Sometimes you have great plans and everything comes together, and sometimes those plans fall through. We’ll put these blog entries in the latter category 🙂 It’s been a long couple of days of longer-than-usual driving legs and that has left me pretty tired by the end of the day and not up for blog entries. Anyway! Enough excuses.

Day 1 (10-Aug): Volo, Illinois to Eden Prairie, Minnesota

Charlie and I dropped off Nora with the boarders at 8:30 AM and hit the road!

My original plan was to stop at my favorite cafe in Lake Geneva, Simple Cafe, for a nice breakfast on the patio. I failed to take into account that Lake Geneva in the summer is crazy crowded, so in the end I settled for an iced coffee, a breakfast foccacia, and a chocolate croissant from the bakery next door.

The drive to Eden Prairie, a southwestern suburb of Minneapolis was uneventful. We made a stop at my favorite rest area on I-90/94 just south of Portage, Wisconsin since it has lovely walking trails for Charlie to enjoy. Then he completely sacked out in the back seat and went to sleep.

Although I initially considered driving up along the Mississippi River from La Crosse, may favorite route, I realized that would add an hour to the trip and I had a LOT of driving ahead of me so took the fast interstate route through Eau Claire instead.

Once we checked into our hotel in Eden Prairie, Charlie and I made our first brewery stop of the trip: Unmapped Brewing, in Minnetonka. The beer was tasty and taproom very open and welcoming (especially of dogs indoors).

The highlight was watching a couple’s 6- or 7-year-old daughter being absolutely entranced by the women’s Olympics gymnastics on TV and telling her parents very solemnly that that is absolutely what she wanted to do when she grew up. Godspeed, child!

For dinner, we met up with Mwako and Legonnare at Duke’s on 7, a wonderfully dog-friendly restaurant. We sat on their “Pawtio” and I enjoyed a tasty salad. Afterward, we took some photos to remember the visit. It was so great to see these guys again, and a great way to start the trip.

Day 2: Eden Prairie, Minnesota to Dickinson, North Dakota

This was quite a long driving day. After getting a nice breakfast croissant at Peoples Organic in Eden Prairie, we hit the road at around 8 AM. I didn’t stop in Fargo, though at least did note entering North Dakota.

I stopped in Bismark, North Dakota for a break from the road, and to try out the beers at Laughing Sun Brewing. Nice taproom, and tasty beers. Their logo is slightly odd though…

By this time we were dodging rainstorms, but fortunately the rain held off long enough for us to stop to see Salem Sue, “The World’s Largest Holstein Cow”. It was impressive, even if the abdominal vein were, although realistic, slightly disturbing.

Dickinson was a bit of a dud, I’m afraid. Small town on a Sunday night when it’s raining means very little is open, and what is open doesn’t have a patio available. I drove around a bit then finally said t’heck with it and grabbed some fast food to take back to the hotel room. I usually always try to patronize local businesses on these trips, but sometimes you just have to make do.

Day 3: Dickinson, North Dakota to Great Falls, Montana

Due to the time zone change I woke up at 5:30 AM and decided to make the most of it by getting on the road early. I stopped by a City Brew Coffee (which I thought was local but turns out to be a small chain) for a pastry and an Americano, both of which were…whelming.

Before we left on the trip I made sure to pick up a National Park pass, so if I wanted to make any spur-of-the-moment side trips I could. That is how we found ourselves at Teddy Roosevelt National Park. Alas, intermittent fog means that the spectacular views that the badlands in that area have to offer weren’t visible. I did get to see the prairie dog town, which was surprisingly active, though. Of course we couldn’t leave without the customary photo with Charlie.

It was a short drive to the Montana line, where I found The Home on the Range. You know, in case you were ever wondering where that was. But I also got a stunning view of the cliffs and badlands at Makoshika State Park, just outside of Glendive, Montana. I stopped at Bloom Coffeehouse in Glendive for a light snack and more coffee (yay coffee!) and Charlie enjoyed his breakfast as well.

Then it was a long, long drive to Great Falls. I had hoped to stop at a brewery in Lewistown for beers and lunch, but they only allowed service dogs on their patio, so on we went. The five and a half hours of driving were pretty monotonous, but at least I had a great audiobook to listen to, the latest book in Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thomspon series. That made the miles fly by at least.

For dinner, I ventured into downtown Great Falls and had a lovely time. I started off with beers at Mighty Mo Brewery, then walked over to Enbär Craft Cocktail Lounge (sic) for a tasty cocktail and salad. We finished off the night at Big Dipper Ice Cream, where Charlie made a whole bunch of new friends. I walked around downtown a bit more, and was surprised to find some really nice murals all around. Of course, there was also the requisite small-town weirdness, which I had to have Charlie pose in front of.

Next up: The great state of Washington!