Exercise for Nerds

I'm still alive! In fact, feeling more alive than ever.

The last couple months, I've been doing what I can to do cardio and strength exercises and made a concerted effort to look and feel better. I suppose I want to make posts detailing exactly what I'm doing, what's working, what's not working, and the results I've been getting.

I started all this when I was in California on around September 17. At that point I weighed a personal record 195 pounds and wasn't particularly happy with how I looked or my abilities when it came to exerting myself. I started spending a half hour every day on the elliptical machine at that point, and when I got home in early October I signed up for a gym.

Ever since, I've been alternating cardio and strength training at a few different gyms. I started in the Riverton Fitness Center, which was delightfully only a mile away from my house. Unfortunately, this didn't allow flexibility for when I had to travel for work, so I suspended my subscription there and signed up for LA Fitness. This allowed me to visit locations in or near Corona, CA and Laurel, MD where I generally travel, as well as a location near me in Mount Laurel, NJ. Unfortunately, there's not one particularly close to my parents' home, but I'll deal with that later this month.

On cardio days, I usually do walking/running intervals for an hour on a treadmill. I started slow, likely doing 2-3 minutes of running with walking in between. I resurrected my Couch-to-5K app to pace myself, and after several weeks I ran my first non-stop 5K on Thanksgiving. It felt great, and I've been able to do it twice since then, now beginning to work on speed. I'm not particularly fast yet, as my personal best time is 30:14, but I anticipate that once I get more and more used to running that distance I can steadily improve speed. The best part of this routine is that it burns between 600 and 700 calories, which I'll elaborate on a bit later.

On strength days, I have an A and a B day. A day is squat, bench, and row. B day is lat pulldown, overhead press, and deadlift. I used to do squats on both days, but was cautioned against it by a couple friends, unless I wanted giant legs and tiny stick arms. My current 5x5 abilities aren't stellar, but I've hit some walls and busted through them, which is amazingly satisfying:

Squat - 160 lbs
Bench - 105 lbs
Row - 100 lbs
Overhead Press - 80 lbs
Deadlift - 155 lbs

Finally, I've been doing my best to get my caloric intake and macronutrients under control. In particular, I've been logging with MyFitnessPal, allowing me to convenient record what I eat and get a lot of useful statistics out the other end. I've limited myself to about 1500 calories daily, allowing me to lose on average 1.5 lbs per week. I was able to push that up to 2 lbs per week when I weighed more, but now that I weigh appreciably less than I used to, I've slowed down in my losses.

I've basically stopped wearing any clothing that I owned prior to September, also. I'm changing a lot in the meantime, so I haven't bought a ton of clothes as yet, but I'm building up a nice wardrobe and being smart about my purchases for the first time. It feels great and I feel like I look so much better in both my weight and my dress. It's a good feeling.

Mount Rushmore Roadtrip

In August, I'll be heading back to Minnesota for my cousin's wedding.  Also attending will be my relatives from England - Stephen and Marian.  Stephen asked me if I would be willing to facilitate a road trip during the week with them and, being that I absolutely adore road trips, I agreed!  Now I've got an excuse to plan, hooray!

The current plan is to depart from Willmar, Minnesota where my cousin is getting married.  We can leave earlier on Sunday to ensure we get three good days to go out to Rushmore and get back to Rochester, with plenty of stops in between!  First thing's first, though.  We need to take a look at some South Dakota stats!

South Dakota became a state in 1889, it's the seventeenth largest state in the US with a size of slightly over 77,000 square miles.  Here's a comparison between the size of the United Kingdom as a whole compared with the Dakotas:

The UK is only 22% larger than the state of South Dakota as a whole, so despite not even being in the top ten in terms of area in the United States, it's still extremely expansive.  On the flipside, less than 900,000 people reside in North Dakota, with large population centers lying on either side of the state:  Rapid City in the west (pop. 68,000) and Sioux Falls in the east (pop. 162,000).  Particularly big attractions in South Dakota include Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, and the Badlands.

Onto the planning!  Here is, day by day, the sketched out plan for our road trip.

The first day, as aforementioned, will begin in Willmar, Minnesota.  Total drive time will be just under six hours until we reach Pierre, the destination for the day.  The only real major city on this route is Watertown, which we'll reach roughly two hours after leaving; a perfect place to stop for lunch!  There's not a whole lot on the way, though, but here are some stops:

Replica Liberty Bell - Milan, MN
Just what it sounds like.  Apparently, nearby there is a Viking carved from wood and a mural depicting the history of illustrious Milan.  Milan bills itself as "Norwegian Capital USA," and has a population of just over 300 people.

Gnometown USA - Dawson, MN
The city of Dawson regards itself as Gnometown, USA.  Seeing a pattern here yet?  Spread all around town are small gnome statues, including what appear to be around a dozen hanging out by the welcome sign.  Dawson's pretty big for a rural town weighing in at a population of around 1,500.

World's Largest Lutefisk - Madison, MN
In remarkable rule of threes serendipity, Madison calls itself the Lutefisk Capital of the USA.  Yup, that's their claim to fame.  The town has a gigantic statue of the eponymous fish that symbolizes the yearly lutefisk-eating competition.  Madison is around the same size as Dawson at about 1,500 people residing.

Minnesota's Salt Lake - Marietta, MN
Due to its placement among a bunch of alkaline soil, the Marietta area features the only salt lake in the state.  Unique wildlife are attracted to the area because of this, and there's a nice walkway that allows you to take a look across the lake.

Cowboy Statue - Watertown, SD
Not too far from the border is the city of Watertown, which features a giant cowboy statue.  Watertown is a relatively large place with a population of nearly 22,000 people.  Great stop to take a look at the statue and grab some lunch.

Tiny Traveler's Church - Henry, SD
Near the tiny town of Henry resides a teensy church on the side of the road, available for travelers to pop in and take a look.  The roadside chapel couldn't have more than four or five seats, but it'd be great just to stop and take a couple pictures!

Pheasant Capital of the USA - Redfield, SD
Redfield was the first place where settlers released pheasants in the North American continent and, therefore, has to be honored as the Pheasant Capital USA.  The town features a nice little pheasant statue and boasts a population of around 2,500.

Sinclair Mascot - Pierre, SD
Pierre is the capital of the state of South Dakota - and South Dakota is a state associate with dinosaurs.  With a dinosaur park in Rapid City and several dino discoveries through the state, the green apatosaurus Sinclair mascot is right at home, here.  Pierre is the destination for the first day!

Here's the final map with all the stops, weighing in at five hours and forty-two minutes:

Pierre features plenty of cheap hotels that we could check into and stay the night.  With a population of slightly under 14,000, Pierre is beaten only by Vermont's Montpelier as the least populous state capital in the nation.  Its capitol building sits right on the Missouri river that dissects the state.

The second day of the trip will feature the end goal of the drive:  seeing the famous Mount Rushmore in the west end of the state.  It'll be a full day that will feature Sturgis and Rapid City, as well as a stop in Deadwood.  The winding drive will take us through the Black Hills where Rushmore sits, and end in Wall, SD, the namesake of famous tourist trap Wall Drug.

Bear Butte - Sturgis, SD
A butte (steep hill) that sits outside of Sturgis apparently looks like a bear.  The diverse geological form results from a hill with erosion specifically on its sides to make it much more steep than most of the rolling hills surrounding it.  Not strictly a butte, Bear Butte is more akin to laccoliths like the nearby Devils Tower in Wyoming.

Devils Tower - Crook County, WY
Though it would be quite the detour, Devils Tower is a sight to behold.  Another laccolith created from ancient lava flow injection, Devils Tower rises over 1,200 feet above the surrounding hills and can be viewed easily from the road.  Again, it would be significantly far from the beaten path, but it may be worth taking a look if we felt adventurous.  The downside, however - it would add three hours to the drive for the day.

Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame - Sturgis, SD
Open Su-Sa, 10am - 4pm
What would Sturgis be without a motorcycle museum?  We'll miss the Bike Week rally by just a few days in Sturgis, but when the population drops from almost half a million to under seven thousand.

Deadwood, SD
An attraction in itself, Deadwood was the subject of a 2000s HBO series about the Old West.  Wild Bill Hicock was actually shot here, as well.  The town has tons of touristy stuff related to the Old West, including a town center Old West show.

Ornate Junk Horse - Hill City, SD
A gorgeous sculpture of a horse resides in this small town of about a thousand situated in the middle of the Black Hills.  Across the street is a cafe that might be a good place for lunch before we head to the big monuments.

Crazy Horse Monument - Crazy Horse, SD
Intended as a companion, or maybe one-upmanship, to the nearby Mount Rushmore, this gigantic sculpture isn't quite done, but then, neither are the presidents down the road.  Crazy Horse's face peers from a cliffside in a monument that may never be finished, but one has to admire the determination put into creating this Native American memorial.

Mount Rushmore
The goal of the whole road trip.  Mount Rushmore attracts more than two million tourists per year who arrive and gawk at the immensity of the presidential memorial.  The carved face features two of the founders of the United States of America (Washington and Jefferson), the president who waged war to abolish slavery in the United States (Lincoln), and the father of the concept of National Parks (Theodore Roosevelt).  August is the high season for visitors, so the monument will no doubt be crowded, but the sight will definitely be worth it.

Borglum Rushmore Museum - Keystone, SD
Open June - August, Su-Sa 8:30am - 4:30pm
A historical center honoring the artist who conceived of and designed Mount Rushmore.  The museum features information on Rushmore and Borglum's other works.

Dinosaur Park - Rapid City, SD
Open dawn to dusk daily
Dinosaur park was a favorite of mine as a kid, featuring tons of gigantic green statues of dinosaurs.  Some of them look a little... off, but that's part of the fun, assuredly.

Presidential Statues - Rapid City, SD
To go along with the giant statues to the east, the street corners in Rapid City feature presidential statues with the famous men in different settings.  Really worth walking around a bit to see them and get your picture taken with various historical presidents!

Wall Drug - Wall, SD
The mecha of kitschy tourist stops, Wall Drug is the ultimate in tourist traps.  Filled with robotic bands, stupid gift stores, and the most gimmicky food shops of all time, Wall Drug harkens back to a day when tourist traps looked exactly like what they were.

Wall Drug Dinosaur - Wall, SD
Near Wall Drug is the famous Wall Drug dinosaur.  The statue is about eighty feet long, or so advertises a sign nearby.

Leaving out Devils Tower, here's the day's map:

After staying over in Wall, we start down I-90 eastward and head back to Rochester.  This is probably the most active section of the trip, owing to the fact that we'll be using a major thoroughfare.  There's plenty to see and do on the way!

Minuteman Missile Tour - Ellsworth Air Force Base, SD
Open M-F, guided tours at 9am and 1:30pm
The only tour of what was once a nuclear missile launch silo, one of many that used to (and still) call the Dakotas home.  Self guided tours are available as well, but most recommend arriving at a time when guides are available.

Skeleton Man Walking a Dinosaur - Murdo, SD
A rather amazing and striking sculpture on the side of I-90 of a skeletal T-rex being walked by a skeletal man on a leash.  Though it would be difficult to stop and take a picture, I'm sure we'll be seeing these fellows on the drive.

Mitchell Corn Palace - Mitchell, SD
An old favorite, the Corn Palace serves as a municipal building.  The outside features images made completely of different colors of corn which is changed yearly.  Usually the images represent some sort of activity or concept important to the area.

Porter Sculpture Park - Montrose, SD
Open 8am - 6pm
A rather extensive and strange sculpture park, featuring a bull sculpture with massive horns, a terrifying looking dragon, and a mantis with a flyswatter.  Hard to resist an interesting place like this one.

Tiny Church - Luverne, MN
Another tiny church on the side of the road.  What can I say, I love these things!

The Jolly Green Giant - Blue Earth, MN
A statue of everyone's favorite vegetable mascot.  Of course, the headquarters of the company he represents resides about sixty miles away, but even so, he stands guard over the city of Blue Earth.  Ho ho ho!

The SPAM Museum - Austin, MN
Open M-Sa 10am - 5pm
Hopefully we'll get through in time to visit the fantastic SPAM Museum.  Even though SPAM is most closely associated with Hawaii these days, most people aren't aware that Hormel's headquarters is right in Austin.

All Shook Up

Day Three, Monday, November 19

Origin:  Memphis, Tennesee
States traversed:  Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana
Destination:  New Orleans, Louisiana

We started the day by grabbing some breakfast at the hotel before once again hitting the road.  Before we left Memphis, we had a few things to see - unfortunately, much of the city seemed to be closed or sleeping until noon on Mondays, so unfortunately we weren't able to see the Stax Museum of Soul Music.  We did see most everything else we wanted, however!

First, we made a trip to one of the more hip neighborhoods in Memphis:  Beale Street.  We bought some gifts for the folks back home and toured a small gallery filled with pictures from the civil rights era.  The guy working there was seventeen when King was shot, so it was interesting to get a southern perspective on that time in the nation's history.

The Stax Museum, sadly, was closed until one

After looping back to head to the record shop, Shangri-La Records, we started to head out of town.  However, Graceland was one of the major beats for the trip, so we decided to end our time in Memphis by visiting Elvis' old digs.  It was an interesting experience as we plunked down $32 apiece to tour the mansion, parked our car, and took a short bus ride across the street to Graceland.  As far as mansions go, Graceland was reasonably modest, especially for someone as famous and infinitely rich as Elvis Presley.

The tour was guided by those new-fangled MP3 player tour guide gadgets, though I thought that the tour program was excellently done.  After all, a traditional tour guide wouldn't be able to mix in so much of Elvis' music or his own words as seamlessly as the program did.  I took a ton of pictures, but I won't post them all here; the rest will be in the Facebook album.

All decorated for the holidays

Old TV set

The pool room

A view of the front of Graceland

Elvis' grave

After Graceland, it was only a couple minutes before we entered Mississippi.  We were driving the state from top to bottom and it would take most of the day, so we hunkered down for the long drive as the sun began to set.  On the way, we stopped for gas and snacks, and a nearby man commented on how weird they must sound to us when they talk.  I assured them that we were the odd ones out, and we compared our Thanksgiving plans and various other topics as he sipped on his coffee.  Bidding him goodbye, we continued on our way.  We passed through Jackson, MS, where I snapped a quick picture of the capitol building.

After forever driving, we passed into Louisiana and skirted the lakes around New Orleans, including Ponchartrain, the lake famous for causing a lot of the Katrina flooding problems in 2005.  Our intention was to wait until we arrived to grab dinner, something we didn't regret in the least.  We took the suggestion of one of Dana's friends and headed to the Acme Oyster House, in pretty easy walking distance from our hotel.  Dana had a po'boy and I opted for the jambalaya and it was probably the best I've had.  After dragging ourselves back to the hotel, we retired for the night.


Day Four, Tuesday, November 20

Days four and five were to be spent completely in New Orleans, giving us plenty of time to walk around, explore, and enjoy the sights and food of the city.  Our first stop today was the Court of Two Sisters, where Dana had reserved a pair of seats at Jazz Brunch.  The food was pretty good and the atmosphere was great, with a three piece jazz band playing tunes while we grazed.

Ahhh, tropical-looking trees!

Shortly after brunch, we got the car out of the valet parking and drove to the New Orleans Museum of Art, the largest art museum in the state.  They had a good mix of artifacts, classical and modern art, and of particular note was the LIFELIKE exhibit.  This temporary section showed off works from artists that specialized in very realistic sculpture and paintings.  Of note were sculptures looking like a gigantic version of an aluminum chair-and-table set, some weeds growing up from the corner of a room made from wood and painted perfectly, and a sculpture of a boy kneeling down that looked extremely realistic.  After poking around in the museum, we strolled around and looked at some of the interesting sculptures and trees that surrounded the NOMA before heading back to the hotel.

The Embassy offers a manager's reception every evening from 5:30 to 7:30, so we stopped by to grab a few drinks before we headed back up to our room.  We had planned to head out and explore the city a little more at night, but Dana was feeling a bit under the weather, so we decided to take it easy.  We ordered a pizza from room service and settled in for the evening.

Tomorrow, we're planning to take an airboat tour of the swamp and hopefully do a bit more wandering.  Then, sadly, Thursday we must move on.  Hopefully we'll have gotten our fill of New Orleans by then!

Old Kentucky Things

Day 2, Sunday, November 18

Origin: Barboursville, WV
States traversed:  West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee
Destination: Memphis, TN

We began the day in our Charleston hotel room, eventually dragging ourselves out of bed to head down and enjoy the breakfast.  It was below average for a Hampton fare, but still passable, especially since the hotel featured a much appreciated waffle maker.  With that, we were on our way, and before long we passed into the state of Kentucky.

Our first stop was a small town containing a mini golf course called Bible Putt Putt.  How could I resist snapping some pictures?  Of course, it was Sunday, so I wasn't expecting it to be open, but it was worth a try!

Barbed wire fence guarding Noah's Ark

This hole was called "Delilah's Scissors"

Fortunately, it was a lovely day in eastern Kentucky, without a cloud in the sky.  We took a little walk to case the joint before taking off in a west-southwest direction.  Quite on accident, we spotted what appeared to be a castle on the side of the highway.  Of course, we had to pull over an investigate.  I almost ended up trying to drive up to it, but apparently it's a private residence, so that would have been a bad idea.

Horses!  And horse with jacket!

After the quick detour, we continued heading to our destination-of-the-moment, a bunch of Abraham Lincoln sites, including his boyhood home and the place where he was born.  We ended up driving through a small town that was positively Lincoln-obsessed, with everything from a bank to an ice cream store named after the president.  It's no real surprise, since he's a native son.

Replica log cabin, made to be similar to the one Lincoln was born in

View over kid-Lincoln's shoulder at adult-Lincoln

A monument that looks like it would be more at home in DC than rural Kentucky

Recreation of the Lincoln family's abode

The area that contained Lincoln's boyhood home was preserved from that time up through now, so it featured some gorgeous farmland.  Unfortunately, it's wintertime, so most of the leaves are gone, but the area was still quite a site.

Dana disrespecting Lincoln's boyhood home

Having gotten our fill of Lincoln, we continued onward toward Tennessee.  We have one more stop before leaving Kentucky, however:  I wanted to check out Mammoth Caves or at least go by the area.  It was all I could have hoped for: a tourist trap with tons of hilarious/crazy/stupid stops that tried to sucker people into spending a few bucks.  It reminded me of the likes of South Dakota or Branson, Missouri.

Sad triceratops looks out on the highway

Sup?

I was marveling at the who-knows-how-old signs posted everywhere

Elephant

Chief Heil says hello

Who is Sam and why is he sobbing?

As we approached Nashville, the sun was starting to set, so we drove around trying to make the most of the fading light of the day.  Unfortunately, Hermitage, and once-home of President Andrew Jackson, was not admitting additional visitors as it was too late in the day.  With heavy hearts, we bid goodbye to Nashville's skyline and headed onward to Memphis.

Since the night had set in, we didn't have any stops aside from finding dinner and the hotel.  On the way, I tried to fill up on gas in a small, unincorporated community hilariously named Bucksnort, but the Citgo station refused to give me delicious fuel.  Later on we stopped again to fill up and grab a corn dog to tide me over until dinner.  A couple podcasts later and we arrived at our dinner location, Gus's World Famous Spicy Fried Chicken.  The food was fantastic and perfect to cap a long day.

Tomorrow's agenda includes the sights of Memphis, a look at Graceland, and Mississippi!