Fishin' at the Lake

How much do I love summer. I went fishing today with my father-in-law, Jim at Lake Tillery near Albemarle. It started out pretty hot but it turned out to be a very nice afternoon. The humidity went away and we had a nice little breeze. When we started fishing, we did really well. The fish jump out of water while they are feeding so you can see where to cast. I caught 6 large mouth bass in all. One of them got off before I could get it in the boat, but I had it out of the water so I say it counts. Jim caught a combination of bass and perch. We both did well. We didn't want to leave, because the fish were just starting to get really active again, but we thought a storm was coming and you don't want to be in the middle of a lake during a lighting storm. It was a great afternoon.

We're leaving for our mission trip to Costa Rica Saturday morning. We have to be at the airport at 4:15am so we're getting up at 2:30am. Gross! Hopefully we'll be able to sleep on the plane. I'm sure there won't be internet there, but we'll have losts of pics and blog it all when we get back.

~Andy

Some Video From the Trip

I've finally got time and an internet connection fast enough to post some video from the trip. Sorry for the watermarks on the videos. I had to convert them to a different file type and the watermark is a result.

This is Hidden Falls in Grand Teton.



This is Old Faithful in Yellowstone.


This is a fumerole in Yellowstone.


This is the Brink of the Lower Falls in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.


This is the Lower Falls of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone as seen from Artist's
Point.



More to come.

~Andy

The Badlands Aren't So Bad

This post is from Friday July 3rd, so I'm going back in time a bit.

Today we got up early and Uncle John took out to Badlands National Park. It was only a short drive from his house. The Badlands were named because of the difficulty getting through that area during the days of wagon trains and cattle drives. They are beautiful rock formations, and certainly rival anything we've seen so far. Apparently, you really have to watch out for rattlesnakes. We saw one on the road that had been hit by a car, but that was as close as we got to one, thankfully. There was a teepee at the visitor's center for people to look at. We had planned on staying in a teepee in a Montana state park, but we decided not to since we were in rattlesnake country and the teepees don't go all the way to the ground to keep sneaky snakes out.


After The Badlands, we went to Wall Drug Store. It's a big tourist area outside of the Badlands. Not really our style, but interesting to see. Kate got a ride from a Jackalope, which is another wildlife sighting for the trip.


We spent the evening at Uncle John's son's house for a cookout. We had a great time eating a lot and playing some bean bag toss. Kate and I showed them how we play on the East Coast. We were playing against an 8 year old, but we sure showed him. Johnny and Cheryl were great hosts, and we had a good time meeting them.They have 2 labradoodles, which are a cross between a lab and a poodle. They were sweet dogs and they don't shed either.

Remember I told you that Rapid City, SD has statues of presidents on each corner of the downtown area? Below are the pics we took. Kate's with Martin van Buren and it looks like they're getting a little too cozy to me. I'm with President Taft.


This pretty wraps up the pics from the trip. I've got some video I'm to post soon and a lot of reflection on the trip so stay tuned!

~Andy

Almost Home!

So we're almost home. We spent the past couple of days driving day and night to make it home as quickly as possible. We left South Dakota Saturday morning and made it to Oak Grove, MO which is just east of Kansas City. We stopped their because it has the last KOA campground until you reach St. Louis. We probably could have gone farther, but it was July 4th, and if you don't know, Kate is a massive fireworks fan. We looked online and found that Oak Grove does a fireworks show in their local park, much like many other small towns in America. We got there around 9:45 and invented a parking place. As it turns out, Oak Grove has an incredible fireworks show. I don't know if Missouri sells a different caliber of firework than we do in NC, but it was pretty impressive.

As you're driving up to the park, individuals are setting off their own fireworks. I'm not talking about sparklers. They were serious fireworks that you wouldn't be able to shoot in NC. Then the actual show begins. The fireworks were so loud and intense, that they were setting off car alarms. After a solid 20 minutes of fireworks, you got a finale that was so intense, it lit up the park like daylight. It was definitely the best fireworks show I've ever seen. Needless to say, my fireworks crazy wife was very happy. If you're eve in Oak Grove, MO on the 4th of July you should make a point to stop by Webb Park.

We got up Sunday and decided that we wanted to make it to NC. We knew it would be a challenge, but we thought we could do it. We aimed for my parents' house since it was about and hour and a half closer. As most of you know, I'm a pretty big tennis fan and the Wimbledon Men's finals were being played while we were on the road. We could have stayed and watched it, but I wanted to get going. As it turns out, it was the best match ever. Roger Federer beat Andy Roddick 16-14 in the 5th set after a 4 and a half hour match. I wish I could have seen it, but Kate's dad recorded it for me.

We made it to my folks' house at 2:53am and crashed hard. I remember now why I stopped staying up until 3am in the morning a long time ago. It will probably take a few days to get caught up, but it's good to be home. How did I stay up that late and still go to class in college? We'll be back in Concord this afternoon which will be nice.

Sunday was my birthday, and I must say that it didn't rank in the top 10. Driving all day is not a great way to spend your birthday, but I was with the person I most wanted to be with, so that made it a pretty good day any way. I'm officially into my 30's now (31).

I've got some more things to post about South Dakota, but all my stuff is packed up. I'll get it up tonight probably. Just because the trip is over doesn't mean the blog will end. Kate and I have some reflective thoughts and some top 10 lists to post as well. More to come later!

~Andy

Is It Me, Or Does George Washington Have a HUGE Nose?

Today, July 2, we slept in and took it pretty easy this morning. It was nice to have a bed and bathroom and all the comforts of home again. I got to watch a little bit of Wimbledon this morning which was nice. We waited for Uncle John’s daughter Carol and her husband to arrive then we headed out toward the Crazy Horse Monument. We ate lunch at a little diner in the town of Hill City, which is really just a tourist area to support the monuments in the area. Kate and I had buffalo burgers which were good.

The Crazy Horse Monument is a privately funded monument that honors the Native American cultures of North America. It was originally conceived by a Lakota Chief Standing Bear. It would be a monument to all the Native Americans of America to “show the white man that we have heroes, too.” It was modeled after Mount Rushmore and will be, when it’s finished, the largest sculpture in the world, 563 feet high and 641 long . It was started in 1949, and is still in progress. It’s pretty amazing to see the progression that has happened so far. They have a museum there in addition to the monument and we got to see an 18 year old member of the Lakota Nation do a traditional dance which was very cool. His name was Robbie Yellow Hawk, which is such a cool name. I’m thinking of changing my name to something better than Highsmith. I’d probably be named Andy Head Like the Sun or Wind Not in His Hair, so maybe I'd better stick with what I’ve got.


Here’s the monument as it is today.


Here’s a model of the monument as it will be when it’s finished.


This is us with Uncle John and his daughter and her husband.


Next we went to Mount Rushmore. The two monuments are both in the Black Hills of South Dakota and are very close to each other. Mount Rushmore is a huge complex that culminates with the monument. You see a lot of pictures of Rushmore, but they don’t really do it justice. It’s a magnificent structure, and it’s hard to imagine thinking of something on that scale. The park has fireworks on July 3rd, but we're not going to go. According to our local sources, in order to go you have to get there early in the morning and you won't get out until 3 or 4 in the morning. We're a little disappointed, but it's OK.
After some photos and ice cream, we headed back to Uncle John’s for the night. We found a coffee shop that has free wi-fi and did a little blogging. Rapid City has statues of different presidents on street corners in their downtown area. Kate had her picture made with everyone's favorite president...Martin van Buren! I had mine made with William H. Taft. President Taft was so fat, that he got stuck in the White House bath tub and they had to cut him out of it. I'm sure he did something way more important than that, but that's all I know about him.

~Andy

On the Road Again

Today was another travel day, so nothing really special. We left the KOA in Hardin, MT and headed toward Rapid City, SD. On the way, we did stop at the Little Bighorn Battlefield. (The Battle of Little Bighorn was the battle between Native Americans of the Sioux Nation and the 7th Cavalry of the American Army. You may know it better as Custer’s Last Stand.) They have a museum dedicated to the battle and you can take tours of the battlefield. We just visited the museum for a little while, but it was actually pretty neat. They had a lot of Native American and American military relics. The museum really focused on the conflict between the American government and Native Americans of the Old West. If you’re a history buff, you would like it a lot.

We made it to Rapid City, SD around 4:00pm and got settled in with Kate’s great uncle, John. He took us out to eat at Red Lobster, mmmmmmm cheddar biscuits, then we came back and took showers and slept in a real bed for the first time in about 3 weeks. We also got to watch cable TV which was a treat. That’s about it. Tomorrow: Mt. Rushmore

~Andy