WEEK SIX
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We LOVE Brian and Laurel's place. I didn't get good pictures. Sorry. We spent a lot of time on the front porch. What is it about Portland that enchants us? Well, for starters, great entertainment! We were introduced to sushi followed by a wonderful evening of Jazz. This is a truly funky town full of unbridled color...
Flagrant individualism...
...and strong opinions about everything.
From Brian and Laurel's place, we could walk to Hawthorn St. with its artsy shops, cafes, and nightspots, but we could also walk to a park, climb Mt. Tabor, and look down on the city at night.
We visited the Market downtown, sampling African cuisine and browsing the art and craft booths.
We tearfully left Portland Saturday and drove through the lovely Columbia River Gorge ending at Couer d'Alene. We didn't linger here but couldn't pass up the marina due to our passion for boats.
We did the scenic drives and camped in the Black Hills in South Dakota.
From there we drove to Mt. Rushmore. Quite an awesome piece of rock!
We spent 2 hours in this humble museum viewing a very powerful exhibit on the Wounded Knee Massacre.
We hiked and camped in South Dakota's Badlands. Yet another magnificent place! The sunset is the view from our campsite.
This hike included a challenging climb.
We stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. A marker was placed in the location that each soldier and each native American fell.
There is a National Cemetery located here. This is a scene that always puts a lump in our throats. I stood there wondering, "What have we learned from the actions in our past?"
We stopped at Herbert Hoover's Presidential Library in West Branch , Iowa. Pictures were not permitted. Then we continued to East Moline where we collected hugs from Cheri, Emily and Conrad. We had dinner at a Greek Festival.
We stopped in Urbana to get hugs from Will and Gavin and Mike and Brandi. We were wined and dined before heading home. No pictures. We were so excited to see them, pictures never even crossed our minds.