Day 48 Summer Vacation 2009

We slept in a bit this morning, but we're on the road heading out of Kalamazoo Michigan by 9:30 am.

It was an uneventful drive through the rest of Michigan to the Port Huron / Sarnia border crossing.

Here are some photos of the Blue Water Bridge.

Entering Canada was a breeze, there was only 1 car ahead of us, which is very rare and unusual. Typically, we have waited up to an hour in the line to get through customs. The Customs officials had 3 questions.. Where are we going, How long have we been gone and Where did we go while in the USA. He waved us through after I answered the questions.

We are back in Ontario.

So that concludes our Summer 2009 Vacation, we certainly had a great time and enjoyed every moment. We got to see things and do things that we had never seen or done before. We have some ideas of what to do next summer, some places to come back to and explore some more. We learnt that we both like cruising, so I can see future cruises in our plans. I hope that you who followed along also learned a few things and saw some places that you would like to visit.

For those of you who like to know such things… here is the raw data, all figures have been calculated in Canadian Dollars.

Without the cost of the cruise, we were able to stay under our $200.00 per day budget.

Average daily cost = $194.76 Cdn.

Total KM = 12955 (8050 Miles)

Total Litres of Fuel Purchased = 950.4 (251.1 gal)

Total cost of fuel = 735.66 Cdn.

Average cost of Food per day = $37.63 Cdn.

Average cost of Hotel per day = 72.05 Cdn.

If you calculate in the cost of the cruise to Alaska and the shore excursions, it blows the $200.00 per day budget out of the water, but it was a chance of a lifetime and a wonderful cruise.

Average Daily Cost including the cruise = $289.81 Cdn

Total number of photos taken = 5181

Our next scheduled vacation is back to South Padre Island Texas this winter, so watch for blog updates when we start that vacation.

To see the photos that I took today, you can click on the link to my FLICKR site.

Day 47 Summer Vacation 2009

Here is the map of our route for today.

Today we were in 4 States. We started the day in Madison Wisconsin. We drove out of Wisconsin and into Illinois. Driving through Chicago at noon was like driving on the 401 across the top of Toronto during 5 o’clock rush hour only worse, if you can imagine that. Anyways, we lived to tell the tale and I was happy to put Chicago behind us. Here are some photos that Karen took as we drove through Chicago IL.

Soon after leaving Chicago behind us, we crossed over the State border into Indiana.

And then over the State border into Michigan.

We are here in Kalamazoo Michigan for the evening, and tomorrow we will drive the last stretch through Michigan, then cross the US / Canada Border and onwards to home.

You can see all of the photos that I took today on my FLICKR site.

Day 46 Summer Vacation 2009

We left Worthington Minnesota this morning after breakfast and we are heading for Madison Wisconsin.

We stopped briefly in Blue Earth MN for a photo op with the Jolly Green Giant and Little Sprout.

There were lots of Wind Turbines along I 90 near Dexter MN.

We crossed over the Mighty Mississippi River.

And entered into Wisconsin.

We get to add another State to our States Visited Map.

We arrived at our hotel in Madison Wisconsin just as it started to rain.

Here is a map of the route that we followed today.

I took a few photos today, to see them, click on the link to my FLICKR site.

Day 45 Summer Vacation 2009

We left Wall SD at 9am and headed East on I-90. We are heading for home via the Interstates rather than the back roads. Sticking to the Interstates you don’t get to experience much of what I call Main Street America, but we did take an hour or so to get off the Interstate and stop for a visit at The Corn Palace in Mitchell SD.

The Corn Palace exterior is decorated with murals created by the use of corn cobs and other grasses and grains. Each year there is a theme chosen for the murals and they are all re-done. As it happened, this years theme is America’s Destinations.. As you know, last summer and this summer we visited some of America’s well known destinations and it was fun to point at the murals and say “we were there”.

Here are the murals of the places that we have been.

It would be interesting to watch one of these murals being created, how many cobs of corn go into a mural…. Here is a close up photo so that you can see the individual cobs.

After leaving the Corn Palace we continued along I-90 to our hotel for this evening.

Here is a map of the route we drove today.

Also today we crossed over another State Border as we left South Dakota and entered into Minnesota. Here is the Welcome to Minnesota sign and a new States Visited map.

We have not visited Colorado or North Dakota, perhaps next summer we will come back this way and visit those two States. We also have not visited anywhere along the East Coast.. could that be next summers destination… We will start thinking about next summer as soon as we get home and unpacked from this summers vacation.

There are more photos of the Corn Palace and other things on my FLICKR site.

Day 44 Summer Vacation 2009

Today is a day for relaxing and getting a few things accomplished such as laundry and a haircut.

We re-visited Wall Drug and had lunch and then wandered around through Wall Drug and the rest of Main Street.

We took a few moments for a photo op sitting on the Wall Drug Jackalope.

We will be leaving Wall SD in the morning and we will start heading for home. We have seen so much and done so much over the last 44 days but it is time to start to think about getting home. Living out of a suitcase is getting tiring, eating in restaurants is getting to be a bore, the menus are all start looking the same and it is hard to decide what to eat that we haven’t eaten a few days earlier. Although we still have a few more weeks left in our vacation before returning to work, I really don’t think that there is anything much to see or do between here and home that will outshine what we are leaving behind us, so we might as well put the pedal to the floor and get home.

Not too many photos today, but if you wish to view them, they are on my FLICKR site.

Day 43 Summer Vacation 2009

I just realized that we have been in the State of South Dakota for a few days now and I have not updated our Visited States Map… so here it is.

Here is the route that we will follow today as we drive from Deadwood SD to Wall SD with a little side trip into the Badlands of South Dakota.

We left Deadwood SD this morning and headed for Sturgis South Dakota. Sturgis is well known to motorcycle enthusiasts. Each year Sturgis hosts the largest motorcycle event in the country. Our timing was a little off though, I think we are about a week late. Sturgis was quiet when we drove through town.

After leaving Sturgis SD, we will drive on I 90 and visit the Badlands National Park, South of Wall SD.

This area was set aside as a National Park in 1929. There are several overlooks where you can park the car and enjoy the scenery.

The Pinnacles Overlook

The Ancient Hunters Overlook

Yellow Mounds Overlook

Conta Basin Overlook

Homestead Overlook

Burns Basin Overlook

Prairie Wind Overlook

Panorama Point Overlook

Bigfoot Pass Overlook

White River Valley Overlook

The Big Badlands Overlook

After driving through the Badlands we headed back North on I-90 to the town of Wall South Dakota.

Wall became famous when the proprietor of a drug store in Wall put signs out on the highway advertising free ice water and 5 cent coffee… That was way back in 1931 and it is still true today. Wall Drug has put the town of Wall SD on the map. Wall Drug is a must stop if you are passing nearby, you will not find another place quite like it. It has become a tourist destination, and we noticed several bus loads of tourists being dropped off for a visit.

I have been very lax in taking photos of the desserts that we have been eating as we travel. Just because I have not been taking photos though, does not mean that we quit eating desserts. Tonight Karen sampled a piece of Kuchen Pie. I had a dish of ice cream instead, I wasn’t sure if I might be allergic to something in the Kuchen pie. Kuchen Pie is the official pie for the State of South Dakota. I was not aware that each State had an official pie… that could be a good reason to re-visit all the States we have been in, so that we can have a piece of each States “official” pie.

I took lots of photos today, so if you would like to view all of the photos, click on the link to my FLICKR site.