Midwest Road Trip

21 May – 4 June 2021

I love road trips…my soul needs to get out of my house and into nature periodically. I had been planning this trip for quite awhile but put it off until I was vaccinated and it was late enough in the year for the northern parts to be warm. I visited 13 states on the trip (4 of them for the first time!) and visited 7 National Parks, 5 for the first time.
Camp Floyd State Park
Visited Andre for his birthday on my way out
Fort Bridger State Park…walked the grounds and ate old-fashioned stick candy 🙂
Dinner at Cavalryman Steakhouse in Laramie…trout, Cajun zucchini, and berry cobbler 🙂 Ordered takeout and ate it in the parking lot on my lounge chair.
21 May 625 miles
Stayed at Lewis Park campground (free!) in Wheatland Wyoming
Fort Laramie NHS
Scott’s Bluff…would have been more striking without the fog, but it was cool in its own way
Agate Fossil Beds NM…the calendar skin is so cool! Lots of places started allowing no masks for vaccinated people
Ducked back into Wyoming to hit Devils Tower NM…saw some bison and pronghorn. The wind circle sculpture was really neat.
After a quick shower stop at Spearfish campground where I was planning to stay, I pushed on so that I could be at wind cave early enough to get a cave tour. Briefly stopped in Deadwood for some pub fish and a quick selfie with Wild Bill. Crowded tourist trap honestly.
22 May 495 miles Stayed at Oreville campground. Pulled in after dark but the shot the next morning proved that it’s s pretty spot 🙂
Wind Cave NP…waited for 2 hours in line but I was able to get a spot on a tour.
Wind cave is named for the amazing airflow throughout. This is the natural opening
Crazy Horse Memorial was blanketed in fog so I had to settle for posing with the model
Mount Rushmore poked out of the fog briefly
Wall Drug…had fish and delicious donuts
Badlands NP…traded fog for wind!
South Dakota state Capitol
Farm Island state park…got there early evening. Knowing I had along driving day ahead, I abandoned the cute cabin, took a shower, and pushed on!
23 May 574 miles Ended up at Garden Inn in Sioux Falls
Winter Quarters temple and memorial
Nebraska state Capitol
Pappajohn sculpture park
Iowa state Capitol has a pretty shiny gold dome
Beautiful sunset shots at a rest stop in Iowa

24 May 610 miles Slept in my car at a rest stop near Davenport

Illinois state Capitol
Lincoln Boyhood home NHS…the buildings were closed but the street was charming
Delicious apple pie 🙂
Indianapolis temple
Indiana state Capitol
Didn’t catch it right at 350,000 but close enough. I love my Ace…best car ever!
Buckeyes are my favorite! These are excellent 🙂
Dayton Aviation Heritage park
Ohio state house…there was nowhere to park, circled and circled so this was the best I could do
25 May 687 miles Stayed at Charles mill lake state park. Looked for my site for awhile and then finally just pulled into one of the many empty ones. Took these shots the next morning.
Drove through some Amish country. Visited Yoder’s bargain store, an awesome store. Bought a Dutch card game that the shopkeeper said is really fun…excited to try it!
Fruit hand pies and wild apple soda from Dutch kitchen. Also some of the most delectable wheat bread I have ever tasted.
First Ladies NHP…really cool!
Cuyahoga National Park…it poured when I first got there. I did two conference presentations while there…the first one on the side of the road and the second (after a slight reprimand) in a public library. And parts of the park were closed so the whole experience was a bit tainted
First time in Michigan…my 46th State!
River Raisin National Battlefield
Henry Ford museum (closed but the colonial buildings were so cool)
Detroit Michigan temple
26 May 427 miles Michigan state Capitol. Stayed in Lansing at Hampton.
I had planned to skip the northern part of the “glove” and head directly to Sleeping Bear Dunes but I decided to try for Mackinac Island so I headed north. On a whim I stopped at this German-inspired town.
Went to Brommers, the hugest Christmas store I have ever seen! Bought a really cute figurine for the Belen.
Got Apple strudel and Mozart kugel from the Bavarian inn shops and would have had lunch but it’s all meat…schnitzel and brats 😦
Stopped in Bay City to put my feet into Lake Huron, visit my street, and do a conference presentation in a tiny corner of the public library. Finding quiet public places is pretty hard when you’re on the road. I used a TON of data this trip using my hotspot all the time.
Mackinaw City is so nice! Visited the lighthouse at Colonial Michilimackinac park
Fish and chips (excellent!) and chowder (strangely bitter) at scalawags.
Great little hike from McGulpin lighthouse through the woods to the shore of Lake Superior
Hiked around the beach at Headlands Dark Sky Park
Crossed the Mackinac Bridge into St Ignace hoping to find a rest stop to stay the night (I got a ferry ticket for the next morning so I needed to be somewhere close). Beautiful rest stops with awesome views but no overnight stays allowed 😦 so I headed back over the bridge and got some amazing sunset shots.
27 May 365 miles Ended up at Mackinaw Mill Creek campground which was right next to the windy Lake Huron
Ferry ride across Lake Huron.
Mackinac Island (so cute!) beautiful church, an old fort, buggies. No vehicles are allowed.
Walked around, bought a puzzle, ice cream, some fudge. Watched the fudge guru pour a batch, had some breakfast and then took the ferry back.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore…the overlook was terrifying. Heights and big water all at once.

28 May 445 miles Drove around looking for a place to stay. The campground at Indiana dunes was full, couldn’t find a place on town streets where I wouldn’t be worried about someone getting suspicious of my presence. Ended up in my car at a truck stop in Michigan city 🙂

Indiana Dines National Park
Pullman NHS…cool but no actual Pullman car…strange!
After reading The Devil in the White City, the Chicago Worlds Fair fascinated me. The Statue of the Republic is one of the few artifacts left
Deep dish Chicago-style pizza from Giordanos…doesn’t get better than this! The traffic through the city was horrendous or I would have also stopped at a churro place and at the Art Institute. As it was, I parked illegally after circling and circling!
The Chicago temple is stunning! Cool fountain too 🙂
My 47th State!
In Milwaukee I stopped at this basilica because it reminded me of my mom who used to say “Jehoshaphat” on my to find that it’s actually Josaphat. Haha
Went to the Harley-Davidson museum with my brother in mind. Didn’t want to pay $22 for the entrance fee so I just took a few photos
Wisconsin state Capitol
Must eat cheese while in Wisconsin…Mac and cheese, fried cheese curds, and a grilled cheese sandwich
Wisconsin Dells
Black River…the water did look really dark

29 May 535 miles Stayed at the Garden Inn in St Paul. No welcome to Minnesota sign…48th State! 🙂

St Paul temple. Went to sacrament meeting at the church next door
Minnesota State Capitol
St Paul cathedral
Minnehaha Falls
Mississippi NRRA
Interstate State Park -straddles Minnesota and Wisconsin. Taylors Falls
Bad River 🙂
30 May 438 miles The drive through the Upper Peninsula was beautiful but very winding. Camped at the very end of it at Fort Wilkins State Park
3 1/2 hour ferry ride across Lake Superior. Talked to a couple from Illinois and a guy who was biking and hiking across the US. Their distancing signs were pretty funny!
Isle Royale National park. One of the main reasons I took this trip. It’s only accessible by boat or plane and is closed most of the year. It’s a beautiful place! I didn’t have too long before I had to catch the ferry back so I just hiked around a little and spent a bunch of time just lounging with my feet in the water 🙂
Keweenaw NHP. Old towns where they extracted and processed copper
31 May 227 miles The drive back off the peninsula was really pretty. Camped at Wanoka Lake
Killed SO MANY insects with my car this trip!
Aerial lift bridge in Duluth
Brighton Beach
Stopped for a video call and bathroom break at this pretty Lester Park
Stopped for lunch at Betty’s Pies in Two Harbors. Doesn’t get much better than a veggie pasty and Great Lakes pie (apple, rhubarb, and mixed berry). They didn’t have small ones so I just chipped away at the big one. a little each day 🙂
Gooseberry Falls State Park
Split Rock Lighthouse. Didn’t want to pay the entrance fee so just shot it from a distant viewpoint
Beaver Bay. This whole drive along Lake Superior is so beautiful!
Braked at a turnoff for a black sand beach and waded around thinking it wasn’t really black just dark. Drove a little farther down the road and found the actual black sand beach. Well mostly black gravel. But very pretty 🙂
Tettegouche State Park
Voyageurs National Park…I had been so looking forward to it. It was honestly a little underwhelming, not really any prettier than the other local nature. Drove around Kabetogama Lake, hiked to the beaver dam overlook (trees were in the way so bit much of an overlook), explored around other small lakes in the Rainy Lake area up north
1 June 384 miles Stayed at the Days Inn in international Falls. Took forever to get there because of this intense road construction. Did some work at the hotel, cooked some ramen in the parking lot for dinner, and got a good nights sleep. Wanted to get Canadian candy but with the closed border, that was a bust. Bought some amazing Old Dutch potato chips in the morning before I left.
Itasca State Park
49th state!
Fargo. Funky painted bison. Cool Norwegian architecture. Amazing fish at Sickies Garage.
North Dakota state Capitol. No dome or anything. Looks more like a random office building. In fact I couldn’t find it at first 🙂
Bismarck temple
2 June 466 miles Camped at Bismarck KOA
Scandinavian Heritage Park in Minot. Danish windmill, beautiful wooden Norwegian church, Swedish horse and house, and the most amazing chocolate (Icelandic and fazermint
Teddy Roosevelt National Park. Basically Badlands 2. 🙂
Billings Montana temple. Pretty but way in the boonies!

3 June 715 miles. Stayed in the KOA in Mandan

Little Bighorn battlefield…super hated this. Made me sad.
Little Bighorn canyon
Hot Springs State Park…way too hot to get into the pools but cool to photograph
Sinks Canyon State Park…what a hidden gem! Sat at the edge of the river for awhile. 🙂
Cool sink hole…how the canyon got its name 🙂
Back to Utah! 4 June 624 miles Slept in my own bed 🙂