It's Official, I Can Never Be a Truck Driver

Early Sunday morning Dad, Derrick, and I set off for Minnesota. Last night around 7:30 Dad and I got back. After hours of driving across seven states, I have officially crossed truck driving off my list of back up plans for after I graduate. I could never survive those long hours. 

Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota

 We left early Sunday and drove all day. Seriously, from Centerville, Utah to Omaha, Nebraska. We covered almost two states. I drove with Derrick all the way to Minnesota while Dad drove the truck. 

Wyoming Windmills (basically the only good part about Wyoming)

Welcome to Nebraska!

Famous Nebraska Cornfields

Monday was Dad's birthday. And was filled with another long day of driving, plus some moving. 

We drove through Iowa and into Minnesota, which means we finally got to see some varying elevation and more trees. Other than that, the fields looked just like Nebraska.

Traffic getting into Minneapolis is was crazy, but gave me plenty of time to get a picture of driving into the city. My first impression was that there was a lot of blue.

We drove to Derrick's new house and moved his stuff in. Then we hit up Ikea to get him a box spring, dresser, bookcase, and lamp. After we dropped these things off, we picked up his new roommate James, who is also in his program, and found a Sports Grill for dinner and to celebrate Dad's birthday. The food was really good! Although it could have been partly because it had been a really long time since we had eaten.

Derrick just outside his house. Too bad he might not end up there so
 this picture is much less cool.Oh well, it's the thought that counts.

After dinner we drove around trying to find a hotel, but it was the State fair so many of them were full. Derrick ended up finding us one. Before we went there, we went back to Derrick's place where Dad gave him a blessing. And it was there we said good bye to our Derr Bear. I was crying pretty hard, to which Derrick said, "I'm not dying." What a charmer he is. Still, I love him. 

One last picture

They were delighted I insisted on a picture.

The view of Minneapolis from our hotel room window

Since Derrick is independent and we had full confidence in his ability to figure everything out himself, the next morning Dad and I headed out of Minneapolis. I took over about a half hour and drove us to Rapid City, South Dakota where we stopped for the night so we could head to Mt. Rushmore in the morning (that is a totally separate post).

In Custer State Park

Back in Wyoming

After Mt. Rushmore we drove to Cheyenne, Wyoming to spend the night there. The next morning we went to visit the University of Denver (again, a separate post). We spent a couple hours there and then headed for good ole' Centerville. 

Even though it was a lot of time in the car, I am so glad I got to do this! It was great to spend a little extra time with Derrick and Dad!

Mt. Rushmore

I had read a few reviews online about Mt. Rushmore that had made me a little wary of the whole place. While some of them were accurate (the fact that once you get near Rapid City you are bombarded with the commercialism of it), I think it was well worth the visit. I wouldn't necessarily suggest spending the entire day there, a few hours is definitely possible. We started just looking at it, but kept asking each other so many questions we decided we'd better head to the visitor's center and get them answered. I was impressed with the set up and information provided there. And the film was cool, too.

The one picture I convinced Dad to take with me. At the Sculptor's View.

For some reason I love that you can see the remnants of the rocks they blasted off under it.
I think it represents the unfinished and imperfect work of the four great men.

We walked around the President's Trail and stopped at the Sculptor's Studio and loved it. We also spent some time looking at the flags of all of the states. 

I hadn't realized how little I knew about Mt. Rushmore until then, so I'm going to list some of the things I learned. 

*Construction started in 1927 and it didn't end until after the original sculptor died in 1941. 

*Gutzon Borglum was the sculptor.

*The original idea for the sculptures was to create full bodied sculptures using freestanding rock slabs but Borglum decided the rock on Rushmore was better for sculpting and withstanding the weather.

*Over 90% of Rushmore was sculpted through using dynamite blastings.

*Not one of the workers was ever seriously injured or died through working up on the mountain.

*The workers had to climb 700 steps up the mountain everyday for work.

*The concept for the sculptures changed almost daily based on differences on the mountain than originally anticipated. Borglum kept his models in the studio as up to date as possible so the workers knew what to do.

The Main Model. You could see the actual sculptures out the window to the left.
It was awesome to see the similarities and differences (mostly the lower parts of all the men).

*The scale of the main model was for every one inch on the sculpture was one foot on the mountain.

*The heads are so large because Borglum believed a monument should be the right size to represent the impact of the events it represented.

*The used what was called a point system to get the dimensions right on the mountain. (It sort of reminded me of a protractor.)

*The workers had a baseball team. And apparently were pretty good.

*Most of the work was done by workers sitting in special seats hung over the mountain by just one cable.

*The presidents chosen were picked because of the different things they represented for the country: Washington--its founding and first president, Jefferson--writing the Declaration of Independence and westward growth and expansion, Roosevelt--economic growth and world wide cooperation, and Lincoln--uniting the country through the Civil War.

*They started a Hall of Records behind Lincoln's head to hold important documents relating to the memorial. Statues were to be included along with inscriptions commemorating the development and progress of civilization in the Western World. Although it was never fully finished, it contains 16 documents.

Scale of Hall of Records.

*Borglum created plaster masks of each of the presidents and hung them from cables in the mountain to be used as visual comparisons and measurement for the workers. These masks were some of the workers' most important tools. Borglum told them, "If you feel the mask...close your eyes or put it behind you, just feel the mask...your fingers will tell you much more about what you are supposed to be doing than your eyes will."

Lincoln Plaster Mask

*For Borglum and many of his workers, sculpting this mountain was a spiritual and emotional, not just physical experience. Many considered it to be their greatest calling in life to be a part of something so great.

*The unveiling of the faces were commemorated with a big ceremony. Each face was covered by a flag of the United States that was so large the stars were each 13 feet!

It really was such a neat experience! I would definitely suggest everyone go and see it at least once!

**We didn't go to Crazy Horse, so I can't say if that is worth seeing, but I can say you could easily skip Custer State Park without missing much.**

University of Denver

One of the places I'm looking at for graduate school is the University of Denver. So Dad suggested we go and check it out to "see if they are worthy of you". He's so silly. Overall, I really loved it there. I have a great love of campuses where all of the buildings look like they belong there (are built of similar materials, styles, etc.). That is one of the things I loved about this place. All of the buildings were made of dark red brick mixed in with some tan rocks. Even their multilevel parking structure looked like it fit! All of the walkways were made of red brick and it was covered with beautiful trees. 

Red Brick Walkways

Administration Buildings

The Building with the Psychology Offices

The Library

Inside the library (this picture is for my mom).

Inside the library. At the far end is a cafe. I swear almost every building we
went into had some sort of a cafe inside it. Convenient.

Inside the library. I thought that was such a cool way to honor the donors.

My dad is such a good sport, going about four hours out of our way so I could see it!

Highlights of the Road Trip

There are so many thoughts going on that I want to remember that I am struggling to organize. So I'm just going to list them.

*We played the license plate game. We saw license plates from 45 states, plus U.S. Government and D.C. ones and 4 Canadian territories: British Columbia, Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba. The only ones we didn't get were Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and West Virginia. 

*Dad speeding up as fast as he dared to make sure we really had seen a New Hampshire one.

*Derrick and I determining that the only difference between Nebraska and Iowa was the hills. And the only difference between Iowa and Minnesota is the lakes.

*Passing our first lake and Derrick saying, "One down, 9,999 to go."

*As we drove over the Missouri River I was blown away by how big it was. Our "rivers" are nothing in comparison.

*Dad repeatedly asking why in the world anyone would fight over the land in South Dakota (referring to Custer's Last Stand). 

*Eating lunch at Dairy Queen in Mason City, Iowa and discovering to our dismay that they had no fry sauce.

*All of us dripping with sweat after spending about two seconds in the humidity of Minnesota. I officially hate humidity.

*Dad and Derrick scoffing at my desire to have them remind me how much I hate humidity when I'm deciding where to go for graduate school. They seemed to think I had very little chance of not encountering any humidity.

*Dad asking the girl at Sports Grill if they allowed smoking inside and realizing we didn't even think about that.

*The GPS sending us in a complete circle to get from one possible hotel to another. Silly GPS.

*The one cool thing about Wyoming is that most of the time during the drive you are at the highest elevation in the state, which means you sort of feel like you are as close to the clouds as you ever could be.

*Driving across Wyoming we drove right through a thunderstorm. I was driving and although it was only bad for about 30 seconds to a minute, it was terrifying as it was happening. But, I did pretty well if I do say so myself.

*We had great weather at Mt. Rushmore. It was cool and dry. Just my kind of weather.

*As we drove across Nebraska Derrick asked multiple times where the heck all of the people lived. We decided in Lincoln or Omaha. We saw very few other people/houses.

*Seeing a crop duster plane. Pretty much the only time we saw anything going on in the fields.

*Dad asking the lady at the hotel in Omaha if by smoking she meant tobacco or the smoke from the popcorn he burns.

*Dad giving Derrick the blessing. In that moment, I was struck by the incredible power of the two men in the room and the Priesthood they both hold. The Spirit was so strong. They both are so amazing. It was a moment I will never forget.

*Dad being the experienced one at Ikea. That was weird.

*Wanting to jump up and down when I saw the mountains and red rocks as we drove back into Utah. Wyoming is dreary landscape, other than the windmills.

*Dad and Derrick having a fascination with the windmills.

*Saying a prayer together every morning and night. I hadn't realized how much I missed having family prayer since going to college.

*Laughing with Derrick at the names of some of the cities. Kemmerer? Why the extra "er"?

*Derrick asking why Nebraska is the Huskers when there seems to be more corn in Iowa. Because Nebraska has nothing else? Probably.

*Did you know there are a lot of semi trucks that come from Indiana and Illinois? Yep, that's real.

*Dad saying he hoped I'm not afraid of heights when we were put on the 14th floor of our hotel in Minneapolis.

*Being reminded of driving around Arizona looking for a hotel after Spencer and Amy's reception down there but not finding one because of graduations and an alien convention as we tried to find a place in Minnesota during the state fair.

*Wondering aloud how our old neighbors handled living in Mason City, Iowa. Talk about the middle of nowhere. At least the city itself seemed to be thriving.

*Derrick living up to his title of Cold-Hearted-Fool as he didn't even seem to be sad to see us go. To make myself feel better I tell myself he was just waiting until we left.

*Talking to Dad about how he turned 9 on Monday (6+3).

*Dad falling asleep for a few minutes each time I drove. I feel pretty good if he was comfortable enough to sleep.

*Listening to Wicked! a few times in between the Tennis Shoes books.

*Listening to the Utah-Utah State game the last couple hours of driving.

*Dad having a great Road Trip attitude and telling saying we weren't sure when we were coming back or where we were going because we were on a road trip, obviously.

*Being exhausted after driving all day. It's amazing how much driving drains energy.

*Talking to Mom and Shannon every night.

I'm so grateful for the chance I had to spend some extra time with Dad and Derrick. The past few months I've been struggling with the concept of leaving my family in the next year to go to graduate school. This is probably the last chance I'll get to take off with my family in quite the same way. And I already miss Derrick, so I'm glad I got to spend the extra time with him driving to Minnesota. But, I know he's going to kill it in Minnesota. I'm so proud of him. It was just what I needed for my summer break!