We made it home last week. The final mileage count was 6549 miles! I want to do it all over but I think Michael is ready for a break from driving.

Minneapolis is a great place to visit. It is progressive and has a good feel to it. I would love to come back, especially during winter to see how they handle it. Getting to the interstate expressway was the easiest we have experienced. We walked around downtown Madison today and remembered how much we love this city. Tomorrow we drive home. This has been a wonderful trip.

We spent our second day in Minneapolis learning to use their public transportation and going to art museums. The light rail system and buses are very new. Using them was comfortable and easy. The streets have dedicated bike lanes with left turn lanes. Very impressive. E went to the Weisman Museum and the Walker Art Center. Beautifully designed buildings. The Weisman was designed by Gehry. Interesting collections. The Walker is avant garde and includes a lot of video. After camping and staying in a lot of Super 8's we are splurging and staying at the luxurious Grand Hotel. Very nice.

I wish our pictures could convey the beauty of the Badlands. Also the wonderful smells. Today we headed east across North Dakota to Fargo. The temperature when we started was 27 degrees and the wind was blowing. It blew at 35 to 50 miles per hour. At one point it started snowing! Crazy. We are headed home after a trip of a lifetime. We have seen so much, it is hard to keep it straight. We have had great conversations that will be replayed as we go home. And best of all we have had a blast with each other.

Terrible beauty, Theodore Roosevelt NP

We drove through the northern part of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. To get there we came through a town experiencing an oil boom, Watford City, North Dakota. We could see the effects of a boom, building everywhere, rows of manufactured housing, mud and dust. Everything was coated with raw siena colored mud and dust. Trucks coming and going. Oil pumps and refineries everywhere. Then we were out of there. I can't imagine what the original residents were thinking. We traveled south to the park. We saw herds of bison again. At one point they blocked the road and weren't moving. We had to turn around and go another way. We saw wild ponies on our way to the southern unit of the park. The hotel at Menora is not cheesy, it is wonderful. We are surrounded by the Badlands mountains. The hotel was restored and improved. It is lovely, as is our room. The food in the dining room topnotch. It has a collection of Teddy Roosevelt's books and other memorabilia donated to the hotel. We are right at the entrance to the park. What a discovery based on a stranger's recommendation. Tomorrow we will drive the southern unit's loop and do some hiking. It is turning cold and there may be a touch of snow tomorrow night.