Now that the dust and other things have settled since we returned, ...
My wife and I managed to cover almost 5,000 miles in 22 days, without strangling each other! (Just kidding.)
All-in-all, the journey was a success. I didn't get to do the rockhounding I wanted to do, but several of the Bucket List items were accomplished.
My prior visits to Michigan (1981) and Wisconsin/Minnesota (1982) were primarily to visit local breweries. In Frankenmuth, Michigan, my goals were;
1) To visit Frankenmuth Brewing Co. (a descendant of the Geyer Brothers Brewing Co., which I visited 40 years ago); and
2) To have lunch at the famous Frankenmuth Bavarian Inn, where I dined 40 years ago, as well. I did both. 2 out of 2.
Prior to this trip, I had never seen any of the Great Lakes. With my first wife in 1983, we visited Niagra Falls, but visiting Lakes Ontario and Erie did not occur to us. On this trip, I managed to see, photograph, and dip my hand into 3 of the 5 Great Lakes, visiting Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior. (We had plans to visit the Michigan shore of Lake Erie, but afternoon traffic prevented our visit.) 3 out of 4 for that one.
Prior to this trip, I had visited 42 of the U.S. states. I had plans to at least drive through the eastern edges of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and across Iowa.
Thankfully my wife had the gumption to insist that we "actually do something" while in those states. In the case of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska, the "best places" are in the western part of those states. (She had a better idea of our ultimate schedule.)
In western North Dakota, we visited
Theodore Roosevelt National Park (Southern Sector), which included the Badlands of the Little Missouri River, eroded into the Paleocene Fort Union Formation. East of the main part of TRNP was Painted Canyon, which included more of the local Badlands.
In western South Dakota, we visited the town of Deadwood, Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, and leaving the state for Nebraska, we encountered the very interesting Hot Springs, South Dakota.
We stayed 3 nights in North Dakota, 2 nights in South Dakota , and 2 nights in Nebraska (and about 20 minutes in Iowa). 4 out of 4 for that one.
Not to forget my wife, just getting free of the responsibilities of home and seeing relatives and a long-time friend in Traverse City was of prime importance. In addition, she had never seen a Bald Eagle, much less a Bald Eagle nest, which we did near Lake Itasca, MN (the headwaters of the Mississippi River) - Photo below.
Figure 1.
Figure 2. Eagle's Nest (Eagle was present earlier in the day.)
On I-94, just east of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, there was a large fenced area with maybe 40 or 50 Bison. As we were driving by, two of the Bison bulls began fighting each other, i.e., doing the major league head-butting thing.
Related to an earlier paragraph, aside from visiting the Frankenmuth Brewing Co., we also visited Fargo Brewing Co. and I was able to bring some craft beers (including some Oktoberfest beers) back to Georgia, to share with family & friends.
Amongst missed places in South Dakota were The Badlands National Park, Wall Drug store (which my wife had visited as a teenager); and Fort Kearny, and Chimney Rock, Nebraska.
Our visit to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, NW of Traverse City, MI was an eye-opening experience. It is hard to envision standing atop a 450-foot high sand dune adjacent to Lake Michigan, but I did that (and I understand that there are other areas of "serious" sand dunes in Michigan). Another fascinating experience was taking a 2 and 1/2 hour boat cruise on Lake Superior to see the "Pictured Rocks" near the city of Munising, MI.
Hopefully, maybe we can manage another trip next year, to "fill in some of the blanks" for this trip, including spending a little more time at some of the places we visited this year. Some examples just within the state of Michigan include the Upper Peninsula Copper District (which we missed) and Iron Mining District (which we did visit very briefly).
