So we pulled up to Boston and spent most of our time driving around and looking at the townships around Boston. We went to Smith University, and Wellesley - which people might know from the movie Mona Lisa Smile.

We were able to find time to do our own Sylvia Plath tour. She is the writer of the novel The Bell Jar and a lot of cool poems, and is Holly’s favourite. She grew up in Boston so it was cool to see where she started out.

Well we really did do quite a bit of a literary tour in Boston because we also went to the house where the book Little Women was written, which is based on the movie I think he he. Then we popped down to Walden Pond where the Little Women would go ice skating, but more importantly where Thoreau hid out for 3 years in his one room hut and wrote his famous work Walden which among many things is about living simply and in harmony with nature.

Orchard House

Thoreau's shack at Walden Pond

We were feeling quite cultured but it didn’t take long to find another battlefield in this country; this time it was the site of the first fight in the war for independence. A group of Americans met at a house and marched down to where the English were at a bridge and they began shooting at each other. The English ended up retreating and the bridge was taken by the Americans.

One thing I can never get over about America is the beggars. You see them often at the stop lights asking for money with signs saying they are a war vet, or homeless or something. The other day, in a nice town outside of Boston, there was a young woman dressed in “normal” clothes, standing on the side of the road with a sign begging for money because she was a solo mother. So sad.

Next we went to Salam where in 1692 the town was overrun with people being accused of witchcraft, and they ended up with 18 people being hung. One man, a priest, was put to death by having more and more rocks laid on him to try and convince him to confess to be being a witch; he never did confess and it took 3 days for him to die by being squashed. We also went to a Pirate Museum in Salem and did a tour, one Pirate while waiting to be hung with the noose around his neck in front of the town, saw that the knot was not to his satisfaction so he undid it and showed the hangman how to do it right. He then told the man off for not knowing his trade, and then was hung.

Salem

The next day we drove up to Maine and through some of the New England countryside; it was most lovely. We checked out a few fishing villages and there was a lighthouse that was the most stunning one we had seen, and we have seen a lot of them by now. It was happily situated on an island surrounded by water, with a pretty house next door. But not far from there was a horrendous painted line going over the rocks by the sea and painted on the rocks it said “keep out private property”. My heart sank, and my mind rushed with the knowledge of the Queen’s Chain, which entitles us New Zealanders to our customary rights. So I walked over and looked at the water on the other side of the line.

Lighthouse in Maine

Not having our full of water yet we headed up to Niagara Falls to take a peek and discovered that tourism is alive and well; but the waterfall was impressive I must say.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

Then over to Detroit where we went to 8 Mile where the rapper Eminem is from; the feeling of the city was quite heavy and depressing. Then we headed up to Flint which was home to GM or General Motors but their factories went under a number of years ago and now Flint is home to one of the highest foreclosure of houses rates in the country, but the feeling of the city is not the same heavy feeling as Detroit; but just as sad with houses of hard-working people all boarded up.

Then we passed through Chicago on our way back to Kansas City, as we had decided to change our trip around a little so that we could get back to the House of Prayer.

We needed a break from driving as some of the roads have been 395 miles before you turn so we took a day just to rest, the next 5 days we spent in the prayer room and just chilled out with God. It was just as good as last time and by the time we left we had begun to feel at home there.

But the Wild West was calling so we loaded up our wagon (Corolla wagon - the shade of champagne) with our worldly possessions and hit the trail for South Dakota to find excitement and adventure.

Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan

8 Mile

Abandoned stores on 8 Mile

Foreclosed home in Flint

Covered bridge

Random dinosaur bones and man skeletons on the side of the road

As you may remember we had been on the hunt for bears since the Smokeys and we just happened to chance upon a Bear park that you could drive through. We were unsure if we liked the idea of bear and other animals being in a park, but we decided to venture forth and pay the 30 bucks. We saw black bear and baby bears and baby foxes, baby wolves, reindeer and other deer and last - the great Grisly bear. We left with mixed emotions - glad we had seen such amazing animals but sad that they were kept like this.

Wolf in Bear Country

Cute bear :)

Bear in the middle of the road

Bear scratching it's back on a pole. Ooh, so cute!

A huge bear in the middle of the road

Real cute bear sleeping on a rock

Baby bears

Fox

Grizzly bear

We then drove through Custer State Park on the way to our accommodation and we were blocked by a heard of wild bison on the road. Then from a hilltop we saw 1300 wild bison feeding in a valley; it was most spectacular. We passed a number of deer of different kinds - one ran in front of us and we almost hit it. After that we saw three large buffalo just sitting and eating in the grass on the side of the road. At one point Ewan got out of the car and crept through the bush just like he was a native Indian to get a better shot of one. But he came back a little dejected as he could not see the full size of it. But just around the corner we found two buffalo standing by the road - one proceeded to take a little interest in our car before walking off up the middle of the road.

Wild mule

Prairie dogs

Deer

Heard of buffalo

Buffalo in the middle of the road

Prairie dog

Deer on the road

Buffalo on the road

Buffalo walking down the road

The next day we went to see Mt Rushmore – the four Presidents with their faces carved on the side of a Mountain in the Black Hills. Then we continued our journey through the plains and prairies that are so beautiful and we were able to find one of those unpaved roads through the Badlands which was breath-taking. We came out at a little place called Wounded Knee where the United States Army killed 120 Indians when they were trying to disarm them. A shot was fired accidentally by a deaf Indian when a solider went to take his gun of him because he wasn’t listening to instruction, this lead to the battle and the deaths of the Indians, and 4 US soldiers.      

Mt Rushmore

Badlands

Wounded Knee

We have seen some really amazing storms over here. And they happen pretty regularly too. The other day as we were driving along there was a massive thunder and lightning storm with hail and rain so thick we had to pretty much stop the car to see through. Then suddenly there was this incredible rod of lightning that hit the ground right next to us. It was this huge orange streak like fire. It was amazing.

After Wounded Knee we headed South to Nebraska to stay at this most terrible of motels, and then on to Denver, Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. We spent the day driving, hiking and wildlife spotting. We saw a baby moose, but it was too far away to get a good picture, and some elk and deer and a swarm of chipmunks. At the highest points of the Rockies it was so cold that at one point it started to snow, in the middle of summer.

Farm in Nebraska

Rocky Mt National Park

Chipmunk

Rocky Mt National Park

Elk

Deer

Oregon Trail where pioneers came through travelling west

We went to a church in Denver called New Song, pastored by Loren Sandford which was pretty cool. Then Sunday afternoon we watched the final of the Euro 2012 at a local Irish Pub, go Spain!

Then we headed North through Wyoming up to Montana where we went to Little Bighorn where Custer and the Seventh Cavalry made their last stand before being killed by the Sioux Indians that they were trying to force onto a reservation. It was the greatest victory that the American Indians experienced during the Sioux-American wars. The park ranger did a great job explaining and re-enacting how the battle took place.

Little Bighorn

Little Bighorn

Indian weapons at Little Bighorn

The next day we woke up real early and went over to Yellowstone National Park to try and see some more wildlife because they come out to find food in the mornings and are usually easier to spot. We saw more buffalo and deer, eagles, and best of all a beautiful big black bear! Holly was so excited, to see one in the real wild. It was just on the side of the road as we were driving along – so Holly jumped out to take a better photo. We also saw quite a few geysers, including Old Faithful – it goes off every 45 minutes to 1 hour, but unfortunately we didn’t see it going off.

This is our wild bear! Hard to get a photo of though

Buffalo in Yellowstone

Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Then we went up to Missoula to see Holly’s friend Megan - we were able to spend a couple of hours catching up about what God has been doing. It was a lovely way to spend part of Independence Day.

Statue of Mary in Montana

Holly and Megan in Missoula, Montana

After our time with Megan we headed over to Coeur de’Alene in Idaho, which was settled by French trappers coming over from Canada. Driving through Idaho Holly saw a beautiful big moose right on the side of the highway as we drove through some really beautiful mountains. In Coeur de’Alene we checked out a Fourth of July celebration and saw some fireworks.