After wrenching myself from the surprising beauty of western South Dakota, I headed east to start my trek thought the Midwest. The contrast between western and eastern South Dakota could not be more harsh. I've already gushed enough about the western side. The eastern side, on the other hand, can best be described as...flat. There's nothing bad about it, but it's not particularly exciting. And word to the wise - don't bother going out of your way to visit the world-famous Corn Palace. That was one detour that I definitely could have skipped.
After spending an uneventful night in Sioux Falls at an odd hotel that was weirdly attached to a hospital, I decided to swing south and have lunch in Omaha, largely to be able to cross Nebraska off my list. For reasons I'll discuss in a minute, I have no pictures to show of Omaha. It was, however, quite lovely. The historic Old Market district is a cute area of cobblestone streets and local businesses. If the timing had worked better, I would have much rather stayed there than in Sioux Falls. But, alas.
After a highly satisfying lunch, I headed east. I got really excited when I crossed the Missouri River, because I mistakenly had it in my head that I was finally crossing the Mississippi.
Either way, it was beautiful. Iowa was largely what I expected -- a long expanse of farmland. And lots and lots of windmills (of the industrial farming variety). Although I did also find one of the more traditional variety, in an unexpected dutch town in the middle of nowhere.
Before stopping in Des Moines for the night, I was on a mission to finally visit an Apple Store and replace my shattered phone. Should be simple enough, right? Wrong. Oh, so very wrong. Mind you, I had the choice between going to an Apple Store in Omaha or in Des Moines. I chose the Des Moines one because it was less out of the way. I chose very poorly.
The level of incompetence was staggering. I won't get into all the tortured details, but suffice it to say that they did not fix my phone, managed to entirely wipe it, including all of my pictures (hence no Omaha pictures), and then not have a replacement phone to give me. They tried to send me on my way to Chicago without a working phone at all. That was not going to happen. Finally they got my shattered phone to be minimally operational again and I left nearly in tears. Follow that with Citibank mistakenly freezing my accounts and I was more than ready to stop for the night.
Thankfully karma rewarded me with an amazing hotel room. Really it was an entire suite, complete with a kitchen, couches, fireplace, and fluffy robes. So, all in all, the wonderful Des Lux Hotel was the only good part of my visit to Des Moines.
I hightailed it out of there in the morning and headed to Chicago to meet up with some of my closest college friends for the weekend. This time I crossed back to my regular side of the Mississippi for real.
Most of Illinois was shockingly rural, and it seemed like my GPS lady took me on a country back roads route. Either way, I made it to Chicago and finally got a new phone, complete with perfectly competent customer service. I then put the whole incident behind me and enjoyed a much-needed night of laughter and wine with old friends.
The next morning we headed back to where it all began for the Notre Dame vs. Louisville game. While the outcome of the game was crappy, the day was great. We tailgated and roamed campus, reliving memories of what seems like forever ago.
The rainy weather couldn't even ruin it. Even in the rain, Notre Dame's campus is a beautiful place. Sometimes a great time with old friends is just what the soul needs.
After spending an uneventful night in Sioux Falls at an odd hotel that was weirdly attached to a hospital, I decided to swing south and have lunch in Omaha, largely to be able to cross Nebraska off my list. For reasons I'll discuss in a minute, I have no pictures to show of Omaha. It was, however, quite lovely. The historic Old Market district is a cute area of cobblestone streets and local businesses. If the timing had worked better, I would have much rather stayed there than in Sioux Falls. But, alas.
After a highly satisfying lunch, I headed east. I got really excited when I crossed the Missouri River, because I mistakenly had it in my head that I was finally crossing the Mississippi.
Either way, it was beautiful. Iowa was largely what I expected -- a long expanse of farmland. And lots and lots of windmills (of the industrial farming variety). Although I did also find one of the more traditional variety, in an unexpected dutch town in the middle of nowhere.
Before stopping in Des Moines for the night, I was on a mission to finally visit an Apple Store and replace my shattered phone. Should be simple enough, right? Wrong. Oh, so very wrong. Mind you, I had the choice between going to an Apple Store in Omaha or in Des Moines. I chose the Des Moines one because it was less out of the way. I chose very poorly.
The level of incompetence was staggering. I won't get into all the tortured details, but suffice it to say that they did not fix my phone, managed to entirely wipe it, including all of my pictures (hence no Omaha pictures), and then not have a replacement phone to give me. They tried to send me on my way to Chicago without a working phone at all. That was not going to happen. Finally they got my shattered phone to be minimally operational again and I left nearly in tears. Follow that with Citibank mistakenly freezing my accounts and I was more than ready to stop for the night.
Thankfully karma rewarded me with an amazing hotel room. Really it was an entire suite, complete with a kitchen, couches, fireplace, and fluffy robes. So, all in all, the wonderful Des Lux Hotel was the only good part of my visit to Des Moines.
I hightailed it out of there in the morning and headed to Chicago to meet up with some of my closest college friends for the weekend. This time I crossed back to my regular side of the Mississippi for real.
Most of Illinois was shockingly rural, and it seemed like my GPS lady took me on a country back roads route. Either way, I made it to Chicago and finally got a new phone, complete with perfectly competent customer service. I then put the whole incident behind me and enjoyed a much-needed night of laughter and wine with old friends.
The next morning we headed back to where it all began for the Notre Dame vs. Louisville game. While the outcome of the game was crappy, the day was great. We tailgated and roamed campus, reliving memories of what seems like forever ago.
The rainy weather couldn't even ruin it. Even in the rain, Notre Dame's campus is a beautiful place. Sometimes a great time with old friends is just what the soul needs.
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