It was slow-going north of Seattle. Lots of traffic, some road detours and big distances between stuff. I went to see a lot of mid-century stuff that I had on my list from various sources but most of them were not quite appealing enough for me so I didn’t shoot them. I hope I don’t regret it some day.

One such place was the Bellevue Botanical Gardens Visitor Center (aka the Shorts House) which was built in 1956. While it doesn’t look like much from the outside, I really liked the inside which had a lot of skylights and glass.

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While I was at the Gardens, I came upon some other things including these odd rock sculptures:

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and this neat flowing fountain:

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I forgot to include this photo yesterday of a postcard that I bought. It shows the packing label for Snookum. See my agilitynut Flickr photo & video to the Wenatchee sign:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/2764075253/

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I went to Snohomish (though the signs say Maltby) to shoot a giant coffee cup. Just behind it was a complex with a restaurant and antique/gift shops. There were some really neat signs including this killer Colonel Sanders weathervane:

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Here’s a fun sign for a store in Lynnwood called “Wide Shoes Only”. My feet are a little on the wide side so I’m sympathetic. They called them “surfer feet” where I grew up in Southern California. Seems going around barefoot all the time encourages the feet to grow wider.

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I’ve never heard of or seen a Gull gas station before. I assume this was a very small local chain (or maybe it was just this one station in Burlington for all I know):

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I had heard that there was a restored Shell gas station in Langley, BC. I asked around quite a bit when I got to town and no one had heard of it. Then I spotted a bunch of restored English sports cars and figured someone there might know. Sure enough, one guy drew me a map and I was on my way. Turns out, it wasn’t a restored station at all but rather a replica of one in a residential neighborhood. I couldn’t really get close enough to “Memory Lane” to take more photos of it without walking right up the driveway and I was already arousing the suspicions of neighbors. So I left it at this since it was getting dark anyway and I had a lot of other stops to make. I couldn’t tell if this building was used as a house or just a massive garage for the guy’s collection.

Today, I covered stuff from Yakima to Issaquah — two great Native American names. The terrain was once again pretty rugged until we got to the Wenatchee mountains. Then there were forests of pine trees – finally! We’re approaching the 9,000 mile mark and not even halfway through this trip. My credit card bill is going to be scary. Gas has been $3.99 – $4.09 per gallon lately.

I forgot to include this photo from yesterday. I don’t know how old this KFC building is but I haven’t seen one like it in ages. It’s probably the same vintage (1970s?) as all those mansard roofed McDonald’s that are still everywhere. This is from Richland, WA:

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Another rarity — a still operating Color Tile store in Yakima:

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This building in Yakima intrigued me. I don’t know what it was originally used for but there were also a couple similarly designed smaller buildings in back that make me think this was a restaurant and motel complex at one time. Although I suppose it could have just been a shopping village. Regardless, very pretty roofs and details:

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Here’s a unique and densely decorated house in Ellensburg known as Dick and Jane’s Spot. 10,000 bottle caps and reflectors went into it and there are pieces from 40 different artists:
http://www.reflectorart.com/spot/index.html

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I hope they never repaint this old building:

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This marquee sign stood in the middle of nowhere in Quincy. It probably advertised for a drive-in or a movie theatre or possibly even a shopping center. All that’s there now behind it is pavement, trucks and scruffy vegetation.

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In the late afternoon, we went to a legitimate and wonderful dog park in Redmond. The dogs had a blast. Though Nik is limping a bit now on his front right leg from wiping out a few times while running on soft dirt yesterday. Marymoor Park has 35 acres of off-leash trails through meadows and lots of river access. It claims to be the largest dog park in the state. I found out afterwards that it has free wi-fi, too. Here’s a map that gives you a sense of the park’s size and organization:
http://www.soda.org/map.html

I’m probably going to continue posting to this blog in the morning rather than when I’m fried at night. My memory might be a bit more blurred but my sentence structure should be better.

Another perfectly wonderful day. Many, many miles — most of it farmland and more desolate looking areas. Parts of it reminded me of central California with the rolling, grass-less hills and desert heat. There were lots of jaggedy rock faces mixed in with big lakes.

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The dogs got lots of running, sniffing and water time. The wake in the foreground here was created by Nik chasing down his ballie which is just ahead of him to his right (bright orange).

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And here’s a shot of Grem who’s swimming back from retrieving some Goldfish crackers:

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In Grand Coulee, there was a great bit of roadside folk art. There are about 100 whirligigs made from all kinds of stuff.

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The Bamboo Shoot restaurant in Ephrata had a nice sign and interesting building:

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Also in Ephrata, I couldn’t resist shooting this restored car. I’ve always loved the name “Duster” — maybe I’ll name my next van after this. Lime green is also one of my favorite colors.

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Loved the name of this supermarket in Ritzville:

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And lastly, I noticed this at the Howard Amon Park playground in Richland, WA. This climb-able rock with hand-holds sure seems a little high-risk to me give our liability-obsessed culture. Even though there is mulch below, the kids could still land pretty hard or bang themselves on the rock on way down. Some idiots might even try jumping off the top or pushing a pal off. The big climb-able fishes that I was there to shoot for the website were made of concrete. I could easily see kids doinking their heads on them pretty hard while goofing around.

I’m trying desperately to catch-up with my postings here. So desperate in fact, that I’m getting a late start in shoting to do this before it becomes hopeless. All it took was one night of socializing to throw things completely off track.

Despite falling behind on the blog, I’m now officially a day and a half ahead of schedule. Things have really been going smoothly. I’ve had two oil changes so that means more than 6,000 miles thus far. The weather has been perfect for picture-taking. I’ve been keeping the dogs entertained & well-exercised. Nik and Grem actually look fitter than when we’re home — if that’s possible.

I finished up with Idaho for a bit and crossed over to Oregon. The landscape continued to be a vast sea of yellow (wheat?). Now that I’m in eastern Washington, things have gotten somewhat greener and I’m seeing pine trees. There have been lots of cute towns in the past couple days that I would really have liked to explore. But this trip has to be pretty superficial — mostly just banging through some main streets and the things on my list.

Baker City, OR was one such town — interesting old buildings and probably great signs just around corners that I didn’t have time to go down. Lots of references (historical markers & business names) in Oregon to the Oregon Trail and Lewis & Clark. Here’s a nice motel in Baker City:

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and the inexplicable crown sign over the Oregon Trail Cleaners:

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Here’s more from Baker City — a turn-of-the-century looking, still-operating stationery store:

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A great building — the identification up top says “Marble Works”:

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A Masonic Temple globe sign. Sometimes this sun is not a good thing — the glare on the white globes washed out the detail & means it won’t make it to the website:

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Here are some more artsy figures. These people are from Melody Mufflers in Walla Walla, WA. I only shot some of them. They were really fun and well done:

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Yesterday, we were mostly in Spokane and then in the afternoon scooted over to ID for some “must sees”. Here’s another little behind the scenes look at what goes into these trips. The stack of printed maps and lists I brought with me was about two feet tall. Each state or section is binder clipped and cities with multiple stops are paper clipped. The less thinking and organizing I have to do while traveling the better. Sometimes my maps are simple — just one place with enough road detail to get me there easily from the interstate or the previous place:

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Other times, major cities especially, the stops are laid out on a single page so it’s easy to visualize and navigate. It might seem hard to read but I just focus on the dots to knock things out in the most efficient way, working in the direction of the next page’s stop(s).

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There’s also “the list” (info about the places, the address, and other notes) which is organized geographically as well. It keeps me on track when I’m baffled by my own handwriting or order on these maps. Here’s a done page with notes that will go back into the computer file when I get home and help me write the descriptions for stuff when I’m inserting these places at the website.

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Back to the real photos. Here’s a place in Spokane that surely must have had a neat pagoda tiled roof at one time:

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A neat mid-century building in Spokane — the International Union of Operating Engineers:

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There were some fancy tree grates in downtown Spokane. I don’t think we have these back in New York City:

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Also downtown Spokane, there were these neat busts of local important men and women:

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Let’s wrap up with three signs from Spokane. Although this teriyaki sign is just a plastic thing, there are so many shapes and I find its busy-ness appealing. I bet the top spun at one time.

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An old, towering Safeway sign. The new Safeway is further south with modern signage while this one hangs on. It’s probably awaiting repainting by another business.

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This crunched sign is on the lot of Spokane Boys (a garden supply & produce place). It looks like this sign has been hit more than a few times by passing trucks. The middle, rectangular part must have rotated. I wish I could have gotten a better shot of it but it was rush hour and I was taking my life in my hands balancing on the median strip. Washingtonians aren’t used to jaywalkers and it causes all kinds of worry.

Tonight, I had the good fortune to get together with fellow Flickr-ite (Roadsidepictures) that I hadn’t met before. What was supposed to be a half hour break, turned into a fun all-nighter — so this blog posting is a day late.

I got a lot done in Idaho. The predetermined stops mostly hugged the interstate, with a couple of time-consuming exceptions. The weather, once again, was hot but otherwise perfect. At night a cool breeze came in and it was really a lovely relief.

For years, I had wanted to see dinosaur in Bliss, ID (a photo of it over at the agilitynut Flickr account). He stands next to this rock & gift shop which looks like it’s been closed for years.

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Across the street, the Oxbow Cafe is also now closed. According to Roadsidepictures, there was a food poisoning incident and that did them in.

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Still standing next to the former restaurant, there is a smaller dinosaur. After taking my photos of him, I noticed that he seemed to be smiling at Sparkle & the kids. The rock shop is visible in the background with the bigger dinosaur at the far right.

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Next to the boarded up Oxbow, there’s a gas station still hanging on. These storage tanks are located behind it:

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In Boise, I noticed this Jack in the Box. I’ve never seen one like it before. I don’t know if it’s a new style or just something uniquely created for this location.

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One of Fixie’s endearing habits is letting me know when she needs petting by waving at me. She only ever does this in the van. It’s a very slow motion wave coupled with a desperate expression.

I covered a lot of ground today — so much so that I’m now ahead of schedule. I even made decent inroads into the Idaho list. There was incredibly varied terrain from Montana to Idaho: mountains, pine trees, jagged rock formations, rivers — everything from lush forest to dry desert-looking sections. Idaho looked dry but was just as humid as back home in NYC. It was around 90 degrees everywhere we went.

The dogs got to run and swim in a bunch of spots. Nik scratched and bruised his underside and legs pretty bad hopping around in the rocky streams chasing his ball. I’ll have to be more careful about where we play in the water. The dogs have developed a new fascination for gopher holes which seem to be everywhere. Luckily, they haven’t found any actual gophers yet.

Livingston, MT is a cute little town with a lot to look at. There were lots of old painted wall signs as well as great neon signs.

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Interesting architecture of all eras in Livingston as well. Here’s a possible gas station in the foreground with more painted wall signs above:

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Also in town, one of these nifty plastic Coca-Cola signs with the “floating” shapes (I don’t know how else to describe it). There must have been some sort of restaurant here previously or else the current tenant installed the sign here and changed the name on it.

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This one also from Livingston. I’ve seen these car washes around lately — they must have been a regional chain:

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I stocked up on road snacks for diversions on the long stretches of driving. I was surprised to find the Elvis version of Reese’s peanut butter cups this far north. The Spud was positively gross. Maybe it only sells to tourists like me. The marshmallow consistency was bland and icky. It went straight to the dogs after two bites. They thought it was great.

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Here’s one of the things Nik does to entertain himself on the long, boring stretches of highway. He hunts for stuff in the van and then presents it to me on my shoulder. It’s amazing what he can balance there. It’s his way of asking me to THROW IT! and start a manic retrieving game. I use the headrests in the back seat as my goal post (yes, at 75 mph). If I score, it means he sometimes has to dig around for awhile as the thrown object might have gone under something or gotten stuck. This is what remains of a Diet Coke cap.

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This handyman sign appeared at a hardware store in Ashton, ID. I guess the psychedelic background is a wood pattern?

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Idaho has great neon signs everywhere — some beautifully preserved and others nicely weathered. This one is from Rigby, where I assume there is no subway.

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I’d heard of Blue Bell gas stations, but this was the first one (and so far the only one) I’ve seen myself:

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And lastly from today’s grab bag — a shot from Pocatello’s Union Pacific train station. Though train stations are not something I usually shoot, this one had a lot of nice details including these nice shields:

Today was a killer behind the wheel — an insane amount of miles and stops. BUT I got back on schedule! One unforeseen complication: I ran smack into Bike Week. The big annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis had motorcycles spilling out all over southeast South Dakota. Extra traffic, extra noise, extra barking.

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I hope now that I’m into Montana — and it’s officially the weekend — that the bikers are all settled in Sturgis now.

Since most of the driving was interstate, I don’t have a lot to offer here. Usually this blog gets the mediocre and strange — not much of either today. However, here are a few not good enough for primetime (the website):

I really love these guys – at a tire store in Rapid City, SD:

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These non-functional, stylized teepees were at at least two rest areas in South Dakota:

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The design of this sign in Sheridan, WY is not all that special but the animation was terrific. The chasing bulbs worked and “MOTEL” flashed/sparkled on and off with a red outline.

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So that bring us to tonight’s “trail’s end” but fear not — there will be plenty more blog postings laden with photos when I get into Idaho and Oregon and get off the interstate. If you’re still hungry for more photos, don’t forget my agilitynut flickr stream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agilitynut/

Once I get through Billings, MT tomorrow, it will be entirely new territory for me until San Francisco. Very exciting — and there should be lots of quirky stuff for the blog.

Doggie report: they mostly got sandy, sagebrushy stops today. I did find a grassy area at Storybook Island and Nik got kids to throw his ball for about 20 minutes. He loves to involve strangers. Fixie got lots of lovin’ in with the kids as well (she loves people more than anything). The other two dogs aren’t interested in people at all and would rather hunt for food (Grip) and critters (Grem).

I think I’m nearly back on schedule after today’s marathon. Managed to get pretty much across the entire state while indulging my inner child with a loop way up to the north (Aberdeen, etc.). I had always wanted to see Storybook Land and, there, now I have. There was supposed to be a Twistee Treat there as well but, according to the locals, it’s been demolished.

I saw a heck of a lot of rolling fields, hay bales, cattle, lakes… a real test of stamina with lots of miles between destinations. Thank god for Sirius satellite radio and gas station coffee. And no speeding tickets (yet). I’ve been trying to keep it between 75 and 80 (posted speed limit is 70mph on I-90 and the highways). Gas lately has been going for $3.43 to $3.89. I know I’ve driven close to 4,000 miles so far since I had the oil changed back in Duluth. I’m a fanatic about changing the oil every 3,000 miles. The cost of gas is all going on the credit card so that should be a shocker bill to come home to.

The weather has been perfect for most of the trip (blue skies & puffy white clouds). But it’s gotten hotter. After a few days with highs in the 80s, it’s back around 90 now.

The poor deprived dogs got only a couple big runs today. They snooze really well when I’m on the Interstate — waking up only to bark manic-ly when they hear motorcycles. The proximity to Sturgis, SD and the warm weather has brought out the bikers in far too great a quantity for my sanity’s sake. But it helps keep me awake.

I got a lot of good stuff for the website and the agilitynut flickr photos but not much for here. I had so many last night that I’ll try not to feel too guilty about it. And maybe I can get to bed before 2am tonight.

These figures in Elkton were created by Lyle Telcamp. There were lots more scattered around this field and more down the road. Fun stuff!

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Here’s something I’ve never seen or heard of before: McDonald’s signs with sequins. This one was in town in Brookings. And there was another one on I=29 at the Watertown exit.

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And lastly, this one’s a bit blurry which downgrades it from the website to this blog. This sign was in Mitchell — I love the shape of the boot and the way it’s position on top of the sign.

I’m now running about a day behind schedule. I underestimated the number of things on my list for Southeast MN and didn’t make it into SD until around 5pm. So, tomorrow I really have to make up some time. Though I’ll be watching out for troopers since they got me for speeding the last time I was here in SD.

There were lots of non-roadside diversions today. I took lots of photos that will never make it to my website — and many that won’t make it here either. Here’s one odd little place — Gnome Park in Dawson, MN. There are about 20 or so gnome statues — some alone, some in little scenes. I particularly like the photographer.

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It’s been awhile since I talked about food at this blog. Mostly because it’s been unremarkable thus far because I’ve been getting by exclusively on stuff I brought from home. But I ventured into a supermarket to stock up on a few things yesterday. Not really worth reporting or photo-ing: cheese, oranges, bananas, cookies… I thought I might get some Wheat Thins or Triscuits and headed for the cracker aisle. I’m really out of touch with suburbia because I was overwhelmed by the options. There must have been 10 kinds of both brands. I finally opted for this combo: Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil. It’s proven a good choice. By themselves, they are a bit too salty but they have a nice kick. Really good with cheese.

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How about a little behind the scenes van tour. Here’s the “fridge” which resides in the passenger wheel well where I can keep an eye on it. I used to keep the coolers in the back but Nik figured out how to bang his paw on the button to open them. When I first got Grem, she spent several determined days scratching and gnawing on them but has finally given up. The little blue cooler usually holds the stuff that needs to be on ice (cheese, yogurt, chocolate, meaty dog treats, etc.). The bigger red cooler holds the Diet Coke — my life blood. That’s “Larry the Laptop” charging next to the coolers.

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And here’s the “pantry”. It may look like a dog crate to you — but this is where I keep the less perishable stuff and the open bag of dog food. Only on very rare occasions does it get used as dog crate.

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The other dog food bags are in the very back of the van barricaded by plastic boxes. I keep an ear out if I hear any digging back there. Nik manages to bust into the plastic boxes quite frequently to get to his toys. He proudly brings them to me immediately hoping I’ll throw-it! throw-it!. But usually he only gets a “thank you buddy!” and the toy goes away and the box gets shut. He pouts like a little kid.

This guy on his tractor was driving down the main street in the little town of Kerkhoven, MN while I was there. It reminded me of that country song about the wife hiding the husband’s keys to keep him home at night but he just drives into town in his John Deere. Or those stories about people driving their tractors around when they’re drunk because they didn’t think it counted the same as a car. Anyway, I’m sure this guy was just running an errand. It seemed like such a cool thing to do but the thing was louder than a motorcycle.

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A glorious bit of juxtaposition here. A hearing aid store – that explains the giant ear. But, oh, that tile, the flowers and that odd bank-like window.

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As much as I plan these trips, sometimes I have a bad address — or no address — and I have to rely on the kindness and knowledge of the locals. This usually works out fine in the smaller towns. Especially in this case where I had cleverly printed a photo of a place in Willmar, MN that I was looking for before the trip. I showed the print-out to a few passersby and they didn’t recognize it. But then one guy did and he drew me this little map — ain’t it sweet? I should really save all these trip artifacts and create shadow boxes with them or something.

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I was distracted by a lot of statues/sculptures today. I’m mostly attracted to the animals, of course.

A metal mule in Pipestone, MN:

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There are a bunch of sculptures in downtown Sioux Falls, SD. These are just a few:

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And lastly, I went to see the Porter Sculpture Park in Montrose, SD. Here are some other photos & info about the place:
http://flickr.com/photos/detourart/sets/72157606547783074/
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/4427

It was nearly sunset and I think I was the last tourist for the day. The “greeter” said it was fine if I let the dogs loose to run and go see the statues. Fix and Grip are no problem but I had to worry about the other wildlife-crazed beasts. Nik stayed busy with his Chuck-it ball throwing it for himself pretty much the whole time. I kept Grem on-leash while I was taking pictures and nervously unhooked her when I could pay close attention. Lately, she’s been staying pretty close as it seems Cheddar cheese is her weakness. But God forbid anything should move out there in those vast fields and I knew I’d be in trouble. Luckily, nothing bad happened. On the way out, I realized the greeter was the artist himself and we chatted for awhile about various topics. An incredily nice and interesting guy and the artwork is really fantastic. The place is right off I-90 so you really must stop if you’re ever headed that way. Wayne keeps a little guest book for everyone to sign with “The Most Important Thing You Know.” People signed things like “Never give up.” What say you all?

I didn’t get as far as I’d hoped today but I got lots of great photos so it’s all good. I should be able to get back on schedule in the next day or two. Most of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana in the next few days is going to be straight highway miles. Maybe some driving at night to get through the distance as well. So don’t panic if I skip a day of blogging to get through it.

No doggie parks, no beaches. The poor things had to make do with plain old grassy fields and retrieving games. They are pretty fried but will catch up on their sleep on the interstates coming up. Nik and Grem are still going ballistic (screaming and bouncing) at every motorcycle or dog that they see. The two senior dogs are really over it.

I stopped at the Franconia Sculpture Park (in Franconia):
http://www.franconia.org/

I went there to see the giant silver men — which are pretty faded now but still impressive. Here are a couple other pieces that were on display:

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“The Drive-in” in Taylors Falls has a Frostop Mug sign and is located right next to a modern but nice-looking miniature golf place. I can’t vouch for the food since it wasn’t open but it really looks like a place worth supporting:

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You know you’re in the North Country when you see billboards like this:

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I’d never been to Duluth before so that was fun. One thing that puzzled me in the Canal Park section was this water fountain. It’s built in a busy location and really part of the sidewalk. I don’t think it was purely decorative but meant to be used. Although I didn’t see anyone walking through it. Maybe it’s for kids to play in? Very strange.

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Here’s a fun sculpture also from the Canal Park section:

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I had in my notes that there was a Red Goose Shoe sign at Grandma’s Restaurant in Duluth so I was eager to see and shoot it. They have three locations around town:
http://www.grandmasrestaurants.com/

So, obsessive-compulsive that I am, I went to all three of them. No Red Goose Shoe signs at any of them. But there were lots of other neat signs (vintage and repros) at all three restaurants. Here are some examples:

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The third location that I went to did have this Red Goose statue which would have been displayed in the window. This is the closest that I could come up with on this bona fide wild goose chase:

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Canal Park is big on signs — lots of old painted wall signs like this one:

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and there are lots of modern neon signs as well. I have never seen a neon Subway sign before: