This project features a road trip we took in the fall of 2024. We left on September 13th, 2024 and returned on September 29th, 2024 and covered eight states of the United States of America, three Canadian provinces, three National Parks, one Provincial Park, several landmarks, some unincorporated natural spots, and a variety of sites we found on Atlas Obscura. It was a good trip and despite the many hours on the road, Elphie and I didn't necessarily feel that exhausted at the end. The trip allowed us to knock off four more states in our quest to visit all 50 (should be completed in 2025) and also another two provinces if we ever decide to complete that. The general area we covered was the northwest of the lower 48 of the United States of America into the mountains and then the prairies.
Our flights were on Southwest Airlines. We used both AirBnB and booking.com for some of our lodging. Our rental was through Debbie's work account and utilized Avis. Some of our stops along the way were picked using Atlas Obscura. Our visit to Moose Jaw was inspired by some suggestions from Darrell Theissen.
Life after the trip ended up being pretty busy...with Furnace Fest, Bloodline Fest, the holidays, and a couple hunting trips. It delayed any editing I could do until after the new year began.
I came to realize during this trip why wild fires are such a problem as the whole area is covered in evergreen trees which the wood burns quickly. We saw some evidence of recent wild fires but fortunately had a route that missed the worst areas of that time. Much of the footage captured is of the nature variety as this entire trip was pretty much in the natural spaces. It was my first experiences of a lot of it. I had never experienced natural hot springs before and that was quite RAD. The geysers, the volcanic elements, the glaciers, as well as the western wild life was also quite amazing. I also an opportunity to capture the northern lights while near Moose Jaw in Canada as well as in North Dakota while spending a night in a Pilot parking lot. I brought along my tripod on this trip to help capture steadier shots. I still haven't quite figured out how to get video footage of the northern lights with my Canon Rebel T6s...I might need to invest in a more powerful lens that can achieve better low light settings. But I did capture some decent northern lights photos with my iPhone 14.
I decided to start with building the intro/promo/teaser video that I like to do for these projects. I thought I might be able to build out animated maps on Final Cut Pro X but it seems I likely still need to purchase Motion (it didn't come with Final Cut Pro X as it did with the older version). I still have Motion 4 on an old Macbook so I utilized that again...also making the title because it seems I can have a bit more control over what I'd like to do with it using Motion rather than Final Cut Pro X. I downloaded a font called "Cowboy Movie" for the title. It seemed fitting for the places we visited (including the "old west" town of Deadwood). I looked into the font from the television series "Yellowstone" but didn't care too much for it. It was rather ordinary. I liked how "Cowboy Movie" looked better.
I took several screenshots from Google Maps to use again and once again went about using the Bezier tool to created dotted lines and animated it to show the trip. I also animated a car and southwest jets to follow the lines. I had one map to show the entirety of the trip and a few others to show specific areas. I ended up scraping those maps and only used the full trip one. I also downloaded the state and province flags to include in the intro/promo project to I guess better show where we were for each photo I dropped in. I want to try to make the photos look a bit more like post cards or something along those lines. I achieved that by adding a border around each picture. I also included a "drop shadow." Once I organized the photos I wanted to use in the intro, I adjusted the map timing to stop at the various locations while the pictures dropped in. I am generally happy with how it turned out but I did cover some of the title and motion path with some of the photos. I organized the soundtrack for the intro to include songs that are meant for the areas we visited.
I included a couple other visual effects and quick clip with a film strip title at the beginning. I also added the old film effect but layered the text on top so it would be unaffected by the old film effect. I found a glitch kept occurring so I found the fix in using "slow motion" for the title rather than "smooth slow motion." I used this project as the intro as well without making any modifications.
09.13.2024: Flight From Chicago To Seattle
We flew out of Chicago in the evening of Friday September 13th, 2024 from Midway on Southwest Airlines. we utilized the CTA to get to Midway. As we waited on a bus, we were passed by a few folks celebrating Mexican independence. The flight was pretty uneventful. I kept looking out to the north to see if any Northern Light activity was visible but it was not. I wish I had captured a cool lightning strike I saw in a large storm cloud but I missed capturing it. I captured our take off, the flyover of Seattle, and our landing at Seattle Tacoma Airport. Once we landed and gathered our checked belongings, we found out where the taxis were so that we could get a ride to Debbie's house for the night. The first part of this trip would be with Debbie and she was driving.
09.14.2024: Pacific Northwest Drive - Washington, Idaho, Montana
We woke up on Saturday September 14th, 2024 with a driving day ahead of us. We got loaded up at Debbie's packing up her vehicle inside and on top. It was drizzling as we left and seemed like fairly typical Pacific Northwest weather. As we drove, I captured some scenery along the drive through the mountains of Washington. I noticed that there was a lack of bird graveyards around the windmills which contradicts a certain talking point of a certain president. We stopped at an Arby's along the way but I don't recall exactly where it was. We passed under the Renslow Trestle (it was recently added to Atlas Obscura but I didn't see until after I finished the video) Just after crossing over the Columbia River, there was a sculpture on the hillside of horses. It was an Atlas Obscura site called "Grandfather Cuts Loose The Ponies." My capture of this wasn't great as we were driving by it but I did see it and capture it at least.
Our first planned stop was in George, Washington. We intended to seek out the George Washington bust in George, Washington but we first needed to get gas. While Elphie and Debbie were in the convenience store, I looked around as it seemed, according to the information on Atlas Obscura that the bust should be nearby. It was in the parking lot! So we took a picture by it and captured video to prove our visit.
We continued our drive through Washington state into Spokane then on to Idaho. Along this portion of the road we went through areas that seemed to be likely burnt during wildfires. I captured some footage of that.
In Idaho, we stopped in the town of Coeur D'Alene at a Roger's Ice Cream. It was a newly built restaurant. Some years earlier, Elphie and Debbie had stopped at one that was old timey but this was not that one. Apparently that was was down the street from a Ku Klux Klan house, While working on the editing of the video project, I found that we probably could have stopped at that one if we had driven a bit further down the road. At any rate, we got some food, including french fries so that we could have Idaho potatoes in Idaho! I got a burger and it tasted pretty good too. We made our way to a Wal*Mart after this to pick up some necessities for the next few days. We were a bit ahead of the loosely planned schedule so we figured it was as good of a time to take care of the Wal*Mart trip as any.
As we drove further through Idaho, I continued to capture some scenic footage. We stopped in Wallace, Idaho to see a manhole cover which claimed to be the Center of the Universe. It was an old mining town with not much else going on. The I-90 Interstate was built almost on top of the town.
We continued into Montana and stopped in St. Regis for gas at a travel center advertising "The Best Shake Ever!" I gave it a try...it was made from huckleberry which seemed pretty popular in the region. I'm not sure it was the best shake ever though. I also checked out the Trout Museum, not realizing it was an Atlas Obscura site until after we had left.
We only had a few more miles to go to arrive at out final destination of the day. We were staying at a Yurt in Superior, Montana that Elphie found on AirBnb. It was an interesting place to stay. We could smell some smoke from a distant wild fire but we were pretty much in the middle of no where. Once it got dark I went out to see if there was any chance to capture some Northern Lights footage but there was cloud cover. I think it even stormed a bit. We went to bed fairly early as we had another long drive ahead of us.
09.15.2024: Rocky Mountain Drive - Montana, Wyoming and Arrive At Yellowstone National Park
We woke early in the Yurt on Sunday September 15th, 2024 for another day of driving. Our original plan had a stop in Missoula, Montana at the Wal*Mart but since we got that out of the way, we intended to skip it. We did stop in Missoula after all to get new wipers and some other car maintenance items. As we drove I noticed a large smoke stack in the distance while capturing some scene views. We ended up stopping at a rest area to utilize the toilets and I captured the smoke stack and later found it was called the Anaconda Smelting Stack from Atlas Obscura.
We continued on our way and stopped near Butte, Montana on the road side where we were able to capture footage of Our Lady Of The Rockies and the Berkeley Pit. The road to the statue seemed to be closed off. Later in the day, Debbie's car started having some issues so it was probably for the best that we didn't make that drive to the statue.
As we continued, we arrived at Whitehall, Montana way before we expected to and hand lunch at an A&W / KFC combo restaurant. I got some coneys and a root beer float. After I finished it off, I added some Mountain Dew Sweet Lightning from the machine. It ended up foaming up quite a bit but I finally got to taste this honey and peach flavored variant.
We began to make our way toward Yellowstone National Park, capturing scenic footage along the way. After passing through an Old West style town, the car issues began. A local tried to help out and sent us back through the town to see a mechanic who gave some information and indicated that we'd likely be fine. I saw signs for "Earthquake Lake" as we drove and ended up capturing some footage of that. It was also on Atlas Obscura but we didn't stop. We continued to West Yellowstone where we fueled up prior to entering Yellowstone National Park.
As we entered Yellowstone National Park and made our way to the Madison campsite where we would be staying, we encountered some slow traffic due to some elk along the road. I captured more scene footage as we drove. At the camp, we set up for our stay. I borrowed a tent from Debbie and set that up along with an air mattress. We had a pasta dinner and lit a fire for the evening as well. We were warned of the dangers of bear and had access to bear boxes to store items that had odors.
09.16.2024: Driving South and East on the Grand Loop Road of Yellowstone National Park
We got up and moving on Monday September 16th, 2024 for our first day of seeing Yellowstone National Park. A coyote came wandering through the camp as I was getting up. Elphie made up some eggs for breakfast then we headed over to the Old Faithful Inn to utilize the showers. As we drove there, we had another coyote cross in front of us. I captured some of the geothermal features as we drove and while we were pulled over for a minute. I also captured a lone bison grazing in the fields nearby.
After the shower, we decided to drive south on the Grand Loop Road then to the east. We passed the Continental Divide and along Yellowstone Lake. We stopped in a gift shop near the lake to utilize the rest room and I got a Americana huckleberry soda and a few things to give my family for Christmas. The first real stop we made was at a mud volcano. There were several other geothermal features at this site as well: Dragon's Mouth Spring, Sizzling Basin, Cooking Hillside, Churning Caldron, Black Dragon's Caldron and Sour Lake. Across the road and a bit further northeast were a few more features including Sulfur Caldron. One could also see a feature bubbling in the river. I walked the first area to see the whole thing. We also had our lunch while there.
As we drove, we pulled off where a lot of other tourists were watching some bison. A few were getting quite close! I captured some footage and probably should have utilized my tripod. There also seemed to be a storm brewing. We also stopped at a waterfall and captured some more scenery there. As we drove up a mountain, we experienced some sleet and hail. We continued to drive, in hopes of finding wolves. I captured more scenery as we drove and we encountered a couple herds of bison. Some were walking up the road impeding the traffic. Another herd was crossing. I captured some footage which included a bison pissing. I also tried to capture some footage of antelope but they were a bit off in the distance and on the move.
Back at the campsite, we cooked some dinner on the fire and sat by the fire as a storm came in. I captured some lightning with my iPhone. As the storm got closer, it rained pretty heavily before we were able to get into the tents. I ended up setting in a huge puddle as well. At some point in the night, I woke up needing to use the restroom and when I got out of the tent to go, the skies had completely cleared and the moon was shining bright. I hoped it meant the forecasted rainy day to come might be wrong.
09.17.2024: Old Faithful and Other Springs and Geysers and Driving North and East on the Grand Loop Road of Yellowstone National Park
Tuesday September 17th, 2024 was our second day of exploring Yellowstone National Park. It was a dreary drizzly day with some heavier rain as well. We started the day at Old Faithful again, taking a shower at the Inn then seeing the Old Faithful eruption. I captured that with a few crass jokes made by some other tourists.
We drove north on the Grand Loop Road and stopped by another geyser site not too far from Old Faithful. This was the Black Sand Basin where we checked out the Sunset Lake, Raindbow Pool, Green Spring, Emerald Pool, and a couple of small geysers. We also encountered a raven hanging around the parking lot that seemed to have a wing issue.
We drove a bit further north to the Grand Prismatic Spring. Elphie was very excited to visit this site but unfortunately the weather was such that the seem was hovering low so the colors weren't a vibrant and visible. We also saw the geothermal released waters pouring into the Firehole river causing more steam. Other features at this site included the Excelsior Geyser Basin, the Opal and Torquoise pools. As we got ready to continue on our way, we ate some lunch. I dropped a bit of meat and a raven took it all and was wandering around with a chunk of meat in its beak.
As we drove north, I captured more scenery. We pulled off at a spot to see the Artists' Paintpots but it would have been a fairly long hike. We continue to drive north and as we neared the Mammoth Hot Springs area, traffic slowed and we saw a bear sitting on a rock near the road. We passed by the Mammoth Hot Springs with the intention to stop on the way back. In the town nearby, we saw a couple of Elk. We made a restroom stop near a scenic river and as we continued a bit further east, we found a lot of tourists pulled off the road. There were a couple of bears that they had spotted. We did our best to capture some footage of the bears.
We continued to a Petrified Tree and checked that out before turning back westward. On our drive west, we were impeded by another bison herd which came quite close to the vehicle. There were some obnoxious tourists who were getting seemingly too close to the bisons and also were getting in front of Debbie's vehicle and leaning on it. She got a bit upset with the people. Once we got through, we returned to Mammoth Hot Springs. We walked around the area a bit in the rain and captured some more footage. Elphie went back to the vehicle and ended up capturing a young bull elk grazing nearby.
We made our way back to camp but stopped quickly at Roaring Mountain along the way. We made some dinner but didn't try to start a fire as it continued to be very wet through the night.
09.18.2024: Wyoming and Montana Drive From Yellowstone National Park To Glacier National Park
We left Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday September 18th, 2024. Another coyote passed through camp and tried to take our garbage. I had loaded the bedding I used into a garbage back and it tried to snatch that from me as well. We left the same way that we came in, crossing back into Montana at West Yellowstone and made our way north toward Bozeman where we had to visit the airport to pick up a rental vehicle for the rest of the trip. We ended up with a minivan instead of what we had reserved but that was ok. I captured some scenery as we drove. Once I obtained the rental, it took a minute to get synced up with our electronics and such but we were able to get all the seats in the back stowed away and get everything we needed into the van.
As we continued the drive now on our own, Elphie captured the scenery along the way. She also captured Bleu Horses along the road near Three Forks, Montana. We made a stop at a Wal*Mart in Helena...after the trip I realized that we could have probably knocked off a few Atlas Obscura sites while in Helena. Oh well. We stopped at a mountain overlook somewhere along the way as well.
We utilized a rest stop that was across from a Sinclair gas station. Besides the dinosaur, it has a cow sculpture called the "Clearwater Bull." Apparently that intersection was Clearwater, Montana or very close to it. We captured some footage of that from the rest area as well as driving by it as we continued north.
We stopped for dinner in Kalispell, Montana. Elphie's old friend Erin from JPUSA met up with us there. The original dinner plan was scrapped as Moose's Saloon, the restaurant was unexpectedly closed. We went to MacKenzie River instead where we were able to order personal size pizzas and have a good meal.
We continued on our way to Glacier National Park, stopping at a Wal*Mart again to get some firewood for the camp. We arrived at Apgar campground and had some time around the campfire before going to sleep. I decided to sleep in the van rather than set up a tent again.
09.19.2024: Driving Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park
We had one day to explore Glacier National Park and we spent that day, Thursday September 19th, 2024 on the Going-To-The-Sun Road through the park. The road itself is an Atlas Obscura site as was the lake near where we were camping, Lake McDonald. The Going-To-The-Sun Road was utilized in the opening titles of The Shining as well. It was an interesting ride through the mountains and distant glaciers. We stopped several times and captured scenic footage of the rivers, the mountains, and the glaciers. I was able to get out and walk a bit at Logan's Pass, capturing some footage there as well.
As we drove near St. Mary's lake, we encountered some pulled over traffic and found there were bears in a tree. The park ranger was trying to move folks along and ensure that they didn't get too close to the bears. I tried to capture a clip of the bears but didn't get aimed well as we drove by, unfortunately. At the east end of Glacier National Park, we stopped at the visitors center and utilized the restroom. There was an observatory and 'dark sky' information outside of the visitors center. We continued out of Glacier National Park and after a wrong turn, we found the trailhead for the Pacific Trail. We also passed by Chief Mountain during this excursion.
As we made our way back to camp, we stopped at the Glacier National Park sign outside the east entrance to the park. We captured some more scenic footage during the drive as well. Back at the camp, I prepared the fire and put some venison chops on to cook. I may have overcooked them a bit but they still turned out pretty good. We enjoyed a good dinner of a few left overs from previous meals as well and sat by the fire through the evening. Some deer came through the camp nearby as well.
09.20.2024: Montana, British Columbia, and Alberta Drive - Glacier National Park To Banff National Park
On Friday September 20th, 2024, we made our way into Canada. We crossed over out of Montana at Roosville into British Columbia. As we were passing through Eureka, Montana, Border Patrol agents were blocking off the way we intended to go and my phone tried to detour us in such a way it would have added four hours to just reach a similar border crossing. I kept following the local traffic and found our way through Eureka back on the main road and to the border crossing station. The actual crossing was without any incident and we continued on our way.
As we drove to where we were meant to meet up with Debbie again, we had a cow elk and calf run into the road ahead of us. The calf skidded under the cow and knocked her over a bit but they regained composure and went back into the wooded area nearby. Elphie captured some footage of them running along side the road. She was able to capture a bit of the scenery as I drove. We reconnected with Debbie then rode with her to the Lussier Hot Springs. It was up a dirt road and it an unincorporated hot spring (currently at least). Some locals indicated that they had more or less built the pools with the rocks and didn't seem to like that the word was getting out about the spot. Lussier is also a name given by the government but it was known as something else before, apparently. It was a bit busy when we arrived and as it got later and cooler, I finally decided to get in and check it out. It definitely had a sulfuric smell. I got in the hottest pool for a few minutes before leaving and apparently it left a red mark on me. We left as Debbie's friend was showing up.
As we continued north toward Banff, we passed by a few of the other hot springs in the area called Fairmont and Radium. They were set up as resorts. In the town of Radium, the locals were set up like there as a parade about to happen. We noticed quite a few hot rods and roadster type cars and some old timey ones as well. Turning to go into the mountains toward Banff, the round-about had a Big Horn sculpture and not too far from it were some rams or big horn sheep walking down the road. An impatient driver laid on the horn as he swerved around us. We had slowed down and were passing the sheep as this happened. Elphie continued to capture scenic footage and I got out at a turn off to capture a bit more.
We crossed into Alberta which was a new province for us. As we drove toward the Lake Louise campsite, we passed under a couple of the Banff Wildlife Crossings meant to help keep the wildlife from getting hit by vehicles on the highway. When we got to the camp, we scavenged some firewood and found out where there was more. It turned out we found there was a closer spot had it been light out. All the wood was fairly wet and hard to get a sustained fire going. By the time I did get it burning well, we were ready for sleep. I tried to see if I could capture any northern lights but had no success.
09.21.2024: Banff National Park - Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Banff
Saturday September 21st, 2024 was spent exploring the Banff National Park area. We started out taking a shuttle tour to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. Both spots were nice scenic areas. I did a bit more exploring at Moraine Lake, climbing a trail up a rock pile. I captured some pretty good footage at both places.
In the afternoon, we drove to the town of Banff while Debbie took a gondola ride. We visited the Cave and Basin Historical Site and the ticket also gave access to the hot spring that one could actually go in. The Cave and Basin spring has an unique and endangered snail so there are preservation efforts to try to keep it alive. The site had a lot of information on its history. The cave itself was pretty cool. Apparently during war time, Banff was used as a concentration camp so its history wasn't all great. I walked around quite a bit of the area before we decided to head into the town to park.
While in downtown Banff, we walked the main strip for a bit before meeting up at the Grizzly House for dinner. It was a fondue restaurant and one could order a course with a variety of meats. Elphie order the exotic meats and I ordered the Alberta meats. First we got a salad, then cheese fondue with bread to dip. We got the meats next with dipping sauces and a hot stone to cook the meat. My variety was beef, bison, elk, and venison while Elphie got bison, elk, a frog leg, kangaroo, a fish, and venison (if I am correctly remembering). It was all very good! After the meats, we were given fruit and chocolate for dipping to finish off the meal. This is definitely something we would do again given the chance.
We walked back to the vehicles then drove up to the Banff Hot Springs so I could check it out. I had about an hour and a half before it closed. This hot spring had chlorinated water so the sulfur smell wasn't as strong. It was still quite hot though. I enjoyed sitting in it for a while. Outside, there was a fountain where I assume the hot spring water was coming from. We returned to the camp but didn't bother getting a fire going. This was our last night hanging with Debbie on the trip.
09.22.2024: Alberta Drive - Banff, Calgary, Edmonton, Mundare, Vegreville, Lloydminister
We left the Lake Louise campsite in the morning on Sunday September 22nd, 2024, saying out goodbyes to Debbie. We utilized the shower house then made our way east through Alberta. As we drove, Elphie captured more scenic footage. We passed through the Banff Wildlife Crossings again as we headed toward Calgary.
Just outside Calgary to the west were some remnants from the Olympics. We captured a bit of footage as we entered into Calgary's downtown. I stopped to check out the Saddledome where the Flames play hockey. It will be replaced in the next few years and the work has begun around it. We also captured footage of the By The Banks Of The Bow stampede sculpture near the arena and close to the rodeo arena. As we left the Calgary area, we passed an Atlas Obscura site called "Travelling Light" which was a ring sculpture along the highway.
We drove into Edmonton a few hours later, passing by Rogers Place where the Oilers play. There was a hockey game getting ready to start that the local fans were going to watch televised in the arena. We decided to get dinner in Edmonton and figured we'd get some poutine. We found La Poutine and getting to it meant crossing the High Level Bridge. We found out later it was on Atlas Obscura! We also happened to be next to another site, the Garneau Theatre. After eating, I captured a quick skyline shot from the hillside before leaving the city. We ended up driving on another bridge where we could see the High Level Bridge.
As we drove, we saw some more bison along the road in the prairie land. We stopped in a town called Mundare next where we saw the World's Largest Sausage. I captured some footage of other sculptures and local information as well. We continued to our next stop which was Vegreville to see the Pysanka. It was located in a park and had a few other sculptures and local information as well.
From here, we continued to drive to Lloydminster which sits on the border line of Alberta and Saskatchewan. We arrived in Lloydminster but Elphie didn't want to cross over until morning. We stopped at another Wal*Mart to get something to use as a cushion for sleeping in the van since we returned the air mattress and sleeping bags to Debbie. We decided on some cheap yoga mats. Perhaps we should have picked thicker ones. We decided on trying to sleep at a truck stop parking lot. The one we found seemed a bit sketchy. My phone indicated a Pilot station so we drive over to that but it didn't exist. We returned to the truck stop and slept there.
09.23.2024: Saskatchewan Drive - Lloydminster, Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw
On Monday September 23rd, 2024 we woke up fairly early due to the lack of comfort provided by the yoga mats. We made our way into Lloydminster to the border line. There was a road that ran along the border line and we ended up driving along it for the duration of the town limits. I sped up that footage a bit. We got out and documented the border line in the middle of the town before progressing into Saskatchewan. We captured the proper sign for our entry into Saskatchewan just outside Lloydminster.
We continued our drive to Saskatoon where we saw the Junk Metal T-Rex. There were also sculpture of the globe and Transformers at this site. Elphie captured a bit more footage as we drove through the town and I sped that up as well.
We continued on toward Regina which I added into our trip because I found it funny. In Regina, we saw the Holy Rosary Cathedral. It had recently suffered a fire to its community food shed and an eccentric local told us all about it. We also saw Reginald the Grasshopper and the Albert Memorial Bridge which is the longest span over the shortest body of water. In the nearby park, I captured a bit more footage including the state house.
After the Regina excursion, we headed back west to Moose Jaw where we would be staying. We got an AirBnB of a tiny house on a property and it was in walking distance of downtown. Once we unloaded and settled in, we walked and checked out the downtown area. They embrace the idea of being Little Chicago due to the Al Capone connection. We found where the Temple Gardens Hotel and Spa was located, which was a short walk from the AirBnB and then decided to get dinner at Rosie's on River Street. I got a Hawaiian Burger and Elphie got a salad with some local fruits as well as a French Toast with local berries to eat in the morning. We walked around a bit more and found a sign indicating the original site of the Temple Gardens Hotel and Spa just a block north from where it stands now.
Moose Jaw was suggested by the Theissen's and it didn't disappoint. Thanks Darrel and Laura.
We returned to our AirBnB and got some rest after not sleeping so well the night before.
09.24.2024: A Day In Moose Jaw, Temple Spa, Northern Lights
We got up on Tuesday September 24th, 2024. We thought about taking the time to drive out to a mini-golf spot I saw as we drove into Moose Jaw but it was apparently closed on Tuesdays. We turned around and headed for the visitor's center instead, while passing by a cemetery. At the visitor's center we were able to capture footage of Mac The Moose along with a few other sculptures outside. We went inside as well and I purchased a drink made with local berries. I can't recall what it was called. It was pretty good and apparently meant to be relaxing.
After spending time in the visitor's center, we returned to our AirBnB then headed to the Temple Gardens Hotel and Spa to utilize the pools. There were a lot of older folks there and one in particular decided to talk about sports. It was a cool way to pass the day.
We left for a bit for dinner. We decided to get poutine again at Philthy Philly's. I got one with peirogies and Elphie got one with BBQ Pulled Pork. We headed back to the pool then Elphie decided to leave to go back to the AirBnB and take care of laundry.
I saw that it appeared there would be a good chance to see the Northern Lights so utilized the outdoor pool hoping to see them. It didn't seem to be visible so after it got dark enough, I decided to leave to get the van and drive out of the city lights so try to see if I could see anything. I was able to see them somewhat! I captured a few shots with my iPhone but couldn't get the settings right to capture much by video nor with the Canon Rebel T6s at all. I probably spent about a half hour checking it out before heading back and getting sleep. It seemed likely we'd have a long day of driving ahead.
09.25.2024: Saskatchewan and North Dakota Drive
On Wednesday September 25th, 2024 we set out to leave Moose Jaw. We stopped at a Tim Horton's before departing and got a couple of Maple Cream donuts. Elphie captured some prairie scenery as we traveled south through Saskatchewan toward the USA border. We stopped to get gas in a town called Weyburn then stopped again pulling off the main road to finish off some food before the border crossing in hopes to not get in any trouble for crossing with contraband food.
Crossing into the USA was fairly uneventful. The border patrol agent wasn't the friendliest guy but apparently didn't feel like searching the van so that was nice. We stopped again in Williston, North Dakota to use the rest room at a truck stop. I believe this was where Elphie had originally scheduled us to stay for the night but we continued on as it was still quite early. Elphie captured more scenery as we drove.
We stopped and got dinner at a Pilot station in Beach, North Dakota. I also fueled up there. The next stop on the trip was to be Devil's Tower. We decided to just end the trip for the day at this spot and set up camp in the van. I captured the sunset while we were there. I sped up the footage of that for this project. I woke in the middle of the night at some point to use the restroom and before getting back in the van to sleep I decided to see if I could capture any northern lights with my iPhone again and had success!
09.26.2024: North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota Drive - Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore
On Thursday September 26th, 2024, after another rough night sleeping in the van, we got ready to head to Devil's Tower. I utilized some shower points a friend offered and took a Pilot Truck Stop shower! We departed from Beach, North Dakota and crossed back into Montana. The directions put us on some dirt roads through the farm land for a bit. We continued as Elphie captured the scenery and interesting road conditions. We stopped just before entering Wyoming at an old country store to use the restroom. We found the temperature was around 100 degrees!
We crossed into Wyoming and headed to Devil's Tower. We captured some footage of prairie dogs before getting to the parking area. We went inside the visitors center and then I decided to walk the short loop around Devil's Tower. I found some areas that appeared to have had a wild fire and there were a lot of down trees due to a storm hitting over the summer with high winds. I was also able to capture a glimpse of an old ladder used to climb up Devil's Tower. The walk ended up taking a lot longer than it seemed it should.
We left Devil's Tower, capturing a few more shots of the prairie dogs, then an alpaca and some bison with cattle. We crossed into South Dakota and captured footage as we passed through historic Deadwood.
We continued on our way toward Mount Rushmore and ended up in road construction. We captured a shot of elk along the way. We got to Mount Rushmore as it was getting dark. We had to pay a fee...Elphie wasn't happy about that! We captured a bit of footage and then decided to book a hotel room for the night in nearby Keystone, North Dakota. We got there and still had time to use the pool so we did!
09.27.2024: South Dakota and Nebraska Drive - Crazy Horse, Carhenge, Chimney Rock
On Friday September 27th, 2024, we got up to leave our hotel in Keystone, South Dakota and head for the Crazy Horse Memorial near Custer, South Dakota. As we drove, we passed by the World's Largest Big Foot. We had passed this the night before as well as we headed into Keystone to see Mount Rushmore. I also included some footage as we passed by Mount Rushmore once again as well.
As we approached the Crazy Horse Memorial, we had a low flying helicopter fly right in front of us. It was a bit odd how low it was flying! It might have been a tourist flight or something. We arrived at Crazy Horse, paid admission (it is a privately funded memorial) and got parked. The first thing we decided to do was take a bus tour closer to the mountain sculpture. We had Mike the tour driver and he was quite informative. I captured most of what he had to say during the drive out, while at the viewing location, and the drive back. I ended up overlaying a lot of this with footage we captured inside the facilities of the exhibits from the museums on site of Native Americans, the process of creating the Crazy Horse Memorial, and an American Bison museum. This is by far the longest section of this video project but there was a lot to capture and I didn't want to really cut much of any of it out. I probably could have cut out when Mike the tour driver had to scold a mother for taking her child outside the safety zone but I left in the audio. I think we spent about two hours at Crazy Horse.
We drove south toward Nebraska, going through the nearby town of Custer as well as Hot Springs, South Dakota. We didn't feel we had the time to stop at any of the sites in Hot Springs, unfortunately. I did capture some turkeys along the highway. Elphie captured some scenery as we entered into Nebraska of the flat terrain.
In Alliance, Nebraska we visited Carhenge. I walked around the entire exhibit capturing it all on video. We also stopped at a Git 'N Split gas station. To Elphie's disappointment, they did not have lighters or any other memorabilia with "Git 'N Split" printed on it though they did have a lot of Trump memorabilia including a hat with a orange toupee sewn into it.
We continued south and reach the Chimney Rock of Bayard, Nebraska. Apparently it has also been known as Elk Penis. We got there not long before the sunset. We were trying to figure out a plan for dinner and decided our best option was west in a town called Scottsbluff. It wasn't too far away and the Chimney Rock visitor's center wasn't open.
We arrived in Scottsbluff as the sun set. I captured it setting over a hill with my Canon Rebel T6s. From there, we decided to try a place called Scotty's for dinner. It was a small diner. I got a burger and shake and Elphie got a corn dog. After we ate, we decided to make another Wal*Mart stop then visited another Git 'N Split for Elphie to try to find some memorabilia. She did not find any.
We continued south toward the Colorado state line. The hope was to arrive at Panorama Point before the end of daylight but that wasn't going to happen. This also meant we were too late to go to The Potter Sundry for their Tin Roof Sundae. We ended up booking a hotel room very last minute in a town called Pine Bluffs, Wyoming. As we approached the Wyoming state line, we captured some footage of the Our Lady Of Peace Shrine.
09.28.2024: Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado Drive - Potter Sundry, Panorama Point, Denver
We got up and left the hotel on Saturday September 28th, 2024. We decided to backtrack a bit and visit The Potter Sundry in Potter, Nebraska to try the Tin Roof Sundae. It was a small town but The Potter Sundry was pretty busy. The person running it was going non-stop and perhaps her children were also working with her. She seemed pretty friendly and we talked briefly with her before we left, buying a couple stickers. The sundae was pretty good and it was messy! I'm not the biggest fan of nuts on my sundae but for this, I made an exception.
Driving to Potter on I-80 we went through construction and some slow spots so I decided to try getting to Panorama Point using local roads. This meant utilizing some dirt roads again. There were little birds zipping along that were spooked by our driving through and we created quite a bit of dust! Panorama Point is the highest elevation point in Nebraska. It is located in the western corner where Wyoming and Colorado meet Nebraska. There really isn't much of anything there. It's pretty flat land with some windmills and bison roaming about. At the entrance there is a place to pay a small fee ($3.00) but it is by the honor system. At the actual point, there is a desk with a guestbook to sign. People have left some things behind there so we did as well. After capturing some footage, we began our trip to Denver, Colorado.
We headed south through the dirt roads, eventually getting to some paved roads, however, we kept encountering detours that seemingly indicated going to the previous road we tried. Eventually I decided we'd make our way back to I-80, head back into Wyoming to. Cheyenne, then take I-25 south to Denver. In the meantime, we saw the Pawnee Buttes as we aimlessly drove, ha!
Elphie captured scenery as we drove toward Denver through Wyoming and Colorado and as we entered the city. We had reserved a room in Denver for the night so we made our first stop at the hotel and unloaded what we needed into the room. We then went out to explore some of Denver. We decided to head for dinner first and chose to visit the Linger Eatuaries. It is a former mortuary turned into a restaurant. Apparently the pitchers for water were formaldehyde pitchers. The portions were a bit small but the food was good. We ate on the roof top.
After dinner, we drove by the Ball Arena where the Avalanche play hockey. There was some event going on. We headed into downtown Denver and found somewhere to park so we could visit the Mile High Steps on the statehouse. This also happens to be near where the Zero bus meets the Fifteen bus...mentioned in the Five Iron Frenzy song. There was also a rave going on at a nearby park. We could see the lights and hear the music pretty well from outside. We hung around for a few minutes then continued to drive around. We drove by Meow Wolf, Mile High Stadium where the Broncos play and recently lost to the Steelers, a weed shop just because, ha!, an amusement park, and Coors Field where the Rockies were playing. As we returned to the hotel, we decided to visit a car wash so we could retun the rental in a bit nicer condition and hopefully not get a charge after 3,000 miles of bug and dirt residue.
09.29.2024: Denver, Scum Of The Earth and the Flying Back To Chicago
I woke up on Sunday September 29th, 2024 to pee and realized that the sunrise was about to happen. We had east pointing windows so I grabbed the camera and captured the sunrise through the window. I did not have my contacts in nor did I put on my glasses so the focus wasn't quite right. Nonetheless I captured that sunrise!
When we got up to leave the hotel, we decided to get some burgers at In-N-Out. I also gave the new Mountain Dew Voodoo a try. It had a strawberry taste to it, I think. It wasn't a favorite flavor for me by any means and I don't know that I will try it again. The In-N-Out burger was fantastic and I was glad to get to have one again!
We made our way through Denver once again. We were able to see the stadiums and amusement park in daylight as we drove. We made our way to Scum of the Earth church and spent the afternoon hanging out with the Filizola's. We learned a bit about Scum of the Earth in its current state. This was another church that had a bit of a lore to it due to its connection to the underground Christian music scene (punk, ska, hardcore). It's been interesting to have visited a few of these places over the years. The building was cool. We left behind some of the items we used on this trip and didn't have space or desire to take back to Chicago with us. We hoped it would be helpful to some folks in need and it seems most everything would likely be given to folks who would need it.
We had to leave to get the rental back to the airport and go through the whole pre flight process. The place to drop off the rental was quite a ways out from the airport and then we rode a shuttle to the airport. I tried to capture the Blue Mustang as we went by it from the shuttle. It wasn't the best capture but it was what I could get. I also wandered a bit in the airport trying to see if I could find any windows to get a better shot of it. Once inside the airport I captured a few shots of sculptures and other art. After we got through the TSA screening, we had to take another shuttle to our gate. While riding that, I captured a shot of the Jack Swigert statue. He was an astronaut who said "Houston, we have a problem."
We had a while to wait and so I watched some hockey and football on the iPad. We found some food to eat as we waited. The flight home was pretty standard and thankfully uneventful.
Back at the house, we were greeted by Stein who needed all the physical contact possible. We also found that Carlos had put a doll to bed in the room he uses while he stays with Stein.
I created some end credits including the soundtrack information to overlay some of the flight footage.
This was a great trip overall. We didn't feel particularly tired afterwards. I returned to work for a few days then was back on another flight out to Birmingham for Furnace Fest. You can find that video project here.
Additional soundtrack includes "Denver City" by Wovenhand, "[dormouse sighs]" by mewithoutYou, "Rocky Mountain High" by John Denver, "Falling In Love With Glaciers" by Listener, "Snow Bear River Fire" by Candy Claws, "Cymric" by 6'10, "Dakota" by Bradley Hathaway, "Stupid Girl, Crazy Horse" by The Never Setting Suns, "Calling Out Your Name" by Rich Mullins, "Where The Zero Meets The Fifteen" by Five Iron Frenzy, "Collision" by DRYBNZ, "Driving Through Washington State" by Traveling Light X Echolalia, "Big Blue Sky" by Sandra McCracken, "The State Of Wyoming Is Worthless" by Training For Utopia, "Yellow Belly" by Thrice, "Witch" by Leper, "Faithful" by PFC Pierce, "Faithful Man" by Revolution Radio, "Faithful" by Peg And The Rejected, "Steam" by Gasoline Heart, "Western Home" by Tom Roush, "Come To The Mountain" by Destroy Nate Allen, "Lord, Don't Move My Mountain" by BEAST, "On This Mountain" by The Soil And The Sun, "Rocky Mountain Mines" by The Lost Dogs, "Moses (Down With Horns)" by Insomniac Folklore, "Frozen" by No Joy, "Frozen Lake" by Joey Joesph, "The Sulfur Baths" by The La De Les, "Stampede" by Flatfoot 56, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Johnny Cash, "Voices In The Wilderness" by theillogicalspoon, "Train Kept A Rollin'" by Tim Timebomb, "Misty Morning, Albert Bridge" by The Pogues, "Young Al Capone" by Rancid, "Burn Out Brighter (Northern Lights)" by Anberlin, "Wildflowers" by My Epic, "God, The Devil, And Me" by A Rose By Any Other Name, "The Devil's In My Pocket" by The Homeless Gospel Choir, "(Ablution) Badlands" by Psalters, "First" by The Chariot, "Kill More Presidents" by Norma Jean, "Lost In The Crazy Horse" by Fake Hands, "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)" by Neil Young and Crazy Horse, "57 Chevy" by The Fuss, "Chevy Nova" by Ghoti Hook, "The Golden Hour" by Sally Grayson,
Footage filmed using a Canon Rebel T6s, iPhone 12 and 14 by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson. Titles and other animations created and project edited using Final Cut Pro X on a Mac Mini and using Motion 4 on a Macbook by Joel A. Swanson.
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