Yellowstone, Cody, Black Hills (Wyoming), Badlands (South Dakota), Albert Lea Lake (Minnesota), Chicago (Illinois) and Sandusky (Ohio)

So, its been a long time since I've had a chance to blog again for you all. I've been busy.
I left you last in Montana, at Katelyn's house, and... well I've travelled over 1000 miles since then so you have a lot to catch up with!

From Katelyn's house we travelled to Yellowstone National Park. First things first, yes Suzanne, I did check the ground for cracks, and as you've spoken to me since you know I wasn't blown up in the supervolcano there (though I did find out that some people are pretty sure it's going to blow the park up within the next 3 years!!).
The first thing we did in Yellowstone was try to visit Old Faithful, we made it in the end, but only after being held up in Bison traffic jams for a long time!

Just to clarify, that is a bison beside the car... and its not a mini car... it's an SUV. These things are MASSIVE.

Once we arrived at the geyser we had a little wait before it finally went off...

After all the water and steam had died down we headed to some other small geysers and thermal pools.
The next day consisted of the same kind of deal, thermal pools, Yellowstone Falls and bubbling acidic mud, so here are some overview photos for now:

 Incidentally, in case you were wondering, Yellowstone is called that because of the unusually yellow stone. Amazing naming skills they have here.

So there we go, Yellowstone over with and no volcanic experiences to report :)

From the NP we drove through Cody, Wyoming, home of Buffalo Bill and all that cowboy and indian stuff. To be honest, all we did there was go to Walmart on the way to the campsite, but I thought I'd give it a mention!

The next day we said goodbye to Wyoming and hello to South Dakota and the Black Hills (again with the inventive naming- the hills are covered in dark pine forests). Now, the Black Hills might not ring any bells, but it's actually the location of Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument.
Crazy Horse was our first stop. The monument is still in progress, it has been for the last 60 years, but when it's finished it will show Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota Indian tribe pointing across the Black Hills and proclaiming "My lands are where my people lie buried" when he was offered a reservation by the white settlers after the battle of Little Big Horn.
Here he is so far, along with a statue of what he'll look like in the end:

I loved the Crazy Horse monument, it's a bit sad that at this rate I won't get to see it finished in my lifetime, but the Lakota have refused governmental grants so that they themselves can pay for the monument. There's something quite nice about that.

From Crazy Horse we travelled a little way down the road to the more famous, but in my opinion no where near as fascinating, Mount Rushmore. Here it is:

It may look big, but actually, the Mt Rushmore sculpture would fit inside Crazy Horse's head and hair, so it's pretty small in comparison. We camped in Custer National Park that night, in the rain, on a muddy hill.

Sunday brought us to The Badlands National Park, where the green fields of South Dakota drop off into a desert. It was nice to be in a desert again after all those mountains, but very strange at the same time... we stopped bear safety and started snake and scorpian safety again!

That night we stopped on a ranch, in a house, so had a big pajama party... it was a nice way to spend a non-tent evening :)

The next day became known as 'van appreciation day'... driving from 9am until 7pm, through a time zone, into Minnesota and our camp for the night at the mosquito infested Albert Lea Lake State Park in preparation for the long drive to Chicago the day after. Juli did have one surprise for us that day however, we stopped off at the grandly named Corn Palace. Now the clue really is in the name... its building made of corn. I'm not sure why, but there we go... SD just doesn't really have that many attractions to offer so they carve mountains and build things out of sweetcorn...

To get to 'the windy city' (politicians not weather) we drove through Iowa and Wisconsin and finally into Illinois by the shore of Lake Michigan. We did a small city tour then went out for a world famous Chicago Pizza Pie... it was awesome! The pizza was about an inch thick, but with a thin base.... I don't have photos but Simone does so I can show you when I get home :)
Once the pizza had been digested we headed over to Blue Chicago, a blues bar, to watch some live music. We stayed there all night until 1.30am when the bar closed: it was brilliant. I should interject now to say, I love Chicago so much... it's tied with Seattle and NYC as my favourite place to be in the whole of North America.
The second and last (boo) day in Chicago had an early start, a few of us took part in a bike hike around the city. Three hours and about 7 miles on a bike being shown the the highlights of the city. I was a bit concerned after seeing the driving style in Chicago, but actually it was an amazing city to cycle... turns out the drivers aren't at all aggressive to cyclists, just other motorists. We had planned to go to the top of the Sears/Willis Tower afterwards (formerly the tallest building in the world until Dubai built an even taller one), however instead we went up the almost as tall (ten stories less) but infinitely cheaper (it was free) Hancock Building Tower, right up to the 96th floor, and saw these views:

After our little visit, we went back down to ground level and ate ridiculously decadent cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory...

Now, all that cheesecake eating caused us to need a nap... so we went back to the hostel, gathered our strength and then headed out for a tasty burger in the suburbs before winding up at another blues bar...

(I know this shot has no musicians in there, but it shows the sign better... you can see the other photos in a couple of weeks!). I have so much still to say about the city, but I'll leave it until I'm back or I'd be typing for hours!

And that brings us, finally, back up to today. This morning we left the lovely Chicago and drove through Indiana to Ohio and the town of Sandusky. Some of the others went to a rollercoaster park tonight, and the rest of us stayed at camp, recovering from our Chicago adventure. Tomorrow we go to Niagara and then onwards the next day to New Jersey, and the end of my Trek. I don't think you'll get another blog until I'm safely back in NY now, but I assure you, I will be having a wonderful time and I miss you all...

Until then... take care, love,
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