One Week ago, in a city a few hours away

Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination from Derek Jensen on Vimeo.

Star Wars at MN Sci Museum

I went to the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota this past weekend. It was great to get up close to many of the iconic images, props and costums from my favorite film series. It was also interesting to look at some of the different ways the science of Star Wars was both prophetic and grounded in reality.

Derek had his camera with him and snapped many photos and was kind enough to grab some shots of me with some of my favorites from the exhibit. You can check out those photos here.

You can also peep some of his excellent shots of the exhibit on his flickr page.

This marked my second trip to the Science Museum, it’s one of my favorite places in Minnesota. From getting to see the dinosaurs to watching movies on the giant OmniTheater, if you’re from Minnesota and haven’t checked out this amazing place, you owe it to yourself, go before Star Wars exits in August.

It’s finally summer 2008

I’m sitting on my sofa watching the Red Wings and Penguins fight it out on the ice for the Stanley Cup while I have a blanket draped over my legs — that’s right it’s pretty much summer. OK, maybe not really summer, but for all intents and purposes it is that season we all truly love.

This summer there are a handful of things I’d like to do/accomplish including short trips, house cleaning and the like. One of the trips is something I’ve done a few times but I would like to actually chronicle at least once.

It’s a Minnesota land mark that we all know and love.

It’s the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota. Yup, that magical mystery in Darwin. I’ve seen it a few times but I think it’s about time I truly give it the justice it richly deserves.

I’ll give you the low down once I finally get around to making the short trek. That’s right, I don’t live that far from it.

View Larger Map

The Vacation: Mount Rushmore

Saturday: Wake up call comes around 6 a.m. with a bright light and some loud rustling from my Dad who woke up minutes earlier. We hit the road around 6:45 a.m. heading out to the first of only a couple stops on the route to Mount Rushmore. We find a Perkins and have breakfast. After having a big feast the night before, I opted for a lighter option with muffin.

The open road reminded me of my childhood. Many weekends as a kid I would be watching the world go by from the back seat of my parents car. Seeing the world with my head turned afforded me a lot of opportunities to see things that have shaped the person I am today.

Originally my thought was to take this trip alone, but my Dad jumped in and we ended up taking his truck. He drove the whole way out to Rushmore which let me see the landscape change, hills turn to mountains, crossing great rivers and of course the countless Wall Drug signs.

We opt to stop in Wall Drugs to see what the fuss was all about. I’ve seen Wall Drug signs for most of my adult life, one billboard was located minutes from Benson, my parents home. I didn’t know what to expect, but I have to say it really is vast. The town of Wall S.D. is engulfed by the shops and restaurants that make up Wall Drug.

We hit the road after having some ice cream and make our way to the monument, our next stop. I continue to marvel at the world as it passes me by. A landscape dotted with cows, lamas and other livestock, but for the most part a world untouched by man. It’s breath taking.

Except for the road work, there was a lot of that.

As we inched our way into the Rushmore park, you could really get the feeling of being surrounded by giants. The mountains jetted into the sky and cast shade over the road as we traveled.

I kept peering over the hood of the truck trying to get a glimpse of Rushmore as soon as it came into view. It finally did when I wasn’t expecting it. It was unmistakable, our first President made his appearance.

The monument itself is stunning. Thinking about the man hours it took and the limited tools those who did it had. It’s inspiring and filled me with the wonder that is human capabilities.

We take some time to look around the rest of the monument after admiring four great men cast in stone.

Our next stop was Deadwood, a town only a few miles away. We drove through this historic town and enjoy the sights of its restored glory.

Then there was Sturgis. I was underwhelmed, as would be expected since the rally ended a few weeks earlier. But I’ve been there. I know the green lights are short. We make it to the Harley Davidson dealership that covers the Black Hills area. We each get a jacket and hit the road.

We opt to skip our hotel room in Rapid City to get a little closer to home. We make the drive back to Sioux Falls, knowing full well we would arrive late. We each get a room and head to bed around midnight.

Sunday: I get up around 8 a.m. after getting a little more sleep than the night before. I catch up on SportsCenter and head down for breakfast around 9 a.m.

We hit the road and make it back to Marshall around noon. I make some calls to friends to let them know I made it back and see what they’re up to. I chill out for a few hours before Alex comes over for some Tiger Woods 06 and Burnout 3 crashing. We game for an hour and he heads out.

Exhausted from the weekend I crash early knowing I had to get up for work the next day.

Home, but tired.

I am home from the trip and a bit tired. I’m currently watching the Vikings game and I don’t know that I’ll be writing my trip details today or not. I have however uploaded a handful of photos for you to check out over at Flickr.com.

Almost home

Well it’s late at night Saturday and I have finally seen Mount Rushmore. I snapped a few photos that I’ll post later. We spent the whole evening driving to Sioux Falls to make the trip back home Sunday a little shorter. I’ll have a large wrap up of the weekend up sometime Sunday or Monday with photos.

The vacation so far

I took off part of Tuesday afternoon after working the morning. The vacation begins with some down time, watching an obscene amount of The Office season 3. In all reality I focus on the special features, commentaries and deleted scenes. Good stuff to be had in them.

Wednesday was pretty much spent relaxing and avoiding doing the cleaning I told myself i was going to do. Instead I peep a movie, watch some more Office and later head over to Derek’s place for a little while. He just finished up the specials for the UK version of the Office.

Thursday I surprise my Mom who had a birthday over the previous weekend. I didn’t get to see her on her birthday due to work, so it was nice to see her for a little while. After grilling some burgers I head out to a local bar to hang out with a friend. We meet up with some of her friends and a good time is had by all.

Wake up around 8:30 a.m. on Friday, the day I’m ready to hit the road with my Dad making our way slowly to Mount Rushmore. Before leaving I head to lunch with my mom at the Whistle Stop Diner, a place we’ve frequented for years.

Currently I’m writing this blog post from the hotel room in Sioux Falls, SD. Will be heading out to Famous Dave’s for some BBQ food here shortly, watching some bad television and surfing on the hotel Internet connection.

* addition : Dinner at Famous Dave’s makes for a decent feast. *

We’ll be heading out early Saturday morning to make it out to Rushmore in the early afternoon. I plan on taking a bunch of photos during the trip, so check out my Flickr page over the next few days while I upload them.

Interactive Trip Planner

With my trip to Mount Rushmore still somewhat in the planning stage, I thought I would check out some travel sites for ideas. I found this travel South Dakota site that looked promising. I clicked through and was greeted with a well designed and well thought out experience.

I then clicked on the “interactive trip planner,” and in a moment some disembodied voice began talking to me, encouraging me to explore the program. Admittedly, I was a little unnerved, but nothing could prepare me for this woman that walked across the screen. That’s right, this tourism guide suddenly appeared on my MacBook screen, strolling across as if this was something normal.

There seems to be this idea when it comes to some Web sites that we have to talk down to our readers. I don’t think that is really the case. Sure, portions of this tour experience were complicated, but nothing that required someone literally walking you through the site.

At any rate, check out the site for yourself, and remember - this scary person just appears all of a sudden. It’s supposed to be like that, it’s not a ghost. (I never thought she was a ghost. Really.)

Photo credit: Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids.

Vacation plans

The summer is slowly winding down and I have some vacation days eating at me. I’m starting to think about what I want to do. I’ve been talking about going to Mount Rushmore for years, being only 8 hours away it seems like a natural place to trek out to.

At the moment, I’m still thinking about it. Will this be a solo trip? Probably. Do I want it to be a solo trip? Not really. While I haven’t set Mount Rushmore in stone (pun intended), it’s a place I’ve always wanted to go. Some people tell me it’s disappointing while others are shocked I’ve never seen it. Anybody else have any thoughts. I’ll keep you posted.