Monday, 26th September 2005
Trip To Bismarck
Day 1 - Travel
We had to get up early in the morning, to catch our flight to Bismarck, North Dakota to visit my aunt. We were flying via Minneapolis. The flight to minneapolis was on time (thankfully). As i stepped out onto Minneapolis Airport, i was given a 'windy' remainder as to how cold cleveland (and columbus too) will be very soon !!! The flight connecting to Bismarck was delayed by half an hour (after we had boarded the flight) due to mechaninical problems aboard the flight. We made it though and were pleasantly suprised that the weather was actually quite pleasant. A far cry from what i had expected based on what i had heard my sister and others describe how nightmarishly cold winter gets here in North Dakota. My aunt took us around the city. Not that there is a whole lot of it to see. We then went to an (formerly) old American Indians Settlement where we saw the Tipis in which the native indians lived. Then we had a sumptous dinner made by my aunt who is ceratinly a good cook !!!
Day 2 - Mt RushmoreToday we set out in the afternoon to Mt.Rushmore, located in South Dakota, about 340 miles from here. The ride was nice and calm, with very little traffic (probably because winter is almost upon us and summer is a better time to be around here). We made it to our hotel by evening. We then had a wonderful dinner at Minerva's and then set out to see Mt.Rushmore. At 8 in the evening, the monument is illuminated and a small presentation takes place at the visitor's gallery. The monument was a sight to behold. Although under lights, the heads of the president's showed off some signs of wear and tear, this monument is certainly worth a visit. We then made it home, not without incident though, as we were pulled over by a cop for (apparently) speeding. Thankfully my uncle's clean driving record saved us from a whopping $120 fine. Well all's well that ends well.
Day 3 - Crazy HorseAfter a good early breakfast, we checkout of our hotel and visited Crazy Horse. It is a memorial which honros the North American Indians and is a mountain carving located in Black Hills of South Dakota. Crazy horse is a mountain carving in progress, with the main sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski 'Storyteller in Stone' almost single handedly carving the face of crazy horse. The mountain when finished will be amazing.To quote Crazy Horse
My lands are where my dead lie buried
When we were at crazy horse mountain, the morning fog prevented us from getting a clear view of the carving. The chilly weather also had us scampering back to the warm confines our car. On our way back we passed though 'Belle Fourche' which is known as the Center of the nation due to its location. We also passed through Sturgis which is the motorcycle city of USA.Day 4 - Back Home
Today morning we decided to take it easy and stay at home and do what a real holiday is meant to be .. chill and take it easy. I especially need to since i have a busy week ahead with a mid-term on wednesday. We did enjoy a most delicious brunch of masala dosa and jillebi .. yumm. We also took a walk around the neighbourhood, and the picturesque golf course in front of their hourse. If you were a golf enthusiast, this would be a dream location.
I was hoping the trip would be incident free, but i guess i wasnt that lucky. At the airport security checkin, we had forgotten about the kitchen knife we bought at the mall a couple of days ago. Since all out luggage was carry-on, the 5 inch knife found in the bag set off alarm bells. So they had to do an incident report against my name (sob sob, which made mom all the more worried). Well a simple harmless mistake was blown outta proportions according to me. Is the fact that we were of asian origin have anything to do with it. Maybe, Maybe not !! Anywayz alls well that ends well and we made it hope by midnight safe and sound, although driving from dayton to columbus in the rain at night wasnt exactly something i relish. And that ended our trip to Bismarck, ND. A nice quite vacation (exactly how i like it), a far cry from the hectic paced NY trip.
Posted by Nikhil on Monday, 26th September 2005 in Life in General | Fun