South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio

South Dakota

Shortly after entering South Dakota we arrived at the famous Mount Rushmore. Mount Rushmore is a mountain in which the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt have been engraved. The mountain is an international tourist location, and is extremely commercialized. In my opinion Mount Rushmore is overrated and over exaggerated. The mountain is worth stopping by if one is already passing by, but not worth a trip by itself.

After Mount Rushmore we drove down the road to the Crazy Horse monument. Crazy Horse was a Native American chief who had gained much respect from the locals. The statue when finished will be the world’s biggest statue. Sadly, the statue has been under construction for the past sixty-five years, and has no end in sight. Once again, this memorial is not worth a trip in and of itself.

We were extremely let down by the monuments, and were starting to realize the reason that the plain states had very low populations. We decided to continue on our way to the Badlands towards the end of the day hoping to have a better end to a disappointing day.

The Badlands received its name because of its inhabitability. In all languages, including the local Native American language, it is call the Bad Lands. The terrain has stone spires that rise from the ground making it hard to walk around. At the edge of the spire’s area begins the grassy plains where wild deer and goats eat. According to the park information signs several settlers tried to inhabit the grassy plain, but could not grow crops in the ground. Eventually the settlers abandoned the Badlands, like everyone before them.

While in the Badlands we met two Hassid guys, and an engineer from North Dakota.  The engineer is planning to have spent a week in every state by next October finishing his several year hobby. We exchanged experiences about our trips. The Hassids didn’t talk much, so we couldn’t really connect with them.

We continued our trip towards Minneapolis in Minnesota, and slept in the car once we were exhausted and could not go further.

Minnesota

We stopped at a gas station in the morning to go to the bathroom, and wash up. Tani bought himself a cookie. While Tani was eating his cookie he put the car into reverse in order to start pulling out of the gas station. While backing up he didn’t realize the eighteen wheeler right behind us, and backed up into it. He jumped out of the car to assess to the damage, and once he saw that there was none began to return to the car. A State Trooper who was filling up on gas saw Tani returning, and told him to wait for the truck driver to return before driving away as required by law. The driver returned, and thought that his truck had been ruined, because of the commotion. Once he had assessed the damage himself, and realized that there was none he told us to drive off. This was the only time we were approached by law enforcement.

We drove into Minneapolis, and spent the afternoon in the Mall of America. The Mall of America is the world’s biggest mall with hundreds of stores and an amusement park in the center. There are nice hotels all around the mall.

Wisconsin

We crossed over to Wisconsin, during the day. I would write where we slept every night, but at this point we were sleeping in the car and I do not remember the exact places. We tried to find things to do in Wisconsin, but from what we understood from the internet there is not much to do. We just passed through.

Illinois

We Arrived in Chicago at around noon, and made the mistake of driving Downtown. The City is amazing, but extremely congested. Its citizens have no sense of pedestrian safety, and walk in front of moving vehicles.

We drove to the Bean and next to America’s tallest building. Tani wanted to go to the top of the tower, but I have a fear of heights. The Freedom Tower in New York City will be the tallest tower, but it is not completely finished at the moment. The Chicago Olympic Park is full of great art and structure, including the bean.

We decided to spend the afternoon at a beach on the great lakes so we continued our drive out of the city.

Indiana

Being back near the east coast meant being back with the toll roads, which was a bummer for me. We drove through Indiana until we reached Michigan.

Michigan

We drove into Michigan and spent a half an hour on the beach before we got bored and started driving again. We started driving towards Detroit, as Waze was directing us. We realized that Waze was taking us through Canada to Niagara Falls. I didn’t want to go through customs with our whole car, so I personally refused to let us go. Tani was not too thrilled about my irrational decision, but respected it. So we changed our route, and came down towards Ohio.

Ohio

Now we were intent on arriving in Niagara Falls as quickly as possible, because being in the car and the trip as a whole was becoming psychologically hard on me. We passed next to Cleveland, and continued driving until we decided to sleep.

Nevada Again, Holy Mormon Utah, Potatoe Idaho, and Yellow Wyoming

Nevada

 

On the way back across the country we once again drove through Nevada. Being back in Desert Nevada was a big difference to Green California. This time, though, through the north. We drove through Reno, but were not too impressed after being in Las Vegas for a week.

 

It was Friday, and we were worried we would not make it to Salt Lake City before the Sabbath. The afternoon was reaching its end, so we pulled over in Battle Mountain Nevada and spent the Sabbath in a motel there. We didn’t leave the room, and slept through most of it. After the Sabbath we continued to Salt Lake City.

 

Utah

 

The next morning we toured the Temple Square. The Mormon Temple is treated as their Holy Temple, so we were not allowed to enter. We learned about Mormonism, and its prophet Joseph Smith who died in the mid nineteenth century. They had many paintings and statues of Jesus Christ, and in the downstairs of the visitor center there is an explanation about the Book of Mormon (the Mormon expansion to the Holy Bible).

 

There are many free tours and guides that explain Mormonism to you as you walk through the Temple Square. They have representatives in many different languages, and each representative has a flag of the country that they originate from. Around sixty four percent of Utah is Mormon, so the religion is a fundamental part of Utahan history.

 

At the end of our tour we wanted to take a Book of Mormon in Hebrew as a souvenir, because they hand them out in different languages for free. Unfortunately, they have not translated it to Hebrew yet, and according to the guides it is one of the few languages that doesn’t have a translation of the Book of Mormon. We took an English copy.

 

Idaho

 

After the deserts of Nevada and Utah Idaho was a beautiful change in scenery. We passed through the state on our way north towards Yellowstone National Park. The state was extremely hilly because of the Rockies that pass through it. We were glad to find out that the state is known for its potatoes.

 

Wyoming

 

After many hours of driving from Salt Lake City, through Idaho, all the way to Yellowstone we finally made it. On the way we had already ordered a campsite, and we arrived there with around two hours of daylight to spare.

 

We checked in at the campground, and received our weather warnings and bear safety guidelines. We had been told that as recently as the night before they had spotted a bear running through the campground.

 

We decided to take advantage of our extra two hours, and went to see Old Faithful. On the way down we passed through different geyser areas. Geysers give this strange feeling of being on a different planet because of the way their bubbling and spraying, and they reek of Methane. We missed Old Faithful by around five minutes, and had to wait an hour and a half until the next one. Old Faithful shoots around nine meters into the air and it is actually very fun to watch.

 

We returned to the campsite after it was already dark. We set up the tent quickly, and ate a beautiful dinner of what we hadn’t eaten yet from my Aunt Wynne. After dinner we switched into our thermal clothing knowing that it was going to be literally freezing at night. I woke up several times at night because my sleeping bag was wet at the bottom, and the cold was hurting my feet. In the morning we woke to find that our tent had a sheet of ice over it.

 

After packing our supplies in the car we began our drive around Yellowstone. We drove through forests, over rivers, and on the sides of mountains. We saw herds of bison, and even came right up to a buffalo that was standing on the side of the road. We also learned that bison and buffalo are the same exact animal. Many people were fly fishing, and others hiking or taking pictures. We drove to the top of Yellowstone, and then came down on the eastern side. We drove through snowcapped mountains, and saw the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Once reaching the bottom of Yellowstone we sat by the lake for a little while, and skipped stones over the water.

 

We decided to continue our drive after spending the day in Yellowstone. On our way out of Yellowstone we saw the saddest forest ever. The whole area had been burnt in a forest fire years prior leaving behind nothing, except for miles upon miles of black burnt trees.

 

Once we left Yellowstone we began our actual drive through Wyoming. This was our first exposure to the Plains. Wyoming is one of America’s bigger states, but it has the nation’s smallest population with only half a million residents. We passed through a town of only ten people, or so said its town sign. We drove through Wyoming until we arrived at a town, and stayed in a cottage. This would be our final time sleeping in a bed until we reached Maine.

 

The next morning we continued our drive through the plains towards South Dakota to go to Mount Rushmore.

Golden California

California

We saw many different places in California, so this article will be set up in a more orderly way.

Death Valley

We don’t know the exact point where we crossed into California, but once we entered Death Valley we understood that we already had. Death Valley is the hottest area we have entered yet at one hundred and fifteen degrees Fahrenheit. The valley is the lowest point in the United States, while the Dead Sea is the lowest in the world. The Dead Sea is around five times deeper than Death Valley. There are almost no animals, plants, or any kind of life in the valley because of its extreme heat and dryness.

Death Valley is extremely spacious, and it took us most the day to drive through it. We saw its beautiful viewpoints from the mountain tops and the salt beds on its valley floor.

The only problem with Death Valley is the fact that all the prices in the stores and gas stations within it are double if not triple the normal price everywhere else in the states. Tani was so angry at the gas station he started making comments loud enough so the clerk can hear about the outrages gas prices.

On the way out of Death Valley we passed through the town of Trona. It is probably the saddest place on Earth. The town is a modern ghost town. Eighty percent of Trona have moved down to the bigger town of Ridgecrest, and left behind everything. They couldn’t sell their homes, so they just boarded the houses up and left.

We spent the night in Ridgecrest. While we were in Ridgecrest Tani asked the local clerk how to get to Sequoia. He didn’t know how to explain the directions exactly, and the man behind Tani in line was inpatient about buying his rolling paper for his joint. At a certain point the man could not wait any longer, and told Tani that Sequoia was a few minutes up the street to get him to leave. We knew this was a lie because it was a several hour drive.  

Sequoia

Sequoia was a nice change to the deserts we had been spending time in for the previous weeks. The park has a beautiful river and an amazing forest filled with the biggest trees we have ever seen.

The Sequoia Tree is the world’s largest tree. It’s shorter than the Red Wood trees, but its trunk is so wide that in volume it’s much bigger and weighs a lot more. After seeing the Sequoia Trees I feel like all other trees are miniature in comparison.

Los Angeles

We spent the night of Sequoia in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is a very modern and amazing city, and we spent four days there. On the first night we just went to sleep, but the rest of the time we toured. We decided to use public transportation after experiencing the “lovely” drive down the 405, which is in a perpetual standstill no matter what hour of the day.

On the second day we walked the Walk of Fame, and saw the stars of entertainers engraved into the ground. We passed by the Chinese Theater, and saw the hand prints of the same entertainers. At six-thirty we went on a tour of Hollywood, and of the stars’ homes in Beverly Hills. Our tour guide was hilarious, and extremely friendly. We probably took the worst and cheapest tour there, but it was still worth it.

On the way back to our hotel room at the Marriott Courtyard of Sherman Oaks, which we received as a gift from Danny Shimoff for two nights, we stopped at Universal City. The shopping center is filled with neon lights and is very nice.

On the third day Tani and I split up. Tani went to Venice Beach, and I went to visit my old sergeant Tal Shani in UCLA. My sergeant is living his American Pie dream in a fraternity house on campus, even though he doe not actually learn there. We ate lunch together, and caught up on current events in the unit.

At four o’clock Tani and I met up back at the hotel and relaxed for a bit before setting out again. That evening met up with Batel Pessach who was in Sheirut Leumi in Los Angeles and we went out for dinner.

On our last day in LA we went to Venice Beach. The beach is packed with Dr. Green shops where a real doctor finds a medical problem in order to issue you your medicinal marijuana permit. There are street performers, homeless people, singers, and artists all along the boardwalk.

We watched a show of street dancers which was hilarious, because the MC constantly made fun of white people. The performers brought up volunteers from the audience, and had them dancing in ridiculous ways. The MC constantly reminded us to tip them so they won’t end up either in the poorhouse or in our house.

 We then watched a man walk on glass shards, as he made fun of all the audience watching him. He was constantly making fun of the German and Asian in the audience. After he walked the glass there was blood on the ground see he obviously was hurt from the stunt. I felt sorry for the man that this was how he had to make a living.

Route 1

The Pacific Ocean is extremely cold which makes it a bit difficult to swim, but that does not mean that it doesn’t have amazing sights. Many areas of the road are cliffs overlooking the ocean. The Big Spur is probably one of the most beautiful areas in all of America, so far. You can look down to the ocean, and see the natural beaches with rocks and boulders.

The trip up to San Francisco is very long so we had to split the drive into two, so we slept in San Luis Obispo.

San Francisco

We stayed by my amazing Aunt Wynne in Atherton, right outside of San Francisco. She took us on tours of San Francisco everyday. As we arrived we went for a swim in her pool, watched a movie in my Uncle Mark’s personal home movie theater (which beats an actual movie theater in audio and image quality), and then prepared for the Sabbath. During the Sabbath we rested, but the second it ended we hit up Palo Alto. We were surprised, but it did actually have bars.

On Sunday we entered for the first time into San Fran, as we have come to call it. The city is extremely diverse, and has been so since it came to be. It is the result of a melting pot of many different people and cultures that came to seek their fortunes during the Californian Gold Rush. San Francisco accepted everyone, and discriminated against none.

We saw the wealthy areas of Pacific Heights, and had a beer in the homosexual section of Castro Street.  We saw bison at the Central Park of San Fran, and ate lunch at a Farmers’ Market by the bay. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, and even walked across part of it.

To end the perfect day we ate an amazing dinner prepared by my aunt, and watched an episode of Naked and Afraid with my Aunt Wynne and Uncle Mark. The show is about a couple, man and woman, that have never met, and they need to survive for twenty one days together naked in the wilderness (don’t worry it’s censored).

On Monday we toured Silicon Valley. We saw Google, Facebook, and Apple’s main facilities. Each place has a unique feel to it which you wouldn’t think a job would have. Google looks more like a resort than a workplace.

While at Facebook Tani really had to go to the bathroom, so he tried to enter the building. The guard at the entrance told Tani that there are no bathrooms in the building. It’s amazing in my opinion that Facebook surgically modifies their workers not to go to the bathroom.

We also went to an Apple store for the first time. We found it slightly funny that they use I-Pads in order to advertise their I-Pads. We also went to a computer history museum, but unfortunately it was closed so we only walked around the lobby which was still interesting.

 At the end of the day once again we had an amazing meal, and watched an episode of Married at First Sight. The show is about three couples that agree to a social experiment in which they are married without ever having met their spouses.

On Tuesday we went to Alcatraz Prison. The prison is on an island, so the only access is by boat. The prison looks a terrible place to have to spend your sentence, and it was home to some of the worst criminals of the twentieth century. We took the audio tour, which was surprisingly good. We learned of the different inmates, and of their escape attempts. We learned how the guards dealt with the inmates.

On Wednesday we went for a ride with my Uncle Mark in his Ferrari, which was one of the coolest things I have ever done. The acceleration could literally cause someone to pass out. The car is built so the driver has no reason to take his hand off of the steering wheel because at such high speeds it is too dangerous.

Afterwards we went with my Aunt Wynne to do some last minute shopping before we drove out the next day.

Yosemite

On Thursday we drove to Yosemite. We saw its half-dome, and drove through the valley. It has tons of forest, and its views beat any park we have been to so far.

We spent the night in a campground next to Lake Lundy right outside of Yosemite.

Lake Tahoe

We woke up early, and drove to Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe is extremely clear, and if it’s not too deep you can see right through it. We hiked down to the beach of Emerald Bay, and took some pictures. After around an hour we continued on our way to Salt Lake City Utah.