Deadwood, SD is full of bikers and prostitutes

The most interesting place where we spent the night was in Deadwood, SD. To prepare, Josh and I watched some of the HBO series Deadwood, so it was interesting to be in the actual place.

Here is the view from our hotel room:

I love the houses in the hills

Our hotel was really cool because it was historic and still had an original, working Otis elevator:

You had to close both doors to make it work. I felt so fancy.

What makes Deadwood so interesting is that it is technically illegal. A bunch of settlers decided to stay here, even though it was reservation land, and just refused to leave. The other interesting fact about Deadwood is that it is the place where "Wild Bill" Hickok was shot in the back while playing poker.

In fact:

 

Next to our hotel is this memorial to Wild Bill, sculpted by the sculptor of the Crazy Horse monument and from the extraneous rock blasted from the Crazy Horse memorial site:

 We woke up early on Wednesday (for context: we had been on the road for three long days at this point) and walked through town trying to find a place for breakfast. We finally settled on the Gem Steakhouse and Saloon, which used to be the Gem Theater. The Gem plays a significant role in the tv show, but was a little less impressive in person.

There were a lot of bikers due to some biker convention in a nearby town, so eating my eggs next to a bunch of burly bikers made me a bit nervous.

also, I should have known better than to order eggs bennedict

This is just a random store, but Josh thought the door handles were clever:

There was also a boy scout soapbox derby happening:

And every small town needs its name on a water tower:

We then went to the Adams Museum, which had historical artifacts from the town and was located conveniently across the street from our hotel:

 

Josh thought it was very fitting that the symbols of the city are a gold pan, shovel, and deadly, deadly pickaxe:

Inside the museum, we saw sights such as:

The first train engine in the west, brought in by oxcart, and a bell reported to be used on a steamship, but the note says that this claim is unlikely

a binder of the history of prostitution in the town, including pictures that were reversed to negative in order to protect the identities of these ladies who are now probably grandmas

Josh sampled the newfangled stereoscope machine

an old-timey slot machine

fan art of Wild Bill Hickok

one man took 3,700 hours to carve out these 97 figures that make up this teeny, tiny nudist colony

And thus ended our day in Deadwood.

ShepAlder Trek Phase 3: The Actual Trek Part

We started off with really good intentions to leave in the early afternoon on Sunday (July 1st) to get to Coeur d'Alene at a reasonable hour, but unfortunately we had so many last-minute things to do, we didn't get out of Beaverton until around 4:30.

We had to drug Mercury, and she wasn't happy about it:

Josh drove the entire way, so he deserves a lot of recognition for that since, all told, we traveled over 2,000 miles. We spent the first night in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, which was pretty but we saw pretty much none of it. On Monday we drove to Billings, Montana, with a quick stop-off in Helena to see the capitol:

There was a very relaxed feel to Helena, especially since they let me roll around on the carpet:

They also had very nice bathrooms and a free blood pressure machine.

Across the street from the capitol was a Montana state history museum, which included a huge metal sculpture of a cow skull. You don't see this in Oregon:

I liked Helena a lot. I'm not sure if I will ever have a reason to live there, but it's a cute, little college town. The Montana landscape was also very pretty:

We stayed overnight in Billings and went to the temple in the morning. 

Montana = beautiful, but then we went to Wyoming, which is flat and boring, except for this:

Josh was really the motivating force behind our sightseeing, since I had already seen many of these places as a kid. He wanted to see Devils Tower very badly. So we went. 

It was really hot. We hiked around a little bit. Josh loves this picture:

And he also wants you to know that he chose this t-shirt specifically for this day of sight-seeing:

These areas attract tourists from strange places. For instance, at the Montana State Capitol, there was a Swedish family taking pictures and generally being in the way. At Devils Tower, I had to wait 5 minutes while a German family had a water fight with the potable water. 

We then drove to our hotel in Deadwood, South Dakota, where we dropped off Mercury before going out again to see:

Which looks like this a little closer-up:

Although it is a work-in-progress, they have finished the face:

The statue in the foreground is what the finished product will look like:

If you don't know much about this monument, or about Crazy Horse in general, I recommend reading a bit about it. It was commission by a Lakota elder and has been in progress since 1948. 

This is the quote that inspired the design:

This is how the finished product will look:

It was getting late at night, and Josh wanted to see Mt. Rushmore lit up, so we went there next. Apparently when you buy a day pass to Mt. Rushmore it is good for the entire year, so we went back the next day as well:

the flags are the U.S. state flags. We tried to get a picture of Oregon's flag, but it refused to unfurl in the wind.

We were actually there on the 4th of July, but they can't do fireworks at Mt. Rushmore because of fire danger. They did, however, have men dressed up as the presidents, taking pictures with tourists. 

It was special to be there on Independence Day, but I was glad we had gone to the museum and everything the night before because it was hot. 

I am going to have to write a separate post about Deadwood, just because it's a cool town and I have lots to say, but I can tell you now that the farther east we got, the crankier I became. We have now been in Grand Forks for almost a week and it hasn't gotten much better. But you can still look forward to a post about our trip to Universal Studios in Florida, new things we are discovering about Grand Forks, and pictures of our new apartment.

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #16

This is really more about East Grand Forks, but let's be honest-- it's all the same experience. When Josh and I were researching our future hometown, he got really excited about the low, low prices of the local movie theater ($5 for a matinee?! It's like we've gone back in time!)

Ladies and gentlemen, I have, to date, now seen two movies here:

I have a hard time with the log cabin theme. I get confused. Am I watching a movie, or should I chop some wood and skin a squirrel? 

Josh loves it because they offer free refills for all fountain drinks, and you have access to the machine yourself so you can do what Josh likes best and mix flavors without being judged as fussy.

It also has corridors and nooks and crannies everywhere, so if you want to use the restroom quickly in the middle of a pivotal scene, you might end up wandering around for much longer than you had anticipated. 

Josh says that if he owned a movie theater then it would look exactly like this. Thank heavens I have a day job.

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #15

Grand Forks is not a very pedestrian-friendly town. I know that I've been spoiled living in Oregon where there are walking/running/biking paths everywhere, but where we now live, there are barely sidewalks and at most intersections there are not even crosswalks. 

Not that this matters, since during our late afternoon Sunday stroll, we saw only one other pedestrian (who was running) and a couple creepy guys on bikes. People don't walk here. In fact, they drive so fast, I'm pretty certain I'll be t-boned at every intersection. Also, they don't stop at stop signs. 

If I make it out of here without getting into an accident, I will be surprised. 

WDW: Not just for kids!

We did a few really cool things during our trip to Walt Disney World in mid-June (aside from eating the best food ever, of course). 

Over in Disney Hollywood Studios:

We got ourselves frozen in carbonite, like Donald:

But what really happened is that we sat in a little chair while someone took 3D pictures of our faces.  It looked something like this:

Then we made a variety of expressions, which looked something like this:

Then we got to choose the expression we liked the  most so that it can be made into an action figure-- something like this:

but with our own heads. They are made into 8" action figures and we should be getting them in a few weeks. I'm not sure where we'll put them, but I'm sure they will be displayed prominently.

We also went to this really cool Walt Disney museum, which was kind of off the beaten path but well worth visiting. It includes:

Walt Disney's office

Mr. Lincoln without his clothes on

It also included much more memorabilia-- more than I can include in this post. So if you are randomly in Disney Hollywood Studios, make sure to visit this museum.

In the Animal Kingdom, we made sure to get the obligatory "in front of the Tree of Life" picture;

And then a picture in front of Expedition Everest:

We also went on the safari and saw zillions of giraffes (among other animals):

At Epcot, we wore matching sweatshirts:

And rode on Spaceship Earth (the golf ball):

which they have revamped, so it now includes a portion where you answer a few questions and you get a video of what your life may be like in the future:

It made me laugh so hard, I was crying.

Finally, we went to the Magic Kingdom a few times:

It was really, really, really crowded and the only fun we had there together was during Magic Hours when the park was open until 2am for those staying at the Disney resorts. 

We made sure to visit the Haunted Mansion, which recently re-did their graveyard to make it more interactive. This includes an organ you can play, musical instruments on the wall that you touch and they play a tune, and this sarcophagus:

which sprayed water at passersby.

And took a picture here, which makes us look pretty wilted:

I'm glad that we chose to do some nontraditional, non-ride things because there were just way too many people and the lines were usually 45+ minutes long.

We didn't get to spend much time with my family, which was unfortunate, but none of them really wanted to spend time in the parks when we were there and  I had to go home earlier than others because of work. But, of course, wherever the ShepAlders are, there the fun is also!

I'm getting prepared to write my many posts about our road trip east, but I have to overcome the denial that I'm going to be living in North Dakota for the next year first.

ShepAlder Temple #48: Billings, Montana

As part of our ridiculous road trip halfway across the country, we stopped in Billings, Montana to do a session at the temple.

The main thing of note is that this is a one-story temple with a tall spire, which makes it a very unique. There is no mistaking the Billings temple for anything else. Also, it is right next to the hills, which makes it very picturesque.

It is also practically impossible to get lost. There are glass doors that remind you to stop and go a different way. It was very well-designed. The inside was pretty plain, of course, with a lot of white walls and gold trim. No purple couches, sadly.

One thing of note is that the Celestial Room is asymmetrically designed, with bay stained-glass windows. There is also apparently a skylight in the main foyer that offers a view of the angel Moroni, but I forgot to look for it.

We are still trying to figure out where temples #49 and 50 are going to be. Josh wants to go to the St. Paul, Minnesota temple sometime soon, but after spending over 2,000 miles in the car to get here, I don't think I'll be willing to spend over 10 hours in the car round trip anytime soon.

So what do you think? Where should temples #49 and 50 be?

Things I didn't know about Grand Forks #14

Josh just discovered tonight that North Dakota is one of the only states that enforces the blue law, which means that stores are not allowed to be open on Sundays. This includes WalMart, which is usually open 24 hours but Josh happened to be there around midnight when they announced that they were closing.

Previously, this law was strict: no stores could be open from midnight to midnight. But following a blizzard when no one could buy supplies, the law was changed in 1991 so that stores are only closed until noon on Sundays.

This affects me not at all since I don't shop on Sundays anyway, but it's pretty interesting.