West Coast Trip

We took 20 days to get out West, starting on July 9. We stayed off the Interstates, and so had trouble making it to Columbus OH on time. I think Bappu and Vidya were worried that we may never get there. Nick and especially Laura enjoyed playing with their twin cousins. We were all happy to meet their baby brother Shivum, who took a liking to Chandran. Our next destination was Abingdon IL, where Russell Francis Bacom, Chandran’s Grandfather, was born.




The Main St. is mostly boarded up, but the town is still doing fine. Apparently it was the hometown of Russell's mother, Betty McKinney. There are still several McKinneys in the phone book, but no Bacoms either living or in the old town records. A man of about 75 whom Chandran spoke to said he had gone to school with a Russell McKinney, so it may be worth looking into. We stayed in nearby Galesburg, “the train capital of America”.

In front of the Historical Society in Abingdon

Carl Sandburg's house in Galesburg

We went to Pepin, Wisconsin (the Little House in the Big Woods), then headed for St Paul where we got in touch with Naomi Cohn. She was extremely gracious on short notice and cooked dinner for us, and the children enjoyed playing in Ray’s archaeological dig in their back yard. On our way out we stopped at the Mall of America where the twins went on their first amusement park ride, the log flume. They did not enjoy it.

A replica of the Little House

Naomi

The Mall of America

A Little House theme was decided on, so we drove via Walnut Grove MN (Plum Creek) to De Smet SD, where the Ingalls ended up. Of all the sites, the Plum Creek site was the most evocative. It is still pretty much as Laura Wilder described it, with a (caved-in) sod house by a lovely creek at the end of a dirt road. De Smet was the most fun. They have the farm set up, as well as a schoolhouse and a tiny dank claustrophobic sod house. There’s a cart pulled by two huge Percheron horses that they really let you drive, as (our) Laura proved by crashing into a fence (no one was hurt).

Plum Creek

DeSmet

We went through Pierre to the Badlands. We stayed at a great motel with a restaurant that served cowboy stew for dinner. At breakfast they had sourdough pancakes made from a starter batch that was 100 years old. They even had Henrietta, a pettable pet buffalo. The Badlands are beautiful- definitely one of my favorite places on the trip. We drove through the Pine Ridge Reservation to see Wounded Knee, then on to Mt Rushmore, and then to the Crazy Horse Monument, which was weird and grand. We stopped by Fort Laramie Wy, and then Cheyenne, where it was Frontier Days and Chandran bought and developed an attachment to a Stetson hat.The Badlands

Henrietta

Fort Laramie

Cheyenne

Our stay in Castle Rock with the Koerners was great. The kids were thrilled to be staying in one spot for an extended time. Teddy and Chiara get along great, and Johnny did a great job at keeping Nick and Laura entertained. In Cimarron CO, we stayed in a cabin by a river, and went to see the Black Canyon. It is a stunning place, with black walls that drop 2000’ straight down. Chandran was terrified, which was fun for the whole family to watch.

At the Denver Science Museum with Sandy and kids

The Black Canyon

Natural Bridges

An old shoe-tree in Nevada

Utah was the most beautiful part of the trip. We visited the Natural Bridges and stayed in Escalante UT a day after the Chhibbers had left there. We stayed in Austin NV and got a look at what the sky should look like at night. Visibility was very low in Lake Tahoe CA because of the Yosemite fire. The last stop before Oz was in Mont Rio on the Russian River, where we found a pretty hotel on the river and had a good German meal. Oz was incredible, beautiful and wonderful. Thanks to all who made it possible. It was a great reunion.

Russian River
The Garcia River

We made back to NYC in four days by getting up in the middle of the night and driving an average of 750 miles a day. The kids did remarkably well considering the 12 hours in the car each day. We were all happy to get home.
For more photos (though not all) of the trip check out my flickr account
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29397461@N04/