Browsing Archive: October, 2009

The Mall of America

Posted by Jason Hussong on Friday, October 30, 2009,

I grew up in Minnesota, the land of the indoor shopping mall, and return a few times each year to see family and friends. It seems each time I'm there I always end up in one of the several malls

for some social time at one of the bars. Since there are so many malls there's always one centrally located that makes it a perfect gathering spot to spend the day. But, for many people, they fly in on a holiday just to shop.

The biggest mall in the country, the Mall of America, is definitely the...

The Wall Drug Store

Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, October 26, 2009,

I could swear that Wall Drug has billboards up advertising their free ice water as far away as Alaska. The number of highway signs they have is truly insanely astonishing and in every other way mind boggling. I'm not sure there's a road into or out of South Dakota that doesn't bear at least one of their advertisements. And no matter which direction from Wall Drug I drove I still seemed to see them.

As I planned my roadtrip I initially had no inclination to make a stop at the nucleus of ...

Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge & Scenic River

Posted by Jason Hussong on Wednesday, October 21, 2009,

I've driven through Nebraska so many times to get back to Minnesota since moving to Denver almost ten years ago that I feel like I have Interstate 80 memorized. It's quite sad really too

considering my dislike of interstate freeways, but it is the quickest way to get through the barren landscape named "Nebraska." Recently I took a different way though and found an oasis in the north known as the Ft. Niobrara National Scenic River.

There are several ways to enjoy the river, including boa...

The Pipestone National Monument

Posted by Jason Hussong on Wednesday, October 14, 2009,

This admirable hill awaits the poet and the painter, who should visit it when the last rays of the setting sun are falling upon it.

~ Joseph N. Nicollet, explorer

The city of Pipestone, Minnesota is a town that sits on the border of South Dakota in southwestern Minnesota. It always felt like a far off place to me as a child growing up in a

Minneapolis suburb. I'm not sure it's much different now as family asked why I wanted to drive all the way out there; they had no idea that the Pipe...

The Badlands National Park

Posted by Jason Hussong on Thursday, October 8, 2009,

As I sat in my hotel room the night before my visit, I was really excited about doing a couple of hikes at the Badlands National Park. I had a ton of pages I printed out in preparation for my visit spread across the bed as I watched some television and devoured a pizza. I meticulously highlighted the trails I wanted to visit, but it turns out everything I was told about the Badlands was just a bunch of hype.

The park is essentially a drive. There are some pretty good hikes to do in the ...

The Oregon Trail and Fort Laramie

Posted by Jason Hussong on Monday, October 5, 2009,

I drove north on Interestate 25 through Wyoming easily recalling everything I hate about freeways in the United States. I wanted to get off on a highway and enjoy a bit of the area; after

all, I was on vacation and not exactly in a hurry to get anywhere. Fortunately I saw one of those lovely brown signs that points to areas of interest. This particular one lead to the Oregon Trail wheel ruts and Fort Laramie National Historic Site.

I headed east on Highway 26 in search of my first stop. ...