And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper

(Sorry, they never made a movie about Bismarck.)

After another good night's sleep (traveling all day=sleeping like a rock at night), I headed back to downtown Minneapolis for lunch. I had a fantastic pot roast sandwich at The Local, then drove south to see the monument to commercialism that is the Mall of America. I really just wanted to see it and move along, but I did get a quick photo of the famed roller coaster.

And with that it was back onto I-94 to Bismarck with a stop in, yes, Fargo. Taking a suggestion from Newport, I stopped at the Roger Maris Museum, conveniently housed in the West Acres Shopping Mall. As ridiculous as a museum in a mall is, it was a pretty neat shrine, complete with some seats from Yankee Stadium pre-renovation.

I enjoyed a lovely dinner in the food court before getting back on the highway and heading due west to Bismarck. And I mean due west. As in, I barely moved the steering wheel for 200 miles. This stretch also marked the first appearance of a 75 MPH speed limit zone. And now that I have a car that can actually go that fast (how did I drive that station wagon to New Mexico, and without cruise control no less?), it makes for some easy driving.

Tomorrow marks one of the portions of the trip I've been excited about since the beginning - the Black Hills of South Dakota. If all goes as planned, I should see both the Badlands National Park and Mt. Rushmore. Tomorrow also marks the point in the trip when I'm not sure how reliable my Internet options will be. So if you don't hear from me tomorrow, don't worry, I'm just out communing with nature.

Why don't you purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka?

Good question Prince. And so it was on to the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesota, State No. 44 on this journey. I should mention that I spent a good bit of time in Madison this afternoon, mostly walking State Street and taking pictures of the Capitol. I also had to make a stop at Camp Randall (again with the football) before heading west.

I put my driving shoes on today and made great time from Madison to Minneapolis without really speeding to speak of (I rarely if ever speed much on the highway). Wisconsin is the first state since Tennessee to have any real scenic land to drive across, and the rolling plains dotted with dairy farms were very cool. One interesting landmark on the way was a place called Wisconsin Dells, which can best be described as Myrtle Beach on steroids. It was the ultimate in touristy kitsch, as evidenced by the vast number of amusement parks and other such silliness. Case in point, this Trojan Horse at the entrance to the Mt. Olympus park.

Upon arriving in Minneapolis, I parked near the Mississippi River at a place called Saint Anthony Falls. This is almost the extreme north end of the river and once featured the only waterfall on the Upper Mississippi. The falls have since been covered by a concrete apron and dams installed. Here's the view from just down river on the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Trail.

I finished the walk around the trail, had a quick dinner of fish and chips at Tuggs before heading to my home base for the night at Casey's friend Anne's house. Special thanks to Anne for the fine (and free) accommodations.

Tomorrow we start to get serious. Mall of America, lunch, then on to North Dakota.

Oh, and I know it's been the weekend and all, but don't you love me? No comments? I'm not blogging for my health here.

On Wisconsin!

Saturday would have to qualify as my first lazy day, as I drove only about an hour from Milwaukee to Madison. Two highlights from the day were a tour of Miller Park and seeing State Street in downtown Madison.

Miller Park was as cool as I'd expected, one of the wave of really nice new parks (this one opened on Opening Day 2001) - not as nice as PNC in Pittsburgh but definitely nicer than Citizens Bank in Philly.

The tour was solid (I just walked up at 3 and, lo and behold, the last tour started at 3). I got to sit in Bob Uecker's chair, walk through the visiting dugout and walk out onto the field, pretty much everything you'd want to do on a tour. One thing that stood out was how close the press box was to the field. Here's the view:

After that I made the short drive west to Madison, the state capital and home of the University of Wisconsin. State Street is the main drag down town and features a very cool view of the Capitol Building.

I'm planning to walk around the city and campus a little more today and get some better pictures. After that, it's off to the Twin Cities for the night. The hardcore road-tripping starts soon, these states aren't getting any smaller.