Volleyball Tournament

This weekend was a two-day Christian Athletic League tournament, the culmination of months of driving around the state and late nights squeezing in homework. Early Friday morning, we drove two hours to Wilmar, the host of this year's tournament for both soccer and volleyball. Our soccer team had driven the night before to make their 8 am game. Since Irene had never had donuts before, we stopped at Cold Springs Bakery on the way to get a sampling. Mmm. (Don't tell coach--no food before games.)

Because CCS had beat only one other team this year, they were seeded next-to-last in the rankings. Emily was out most of the beginning of the season due to a dislocated knee but still subbed in for serving. Irene rode the bench as a first-year, though she should shine in basketball starting next week.

Waiting in the stands, I chatted with fans who bore easy-to-read labels on their shirts like "Clara's Grandpa." In the first game, we were up against third-seeded Saint Cloud. Below, Emily serves three in a row, improving team morale.

The girls were so excited when they won this upset victory. The SC fans and players kept remarking on how surprised they were that we beat them. Our later game against the favorite and the host of the tournament did not go as well.

The girls had a full schedule of events: cheering on our soccer folks, pizza, secret-sister gift exchange, and trying to get to sleep in a busy hotel full of excited teen athletes. I used the time between games and chauffeur duties to read "Leviathan Wakes" -- an excellent noir buddy novel.

On day two, the girls rallied in an extremely scrappy match that went to game five. Everyone pulled together, and even shy Anna made some very aggressive spikes. Unfortunately, no one told the stands that the last game only went to 15 instead of the normal 25. I was planning to tape the ending but was shocked when the entire team went bananas and rushed onto the court jumping and screaming. After a disheartening season, they won third place in the league!

The medals on our setter and senior blocker are for players voted all-tournament by other coaches. Congrats CCS!

We shared decompression and dazed anecdotes over a Chinese buffet. Now we drive home and do laundry so we can hand back uniforms by Monday.

Family Vacation Part 3: National Parks

We woke bright and early to visit Devil's Tower. Up close, the formation reminds me of the Causeway of the Gods, with perfect geometric shapes in nature.
Below, there were no open food places, but the ranger warned us that Yellowstone might not be open tomorrow if they got snow. I didn't relish the thought of 9 hours of driving for nothing. So while the ladies hiked, I phoned the Yellowstone information line. They had no plans to close but said to monitor their website or phone for updates.

Irene loved the Wyoming landscape, with all its varying colors. She said that, other than the lack of water and very small towns, it reminded her of her hometown of Alicante. When we reached a "big town" for lunch, she said "Town? No, this is a village!" We explained that Alicante has 450K people, and the entire state of Wyoming only has 577K. Having a smartphone makes me seem brighter than I am.

The trip over the mountains in the dark with icy roads is not an experience I would recommend to anyone. In fact, in another two weeks, chains will be mandatory on tires. We ate dinner at the dude ranch in Moran, since the close hotels in Grant Village sold out so fast. I wouldn't recommend finding your room in the dark without labels or lights, and a porch roof that's about 5' 5". The food was sketchy, and the WiFi dropped every five minutes. I couldn't get a call out to Yellowstone.  DON'T COME HERE OFFSEASON, which is after Sept 30, but the views of the Tetons were great in daylight.

Thirty miles from the Yellowstone south gate, we were turned away. All the roads on the website but one were gray... which I would have painted red. The roads were too icy and bear activity was at a dangerous level. No geysers or hot springs for the rest of the year. We were all sad that we couldn't show Irene the wonders we had promised. However, Irene was in awe of the snow.

We spent the rest of the morning exploring the slightly icy roads of Teton Nation Park around Jackson Lake. On the daylight / warmer trip back through the mountain pass, we got to see the bears we had promised. To Irene, this had been worth the trip.

When we returned the way we had come, gas stations were open, but no restaurants. We bought lunch food at the grocery store and had a picnic in the car.

A few minutes into the Wind River Indian Reservation, an engine malfunction light came on. I was terrified of breaking down in the desert... until I remembered a similar situation in the past. I had my daughter check, and the gas cap hadn't been completely tightened. This was likely a false alarm, but the manual I pulled up online told me it could take a few days of driving before the light went out in this case. If I guessed wrong, we were talking serious engine damage. Reading more on my phone made me feel confident that it was only the gas cap. Everyone else was out of roaming data, so I had to conserve what little remained of mine for the GPS.

We decided to take the long way home through Montana and North Dakota for maximum cultural exposure. The resumption of cell service, green hills, and eating dinner at a real restaurant in Billings did wonders for our morale! The fact that the dash light went out after twelve hours of driving and adding a better grade of fuel didn't hurt either.

We did manage to find one last tourist attraction in North Dakota. "Look, a giant cow?"
Without her glasses, Irene asked, "Where?" We lost it and took this picture to tease her. How could you miss a cow this size out your window?

Family Vacation Part Two: Rushmore and Bigger Statues

My biggest worry was daylight--once the sun went down at 6:05, we wouldn't be able to see a thing. This part of the country gets DARK, and the sidewalks roll up. Since we had stopped at so many attractions on the way, we had to skip the gold mine and Bear Country. Jewel Cave was closed for the season due to construction. Fortunately, we had gained an hour by traveling west. Emily drove while Irene napped. I fretted about impending rain.

We arrived at Mount Rushmore at around 2:30 Mountain Time. Irene was so excited. "I can't believe I'm here. It's like a movie or Phineas and Ferb." Yes, she watched it in Spain and shared a love of the cartoon with our family. We had recently shown her Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the prototype for the show, along with several of our other teen-friendly favorite movies.

Unfortunately, construction had begun at Rushmore, twenty feet from the gift shop. To get to the good viewing platform we remembered from our last visit (hence the matching T-shirts in the photo), we had to walk 45 minutes on a trail that made our legs burn. All to get a few feet closer. I was stressed about the schedule, but the ladies loved the scenery. When we rested at the Jefferson plaque, I commented that Jefferson with his pale sparkle looked like a Twilight vampire. That became a running joke for the afternoon.

We took a ton of photos for ourselves and others. My favorite was in a moment of dad humor, I posed the same way as the presidents and shot a selfie up my own nose, with plenty of throat shadow.

Next, we raced to the Crazy Horse Monument. At one turn, we braked and pointed three feet from the car at the side of the road. "Look, Irene, an antelope."

"Where?"

She wasn't wearing her glasses again, out of a misplaced sense of vanity. Tammy has tried to tell her she looks beautiful either way, but it's a habit. At fast-food restaurants, Irene uses her phone to photograph the menu and enlarges the print. We have tried to convince her (I through teasing) that seeing is more important. I included this picture of the amazing carving because it's one of the few times she voluntarily put them on.

The tour bus driver at Crazy Horse was a wealth of information. All of Rushmore would fit in this statue's head and hair.

In the next town, we searched for someplace to have a late dinner, and only two places were open. We decided to get a chicken alfredo pizza instead of waiting an hour at the burger place. For the price, they were very stingy with the chicken. The lesson--don't travel off-season in this area. In the two-hour drive in the dark, the girls played Heads Up word guessing game on an iPhone. We downloaded the movie and pop song expansions. The most hilarious part was the Warner Brothers cartoons and Muppets. Evidently, the characters have different names in Spanish. Kermit is known as Gustavo la Rana. I just remember one moment after Irene said, "Oh, no. His name is Roberto." Emily laughed so hard she dropped the phone.

That night, we stayed in Sunset, at the junction of all the looping highways. The ladies enjoyed the pool while I walked to a truck stop for a noncaffinated drink. Then I typed up some notes on my latest story. Emily also used the WiFi to submit assignments for her college classes. Did I mention that she's fifteen and wants to be a doctor someday?

The next blog entry will conclude the trip with the Wyoming sites.

Family Vacation, Part One -- Getting There is Half the Fun

To help ease the loss of our son to Penn State (Pierce should be a junior by Christmas, still 17), our family has taken in an exchange student from Spain--Irene (pronounced ee-RAY-nay). Her English is outstanding, and she fits in well. Over the MEA 4-day weekend, my wife wanted to surprise her by showing her the sites in the Mountain Time Zone such as Rushmore and Yellowstone. Each month, we are planning a mini-vacation to show her the country.

So Wednesday night after work and school, we took off. The fields of wind turbines were amazing, but the whole town that smelled like fertilizer did not impress her. My daughter, Emily, got some night driving time in toward earning her license. We vowed to go back to the state's biggest candy store during basketball season. Our group made it as far as Mitchell, South Dakota the first night. 

Big signs on the hotel said "Welcome hunters." Although they advertised a pool, it had been completely drained and the only chairs in the common area were littered with empty beer cans.

What's there to see on the way to our goal? We started with the Corn Palace--a basketball/performing arena decorated with, you guessed it, corn. Hey, it was free and had several Pokemon Go spin spots. 

Inside, they had a corn rendition of Mount Rushmore so authentic that we almost canceled the rest of the trip. What could possibly compare?

Overlooking the Missouri River, Tammy found a monument to the dignity of women and her favorite hobby--quilting. We also found more fast-food places to inflict on Irene.

On the road, we read "the Darwin Awards II" aloud to each other, sang Disney songs in two languages, and devoured Star Crunch snacks. Emily enjoyed driving 80 for the first time on roads where no one else could be seen. 

Next, we stopped at the MOST advertised tourist attraction in the state--Wall Drug, in the town of Wall! Here Irene bought postcards and other souvenirs. She learned how jackalopes helped pioneers explore the West like Sacajawea.

Since my Internet has suddenly turned glacial, I'll upload the big tourist site tomorrow and continue the story of our intrepid explorers.