show just how close I really was!

June 26 Wildfires

I drove through Mendocino County today where they're experiencing bad wildfires. The visibility's really bad; I can only see about a mile or two in the distance. The sun is out, I can tell, but I can't actually see it due to the dense smoke. I'm coughing a lot but I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting over a slight cold or because of the wildfires. I suspect the latter.

I lost a half hour in my travels today. There was state park where you could see elk, so I drove up and down this windy path. I did not see ONE elk. If the state park promises elk, they need to deliver. Tie one to a tree, stuff an already-dead elk, I don't care!! I WANTED TO SEE AN ELK!! *flounce* (I'm not suggesting animal cruelty. I'm just miffed that I didn't get to see an elk when the sign said something about elk sightings.)

June 25 Redwood Forest

When I was about 9 or 10 years old, I remember reading an article that said that the seed of the sequoia tree was the size of the point of a pencil. Yet some varieties of the sequoia grow so large that if the tree is tunneled out, you can drive your car through it. That amazed me and I've always wanted to see the trees for myself. This summer, I finally got to!!!



It was truly awesome to come out of the Redwood Forest and see the Pacific Ocean right there! I couldn't help humming "this land is your land" a bit.



I stayed at the Redwood Hostel. The second story bedroom window overlooks the ocean. Pretty nice for just $20 a night! I couldn't get the thought out of my head that there was something so familiar about the Redwood Forest. While I was staying there, the desk clerk said that the Ewok scenes from Return of the Jedi had been filmed in nearby Jedediah Smith State Park! Aha!! That's it!!! Without knowing it, my mind was replaying the chase scene with Luke and Leia on a speeder being pursued by an Imperial Stormtrooper.

June 22-24 en route to California

My next stop was the Redwood Forest in northern California. However, coming from the far northeastern corner of Montana, that was going to take a few days to get there. As I made my way to my overnight stop in Bozeman, Montana, I caught a glimpse of the northern range of the Rocky Mountains.


The next two days were spent driving through Oregon. I was surprised to see such a varying landscape. When I think "Oregon", I think "rain" so it must be lush and green throughout the entire state, right? Wrong.

Lush and green...


Hilly and desert-y...

watery wilderness. The road this lake was on had NO houses or business for the entire 30 miles stretch. It was strange and yet calming to see nothing but animals on this river...


I got carsick while driving down OR-66. It was a curvy road on a downward spiral for about 25 miles. That's the only time in my life I've ever been carsick while I was driving. Eurgh, even thinking about it makes me feel queasy. I'll never drive down that road again.

June 10-22 Plentywood, Montana

I spent the next 12 days with my sister in the small town in Montana. It's very close to the Canadian border so from De Smet, it took me about 10 hours to drive there. I didn't really do a whole lot in Montana. My sister has a smaller version of Blockbuster Video in her house with all the movies she has. So on days when she was at work, I'd watch TV. I seem to remember going through the Harry Potter movies at least twice while I was there. On days my she was off work, we'd hang out and watch TV together.

It was really great connecting with my sister. It's so odd that we never connected before now. She's ten years older than I am, so by the time I reached the age where I could really start being a sister and not just an annoying kid in the house, she had moved out, had a baby, and started an adult life. As I got older she was preoccupied with the life of a housewife so we didn't really connect then either. I didn't realize until this visit how similar she and I really are. All these years I felt like I didn't identify with my family. As it turns out we're more alike than I knew.

Toward the end of my visit with her, my sister took me driving and I got some beautiful pictures of the Montana landscape. This sounds silly to say, but the sky looks so big in Montana. Of course the sky is the same size no matter where you are. But in Montana where the plains are flat and there aren't oversized trees blocking your view, you really get a feel of how large and beautiful the sky really is.






I should also mention that we goofed around a bit too. That was fun. Sorry, Veronica, for posting this picture but it's funny and needs to be seen!

June 9 De Smet South Dakota, part 2

Today I went into town to see the rest of the Ingalls sites in De Smet. In 1893, Pa built a house in town that was closer to the school Carrie and Grace attended. I don't have any documented proof for what I'm about to say, but I'm sure as Charles Ingalls got older, it wasn't as easy to farm so the move likely benefited him as well.

You enter the gift shop of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society (LIWMS) where you're greeted by a tour guide. I was the only one there, so she said she'd take me on the tour with just the two of us. I mentioned what a big fan I was of the Little House books and how being in De Smet was a real dream come true for me. The tour guide good-naturedly tried to stump me with various "little-known" facts. After several failed attempts, she was finally able to stump me with something about Almanzo which I can't even remember now. :D Ha! I got the last laugh lol.

LIWMS also offers the viewing of a replica of the Brewster school (from These Happy Golden Years) where Laura fulfilled her very first teaching assignment. The actual school was some 12 miles from De Smet, but the current location of the school serves it purpose.



My tour guide then toook me over to the Ingalls house on 3rd street. Taking interior pictures is not allowed, so if you want to see pics, google them. From one of the 2nd story bedroom windows, however, I was able to see something VERY historically important. I cannot remember the denomination of the church now, but Charles Ingalls helped to build the church in the picture below (ignore the cars and the paddling pool.)

June 8 De Smet South Dakota, part 1

In between my "Little House" stops, I went to St. Louis Missouri to visit my friend Andrea. I stayed there for a few days, benefited from her family's generosity, sat through a hurricane scare, and had a great time together. Oh AND I finally got to see the St. Louis Arch. That was cool.



In 1879, the Ingalls family moved to De Smet, South Dakota. The prairie was wide and spacious and hadn't been settled yet, so Charles Ingalls had his pick of the land. But he had to hurry as many other new settlers were also arriving to stake their claims.



Pa staked his claim on 160 acres on the prairie. Over the next five years, the one-room claim he built grew to a proper house complete with 2 bedrooms and a sitting room.


Ingalls Homestead, in De Smet, is a historical interactive location where travelers can get a glimpse of the life led by one of America's most beloved children's authors. There are covered wagons where you can camp for just $50 a night. I elected to camp in one. Below you will find a few photos, courtesy of the Ingalls Homestead flickr site. The first photo is of the exterior of the covered wagon. If I'm not mistaken I believe this picture is of the same covered wagon I stayed in. The second picture is of the interior. Trying to get into the double bed up top was interesting. I tried taking a running leap to it. That did NOT work. In the end I used the side bunks as a sort of stepladder.





As part of the interactive prairie, you can see....

...a replica of the dugout the Ingalls family lived in when they were in Plum Creek, Minnesota...



...a replica of a one-room schoolhouse from that time period...

(sorry that the littlest one's face is blurred...she moved!! Too bad, she's so adorable! As we walked into the schoolhouse and took our seats, I noticed that my desk was a bit wobbly. I looked at the middle girl, pictured here in the red dress, and said "Hey!!! I've got Carrie's desk!! Remember? From Little Town on the Prairie when they got sent home from school??" Her eyes widened and she smiled as she remembered the passage I was referring to. She then turned to her mother and said about me "Mom, she's the biggest fan of the books EVER!" lol awwww)

...the completed claim shanty that Pa built for Ma aka Caroline Ingalls...

(in the corner is the whatnot shelf that Ellie Boast told the Ingalls women about. She repeated these specifications to Charles Ingalls and he built this for his wife and daughters. After all, he did his best to try to give his family what they needed and wanted!)


(I thought this was a cute addition to the claim shanty. In Little House in the Big Woods, Ma recited this poem to Mary and Laura as a way of reminding them of the work she must do on each given day. "Laura liked the churning and the baking days best of all the week.")


(As Mary was preparing to return home from college in Vinton, Iowa and Laura was preparing to leave home to marry Almanzo, Charles Ingalls sold one of the family's cows and bought a sewing machine for Ma.)

...a garage with all sorts of farm tools and equipment used in that time period AND a wooden coffee grinder that was used during the long winter to grind wheat kernels into flour to make bread. I should mention that at this point in the tour, there's a large passenger wagon that takes you from one end of the prairie to the other, where the one-room schoolhouse sits. It gives you a very small idea of just how unpleasant riding in a wagon all day could be.

(Pictured here is one of the daughters of a WONDERFUL family I met while camping out in the prairie. It's so encouraging to see that families are still taking an interest in the Ingalls and Wilders and everything that their lives and values represented.)

I have to say, the owners of the Ingalls Homestead put a great amount of effort into making sure that even the minor details of the Little House legacy is respected and restored. Many of the actual personal effects of the Ingalls family are no longer in existence. I'm sure they never dreamed that 150 years down the road, people would be looking at their lives as part of our American history so what would be the point of saving their things? However, the town of De Smet and those who are involved in the historical preservation of the Ingalls family have seen to it that authentic period pieces are available for the enjoyment of the visitors to these establishments. Though the fate of Mary Ingalls actual organ is unknown, a very similar organ is in the sitting/sewing room of the Ingalls claim, seen below.



On June 9th I went into town and saw the rest of the Little House sites. More on that in another entry.

June 3rd - Little House: the later years

I grew up reading the "Little House" books and as an adult I've always wanted to travel to the places where the Ingalls family lived. I finally got my wish this summer. Due to its location, I visited Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri before I saw the main Little House lands.

Laura Ingalls married Almanzo Wilder in August of 1885 in De Smet, South Dakota. After nine years of trying unsuccessfully to farm in the Dakota prairies, the Wilder family moved to Mansfield Missouri, the land of the Ozarks. It was really beautiful in this part of the country. So many expansive green rolling hills as far as the eye could see. Almanzo bought forty acres and called the place "Rocky Ridge" due to the amount of rocks all over the soil.

In time, and with good old-fashioned hard work, Laura and Almanzo built their own house on their own land. It was at this same house that Laura wrote the "Little House" series. Below is a picture of the front of the house.



From the stones on their land, Laura and Almanzo built a chimney for their fireplace.


Years later, Almanzo said "When I look around the farm now and see the smooth green rolling meadows and pastures...I can hardly bring back to my mind the rough, rocky, brushy, ugly place that we first called Rocky Ridge Farm." Even after the farm lived up to its potential for beauty, the Wilders still called it Rocky Ridge as Almanzo said "to remind us of the battles we have fought and won."

June 2nd Memphis, Tennessee - Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Love

Today I visited Graceland, the mansion that belonged to Elvis Presley. The colonial mansion was built in 1939. Elvis purchased it for his parents in 1957.

I have to say Elvis had a tacky sense of taste. That’s exactly what’s kept me from visiting Graceland all these years; I knew about the shag carpeting and the bizarre animal prints all over the house.

But, thanks to my mother’s influence, I’ve been a fan of Elvis’ music since childhood. So I visited Graceland just to be able to say I’d done it. For all his tacky taste, Elvis was the first true rock star and his extravagant lifestyle mirrored that.

It is outrageously expensive to visit Graceland. They force you to pay to park in a lot across the street from Graceland then take a special Graceland shuttle from the ticket area. Then you go in and have to pay a minimum of $27 just to see the mansion. It costs more if you want to see Elvis’ planes, cars, and whatever special exhibits they have. THEN once you’re inside the mansion, you don’t get to see the upstairs. WHY DID I JUST PAY ALL THAT MONEY???? Boooooooo! They said they don’t show the upstairs area out of respect for Elvis’ memory. Okay, fair enough, but charge less &%*$@ money!!

Despite my bitterness over the pricing and the tackiness of his home, I did enjoy seeing Graceland, over all. The horse pastures and the rest of the grounds were really pretty. I’m sure it was an oasis of peace for Elvis when he wasn’t touring or making crappy films.

I had lunch on Beale Street in Memphis, birthplace of the blues. I ate at the Rum Boogie Café where Stevie Ray Vaughn would hang out while recording albums. This place has a cool vintage-y we’ve-been-here-forever feel. There are autographed guitars hanging ALL over the restaurant belonging to musicians such as Elvis, Bo Diddley, Joe Walsh, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Billy Joel, and JJ Cale, to mention just a few. Laughably, there was a guitar that belonged to Nicholas Cage. Ha! I hope he’s a better musician than he is an actor! I haven’t seen any of the National Treasure films he’s done, but I groan inwardly every time that freaky-lookin’ so-and-so has another film out. Just STOP already!

June 1st Tuscumbia, Alabama

Today was a long day. I woke up at 4:30 a.m., packed up my car and was on the road an hour later, leaving South Carolina. My first stop is Tuscumbia, Alabama, birthplace of Helen Keller. I first learned about Helen when I was in the 4^th grade, so it was really cool to be able to see where she lived.

Helen lost both her hearing and vision when she was just 19 months old. When she was six, help finally arrived in the form of Annie Sullivan, a young teacher for the Perkins Institution for the Blind. With Annie’s help and perseverance, Helen went on to become the first deaf-blind person to graduate from college. In 1904, she graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This is the front of the house. It's a lot smaller than I imagined. They were in the post-Civil War Deep South, so I thought I was going to see this enormous mansion rather than a modest home. But the grounds of the Keller home more than made up for it.

Here is the dining room where Annie Sullivan, upon arrival, decided that Helen would no longer be permitted to act wildly just because she was blind and deaf. She would still be expected to sit properly at the table, eat her food, and not get up and sample from everyone else's plates. This caused Helen to throw a HUGE temper tantrum as she was used to getting her way. But in the end Annie won and gradually Helen began to behave the way any well-mannered child should.














The FAMOUS water pump. For months Annie Sullivan had been spelling words into Helen's hand; d-o-l-l for doll, w-a-t-e-r for water, but none of it made sense to Helen. Suddenly one day, everything clicked and it was here at the pump that the cloud lifted and Helen understood that w-a-t-e-r was that cool refreshing wet stuff coming out of the pump.















In her autobiography, Helen talked about how, even as a blind, deaf child, she would walk through these beautiful grounds, smelling the flowers, feeling the summer breeze on her face.