Eideology Middle West Tour 2010

As you have probably noticed, I haven't posted anything recently. You see, I decided to take my little dog and pony show on the road. From this little idea the Eideology Mid-west Summer Tour 2010 was born. We left our little pocket of Socialism here in the Northwest a couple weeks ago and we were off to spend time in "Real America." Specifically, we left our Imaginary American and headed almost straight West to what my family refers to as The Holy Land. No, we didn't go to Israel/Palestine or Mecca or even upstate New York. Instead we made our pilgrimage to the Vining, Minnesota Metro area.

Our drive west was all freeway until we got to the last 30 miles of the trip. While it is all interstate we still traversed all of West's greatest geography. The mighty Columbia river, the Bitter root Mountains, the Yellowstone River, the grass lands of the Dakotas, the Missouri River and of course, Fargo. The drive was long and tiresome but at least we made it out there without adding a new piece of road kill.

We made it to Vining in time for the 4th of July celebration, which is an unofficial Family reunion. On the 4th there were 63 members of my extended family; Grandmother, Great Aunt, Brothers, Sisters, cousins, grandchildren, great grandchildren, 2nd Cousins and even a few in-laws. It turned out to be a beautiful day and the annual bean bag toss and shoe kicking competitions were hotly contested. I will say I was robbed in the shoe kicking when a cousin-in-law called me out on a foot fault during the "kick-off." She was watching me closer than a Wimbledon line judge. Ultimately, I was awarded 3rd place . . . I was totally robbed.

We experienced a lot of family time, we boated and sailed and even had a Broadway sing-a-long. But we travelers inevitably grow restless and so we left the Hobbit-sized people that are my family to their summer paradise in the Shire and were off. We drove all day and finally arrived in the Black Hills of South Dakota. On this portion of our journey we were joined by my cousin and her family of five boys, if you include her husband. Along the way we stopped at Wall Drugs, which while handing out free water oddly enough does not have free wifi.

Upon our arrival in the Black Hills, we decided to head straight to Mt. Rushmore and see the Great American Heads. I realize I am kind of snarky and sarcastic, but this really is an amazing site that everyone should see once in their life. If you do go, be sure to see the nightly lighting ceremony which includes a video giving the history of the mountain and the four Presidents memorialized there. However, even the video finds it a little hard to liken Teddy Roosevelt's presidency to those of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln.

The next day we went and saw the equally amazing Crazy Horse monument. While not completed it is pretty cool. The indigenous people of the areas, know as Indians, were upset with the desecration of Mt. Rushmore, which they feel is sacred, so they decided to desecrated a much large mountain to celebrate Crazy Horse, one of the victorious Indians from the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Again, I know I am snarky, but check this thing out too.

After a day and a half we took off and drove ALL DAY through northeastern Wyoming and half of Montana. Then we drove ALL KNIGHT through the rest of Montana, Idaho and all the way to the Tri-cities of Washington when the sun rose on us. We continued our Journey all the way to Cannon Beach, Oregon so we could attend my Lady's Family Reunion.

Cannon Beach is well known for two things; it is where parts of The Goonies was filmed and being the home to more Women's' Retreat than anywhere else in the world. I must admit I enjoyed the beach but to meet anyone in Cannon Beach you must be introduced through your dogs on the beach. Thankfully my in-laws brought their two dogs.

My In-law's family reunion was a lot of fun, with a minor bit of drama, but no more than my family's drama. The Oregon coast was a good bookend to our trip and on Sunday we drove back the Seattle Area and began the most difficult part of coming home, unpacking and re-learning the local TV channels.