Holy Cow! Look at all these Sheep!

Once again we were received with gracious hospitality by Ken's family and friends in Detroit. We were treated to lunch and given cute care packages of some of the products of Michigan. By far the highlight of the day was the Henry Ford Museum, I've never been more engaged in a museum. I got to sit on the bus that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on, experience every kind of media, and see a lot of really shiny cars. Then we went outside and entered Greenfield Village which is a whole new world of "living history." I think I could have spent two days seeing the old houses and talking to the actors. After a Polish lunch we headed to Ken's hometown Rossford, OH and met with the mayor and other city officials. It was really refreshing and comforting to hear these people and the pride they had in their small town that reminded me a lot of Eldridge. When asked what makes Rossford so attractive all of them agreed that it was the sense of family. They talked a football coach that was sick and how the whole town rallied around him, or how on friday night everyone walks to the football game. They raved about their education system and discussed how they see the individual as the product of their family. They were candid about the downfalls of a small town but it was clear that the pros outwayed the cons. If I'm being completely honest, it was hard to think about family while mine is gathered at the Cabin--my favorite place in the world. Then the mayor started to talk about what a unique oppurtunity we had been given with this trip. No matter how exhausted I am, or how many times I feel like I'm gonna puke in the 15 passenger van, I don't ever want to take this trip for granted. That said, I need to get to bed so I can live it up in Cleveland tomorrow!

Would You Rather?

Besides going to the race track, we saw a lot of Indianapolis through our car window. When we talked about the city at the end of the day it was funny that everyone's responses were based on the aesthetic aspect of the city. I found myself evaluating Indianapolis on the same level--admiring the trees, grimacing at the muddy river, and commenting on the cute little restaurants and shops downtown. One image that really sticks out to me is off course the race track--283 acres of parking lots, bleachers, public restrooms, media buildings, etc. As we were led around the site I was really trying to find something to appreciate about a place who's monetary worth is a number I can't wrap my head around. One of Bonnie's prompts mentions the Joni Mitchell song that says "they paved paradise/and put up a parking lot." I think that phrase definitely applies in Indianapolis. As we wandered around downtown in the evening, I found the city very charming and kind of homey and loved the amount of trees in the area. But I couldn't help but revert back to earlier this morning, at the race track. I don't know if I could enjoy the area with that loud roar of the racing cars in the background and people invading my town for a couple days.
On a positive note, I learned a lot about the actual sports of racing and some of the traditions. I always dismissed it as a ridiculous sport, but as we are all learning to do on this trip, I opened my mind to it and saw a lot of similarities in the draws of racing compared to other more physical sports like traditions, challenges, and camaraderie to name a few.
I think on Day 23 we are all feeling the accomplishment and exhaustion of meeting our hump day. I'm gonna turn in early because we have an exciting line-up for next week including Boston on the 4th!

Family Matters

Well in keeping with our theme, on our 6 mile walk to the showers this morning I had to see the Family Matters theme song! And it was fitting because my family came to see me on their way to my Grandparents cabin in Northern Wisconsin. I was at the art institute, got their call, and ran out the door into the traffic and jumped into the van! We had dinner at Rock Bottom and then headed back to Big Mama to show them where I've been living for the past 21 days. I wish i could squeeze all 4 sisters into my bunk and snuggle but they are going to spend the day with us tomorrow! In every place we have witnessed families, good, bad, non-related, etc, I can't get over how blessed I am to have the family that I do!

That's Not My Name

If I could sum up Minneapolis in one word it would be community. We began the day at Mall of America where I got to spend 3 hours catching up with Kate and Patrick!! We rode the rollercoaster, walked around, and even had some conversation about American identity. It was really fun to talk to friends my age, especially two that have traveled quite a bit, and see that the ideas we have been discussing are prevalent in their lives too.

From the mall we headed to the Mill City area and spent most of the hour on the balcony of the Guthrie Theater enjoying the breeze and the view. I was really impressed by the interesting and modern architecture of this theater and according to Heather and Kate; Minneapolis boasts the

second largest theater population next to New York City.

We enjoyed a leisurely dinner in World Market, which is an old Sears’s warehouse that has been turned into a market for all kinds of international food, clothes, and other items. It was fun to get to choose from healthy, cheap, and different cuisines and listen to the live folk acoustic music in center. With a few hours to spare we decided to call Kate for directions to a lake that has free live concerts most nights. We ended up at Harriet Lake, at a beautiful bandstand. Despite the show being canceled at the last minute. Kate, Monkey, and Bella (her dogs) rollerbladed to the lake to join us for class. As we played with the dogs and talked about the past few days, I couldn’t help but notice the people around me. There was a group of 4 year old girls and boys pretending to perform on the stage while their parents sat in the stands, teenage girls leaving the beach in bikinis on their bikes, couples walking, middle aged adults in lawn chairs visiting, and TONS of bladers, bikers, runners, and kayakers. It was a Thursday night at 9 and all these people were collectively being active and enjoying nature. That is the kind of community I want to be involved in. I think the active, community feel mixed with the urban and progressive experience at the theater made Minneapolis very attractive and unique.
I suppose it didn’t hurt to get to see Kate and see her home. Which just affirms what I have been learning about myself on this trip—that as much as I am attracted to the physical beauty and landscape of each location the people that I encounter there make it or break it.

We're on the News!

Our day had an exciting start with a T.V. interview with the local news in Rapid City, South Dakota. Watch it at http://www.newscenterone.tv/default.aspx. Its cool to have some media interest in our trip!
Following the interview, we continued on with a day full of monuments, beautiful prairie scenery, and some harsh history lessons. Because we packed Mount Rushmore National Monument and Crazy Horse Memorial in the same day it was really interesting to compare the two projects. Beginning a little more than 20 years of each other, the monuments although seemingly opposite, share a lot of similarities.
Both sites boast a strong emphasis on education. While at Mt Rushmore, I witnessed several families with young children having conversations about history which was inspiring to see that dialogue taking place. At Crazy Horse, they have plans to build a medical center and all kinds of educational programs. Additionally, both monuments also went to grandiose measures to honor a part of history-- just the nostrils on Crazy Horse are 30 ft in diameter! They even shared one of the sculptors Korczak Ziolkowski, who worked on Mount Rushmore, is the visionary behind Crazy Horse. I think our group also responded similarly to both monuments. While it was hard not to be impressed and somewhat surprised by the sheer size and work that went into both monuments, we also had a lot of questions that went unanswered. What does this form of herofication say about our society? Are we honoring history or some sort of subjective memory? We have come across several monuments on this trip--The Alamo, Central High School, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Portlandia--and most agreed that Central High School felt the most genuine and appropriate without all the bells and whistles.
After the monuments we headed to Pine Ridge and the cemetery for the victims of the Wounded Knee Masscre. As we trudged up the hill to the cemetery I was flooded with emotion. The landscape of rolling hills and prairie, even the smells, evoked a feeling of home to me that mixed with the heaviness and despondency in the air to make a disturbing combination. Reflecting on it now, I can see the significance of this experience. Despite always knowing that the Native Americans had and are still experiencing injustice, it seemed to be something that happened a long time ago, far away, and by others. Being there, I was faced with the nearness of it and a sense of ownership that was hard to swallow.

Trifactos and Such

Packed in 4 across in the backseat of a 15 passenger van for 2 hours doesn't sound that glamorous. But when that is the view out your window and you're surrounded by great people, its hard to complain. We started the day at a local co-op and got some food for a day of white water rafting and hot springs. The white water rafting was incredibly fun and full of laughs. The hot springs was not what we expected but we got hot showers and a nap in the sun. I'm exhausted and we have to get up early to meet a local representative at the Today show at Mount Rushmore. Stay tuned for a more in depth update tomorrow!

Just Visiting

The Wilderness Act of 1964 defines wilderness as "an area where man himself is a visitor who does not remain...with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable." As I think back on today at Glacier National Park and the first 17 days of our journey I realize how much of our trip has been wilderness to us.
We started the day off at Night Owl Restaurant where we had a delicious and cheap hot breakfast. It was interesting to see the way we stuck out as a group of outsiders in a crowd that seemed to be predominantly local. Several times throughout the meal I felt the familiar discomfort of intrusiveness that I remembered feeling in other places like the church service in Little Rock and Fort Bliss in El Paso. In a way, all of these places mentioned were wilderness to us in some way or another and it was up to us to decide the way in which we were gonna survive. Did we possibly carry with us some metaphoric bear spray to keep enough of the wild out of these adventures to maintain our current beliefs?

I love the way Henry David Thoreau talks about being in nature "wishing to live deliberately to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." As I write this I am wrapped in my snuggy in the parking lot of the Super 8 with a beautiful mountain towering over me. I can't help but feel small and humble with all that Glacier offered me today. It was so refreshing to experience something in a state of deliberate passivity because I had no need to put up a defense. I wondered how our breakfast experience would have differed had we viewed the small town diner culture as a wilderness...

The Rain didn't stop us from having S'mores on Big Mama (the bus)