Views from Mars...
Electric eel! I said ooh babe....shock me like an electric eel!
Growing coral, pretty cool. If only we could do it to replace all the crap that BP put in the ocean?
It's a rock, it's a booger..no! It's a toadfish!
Soft-shelled turtle
Apparently Pete took a lot of these ones, perhaps trying to catch me making faces at the wildlife...
Drive drive drive!
On the way out of Rapid City, we hit up Badlands National Park, which is so weird and spacey! We didn't really want to get out and take a hike for fear of being attacked by aliens, but we took plenty of pictures!
We have been enjoying the lovely company of Stieg Larsson in the car while we listen to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, along with the half of the nation that's currently reading it. Really great on audiobook, but basically we drove for two days, and ended up staying in a wonderful Wal-Mart parking lot in Onalaska, Wisconsin. Thank god they allow you to legally sleep there (although we're not convinced that all Wal-marts allow this, we checked for signs and this one did. There were also a bunch of other people doing the same thing as us!). We learned the hard way that it's worth it to blow up the mattress in back rather than be lazy and try to sleep on the seats...We were able to do this by the way because Russell had left us after Yellowstone, so we don't need to get campsites anymore.
We arrived in Chicago on Monday fairly early in the day (around 3pm) and managed to see the Shedd Aquarium, which is supposedly one of the best in the country. Unfortunately, it's really geared toward children and actually not that big, so we both agreed that Monterey Bay is sooo much better :) We made it to Lincoln Park afterward and got to make dinner for my friend Sasha. I know Sasha from studying abroad in Moscow, and she's currently working for BCG in Chicago, being very successful.She was so nice to let us stay in her apartment, and there was even a bed! We didn't do much that night be relax and watch a little bit of, "So you think you can dance!"...such a guilty pleasure to relax and watch TV!
Nice turtle you guys, look at those neck muscles! I have our four newbies doing neck exercises now to try and emulate their famous cousin. Oh, and I heard via the grapevine that the toadfish is very insulted by your comments! Especially his mother! You may be hearing from her soon. The only time I saw the badlands was by headlights in the middle of the night on a trip to Michigan with the band. Your photos show it so much better. Enjoy your trip, we are. Travel safely. Gord
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