South Dakota road-trip (days one and two)

We have been living in Wisconsin for the past 5 months now and a couple of months ago we felt it was time to start preparing for a little holiday. We decided to head to the Badlands and Custer State Park in South Dakota on a little road trip. A mere 750 miles just to get to Badlands then another 100 miles for Custer State Park.

So, on Friday morning we packed up the car and set off at 0915. We had a quick stop for some breakfast at McDonald's in Sauk City; Egg and Cheese McMuffins and Hash Browns all around. Very soon, in heavy weather, we found ourselves crossing the Mississippi at La Crosse and over into the state of Minnesota.

We were making good time but felt we needed to stop for some lunch and as Austin was down on our list for a possible break we pulled of the I-90 only to struggle to find anything before settling on a quick ice cream and a coke at Dairy Queen - so a vitamin fuelled lunch - we were soon back on the interstate heading to Sioux Falls for our first nights stay.

The drive on to Sioux Falls wasn't as boring as we thought it might have been, field after field of corn, but a gorgeous sky above the field and plenty for us I-90 first-timers to see. We made a fuel stop at Jackson before crossing the South Dakota border and pulled into rest stop where we sat out in the sun by a sculpture of a tee-pee eating a picnic of salad and cheese before heading into the visitor centre.



The super helpful chap Del could not do enough to help us with our route and activity planning and we were sent on our way with a pile of maps, leaflets, great advise and even some stickers. Back on the road again for a short hop into Sioux Falls and after 455 miles and 8 hours driving by Paul we arrived at our stop for the night; the Best Western Empire Towers.

We unpacked the basics, Paul had a short break painting then we headed the short drive to the very pretty downtown area of Sioux Falls, and after finding a parking spot, thence to the Woodgrain Brewing Company for a delightful pint of their Blood Orange Wheat and cheesy Potato skins. Unsure if it was fatigue setting in but Paul managed to drop his first pint, bad form old chap!

When we made to depart we notice along the street that there was a number of sculptures, so we had a little stroll to view a few which including an owl, Native American and deer. All part of the city's sculpture walk which we would have loved to have completed but after a hard days travelling, bed was calling despite it not being that late.

Victoria did spot the lovely cupcake shop Half Baked and needed a red velvet cupcake for supper, verdict was that it was good cake! So back to the hotel with a stunning Harvest Moon looking down on us.





After a great nights sleep we awoke early to find the weather cloudy and with a slight chill in the air. So, after showers and dressing we grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel - cereal and bagel for Victoria, banana and giant freshly made waffle for Paul! We packed our baggage and set of to have a look at the South Dakota BB57 museum via a quick detour to Walgreens as somebody had picked up a cold sore - lovely. Checking the web-site it showed that the museum opened at 0830 so we were there bright and early so we could continue our journey. Unfortunately, the website was out of date and the museum did not open until 0930, never mind we can have a look at the exhibits outside.





A great reason to stay at Sioux Falls - despite it being about a half way to our destination - is Falls Park, site of the falls of the Big Sioux River. Falls Park covers 123 acres which you are free to walk around and view the beauty of the the many waterfalls over the 100 foot course that deposit over 7,400 gallons of water each second.









It was time to say goodbye to the Falls and crack on with the rest of our journey to Wall, just outside of the Badlands. After about an hours drive from Sioux Falls we pulled off of the Interstate into the town of Mitchell to check out the worlds only Corn Palace. A quirky attraction that is decorated using corn, wheat, native grasses and straw depicting a different theme each year. The theme for 2016 is music with pictures of Elvis and Willy Nelson among many others.





Before leaving the palace we ensured we gave thanks to Corn God - you can never be to careful and went to grab a coffee but failed to find anywhere on the walk back to the car so we headed back onto the I-90 promising ourselves we would stop when we saw somewhere promising. Before we knew it another hour of driving had past and we were arriving at our next stop as recommended by Del at the visitor centre yesterday.



There is a rest area on the I-90 overlooking the Missouri River just outside the town of Chamberlain, which today just so happened to be dedicating the statue called 'Dignity'; a glorious 40ft high statue of a Lakota Sioux woman overlooking the Missouri River. We arrived with the dedication already underway, and was greeted to a display of Native American chanting and dance. If you every get a chance to see the statue do, she is truly beautiful.







Paul was keen to get moving again as we were only half way through today's journey so after filling up with fuel in Chamberlain, where we managed to put in premium by mistake (costly!) We grabbed a super large soda and off we went fuelled by a bag of vegetable straws each for lunch. We crossed the deep blue waters of the Missouri River and between Winner and Okreek we had lost an hour as we had skipped onto Mountain Time! Hooray it's now lunchtime again.



Busting for a wee after said soda we stopped at 1880 Town for the use of the facilities. Unfortunately, the very delightful train car diner had closed for the season, so, we had to make do with Blue Bunny bars and a sit on the swing chair before checking out the gift shop.





Back on the I-90 for what should be the last hour of driving we drove past the vast plains of the Midwest a truly spectacular sight where you feel you really do meet the sky. We just had to stop at the Plains Pull-out view point for some quick photos it's here that we felt it would be a good idea to document our days exploits by starting an Instagram story video, which I feel safe to say we are truly dreadful at.



We soon were driving into our accommodation for the next 2 nights Frontier Cabins. We checked in and were given the keys to our charming log cabin overlooking the Prairie.

After unpacking the baggage and settling in we felt we needed to stretch our legs and decided to Walk the 6 blocks away to Wall Drug store, a slice of kitsch Americana on the plains. This place is advertised for hundreds of miles on the I-90 and really is a little theme park of sorts. Exploring Wall Drug we saw many of the sights, sounds and of course photo opportunities it is famous for!

Despite our very nourishing lunch of Vegetable Straws and Blue Bunny bars we felt we should refuel with a drinks so we headed into the Cactus Saloon for a few Blue Moon Wheat beers and a Jim Beam bourbon cocktail for Victoria, goodness those are strong. We felt that as it was still only 5pm we better eat something as the alcohol had gone straight to our heads. So we settled our bill, a bargain $14.60 and crossed the street back to Wall Drug for a Garden Burger each in their cafe. We also felt we should partake on the free iced water that we had seen be advertised for hundreds of miles on the Interstate along with a similarly advertised home-made maple doughnut and 5 cent coffee, which surprisingly was quite good.








Walking back to our cabin we picked up some ciders from the store to put in the fridge for later. We were keen to check out the Badlands Park and as its recommend to see it at either dusk or dawn due to the lighting on the rock formations and it's only 8 miles to the park entrance we got in the car to drive into Badlands however we get to gate and realise that we have no cash to pay the park fee, purses and wallets were in the cabin! Bloody Hell! So it's a drive back for sunset at the cabin and an early bedtime.

Our first week in Madison

Wow, this blog post is long overdue but we seemed to have crammed so much into the past five weeks.

We moved from Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, UK to Middleton, Wisconsin, USA and here is how it went.

On Saturday 23rd April we kicked off our leaving celebrations by enjoying dinner at Pie Minister in Nottingham with my parents, brother and close family friends Anne & Don. Then it was off to our favourite bar in the UK - The Junkyard - for a night on the beers with many friends and family who stopped by. Thanks to: Mum, Dad, Andrew, Anne, Don, Ollie, Emily, Richard, Sammi, Ady, Helen,
Matt, Mike, James, Steve, Lesley, James, Anne, Neil, Andy, Louise, Clare, Andy, Pete, Nicola, Tom, Tara, Katrina and Craig for the send off.

Rather worse for beer, we were dropped off at home by friends Steve and Lesley for our last night in our house in the UK.

The next day -Sunday - we had a final visit from Steve and Lesley then chums Dave and Heather popped round with Nathan and then it was off to Manchester airport with Mum and Dad. We stopped at The Wagon and Horses in Stalybridge just outside Hyde for a rather splendid dinner before being dropped off at the hotel airport and goodbyes with mum and dad.

Our flight was American Airlines 55 from Manchester to Chicago O'Hare due to leave at 12:30 and we awoke on the Monday to a message from American letting us know we were delayed two hours so we had a rather more leisurely morning and made our way over to check-in. Whoops we were over our luggage allowance on both cases, so after a quick reorganisation just one case was over and we paid the $100 excess baggage fee.

We got air-side and had a drink and light bite before making our way to the gate, what a lovely surprise the flight was only at about 60% occupancy so was an easy boarding and we had our row of three seats to ourselves.

 The crew on the flight were excellent and a real credit to American Airlines. After a very smooth six hours we touched down at O'Hare and were quite quickly through customs and immigration and picking up our baggage before entering the terminal building and boarding the bus to Hertz to pick up our car.

After the lovely experience with American Airlines service the shenanigans with Hertz were rather a disappointment, we had booked a Toyota Corolla and they first tried to get us to upgrade to a Dodge Charger, then a Nissan Juke, before trying to fob us off with a Mazda 3, a lot smaller than a Corolla. We dug our heels in and after about an hour finally got what we had booked and paid for.

Apart from a dent on the passenger side the Corolla was a great car and we eventually held onto her for four weeks. Leaving O'Hare we entered the Freeway to Madison and realised that we were on the wrong road so ended up adding about 20 minutes to our journey by going via Milwaukee rather than Janesville. Arriving in Madison we soon found the American Inn off Odana and at 2130 local time - 0330 body-clock time - we crashed out in bed for the evening for our first nights sleep as non-immigrants!

Our first day in the USA and we had some stuff to sort out, first of all bank-accounts, so over to Chase on Old Sauk and High Point and we were soon the proud owners of a checking account and a savings account. Now time to find a bed, we looked in a couple of places before finding the perfect bed in Steinhafels which we paid for and arranged to have delivered to our apartment the next day, leaving our phone number just in case they had issues. We had a lovely lunch at Barriques in Middleton before checking out our local Costco for the bargains.

We then popped to pick up some essentials, namely bedding, but that is an entire other story that I no doubt shall relate one day! We made our way back to the Americinn ad were soon crashed out, only to be awoken several times by a party of unruly school children who were running up and down the corridors until the early hours of the morning.

Next, day, Wednesday our first task was to check out of the Americinn and pick up Social Security Numbers from the office on Odana before driving over to Deer Creek to get the keys to our new apartment. We had received an email from Steinhafels to say our bed would be delivered between 1400 and 1600 so we were all on schedule.

Only having a couple of suitcases it was quite easy to unpack here and I drove to a local sandwich shop to pick up us a 'Sub'. At about 15.45 we decided to call Steinhafels to enquire where the bed was - it was not coming the driver could not find us and had not wanted to make an international phone call to contact us - arse! We cancelled the bed and gave them a flea in the ear.

We drove over to Target, picked up a air-mattress, bedside lamp, two patio chairs and a patio table. The first night in our new home would basically be camping. That evening we ordered a mattress from Amazon for Friday delivery.

To console ourselves we had rather a lovely dinner at Hubbard Avenue Diner in Middleton before retiring to blow up the air-mattress.

Thursday morning and my first task was to pop into the office for a short daily team meeting and to introduce myself to the folks I shall be working with. I was back home just after 10 and Victoria and I were going out to buy furniture. Having checked their website but unable to place an order due to a UK credit card not being accepted for an on-line payment, Slumberland seemed very good place. We were soon selecting a new sofa, bedroom chair and console table for delivery at time unspecified and the prices in the store were much better than the on-line deals - bonus!

We also took the opportunity to check out some local supermarkets, both Wholefoods and Metro Market are very good, the latter especially has a great selection of British foods available.

A very nice chap came from Charter connected us to the internet, woot! Unfortunately they don't provide a wireless access point so we stopped at Best Buy and after seeing how much they charge, instead decided to go 'wired' for a few days and ordered one from Amazon.

That evening we walked into the centre of Middleton stopping at Capitol Brewery for a beer. It's great to sit on the terrace there and enjoy the live bands.

  On our way back we stopped at the delightful Hubbard Avenue Diner in Middleton for supper, the staff are great, the décor straight from the 1950s and the food and brews fantastic. As you can see Middleton is rather lovely.

Another surprisingly comfortable evening on the air-mattress and I again dropped by the office for the days team meeting and after we were out to do errands again. We badly needed supplies so went to Metro Market on the east side of town where we phoned our shipping company. Our furniture was due to arrive the coming Monday and we needed to ensure that all was running ok. Well, to cut a long and fraught story short they had lost our pallets, our furniture and belongings had done 5000 miles from the Uk and about 100 miles away in Janesville had gone missing. Arse! and Arse! again. After about an hours calling around it was located with the wrong tracking numbers and even better it would not be coming on Monday but tomorrow - Saturday. Also when we got home our new mattress had arrived from Amazon, things were really starting to come together.



That evening we ate at our local bar, World of Beers, yes my local is a proper brew-house with about 50 beers on tap and over 500 bottles of world beers to select from. They also do a rather splendid giant pretzel that we shared for supper with a kale salad.

Well Saturday came and our truck arrived promptly just before 1000, Work colleague and all round great guy Jeff arrived with his daughter Lily and we soon had it all inside. The bed was assembled and we had a proper place to kip for the evening.

Jeff and his wife Debra invited us for dinner that evening and we had a lovely time with some splendid food and drink discussing the differences between our UK existence and our USA existence that just a few days in the states had uncovered.

To be continued...

A long weekend in Brussels

Back in January it was my birthday - 49th for those who are curious about those things - and Mrs Scrivs presented  me with a Brussels city-map and a pair of tickets for Eurostar. Fantastic we were back off to Brussels for three nights, one of my favourite European cities!

We awoke early on the Thursday morning, I am not sure why because our train was not until 0920 and after a simple breakfast at Subway - egg & cheese flat-bread with an orange juice - we were on our way to Newark Northgate station. A brief fight with the car park entry barriers and we were soon on the train to London Kings Cross.

An hour and forty minutes after alighting we were in London and crossing the road to St. Pancras station, probably the most beautiful railway station you shall ever visit, loads of fantastic Victorian ironwork made by the Butterley Company, only a few minutes away from our first marital home.

If you get the chance I'd advise that you enter the building from the front as the architecture is stunning. When I was a young chap this place was a rather run down sorry place, but since being adopted as the Eurostar terminal this jewel has been truly and deservedly polished.

We drop into Fortnum and Masons at St. Pancras and have a late brunch of coffee and toast before heading over to Yo Sushi! to pick up some lunch for the journey. We are soon through security and waiting to board the Eurostar to Brussels.

Eurostar really is an easy journey, a short stop at Ebbsfleet and we are into the tunnel emerging in France for a quick stop at Calais then another slightly longer one at Lille. Just over two hours after setting off from St. Pancras we are at Brussels Midi and catching the Metro to Botanique.

Just a couple of minutes from Botanique Matro station is the Hotel Bloom, our regular stopping place in Brussels and is a lovely hotel. Each room is decorated with individual art works. This time we are in Room 818 on the top floor decorated by Dutch artist Amber Bijl.

After a quick stop in the room to unpack and freshen up we walk the 15 minutes or so into the centre of town, stopping at the nearest Exki for a coffee. If you get a chance drop into an Exki, the food and drinks are great and really cheap. A coffee and croissant breakfast is only €2.00!

After our invigorating coffee it is time to hit the hard stuff, fending off the restaurateurs on the narrow Rue des Bouchers we make a right turn and are at probably our favourite bar in the world! Delirium 

Oh bollocks, it is closed for renovation. Fortunately the Hoppy Loft at Delirium is open. We bag a table and both start off with a very refreshing Tangerine Wheat beer followed by a Raspberry Brown Ale, both are from the Lost Coast brewery.

We then head downstairs to the bottle bar, I have a refreshing Delirium Red and Victoria a Mongozo Coconut, served in its own Tiki bowl. Making a bit of a night of it we decide to indulge in the big bowl of Gouda with celery salt and mustard and I have another Delirium Red while Victoria has a Mongozo Mango.

We head over to Fritland where we share a bag of frites. We walk back towards the Hotel Bloom stopping at Galleries Royales St Hubert to pick up some chocolates for supper and then at the Brasserie on Place de la Liberte where I have a final beer for the night and Victoria has a coffee.

Waking on Friday morning I have a bit of a headache, I would have though that all last nights fruit beer would have been practically a health-food. We have an unhealthy breakfast of the chocolates we picked up yesterday evening.

Leaving the hotel pretty close to 11am it it raining cats and dogs and my Merrells are soon soaked through. We have a early lunch of cheese salad baguette and a cappuccino at Le Pain de l' Abbaye before catching the 61 bus to Chavelier and walk the short distance to the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History James and I visited this when we were here in November 2014 this time Victoria has the benefit. Mindful that although this is my birthday treat she does not want to spend all day looking at swords and guns we have a good couple of hours in the museum before catching the bus back to Botanique.

The draw of Delirium is strong and its now mid afternoon so we settle down with a rather splendid cheese board and a pint each of Delirium Red. The next course is a Floris Apple each and a bag of paprika crisps.

Victoria now tries a Floris Honey and I have a Floris Strawberry. The session continues with a Floris Cherry for Mrs Scrivs while I have a Campus Premium, probably my least favourite beer so far. By now we are quite tipsy so polish off for now with a Floris Ninkleberry for Victoria and a Rulles Triple for me.

Heading out into the early evening Victoria grabs a chocolate waffle from Galler on Grande Place, if you get a chance try one, a bit of a posh pop-tart! We wander around the alleyways stopping for the ubiquitous photo with Mannequin Pis before an early supper of pizza for me and pasta for Victoria at Pizza Napoli on Rue du Marché aux Herbes.

Walking back Victoria picks up a couple of teacakes at Mary Chocolate and we pick up a pack of Senseo pods for the coffee machine in the room. Back at the hotel after a skin full of beer and a pizza I'm shocked to find it's only 2100! Time for bed though.

The trouble with an early night after a day on the booze is that I wake at 0300 with a hankering for a pint of orange juice. I settle instead for a bottle of water and soon get back to sleep. Waking at a more humane hour I have an early breakfast of coffee and chocolate and we get dressed and head out back into town.

This time we walk through the Botanique park, picking up the main shopping drag we have one of the aforementioned €2.00 breakfasts of coffee and croissant at Exki before a browse around Hema  before diving into some of the comic book stores where we pick up another instalment of Pin-up Wings. I'm tempted by some of the WWI Verdun comics but resist in the end.

No visit to Brussels could be considered complete without a visit to the Tin-Tin Galleries. Again like moths to the light we  are drawn back to Delirium for a light lunch of a cheese-bowl and a Rulles Triple for me and a Floris Cherry for Victoria. We are quite restrained though and leave after just the one drink, too much of a good thing and all that!

As a few family birthdays are coming up we decide to pick up some treats for people in the chocolatiers and confectioneries that abound in Brussels, I'll not say what or for who as I know they read this blog. We have a slow walk back to the Hotel Bloom via the Palace and have a couple of hours relaxing in our room before the evenings onslaught!

We walk back into town and hit Delirium again. The main bar is now re-opened and it's really packed so we head up to the Hoppy Loft again and bag a table. It's packed in here too, at the bar I have a Half Moon IPA and Victoria a Floris Kreik. We play a little Carcassonne but the table next to us seem to be having a who can squeal the loudest competition.

Time for another round Victoria orders the Green Killer, I had a Pink Killer. Unfortunately the squeal the loudest competition is reaching a new crescendo so having had enough we leave Delirium and head across town to Le Cirio, a much more sedate place where we settle down for a more relaxed evening.

I order a Brugs Whitt and a Victoria a Fruit Defendu, we are soon joined by the fat ginger cat who it appears owns the place.

The surroundings are a lot more conducive to our ongoing Carcassonne campaign and soon we are on to a Leffe Blonde for me and a Hoegaarden Rose for Victoria, accompanied by a plate of Frites! When in Belgium and all that. We finish the evening with a Lindemans Framboise for Victoria and I have another Leffe Blonde.

Victoria trounces me 3-0 in that evening Carcassonne campaign!

We walk back via the Grand Place and stop for coffee and crepes at  Gaufre de Bruxelles before walking back to the Hotel Bloom and bed. We pause to check on Victorias grafitti :0

Oh no! It's now Sunday and our last day. We get up and do our ablutions and pack the cases before heading to an Exki for a breakfast of cheese rolls, croissants, juice and coffees. All lovely and fresh and for about €6.00

I am rather liking the chocolate olives that you can buy here so pick up a few for the journey home before heading back to Hotel Bloom were we finish our packing, have a coffee and then check out just before midday. We catch the Metro to Gare Midi and having a couple of hours to spare head over the way to Europa Brasserie for a drink. I maintain my preference for Leffe Blonde while Victoria has a coke light. Setting in for the duration we break out Carcassone again and Victoria maintains her winning streak.

Time for one last beer so we order another round, I have the Leffe again while Victoria tries a Belle-vue Kreik, we also have a portion of gouda with celery salt and mustard and a portion of Frites.

Finally it's time to check in and a few hours later we are back home. What a splendid trip!