Harry Potter, the Pearl of Southern Indiana, and Bad Luck

Harry Potter

I (Claire) must admit that I am slightly obsessed with the Harry Potter books. That was a gross understatement. I am obsessed with them to an almost unhealthy level. In fact, it almost disturbs me because of how much I love the books. Don't worry - I'm not going to spoil the end of the whole story for those of you who have not yet read the book. I will simply say that as I approached the end of the book, I got simultaneously sad and happy because I knew when I would finish the book, that would be the end of the end, and also because I really wanted to know how the whole thing ended up. I laughed and cried as I read the book (the crying while reading thing is unusual for me), and I absolutely loved it. Let's just say that the end is fitting.

We made it back from our road trip in enough time to attend the Harry Potter party in the middle of the night at Borders when the book was released. I have never seen so many people in a bookstore in my life! I can honestly say that every piece of floor space was occupied by some one's feet from about 11:45 pm until 1:00 am. It was CRAZY! I was expecting it to be fun, but what really happened was that I had to stand so close to strangers that my personal space was seriously invaded. I was socially uncomfortable, and it was hot in there, too. But, I'm glad we went because that meant that we could start reading the book first thing in the morning.

John got the privilege of reading it first because I wanted to read the last one again before I read the new one. The deal was (since I'm a faster reader) that John could read the new one until I was finished with the 6th one, then I would get to catch up with him wherever in the story he was. He would get to finish from that point, and then I could finish second. This turned out to be a great plan since I have a hard time masking my reaction to what I read. In fact, John watched me read the last 150 pages or so because he was so entertained by my reactions. He even took video of me reading. I'm so sad that it's over, and it almost bothers me how affected I've been by the whole thing, but I think the reason I love it so much is that I've been following and loving all the characters for so long that I can hardly stand to know I'll never read more of their stories. I'm crazy for a good story, you know, especially one that involves the eternal struggle between good and evil represented by colorful and interesting characters. I guess I still have the movies to look forward to, but I'm always disappointed at how much they have to leave out. John loved the book, too, but he managed to read it with a straight face.

The Pearl of Southern Indiana

We went down to French Lick, Indiana today to visit the recently renovated West Baden Hotel. It was most popular, I think, during the roaring 20s when the rich and famous went there to enjoy the hot springs nearby. Now, this amazingly beautiful hotel is nestled (or hidden) in the run-down town of French Lick and the surrounding farms. When we rounded the corner in the road so we had a nice view of the hotel, I could hardly believe it. It is so glamorous and richly ornate that it looks like it doesn't fit or belong anywhere near French Lick. It's like accidentally finding the Pearl of the World in an oyster you're eating at a backyard barbecue.

Mom and Dad Pontius, John, and I made the trip to see the hotel (and to have lunch at a roadside BBQ place Dad has been raving about for weeks). We had a great time, although it rained much of the time we were there. If you want to see some professional pictures of the outside of the hotel (definitely worth it), click here: http://www.cookgroup.com/historic_landmarks/

First, we went to lunch at the famous BBQ place, and it was great. Then, we went to see the hotels. It was a great time, and the beauty of the decor and architecture was almost overwhelming. I found a chaise lounge that I loved in the dome room of the West Baden Hotel. We took turns sitting in it.




Bad Luck
We have bad luck when it comes to cars. We thought that we were great with the car situation - two somewhat old but smooth-running cars that are completely paid for... well, the green car went capootz. We have to buy a new car, and we were not planning on that. I would write the stuff that the mechanic said went wrong with the motor, but I don't speak gobbledegook. If you want the details, call my dad. So- we're on the lookout for another somewhat old but smooth-running car.

Shopping Anyone

The day that Claire had been waiting for had finally arrived. Our first stop of the day was IKEA. We arrived as the door opened to ensure ourselves enough time for this and the Mall Of America. I had never been to IKEA before and by the excitement in Claire's actions I was afraid for our bank account. For those of you that have never been to and IKEA before let me run you through a basic operation of the entire deal.

When you enter the store you grab a big yellow bag to carry around on your shoulder, an IKEA pencil, and a shopping list. You then are directed upstairs where you start your shopping experience to work your way down. The store has a path that winds its way through different types of home furnishing areas. From kitchen, living room, bathroom, home decor, lighting, on and on anything is available. Along the way they also have entire show rooms from houses set up with different types and sizes of rooms. Here they display all the things that the store has to offer. If you like something that you see on the show room floor or in one of these houses you write down what it is on your shopping list. Then after you have walked though the few levels of the store you enter the warehouse where you are directed to the shelf your item is on. After picking it up the cashiers are waiting just beyond the warehouse. It is a pretty smooth process and I have to admit it was fun to walk through and see all the different styles and designs for the many rooms of a house. Claire ended up taking it easy on the pocketbook. We ended up getting a couple odd and end things. Because we are in a transition stage as far as our living is concerned we don't really have anywhere to put furniture type things, which I had to remind Claire of on multiple occasions. If we did have an apartment or house we would have probably come home with a chair and a table if not more. After shopping at IKEA which was about 3 hours we dropped our things off in the car and headed back in to have a brunch in the food court. We were able to have a couple Swedish dishes in the meatballs and the Linginberry dessert they had.

Now it was off to the mall. Neither of us are huge shoppers so we were more curious of the variety of things the mall had to offer and not so much the browsing through the stores looking for the best deals. Again for those of you that have never been to the Mall of America it is set up in a square with all the stores located on the outer part of the square. Then in the middle is the amusement park. Claire and I started on the first floor, there are three floors with a movie theatre on the fourth by the way, and just started walking around. We went in and out of a few stores but like I said we were just looking. About half way around we headed into the amusement park to get a closer look on the rides and games that were offered. We were shocked to see that just about any kind of ride or game you can think of is in the mall. They have roller coasters, log rides, Ferris wheels, swings, fun houses, and much more. We had a good time walking around watching all the kids having a great time. We also walked in a place called Lego Land where everything was made entirely of Legos. The highlights of Lego land included a beach ball size Death Star from Star Wars, a larger than life Batman, our personal favorite a two story grandfather clock. After many ows and ahs we decided to by a key chain that looked like a Lego man because we needed a key chain and it was something fun to remember the mall. We decided on a Lego man that looks like Harry Potter. From here we simply walked around and browsed the stores along the way. After another quick bite, the final store on the third floor behind us, and 4 and a half hours later we were ready to call it a day.

By now it was around 5 in the afternoon and we were wondering how far away from the city we should go before finding a hotel for the night. It was sometime around here when the idea of driving through the night and just getting home hit me. After a quick search online curiously of a nearby hotel we found that we were 10 hours from home, we could do it. So jumped in the car and headed home. We wanted to avoid the craziness of Chicago so we headed south into Iowa where we then cut our way back towards Indiana. After a late dinner in the car and some direction navigation, Claire went to sleep around 12:30. I plugged in my IPod and headed for home. For the next 4 hours it was nothing but semis and headlights. After crossing the Indiana line while stopping for gas Claire woke up and kept me company for breakfast at McDonalds and the rest of the ride home. By the time we arrived in Bloomington I had been awake for about 23 hours. We went straight to bed. Hey we needed our sleep we had a Harry Potter date at midnight that night.

Day 3: In The Car

We started day three on the west side of South Dakota and were hoping to make it to the corn palace and Cabellas on the east side on our way to Minneapolis. By the end of the day we thought that maybe we would have some time to shop a little before spending the night there to finish in the morning. We were wrong again. We were really bad at estimating how long it took us to get somewhere.

We spent the entire morning in the car before finally arriving in Mitchell in time for a later lunch. We visited the Corn Palace first. For those of you that have never heard of the Corn Palace it is a building that has been decorated entirely of corn. Every year at the start of the summer they strip the old corn and local grass and create a brand new design for the next year. It was quit the site to see an entire building made of corn. Inside the Corn Palace they have a large basketball arena which is used by the local college and high school teams. I thought it would have been really funny to play my basketball games in a Corn Palace. During the off seasons they set up a souvenir shop on the floor where you can find any thing corn related item editable or not.

After leaving the corn palace we headed over to Cabellas. We weren't looking to buy anything we just wanted to get a few pictures and see the mounts that were all over the store. This isn't exactly the type of store for Claire or I and we were anxious to get back on the road so we didn't stick around to long.

It didn't take riding in the car very long before we realized that we weren't going to make it in time for shopping but we were determined to get there and find a place to sleep so that in the morning we could sleep in a little and then head over to IKEA. So that is what we did. We spent most of the after noon and early evening in the car pushing to make it to Minneapolis at a decent time. When we finally arrived we took a relaxing dip in the hot tub and then ordered a pizza before calling it a day. Now with the excitement of going to IKEA the next day we will see if Claire can get any sleep? By the looks of this last picture, I think so.

Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore

Sorry we haven't blogged about our progress across the country in a couple days. We had good intentions of blogging while in the car and then posting when we get to our hotel room. It wasn't for lack of time in the car because we had plenty of that. Never the less here is the next stage of our trip back home.

Our plan was to visit Devil's Tower, cross the state line and see Mt. Rushmore, and then make it half way across the state of South Dakota to a town called Marshall. We really didn't make it close. It took a lot longer to cross Wyoming and get to Devil Towers. Once we drove over the ridge and saw it off in the distance it made the slight detour all worth it. We took some pictures as we drove towards the base of it and then were able to get a good close of look once we got there. Because we were on a little bit of a time crunch we didn't take the hike around the entire tower although we were able to drive around and see it from all sides. According to the Indian legend the sides of the tower were clawed by a bear trying to reach the tribe on the top. It was a tremendous sight to see and we are glad that we made the trip over to see it.

Our next stop was to head just over the boarder and see Mt. Rushmore. Again it took a little longer than we thought to get there. But after driving south of Rapid City into Keystone we rounded that mountain and were amazed by the sight we saw. Both Claire and I had been to Mt. Rushmore in the past but it had been years for the both of us. When we got there we were surprised to see how it had changed. The first thing we noticed was the parking garage we parked in and then the enormous stone entrance that had flags representing each of the 50 states. There is also a large amphitheatre located at the base of the mountain. Our favorite change that was made was a presidential walk that took you around the base of the mountain and gave you multiple views of the faces. After taking the walking tour, browsing through the museum, watching a quick video about the design and construction of the faces we grabbed some ice cream and headed back out on the rode. By now it was getting late and we were still 3 or 4 hours from where we wanted to be by days end.

After driving a couple hours we decided to stay in a town called Wall South Dakota. For any of you who have traveled interstate 90 know what a Wall Drug sign is. For hundreds of mile in both directions you will see signs for this little tourist trap. They offer funny things like free ice water, fun for kids, 5 cent coffee, and free doughnuts for hunters. I had also been through this town on the same family vacation we went on to see Mt. Rushmore. It again peeked our curiosity and decided to stop there for the night. After some silly pictures in Wall Drug we found a grocery store and picked up somethings to take back for dinner.

It was a long day but the opportunity to see a couple national monuments was great. It was only day two and we had already seen a trips worth of sights. We still had a corn palace, and IKEA, and a Mall of America yet to visit. Stay tuned for those stories.

Our Yellowstone Visit

On our way out of Wyoming, we decided to do a quick trip through Yellowstone National Park. We had an absolutely fabulous time driving around and looking at all the bubbling mud pots and geysers. We could only really spend one day there, and it was a day jam-packed with amazing sights, sounds, and smells.

If you haven’t been to Yellowstone, you need to know right now that it is no state park. It is absolutely HUGE! We could only drive around the southern loop (over 100 miles, I think) and look at the things along the way. We went to two different Visitor’s Centers where we learned about the fact that Yellowstone is sitting on top of a gigantic bubbling underground volcano, which is what makes the geysers and hot springs boil and bubble. We agreed that if we had come upon some of the sights and sounds at Yellowstone a few hundred years ago, we would have sworn there were witches muttering, “Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble, fire burn and caldron bubble,” somewhere around the hissing and bubbling springs. We would also have assumed that the witches were filthy and on a diet existing only of hard boiled eggs due to the nasty smells. The sulfuric stench was almost too much to bear at times, and after we had left the park, it lingered in our nostrils for quite some time.

The first thing we did was to drive to Old Faithful to see it spew steamy water into the sky. We got a front row seat and waited for it to erupt. When it finally did, our view of the spout of water was obscured by the steam due to the direction the wind was blowing. It was still really magnificent, but not what we had hoped. So, we took about 80 minutes and walked around the loop behind Old Faithful to look at tons of other smaller geysers and hot springs. By the time we were finished, Old Faithful was about ready to blow again, so we went around to the other side and got a much better view for our second showing of Old Faithful. The place was packed with other tourists, but we didn’t mind. We were glad to see so many people interested in nature.

We spent most of the day in amazement of the awesome (and here, I mean the original, although less frequently used, meaning of the word “awesome” – awe-inspiring) natural wonders of Yellowstone. The rivers running through the canyons create beautiful picture opportunities, and the short “hikes” that we took to view the numerous geysers and boiling lakes were refreshing. I (Claire) still had incredibly sore muscles from our ten mile hike with Joel and Laura and from our float down Flat Creek (most of which I spent frantically paddling with my hands to try to keep up with the others), so John listened to me moan and groan about how much it hurt to walk up and down hill. But, I think the stretching and walking turned out to be a good thing for my sore muscles. Today, I’m feeling pretty good.

While we were in the park, we also learned about how the wildfires of 1988 had affected the ecosystem of the park, which was especially interesting because the little documentary movie we watched about it was made in 1998 – ten years after the fire, and ten years (almost) ago. We noticed the changes in the park from when the movie was made until today. We also got to see some wildlife. When we came back from a little hike, we walked up to our car only to find several people standing in close proximity to the car with cameras. As it turned out, while we were away, a gigantic 12-point buck elk had decided to come and graze in the ditch right by our car. We felt the situation was a little dangerous because the elk was only about fifteen feet from the car and ten feet from us – and from other idiotic tourists with cameras who think it’s okay to shout and wave at the elk to get it to look up at the camera. We left before any unfortunate incidents occurred. We also got a picture of a Bison who was munching away at grass right by the side of the road.

After a full tiring day, we drove out of the park and through some mountains (about two hours due to ups, downs, weavings, and windings) to Cody, Wyoming, where we stayed in a cute (although a little tacky) locally owned hotel called Buffalo Bill’s Village. All the material in the little cabins actually had prints of cowboys riding and lassoing cows. It grew on me. We had a good night’s sleep and got up fairly early to start today, which is fodder for a different blog post scheduled for tomorrow night.

Our Visit With Joel and Laura Part 2

I am writing this blog post from Buffalo Bill's Village which is a cabin located in Cody Wyoming. We have just spent the day at Yellowstone National Park and are on our way home, but I will write more about that later. I need to fill you in with all the adventure that happened our last couple days with Joel and Laura.

To pick up where the last post ended, we loaded up our backpacks on Saturday and head for the Teton National park for a day hike up to a place called Amphitheater Lake. It was a five mile hike up 3,000 feet so all four of us were sure to take a lunch and plenty of water. It was a beautiful hike that rose higher and higher above the tree line. Along the way Joel stopped and showed us how to use his water filter as we needed to refill our water bottles from a mountain creek. It took us a good 3 to 4 hours to get to the top.... correction it took Claire and I a good 3 to 4 hours to get to the top. I have no doubt that Joel and Laura could have made it in better time but they were nice enough to let us stop when we needed breaks. At the top was a breath taking view of a glacier lake that had a mountain backdrop.

After getting to the top Joel and I decided that we were going to take a dip in the lake to cool ourselves off. I can tell you that there is nothing like glacial water to cool you off. After a very short swim we laid by the lakeside and took in the view. It was a nice place to relax and enjoy the day. After a few pictures we were ready for our 5 mile hike down 3,000 feet. By the end of the day we were all pretty tired. As we headed off for dinner at a local favorite of Joel and Laura there was a brief period of time where I needed to carry Claire to dinner.

The next morning was a little rough for Claire as she was feeling pretty sore from the long hike. Even today in Yellowstone walking around was a little tough for her. After church we decided that we were all going to float down the Flat River, which runs through Jackson, on inner tubes. After some digging around we were able to fine one tire tube, one inflatable plastic tube, and on 2 seater float. So we parked one car at the end of the river and got in another and took off for the start. It didn't take long down the river before we realized that the river could use about another foot of water to really make the trip a lazy one. Nonetheless we had a great time. Every so often the river would drop about a foot and navigating or large rocks and through shallow waters made the adventure a memorable one. I think Joel and Laura were the only two that didn't flip completely off their 2 man tube into the water. As we were floating past Joel and Laura's apartment we decided that we had had enough. After some warm showers Joel and I took the bus to pick up the cars. Even with a couple bumps and bruises we all had a lot of fun.

Later that night Joel had entertain some campers at his school in Jackson, so Claire and I took the opportunity to go with him while Laura lead her Bible school at home. It was a good chance for Claire and I to see Joel's school and to see him in action. He played a silly camp song that he made up for the campers and then helped them as they all wrote their own. It was a great evening to sit back and enjoy the show.

The next morning Claire and I packed our things and headed of on our road trip home. We both at the best time with Joel and Laura. We enjoyed the chances we got to spend with them, the chance to see where they live, and do the things that they do. We hope to again visit sometime real soon.

Our Trip To Wyoming Part 1

We have been out here now a couple days and thought we would pass along some stories and pictures now to let you know how we are doing.

We left Bloomington for Utah on Tuesday morning at 5 to catch our plane. That doesn't sound that bad until you know that for whatever dumb reason we stayed up til 11:30 the night before watching a Harry Potter movie. Oh well - a quick snooze on the plane and some random stares sitting in the Denver airport and before we knew it we were picking up our rental car in Salt Lake.

It was a beautiful drive from Utah. It took us about 5 hours to drive because we stopped at a roadside diner and had a bite to eat and we took our time looking at the view. We made it into Jackson about 15 hours after we took off from Bloomington. After a bite to eat and a quick mini tour of downtown Jackson we were ready for bed.

While we have been here Joel and Laura have been working during the day which has given Claire and I the chance to do some exploring on our own. The first day that we were here we walked back downtown and looked through a lot of the shops that are around town. We returned home around the time Joel returned home where we packed a picnic and headed for the hills. Joel had a spot in mind that provided a fantastic view of the sunset over the Teton range. It was a great way to spend an evening.

Day two was a relaxing day. We rode along with Laura in the morning as she ran some errands around town. She took us up to a very high-end hotel that looks down onto Jackson and has a view of the Tetons as well. Claire and I have a hard time imagining what the lifestyle would be like that would allow us to stay in such a nice place. We were then able to see where Joel and Laura lived before they moved into the apartment that they have now. The plan for this evening is to head back there for a cookout and to meet their ex roommate. For the afternoon we relaxed, read, and napped. The evening's activities called for a hike up Snow King which is a mountain that is located literally in Joel and Laura's back yard. Snow king is a ski resort that in the summer time doubles as hiking trails for the locals. Then once you get to the top you can ride the ski lift down. Joel and Laura hike the trail about 2 times a week and can make it to the top in 45 minutes. We took just under 2 hours. There is certainly something to be said about the lack of oxygen in high altitude places. And once again the view from the top was a breathtaking view of all of Jackson and then on to the Tetons to Yellowstone. After some pictures, we took the chair lift down, got some ice cream, and called it a day.

This morning we woke up early and headed out on a wildlife view expedition before Joel had to head off to work. We were able to not only see some wildlife like a moose, her calf, a coyote, a mule deer, and some antelope, but the sunrise as well. We were hoping to see some elk but today wasn't the day, maybe tomorrow. Afterward we went to Bubba's , a local favorite, for breakfast.

We have plans to head back into Teton park over the weekend for some day trips which we are looking forward to. Our plans are to continue to post as we make our way back across the country. We'll be taking off from here on Monday.