2007年6月27日

Car sold

We bought a car in Feb. It's a Toyota Corolla 2002 CE. Two problem for that car, one is high mileage, which was 108000 Mi, the other one is salvage title. Bought in price was $6K, and sold at $4K today.(June 26) The purpose of car was for my part time job during the last semester in Polaroid. Life becomes more convenient to drive a your own car living in MN. Maybe we should get one earlier so that we could go to more places.

賣掉生平第一台自己名下的車子 說實話也沒什麼感覺 因為當初決定的因素只是因為買比租更划算 尤其是在保險費上面 跟租車公司租車 Damage Waiver一天就要十幾塊錢 DW負責所有車子的損壞 套句我表弟的話撞到車子只剩下一個輪子也不用賠 去年暑假的intern花再租車上的開銷就三千多 等於把薪水貢獻在車上 開去上班心酸的 何況在MN生活 雖然大眾運輸系統尚可 但仍不比紐約 芝加哥 波士頓 洛杉磯等大城市 很多地方沒車的話還是到不了 加上還失去了時間上的彈性與自主性

在美國的兩年內 我應該是把下半輩子開車的哩程數都用光了 去年春假跟明天要再開一千五百英里去伊利諾香檳 之後去了密西西比河源頭 去年暑假從猶他州鹽湖城開到大提頓跟黃石公園 今年去了冰河國家公園 上星期去的南達克達州 還前前後後去了Duluth三次 總計拿到一張超速罰單

2007年6月25日

North Shore MN & MI 6/20~23

Our second last road trip destination is North Shore of Minnesota. The reason for this decision was that flying ticket to anywhere else is too expensive and we had already gone to all famous popular places nearby. Since last time we went to Duluth but only to Split Rock, this time we could go all the way until Canada border.
This is also the first time and the last time that we drive our own car to travel. In order to save money, this time we still do camping and it is our last time doing so.
6/20 First stop by Duluth. We drive to Cascade state park to secure our campsite for three days and also found information about biking and canoeing. Before sunset, we took a trail to lookout mountain in the park.







6/21 We planned to ride bikes and canoe all in one day. However, after canoeing, we found that is impossible. It took us almost 30 minutes to find where the canoe was. We needed to put the canoe into water by ourselves and no other groups of people doing the same thing that morning. It was a little scary to being alone on the river.



In the afternoon, we went to Grand Marais and ate the World's Best Donut. It was really chilly even though the sunshine was still strong.

6/22 We spent our whole day in Michigan because we went to Isle Royale National Park, which is the biggest island in the Superior Lake. The only transporation from MN is Voyageur II boat. The weather was not good during our way to Isle Royale and we did not see the sunk boat SS America. On the island, we took a loop trail but we did not see any live animal. However, we did see a dead moose skeleton lying by the trail. It died in April because of wolf attack. On the way back to MN, we passed the light house. So now we have gone to Michigan.





6/23 We headed home directly and wondered that we might not be back to Duluth in 10 years.
More photo here: http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/kambric/NorthShore2007_06_2023

MAMMA MIA

6/14 We went to Orpheum Theatre to see MAMMA MIA. One hour before the show, we could get student discount ticket priced at only $20 per person. The story is about a daughter trying to find her dad before her wedding from her mother's three lovers. And the whole show is based on ABBA's songs including Dancing Queen.

It is beyond my expectation and we bought the album the next day.

Intro of the show is in the following link
http://www.mamma-mia.com/default.asp

Thought?
Keep your relationship simple will save you and your children so much trouble.

2007年6月12日

South Dakota 6/8~6/11

We headed to South Dakota with Adam this weekend. The trip was total 1,670 miles.
Photo here: http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/kambric/SouthDakota2007_06_0811

回家前一個月左右 趕緊去一趟就在MN隔壁的南達克達州 裡面最著名的景點就是有四個美國總統頭像Mt Rushmore 該景點位在Rapid City 好死不死在最西邊 我們必須橫越整個杳無人煙南達克達州 經過東邊第一大城Sioux Falls時竟然渾然不覺 因為公路旁一點繁榮的景象都沒有 第一天就在趕路中度過 只有停在Badlands 國家公園中 稍微走了一下 看看奇特的地形與一些動物 晚上住進旅館後 在附近的Fridays餐廳吃個晚餐後就早早休息了

Badlands entrance

First day(6/8)was a 600 miles drive from MN to Rapid City, SD. We stopped by Badlands national park in the middle of the driving.

6/9 Of course we visited Mt Rushmore first. Parking fee for Mt R is annual base so that we could go back again in the evening to see the light show later.
In the afternoon, we went to Crazy Horse to see the uncomplete work. Afterward, we went to Wind Cave for a one hour underground trip. We found that there is a four hour long caving tour, participants may have to crawl in a 10 inches high hole for a long time. The natural entrance of the Wind Cave is only a hat size big hole.
We went thru custer state park and saw some deers, coyote, prairie dogs, and buffalos. Finally, we saw the light show at Mt Rushmore as the end.
整個南達克達州景點的精華真的只有在Rapid City南邊 除了總統山之外 我們先去看還在進行中的瘋馬雕像 現在雕像的臉部已經完成 負責建造的是一個私人的基金會 基於創辦人的信念兩次拒絕政府幾百萬的補助 雕像及其他設施的建設全部仰賴私人的捐贈 除了巨大的瘋馬雕像外 還要有印地安人的文化中心 大學等等設施 瘋馬雕像光是頭部的部分就已經比四個總統頭加起來還大 我們再花了四塊坐車到山腳下看看這巨大的雕像 真的相當驚人 只是懷疑還要多久才能真正結束


Mt Rushmore


Crazy Horse

之後我們還去了Wind Cave參加了一小時二十分左右的洞穴導覽解說行程 整個Wind Cave有四條路線 看遊客到達的時間做分配 每條路線都會看到box structure, popcorn structure等構造 目前整個洞穴的規模還在探勘中 目前已知就有一平方英哩的規模 後來我們才知道還有一個四小時的導覽 遊客需要戴上頭燈 護膝 護肘 在直徑大約十英吋的洞穴裡爬行 我們詢問的時候剛好還剩下三個空缺 不過因為明天是要去魔鬼塔 沒辦法趕上十二點半的tour只好抱憾離開(其實後來想想真要爬四小時的話應該會出人命才對...)


Wind Cave

最後經過custer 公園 看到一些野牛 鹿 趕在九點之前到Mt Rushmore看燈光秀 沒想到大失所望 三十分鐘的秀其實是把四位總統的功績說一遍 最後五分鐘才把白色的燈光打上總統們的臉上 沒有煙火 沒有音效 也沒有燈光顏色的變化.....當然可以理解這樣的安排啦 只是與期望有點落差






Group photo @Mt Rushmore

6/10 We just went to Devil's Tower for the day and saw NBA games in the afternoon.
離Rapid City 最近另一個全美聞名的景點是在懷俄明州的魔鬼塔 Devil's Tower. 大約兩個小時的車程到達魔鬼塔 有個環型步道大約需要一小時走完 我們還正好看到有不少人在攀岩 看完之後由於沒有別的行程 就回旅館附近的outback吃牛排 然後看NBA



6/11 We drove back to MN and went to see missile facility, Delta 09.
最後一天 起個大早 去位於90公路旁的飛彈基地參觀 其實並不是一般印象中有軍人的基地 而只是發射飛彈的發射井 裡面的飛彈也只是測試用的 現在該區域現在還是有一百五十幾顆戰略飛彈 而且全是靠空軍一號遙控發射 所以不需要有人在發射井裡面待命 每顆飛彈有一點二百萬噸炸藥的威力 最後在去了相關介紹的遊客中心之後 我們就一路向西重回文明的懷抱了


Minute Missile