Days 10-12

So this is really late in coming, but I've been busy settling in here. The rest of our trip was fantastic. We headed out towards the South Dakota badlands and enjoyed touring Mt. Rushmore, the caves underneath the mountain, a yummy winery called Prairie Berry Winery, and seeing Deadwood and Sturgis SD, known for outlaws and motorcycles, respectively. It was wild.

You can see Mt. Rushmore in the background.

The rest of the trip was driving, driving, driving, driving. It kind of sucked. There's nothing in Wyoming or Montana, at least the way we came. And, despite my objections, we slept on the side of the highway in Montana. I'm still slightly annoyed by that one. Even if it did enable us to cross the Canadian border early in the morning, allowing an easy transition and export of my car (which I neglected to do 72 hours in advance). We made it to Edmonton safely and here I am. Total mileage: 4,124. The car survived and has since been doing well. We'll see what happens come winter! It's already fall here, complete with long sleeves, pants and socks. I miss summer :(

Welcome to Alberta, where it's rained every day since I've been here :(

Days 5-9

Phew am I ever sick of sitting in a car! Between driving from Missouri to Minnesota to South Dakota, we've been racking up the miles on the Oldsmobile. Here's a quick recap:

1. Darren survived the Kookamonga Challenge. He was sick for a couple days but rebounded nicely for the Minnesota State Fair
2. Went on a great tour of the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis. Totally worth the $25 to drink directly out of the finishing tanks! Great history and tour as well of the behind-the-scenes process of brewing beer.
3. Toured Mark Twain's hometown of Hannibal, Mo.
4. Experienced the Minnesota State Fair where we saw heads of butter, ate lots of food on a stick, livestock being born (yes, born) and had a blast losing at games and taking many spins on many rides.

At the brewery

Heads of butter! In the background you can see a girl being "carved". They get to keep their heads afterwords.

I think D and I will survive if we can make it through the Black Hills area of South Dakota! We'll be here for a couple of days before heading up to Alberta. Almost there!