Our hotel in Bismarck, ND was near the state Capitol. Once again, we’ve been to and through Bismarck many times and have never stopped by the Capitol building.
It was a cold and windy day, but the stop was worthwhile.
I was quite surprised to see that the building is modern.
The main building To the left of the tall office building Statue of John Burke, 10th Governor of ND 1907-1913Plaque at base of statue I have a new bucket list idea Liberty Memorial Building and State Library Fire escape at back of Liberty Memorial building caught my eyeThe name plaques are underneath
As we drove farther north, the snow dissipated until it was completely gone! This was a new, unexpected, and most welcome experience for us.
Falkirk Coal Mine, Underwood, NDNear Gardiner Dam NDLewis and Clark Interprative Center Washburn ND. We didn’t stop this time. This is an old photo of a previous stopApproaching the land border at Portal NDNorth Portal, Canada BorderOur home province Southeast Sask is a part of the Bakken Play. Our area is home to the second largest oil field in CanadaWe made a quick stop to pick up my traditional Easter treat Estevan, Sk coal mining museumLignite Louie is Estevan’s coal mining mascotThe first drag line in the Estevan area – now retired and tiny compared to the massive lines that work nowThe old power plant, now a museum, welcomes us home to Weyburn, SK
It was a good road trip home. I hope you enjoyed traveling with us via these posts.
At 10 hours, yesterday was our longest day on the road.
We had a couple of short stops for fuel and walkabouts, but aside from that, hubs was determined to make miles.
As a result, we’ll complete the trip with a 4.5 hour drive today.
This was a good plan because arrival at home involves unpacking the truck, sorting and putting everything away, and doing laundry. Both hubs and I have ocd-ish personalities that wouldn’t allow us to leave those tasks for the next day.
The roads have been excellent so far, despite now seeing “that white stuff” in the fields that has been foreign to us all winter. Thank goodness the final melt isn’t far away and our summer is around the corner.
My feature photo is near Thedford, Nebraska.
North Platte, Nebraska is home to a revitalized downtown project called “The Canteen District”. We only drove by but after seeing this sign which resulted in researching, we’ll definitely stop for a walkabout here next time we’re through.
I wasn’t quick enough with my camera, so this is from Google Images
Our first stop was here.
Although luck wasn’t with us, it was a fun 30 minute stretch, and a Google search told us that Bob Barker, the long time host of the TV game show, “The Price is Right” was a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Nation here. His mother was apparently a school teacher on the reservation.
Our next stop was at Pierre, South Dakota. Pierre is the state capital. Although we’ve driven past the city many times, we’d never stopped to see the capitol building, so we decided to fix that.
Completed 116 Years AgoIt was a tad breezy but no snow yet! A little lake sits adjacent to the Capitol Statue of Joe Foss – WWII Marine Flying Ace and one-time governor of North Dakota stands at an arena across from the Capitol
A few miles down the road, we were greeted with this
At least the highway is dry … so far
We booked into a lovely big room at Bismarck ND La Quinta. Comfy beds, extremely clean room in new condition and a great price for a holiday weekend Saturday.
Along the way from San Angelo, TX to Amarillo, TX we saw some varied and beautiful scenery and enjoyed a couple of breaks from driving to check out attractions.
The weather has been more than cooperative with sunshine, warmth, and clear blue skies.
Breakfast and road snacks from our hotelNear Sterling City, TXRed Soil at Ackerly, TX. The white specks are debris from the cotton harvest
Our first stop was Lubbock, TX – birthplace of Buddy Holly.
After touring Clear Lake, Iowa on our way south this past fall, which I posted about here , we were interested in visiting Buddy Holly’s hometown.
Lubbock Texas has streets named after their favourite son.
There’s also the Buddy Holly Center which is a museum tribute to his life, and includes an art gallery inside an old attached train station.
Across the street, is The Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plazawhich includes the West Texas Walk of Fame – with inductees from the area named in plaques along a curved wall. Among the many inductees were Tanya Tucker, Merle Haggard, Roy Orbison, and Dan Blocker.
We also toured the house of JI Allison, the first drummer for Buddy Holly’s band, The Crickets. In his bedroom was a piano and a drum kit and this is where “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue” were written.
I was in Rock n Roll heaven here.
Entrance to the Buddy Holly CenterMe with the famous glassesThis courtyard can be rented outInside the entrance Lots of reading involvedDoorway to the Art GalleryThree large sections for exhibitsOriginal doors to the old train station Hubs was most interested in the history of the train stationJI Allison’s homeJI’s room in the homeBuddy and Maria Elena Holly PlazaFront of the old train station Dedication Plaque
From Lubbock, we made the 121 mile (194 km) drive to Amarillo, TX where we checked out our first stop on historic Route 66.
2026 is the hundredth anniversary of “The Mother Road”, so over the course of this year we plan to see as much of it as we can.
First stop: Cadillac Ranch
There’s spray paint everywhere Even on the pavement alongside the entrance Spray painted locks on the fenceThis truck pulls the souvenir trailerEvery souvenir you could want is in hereThe famous interactive art installation, created in 1974I took my turn at spray painting Hubs did some tagging tooThe Second Amendment Cowboy with a neon sign (one of many on Rte 66)A diner and gift shop behind the cowboy
For those of you wondering about fuel prices:
This is per US Gallon (3.75 liters) We saw it as low as $2.99 and as high as $3.99
Yesterday was a ten hour day, worth every enjoyable second.
Yesterday was take off day and we logged nine hours on the road with only quick rest stops.
Texas is a big state and because we’re headed up to the panhandle, we’re taking the longest route from south to north.
It’s bluebonnet time in Texas and the state flower was abundant on the roadsides and in fields along the way. My feature photo was on the way by, so more blurred than I like but it gives you the idea.
Here are a few more “on the way by” photos.
I had to do a white balance correction on them, because of the tinted windows in our truck.
Check stop at Encino, TXOne of many overpasses at San Antonio, TXComing to Comfort, TXComfort TXFredericksburg, TXMany great old buildings in Fredericksburg
Mason, TX Courthouse
My Moment 58 mmTele Lens for iPhone does a pretty good job of bringing things closer and at the same time, reducing blur. It’s my favourite attachment for shooting from a moving vehicle.
After touring my cousin around the Las Vegas area for a week, we took her to the plane and then made our way home via a different route than usual.
My feature photo is of a portion of Arches National Park near Moab, UT. We didn’t take any side roads to see the actual arches, but even without that, the scenery “on the way by” was spectacular.
We’d hoped to drive from there to Denver, Co.
At Grand Junction, Co, where we spent the night, we were advised the next morning by the hotel clerk, that there had been a rockslide ahead, so the road we planned to take was closed. We were also informed that roads out of Denver (from ourdirection) were closed for the winter.
Enter Plan B:
We drove on as far as Aspen, Co, toured the place and watched some skiing. Neither of us had been there before, so it was a fun little “been there done that” trip.
One of the many Aspen ski runs
After Aspen, we turned around and headed back to Grand Junction.
From there, we headed north to and through Wyoming and more incredible scenery.
Hoodoos in South Wyoming
After Wyoming, it was South Dakota and then North Dakota (which I’ll cover in a future post) and thenhome.
Radically Retired 