weekend

I'm spending the night in Seabeck. Going to Seattle & IKEA tomorrow with the parents! Going to get oodles of frames to put art in, woohoo! Frames and magnets.

Saturday at Pulali I counted how many frames I need for the postcards I've accumulated at various National Parks. And I dug out the list that has the sizes of currently unframed art on it. I don't want to put things on the walls that are not framed. I'm a grown woman! Who sleeps with an alpaca stuffed animal. But that is besides the point. I hauled my red chair up stairs, so now my computer desk has a better chair to computer on. I finished the cake. I read The Magicians. It was a very windy day. No seals on the beach. Slept in on Sunday. Hung out a bit with Celia and Corrine. Sorted through old photos. Then drove over to Seabeck in the evening. Next week will feature a job interview, an aunt moving in, a trip to Ikea, and more organization.

Hopefully it will include a job offer.

no not SPIDERS

SO I TOTALLY THINK I SAW A BROWN RECLUSE SPIDER. It was big and brown and by my computer and I screamed and fell backwards and when I googled brown recluse it looked like the picture and fucking goddamnit I don't want to be in a house with horrible spiders! Argh! Now I have to keep an eye out and carry a big dictionary with me. Gaaah.

In better news I had a very nice bath and really got into reading The Magicians. I tidied, unpacked, took boxes up to the garage, took down things. Had udon and banana and carrots. Not all at once. Cocoa too. Again, not all at once. Read on my couch. Finished off my ice cream.

And had that bad spider scare. UHG!!

Trillians gunna Trill

Got an interview on Wednesday! Whoooo!!

It was a rainy gray day. Not used to them just yet after all the sunshine of California. Still feels a bit special to experience. It'll probably feel not special after a solid week.

13 seals on the raft! It was riding low in the water.

I finished reading Relish by Lucy Knisley. Other Trillian not only has the same comic, but it is illustrated/signed by Lucy! Mine is fish & chips, hers is piroshki. 

No Celia tonight. Just me and my comics and texting people. Texting helps keep the lonelies at bay.

Crossed a few things off my to do list. Always good to keep that on task. I'll work on doing more things off it tomorrow. Things are pretty scattered around the house right now. I want to get it more squared away, just for personal aesthetics and visiting relatives...shouldn't deal with my clutter.

Don't worry Mom, I haven't wrecked it!

oh hey there goes Wednesday

I think I'll work up the nerve tomorrow to call if they don't by the afternoon.

I can print colorful resumes with my printer, so that's something at least! I took down my sheets and some odds and ends from my various tubs of junk. It rained today so the watering of plants was super unnecessary. I had a scramble for breakfast and drank a pot of tea while sitting outside reading. That was a nice time. Right now I need to organize all the stuff I've taken into the house before I add anymore to it. Ebbs and flows.

Celia made burgers for dinner, and we drank tea and watched the first episode of The 10th Kingdom. Nice to have some company. Knowing someone is right there helps, considering how quiet and isolated it is out here.

When I look up "job listings in my area" I keep getting Kitsap and Seattle. NO! I don't want a 2 hour commute and I don't want to commit to Kitsap right now. Give me Olympic Penninsula!

trying to get back to the daily thing

I'm watching The Bourne Identity for the first time and it's so out of date, it's funny in some places. The old computers, the lack of smart phones, just...the datedness of an action movie that is now over a decade old. Ha. Also couldn't she cut and dye her own hair? Really? She could do that that herself.

I solved a Where's Waldo puzzle while eating my oatmeal and drinking my tea.

I hauled the empty tubs up to the garage. I hauled down sheets and some books. I watered the plants and put a little W on the calendar to mark when and that I did it. I swept the deck. I put the red shelf in a space in the closet. The things I have are smaller things. Nothing to really make a dramatic change to any one area. Like I don't have a big bright area to rug to counteract all the beige and brown and general fadedness of the house. My sense of decor leans to the bright. At least the walls have been painted yellow.

No word about an interview. Hopefully early tomorrow?

Had a scramble for a late lunch and bagel and shmear for small dinner and ice cream for dessert.

waarrkkkk says the seal

I really need to get back into the habit of blogging.

So! Tonight is my first night at Pulali all by myself. But that is getting a few days ahead of myself.

Friday:

Went into town with dad and did some shopping and accompanied him when he got some new glasses. Earlier in the day, I helped Ma and Pa make many quarts of apple juice. I fell right into the rhythm of putting the slices into the cuisinart and pulping them, and then putting the pulp into the press. It seemed to go faster, though we did spend many hours making the good stuff. Many manys make light work I suppose.

At 7ish I departed for Tacoma to see Meghan for her birthday! I arrived early when she and her boyfriend had gone to grab some stuff for the party. She didn't anticipate people arriving on time (only three other people were on time like I was). Met a good amount of people whose names I've forgotten, but they were all really nice and easy to talk to. My trip now gives me so many frames of reference for places people are from and various things. I.e. "what exactly is Wall Drug?"

I saw a bit of the northern lights. It was just a few tendrils of green. Not totally epic, but not too shabby.

I got very congested by the smoke of the fire. It really made my eyes water and my nose run something awful. Meghan has loaned me a nice hankie, which I will hold as ransom till she comes and visits me at Pulali.

Saturday & Sunday:

I packed up my clothes, my technology, my girly soap, and all my other things. Mom and Dad drove off first in their Prius, and a little bit later I drove off in mine. I put some gas in the tank. Nice to not be filling up every day. My first unpacking wave will be the Santa Cruz stuff. That is a nicely paired down assortment of my stuff. Fewer clothes, fewer books, though a jumble of organization. Once I get that sorted, then I can work on the stuff that didn't make the Santa Cruz cut. More books, more clothes, more this and that.

Celia made a spicy lamb stew for dinner. It was good, though very hot to eat. I'm better with spicy though not that much better.

Linda and her friend Barbara joined us (and Celia of course) for breakfast. French toast, bacon, many juices, fruit, cheese. Lots of good stuff and conversation about Cape Verde, where Barbara was a Peace Corps leader.

In the afternoon, Ma and I got in kayakas, Celia in a row boat and Dad went trawling for fish. He didn't catch any, just puttered back and forth. Dinner was early and was several salads and meat discs (disc of meat? what was my quip again?) and Ma and I made a food run to stock my pantry for the near future. Then we three chilled out with books till it was time to go to bed.

Monday:

Ma and Pa departed early and I slept in a bit more. Then I got up, made a to do list, had a muffin and some tea, and got to to-doing it! Organized more clothes, set out the printer and scanner, folded laundry, organized towels, unpacked this and that, more unpacking, put my old work hoodies in a plastic bin, had pasta for a late lunch, hung a few pieces of art work...it's coming along. I have my Tetris shelves up, in a high vertical arrangement. I commandeered a little bit of a mostly unoccupied shelf for the initial books I've pulled out of storage.

Just gotta keep working on it, and keep an eye on my phone while I wait to hear about getting an interview. I think I'll write a new to do list with things undone from today on it, and some new things, and keep working at crossing off those things!

I need to make up a chart of regular house & estate chores. Like watering the garden every few days, doing this thing every day, this thing every week. It's a lot of responsibility!

out of Cali to Pulali

And once again I am several days behind because I've gotten lazy!

Job status:

Still unemployed, but I called to say "hey?" and they said they are still interviewing and they'll get back to me early next week.

Packing:

Dad and I got breakfast at 9ish in the hotel. I had the quick pancakes, tea, a cinnamon bun, an egg, and bacon. It was good we got a full rest in before the day and night and days efforts that would occur. We checked out, went to the Uhaul and got the 5x8, and got out of Target with snacks and string at 11:15ish. At the storage unit, the mattress was hauled into the trailer at 11:26am and five more trips up and down later, it was all in the van and trailer! There was room to spare, but it couldn't get too heavy and stuff was packed juuuust right. And at 1:15pmish we headed north to Pulali!

Driving:

Dad did all the driving up, as I'm not currently equipped to drive a towed thing. But I did my best to stay awake and keep him company and rotate out music and podcasts and conversation. I treated him to some snickers and In-N-Out, as it was his birthday! And he was spending it with me! And he even got to fix something when the bolt was rattled off the front passenger's side brake caliper. Just across the border it started humming and thankfully we were close to a rest stop, and the car was driveable and we didn't have to stop on the highway. Dad took the other bolt and moved it to the top, so that we couldn't properly brake in reverse but we could get to a place where we could get a replacement bolt. So good to have a mister fix it for a father, because that could have been damn bad! 9:20pm and a messed up brake? Miles from anywhere (well Ashland was the next city, still).

We drove on into the night and at 1am I made Dad pull into a rest stop for a nap. I used my alpaca as a pillow, like the good old days when I had a stuffed cat plush for a pillow.

I WONDER WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT CAT.

And we drove on into the sunrise and scooted around Portland and got McDonald's in Olympia and a new bolt for the caliper and got to Pulali in under 24 hours since leaving Santa Cruz. I unloaded my stuff into the garage, pulled a few shirts and jackets for Seabeck use, put some mugs into the main house, and made tea for Dad and I. All locked up, we went to Silverdale and dropped off the Uhaul then Poulsbo to check out some marine stuff and candy. Then back to Seabeck to see mom and get some tasty chicken soup!

And then an early to bed night for us weary travelers.

Wednesday:

Called to see about job status. Slept in. Took it easy. Mom and Dad ran some errands. What else happened? Uhhmmmn. Did I help with something? I feel like I helped with a chore or task or... I dunno.

Thursday:

Helped Dad check the brakes on my car. Took off the wheels, did the measurements, all was well. I torqued the nuts on the wheels myself getting them back on. Felt pretty good about my skills at that skill. It's good to know how to take off your cars tire. Lunch was sandwiches. I felt really tired in the middle of the day. Almost took a nap, but didn't. Picked up delicious Seabeck Pizza for dinner. Mom made smoothies in the fancy smoothie thingy that Nathan got them for Christmas.

I took the Meyrs-Briggs test, and I came up as an ESFP. I'm pretty happy with that analysis. So I'm an ESFP, Ravenclaw, Aquarius...and some other stuff.

the road down and the place is how it was

Sorry Mom! Haven't updated when I totally have been in the position to do so. All those months of irregularity have given me a bad blogging habit.

Job Application:

I drove to Chimacum and dropped off my job application. Chatted with the manager just a little bit and I should hear from them on Monday. If I get called in for an interview, that will put the Olympic Penninsula on par with the Bay Area in terms of "calling Trillian in for interviews".

Getting a going:

Dad & I packed up the van and departed NoonThirty on Friday. And all in all, it was a largely uneventful day of driving. No crashes, no near misses, nothing too bad. We hit traffic around Portland, but after that it was pretty smooth sailing. We got dinner in Eugene at the Oregon Electric Company, or some place. I had gnocchi and tea.

Taking over:

After Eugene, at the first rest stop, I took over for driving for about 4 hours. We got across the border. Dad dozed and snored. I listened to Bob Brozman and Beatles and all sorts. I play podcasts. Dad educates me on the classics. It's a long drive, but it's not long enough to get too repetitive with content. We caught some shut eye at a rest stop.

Mountain View:

San Francisco rose in the distance not as a skyline but as a wall of fog. We got to Mountain View at 9am. Nate, in his jammies just as I was, let us in. Showers we had. Snacks were consumed. Wifi was connected to. And damn I am so allergic to the kittens Nate & Helen are fostering! Cute kitties but I was oozing snot almost immediately. I took a claritin, and the kitties were dropped off to be fostered, and I eventually cleared up. We scoped out this winery as a potential place for a thing. It was a nice day, but everything in California just feels so dry.

After that, we got some food. We four went to this nice burger place where you select a patty and toppings and cheese and theres so many options! I went for beef, mozarella, grilled onions, carrots, tomatoes, with horseradish aioli spread. SO GOOD! And I finished it all. My appetite has changed to where I find myself finishing larger portions. I would think I would be eating less, what with my jaw issues (while hauling wood something popped in my jaw and the troubles I've been having since the Adirondacks have almost all gone away, it still feels a bit odd but I can eat again). Also having been on the road and random portion availability, it seems like I would be unable to eat large plates. Whatever the reason, I probably shouldn't eat as much as I can because I've gone all soft after four months of being on my butt. Hopefully Pulali provides me a workout! Dessert was deluxe smoothies. Mine was bright pink and very tasty! It had "pitaya" in it. After smoothie time, Nate dropped me off at Garth's. I didn't feel like sleeping on the floor, so I asked if I could crash at his. Plus it'll be nice for Nate and Dad to have some father son time. I met Garth's friend Adam, and we hung out watching stuff and playing video games and drinking beer. In the morning, Garth dropped me off at Nate's. They live about 15 minutes apart, so it's very convenient.

Santa Cruz:

I snacked at Nate's and then we packed up the van with Helen's floral arrangements for this auction, and we set off to deliver them. After dropping them off, we parted ways with Nate and Helen and drove to Santa Cruz. We cashed in points at the Holiday Inn Express that is just off Ocean Street. Katrina, the manager, was very nice. After scoping the room, we set off to get lunch. Zoccoli's of course. We got sandwiches and a prickly pear soda to split and Dad bought a Zoccoli's tee. Ten bucks is the right price for a Gildan single color left chest, single color back printed shirt.

From there we got a trailer and put it on hold, then Dad drove me over to Ryan's and dropped me off and I hung out for a few hours. We watched Bojack Horseman and I drank some iced coffee and just chatted and caught up and it was lovely. He took care of my Jade plants in my absence, and they both are alive and well! The big one is so vertical now. It was really leaning over. Dad picked me up again at 8. He said we went to the harbor and drove around and got some food. It was a good day to hang out in Santa Cruz, though he didn't go stand up paddling! But he saw people that did. I borrowed the car and drove over to the Newport house and saw Tara & Jeff. Mostly Tara, but Jeff for a little bit too. I had to reclaim my alpaca plushie. Caught up, talked, I told a few tales of the road. It was a nice mini visit. Not a big one because Tara works hard for the money and was getting tired and we have a long day ahead of us, so off I went back to the hotel.

So! Tomorrow we will get up, get food, go get the Uhaul, pack it up, and head on out and up and north once again! The uhaul is scheduled for a 10am pick up. Let's do this!

Oh also the moon was very beautiful tonight. The water was all sparkly in reflection.

wednesday tuesday

It's been just over a week since I got back. It feels much longer. I guess when you've been on the road for so long, a few days counts for more than it does when you are just working for the weekend. I don't think I've really digested all that I've done. When I have the time to really do the analysis of it all, then maybe it'll come into scope.

Anyway, today I got my food workers certification! 100% on the online test! Which was this weird flash animation thing that didn't feel all that formal, but hey I learned something! Now I can apply for a wider variety of jobs. Ma, Pa and I went into town. Car parts, Joy Teriyaki (they have removed the polaroids from the walls, sadly), Albertson's. We ate the teriyaki takeout in the park by the water. That hasn't changed.

At home I took the food handler's test, and then worked on my resume. It's at a passable place right now. Could use some tweaking, and as I apply to more jobs it'll be tweaked more. But it's good to have a resume! That's a nice thing to have in order before I go to Santa Cruz and gather my things.

We watched the So You Think You Can Dance finale, it was very sweet and charming and darling. Good for Ricky!

I'm currently watching these days: The Strain, Utopia (not the Fox show, the BBC one), and The Tunnel.

Tomorrow I'll go drop off my resume and stuff. That'll take some time.

my favorite rock

I've been having a lovely time sitting out watching hood canal and reading Me Before You on my Kindle. I sat on my favorite rock with a cuppa coffee that Celia made for me for a good hour at least! And I helped a bit with cleaning the garage. Swept down the cobwebs, vacuumed the stairs, mopped the floor. Celia went in to Chimacum and did the farmers market and food shopping. Celia made an amazing dinner of spaghetti with home made sauce, made from local tomatoes and other fresh local ingredients. SO GOOD! And the leftovers tonight were amazing. We had melted chocolate over ice cream. Celia is wonderful like that. Today I put seaweed from the wrack into buckets that mom spread over the garden beds, and they all taught me to hunt for mushrooms and I found several beautiful chanterelles. Nothing to compared with Mom and Dad's haul, but they are pros. But yeah, it's nice out here. Looking forward to moving in and finding a job and being here. It's quiet, it's peaceful. Yes it is a bit out of the way, but then hopefully that'll incentivise me to get out there and do stuff!

Plaid is back in my wardrobe in a big way.

miss fisher and friends

I’m at Pulali Point for the weekend. I’ve put some things away in the drawers and bathroom cabinets. I have books to unpack here and there. I wonder how long it’ll take me to get settled when I get my stuff from Santa Cruz. Books, clothes, art, things, this, that. It’ll be good to have someone living here.

Didn’t take all my stuff from Seabeck. I’m not soloing it here just yet. Sounds like there are job prospects here and there. Hopefully it won’t take me so long to get a job. I like working and I like money to buy things.

Maybe Celia and I can start some bee hives!

I unpacked and had two bowls of tasty chowder for lunch. And salad and burger and s’mores for dinner. Celia came over and brought ice cream. Now Ma, Pa and Auntie are watching Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. I’m working on my first blog at Grandma and Grandpa’s desk. I’m not sure where my main studio space will be. I guess this area will be my dry sketching computer space and the garage will be the larger space for my skuzzy desk and chair. I want my books to be in a place where they will stand all pretty and not get musty and mildew. I wonder how this place will be to me as I’ll be living here.

It’s so gorgeous.

chowdeeehh

Yesterday:

Slept in and when I woke, Ma & Pa were gone on shopping errands. So I moped about in my pajamas till they came home. I made myself breakfast, but there was a second breakfast of poached egg on toast with melted cheese! Yay! In the afternoon we ran some rope buying errands. I got a replacement rope for my bag. It frayed and snapped at Yellowstone. The new rope is slick yacht rope, and not my bag opens and closed much better! I saw the new sailboat, the Elendil. Very cute. I'm looking forward to sailing on it. We saw Guardians of the Galaxy. Enjoyable a second time around, and a first time for Mum and Dad. At home we ate leftovers and relaxed. Already my entries are much shorter than they have been.

Today:

Met Karen for sushi in Bremerton! Sushi and gyoza and a side of rice and catching up. Mostly catching up on my end. We need to meet for lunch again and have more discourse. We barely scraped the surface. But now I'm back here, so it shall happen. I picked up some chocolate at Amy's Decadent Chocolate and returned home. I helped stack firewood with Dad. Dinner was chowder and oh Mom makes great chowder! Then we all sat about and read and did computer stuff. I've been watching telly. Catching up on this and that.

Need to go have some adventures because dang, two days and two paragraphs! But I've mellowed at home for a while before. Moving to Pulali will be a new thing. Did I mention that? I'm moving into the Pulali house and I'll be looking for work over yonder.

back in the 'Beck

I need to get back int he daily blogging habit, now that I have regular access to wifi! Wifi, a bath, a bed, food. All that good stuff. I am in Seabeck, Washington for the next few days. Then I pack up and go to Pulali and drop my things off there, and then I go down to Santa Cruz, get my stuff, and come up and settle in and then I go and find a job so I can buy things! And pay bills!

My parents were camping at Takhlakh Lake near Mt. Adams in Washington and I set out on the 25th to meet them. I went up I5 then over onto 90 and then 23, and boy were the roads bad! Just miles of dirt washboard. Way worse than Theodore Roosevelt NP. Come on! My poor car, it has been through so much and right here at the end, this? But I got to the campsite and was greeted with much enthusiasm. We had ribs for dinner and cocoa and did a bit of kayaking on the lake and there was an osprey.

I set up my tent and slept in there, instead of in my parent's motorhome. A nice conclusion to the trip. One final use before it gets put away for a little while. It has served me well, if only I could have pitched it more often. I was woken up on the 26th to a plate of bacon coming through my tent flap. Mom knows me so well! I got up for pancakes, and we took a little stroll to the lava flow and meadow. Up on the flow was a gorgeous view of the areas and the mountains. Glad to be back in Washington.

I was first to depart. Got some gas and the gas station had cheerwine! Booyah! Gas and snacks and away I went. Not many hours of driving to do. Got a speeding ticket. 66 in a 55. I was unsure what the speed was and was keeping pace with the rest and I got nabbed out of the lot. I think I'll ask for a court date. I have the time to show up whenever and argue it down. Clean record, first infraction, and I thought it was 65. 48 states and I get the ticket in Washington! Bah! Oh well.

So I5, then 101, then 3? I suppose. Allyn towards Bremerton then into Seabeck and home. Did laundry. Unpacked. We ate dinner and went to bed.

Today, the 27th, I gave my car a lengthy car wash. I worked hard to scrape the bug splat off. It was really securely on there. But oh on a whole my car looks so much better! And it will be tops once I can empty it out and give it another vacuum. It's not many miles from a quarter million now. I helped Dad with the electrics of the van. He said that if he took a trip like mine, he'd be sleeping for three days.

Dinner was clams and garlic bread with garlic butter popcorn for dessert. We watched the So You Think You Can Dance finale and oh they are all such precious darlings. I wish they could all win! Such great talent.

Oh I also went into town with mom for groceries.

So a few more relaxing days in Seabeck. And by relaxing I'll be helping out around the house and with getting the van ready to tow a Uhaul up from Santa Cruz.

PDX

I'm at Serenity's. It is Monday afternoon. I'll soon start packing up to head off to meet Mom and Dad in Washington for some camping, and then that will be that. This trip is coming to its close. And it is closing in a great way. These past few days in Portland have been wonderful. I met Trillian V.G. for brunch at City State Diner for brunch. I had french toast. We talked Trillian things and art and similarities and puns and other things. We had a brewski at Beulahland and arrived right as some sort of sports was finishing up. There were sketchbook drawings and a photobooth photo was taken to commemorate the event of the first Trillian Summit.

I met up with Mel and we roamed this vintage store, then we went to her place and I met her dog Rita. We went over to the west side and got Sushi Ichiban, which is the sushi that arrives on train and you pay by the plate. We played tic tac toe with someone else by putting the game on the train as it went about and they would pick it up and make a move and put it on the train and it would make the loop around all the tables. Very fun! Powell's remodeled the front, so I got to check that out. It's much more shiny and ... well shiny. I oogled the books but did not buy any. Mel got some great deals on books of various collections. We headed back to hers and hung out there for the rest of the evening. Had brewskis. Tabitha came over. I met Alain, Mel's boyfriend. We all watched Drunk History. I returned to Serenity's late, but that was okay because I met Toon (my first roommate) at 1pm for brunch the next day so staying up didn't affect my timing all that much. Toon and I caught up over more diner food, which is the best food let's be real. Then we watched Drunk History and I saw Ibanez, who has gotten a bit paunchy over the years. She showed me the light show backdrops she has been working on.

At 5 I met Chris at Roadside Attraction. Chris moved out of my Newport house in Santa Cruz when I was moving in, and we've stayed in touch because he is a cool dude. It was an open hang out invite, but he was the only one who hung out. And he was invited along to a pasta dinner at Serenity's. Jessica, Wintry, Serenity, Turner, Me, Chris. Good bunch of people. We watched Little Shop of Horrors because it is the best movie.

I'm currently a bit on call to maybe give a life to Morgaine to take her dog to the vet. I met BT for coffee at Courier Coffee. Put gas in my car. Well didn't put gas in my car because you can't pump your own in Oregon. Someone else put the gas in my car, and he liked my ice cream sandwich sticker.

So soon I'll be heading out and up and over into Washington and this chapter is wrapping up.

the good times in the ever changing city

8/18/2014 3:30pm a rest stop on i15 Montana

I swung through Butte and saw BT’s show (BT and Tina’s show). I had to sneak into the gallery a little bit, but Tina arrived and turned on the lights. Sneaking meaning I went in through a back door (the gallery is in a sort of mall space, but not really, but there are other shops in the building and a back hallway opens into the gallery). Anyway, I wasn’t nagged for being there early than opening. The show was lovely! I’ve always dug BT’s type and design. That’s why I commissioned a wall mounted bottle opener from him. I gave him the type I wanted spelled out and said “do whatever, I trust you!”. I can’t wait to hang it back up in a more permanent spot (i.e. Pulali Point).

I left Butte at around 1pm and filled up my tank and got one of those .99 cent Arizona iced teas and ice for my cooler and some Sriracha flavored sunflower seeds. I’ve driven for a few hours, though I’m in no hurry, so I think I’ll hang at this rest stop for a bit. My phone continues to have trouble charging in the car adapter (did I mention it was doing that?) so I’m getting it to 100% here. Same with my mp3 player. Oh, I fixed my L key. I just pried it up and removed the dust blockage and popped it back in. This rest stop has a weather report going on loop, but now I’ve heard it so many times that I’m unsure if the weather is actually going to be good or bad. Rain showers likely. Lows 45 to 50. Chance of precipitation 50%. I should find out what the weather will be like before I camp in Glacier. I’d really like to camp, but again: getting rained out of my tent will suck.

Looking at the map, I’ll enter Idaho through Missoula and… pretty much go right across it into Oregon. I’ll probably just drive on. I’ve been to Idaho before so I don’t really have any intrigue to do something within that state. I just wanna get to Portland and see my pals.

8/20/20143:51 pm a rest stop on i90 nearing the Idaho border in Montana

I am on my way to Portland Oregon! I have many more hours of driving to do, but I have a place to crash so it’s all good. I’m taking some time to charge my phone because it continues to be weird about charging while I’m driving. This rest stop has a large amount of outlets. The previous one had zero that worked.

Sherri and Scott told me to say hi to Kelsey if I saw her in Glacier National Park. She is a seasonal ranger there, and lo and behold she was the one giving the ranger talk that I saw! So I said hi and marveled at how wonderfully small the world can be sometimes.

I departed my lovely little rest stop at 7amish. Filled up my tank and got some tea and then headed west to Glacier National Park! I came in the St. Mary entrance, got my junior ranger booklet and map and hike ideas and set off the make the most out of my day.

Right off the bat: I was correct to forgo camping because the weather was no good. Thunder erupted in the afternoon, and rain & hail came down as I was getting sworn in as a Junior Ranger. And it rained occasionally through the day after that, and when I was heading to Kalispell in the evening, thunder and lightning was seen on my right in the park all through the drive (I took 89 then 49 then 2 when I left, so that I went around the bottom of the park and not through it). It really is a park you could spend a week in, doing all the different hikes. Lots of nice long hikes. I did the St Mary and Virginia Falls hike, and met a nice guy named Daniel who did a through hike of the Appalachian Trail a few years back. We talked National Parks and travel and doing something big when you come up against a wall in your life. Nice fella. I met another nice fella earlier today. I should really go to parks more often to pick up dudes.

Anyway, Glacier! Absolutely beautiful. I loved how the Rockies rose in the distance and continued to dominate every view. Sad to think how the glaciers will be gone by 2030. That feels so soon in my life time. I drove all the way down to Apgar and back up to St Mary and up to Many Glacier for the sunset. There was road construction, so it was two hours to do the ~60 miles of the Going-To-The-Sun road. I got my St Mary stamp first, then cruised down and past Logan Pass and stopped for some photo ops, and went more and more down and down and down into the valley. At Apgar I got another stamp and saw the wildlife Ranger program and got my book signed by Kelsey and learned that deer eat 5.5 pounds of greenery a day! That’s a lot of salad. This was a relatively easy Junior Guide book to fill out. Theodore Roosevelt really made me work for it, with drawings and hike descriptions. I got my badge, and a sticker, and my feet got absolutely soaked by the rain (I tried to avoid it, but the water was a couple inches around my car!). I put on my flats that I’m so going to throw out once this trip is done because they smell and are worn mostly out. They were cheap to begin with, so I’m not surprised they haven’t survived the torture I put my shoes through.

I drove slowly back up and stopped often for pictures. Logan Pass was full of people avoiding the rain. I got my WPA postcards and the Logan Pass stamp. If you don’t know what stamps I’m talking about, I mean the National Park Passport Cancellation Stamps. The dated thing you put in your NP Passport, if you have one. I don’t, I just put them in my travel journal.

From Logan Pass I did the waterfall hike. No bears were seen, but I made sure to jingle jangle my keys as I walked due to the bear warnings that are everywhere in the park. That is where I met Daniel and since we were walking back at the same pace, we struck up a conversation.

The lodge up in Many Glacier is nice. Has a great view of the water and mountains. I got a hot dog and a ginger beer and sat in one of the lounges while the sun left the sky, then I drove on for two and a bit hours. Very miserable hours of driving. It was dark, but that absorbing dark. Not the clear starry skies that were above me when I left Yellowstone for Bozeman. I drove a few hours that night, but they were not bad at all, but this time! And the weather was spotty and the roads varied in condition. All in all, not a fun night drive. But I got to my precious Walmart parking lot in Kalispell, Montana, and slept pretty well, and all the way in to 10! I normally don’t sleep that much in my car. I filled my tank in Kalispell and drove south on 93 to Missoula, then got onto i90 heading west. I stopped at this small used bookstore I saw a billboard for and it was one of the best used bookstores I’ve been on during this trip.

Hypothesis: small town used bookstores will have better browsing selections because they haven’t been picked over like the larger second hand bookstores, which have to also cater to people who buy new books.

At this book store I found two Winslow Homer artbooks for 6 bucks a pop. They are a bit dated, but he isn’t exactly contemporary. One was his woodcuts, the other was a book about him with black and white reproductions. Yes I got them. After frowning at $30-$50 Winslow Homer artbooks present at bigger stores, of course I did. I probably could have browsed more and found further treasures. The basement was a treasure trove of paperbacks, but I didn’t want to stay too long. So on I went clutching my precious books to my chest. Homer and Eakins are two artists that really came to my awareness on this trip, thanks in large part to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

At the previous rest stop I got some refreshments from the nice church people who volunteer to give people coffee and cookies. I’d like to see Atheists do the same thing. That’d be nice. So, onwards to Idaho and Washington and then down into Oregon and Portland!

8/22/2014 Serenity’s in Portland, Oregon

I have some major catching up to do! I got to Portland than I got to hanging out with people and I only just now got my computer hooked up to Serenity’s wifi. The absolute sweetheart has let me call her home my home for the next few nights. And even let me unpack some things into her space in the living room, so my car isn’t so burdened down/obvious target. How wonderful! I got in late to Portland on Wednesday night. 11:30ish and after some chatting got right to bed. In the morning BT picked me up and we went to Pine State Biscuits, where they had cheerwine! Hurray! I got the standard biscuits and gravy and we starting catching up. From there we went to Magnetic North, which is the studio space he and many others occupy in Portland. Wonderful space, it has several presses and lots of room and much art all over the place. No one else was there at that time, though Phil Bone swung by with his brother and dad. BT and I grabbed lunch at the nearby brewhouse and then went to walk Carnegie, BT’s dog. It was great to catch up and also to converse with someone who is also well travelled. And it is just nice to spend time with an old friend. I was returned to Serenity’s at around 6:30 and Heather and Daniel came over and saw the place and we four chatted, then Serenity stayed home and we three went over to Division and The Woodsman Tavern and got some fancy ham and cocktails. Division Street has seen lots of new building and restaurants and development. Money is just being thrown into Portland right now, and the rent is going up as well as many people getting booted from houses because the landlord wants to sell.

So I had a good wonderful evening with the amazing Heather and Daniel. I hope to host them at my place in the future so that they can be all hosted and pampered.

In the morning, I finished The Marriage Plot. Such a good book and an amazing ending! Can’t wait to loan it to Mom.

I met up with those two favorite hooligans for brunch at Zell’s. I got eggs benedict and it got all over my face and a bit on my skirt, which I washed out later at Madeline’s. Tasty food! I loaned them my copy of Lost for Words. I’ll get it back some day. BT loaned me his copy of How To Win Friends and Influence People, so I’ll need to get that back to HIM some day.

After brunch I went over to see Madeline and I hung out with her in the super way of old! Two years have passed, and we caught up and Jackson is taller, and she’s working as a supervisor at Macy’s and working on art and stuff. We watched several episodes of The Strain, which is a super gross show and also SUPER AWESOME! And we went for a walk and walked Pepper and chatted and talked some more and watched Halt and Catch Fire. A good mellow day with a great friend.

Tomorrow I meet the other Trillian and we shall see if the world collapses.

Grand Tetons & Yellowstone

8/14/2014 Chadron State Park, Nebraska

For the conclusion of last night’s thunderstorm…it missed us at the park! There were some light rain sprinkles but I was able to sleep comfortably in my tent! Actually I had to do some yoga before I could sleep comfortably because my back was twerked. Just some crocodile twists and plow position and my back was much better. Unfortunately the person camping next to me was an exceptionally loud snorer. Still, I got some sleep. Proper spread out sleep. I woke up early due to it being REALLY HOT in my tent. Packed up, had some bagel and shmear, showered, and now I’m at the Trading Post using their wifi. Haven’t organized my travel photos since Iowa, so I’m getting on that.

I’ll probably go find an oil change before I head out to Wyoming and Tibby.

8/15/2014 Riverton, Wyoming

I made it into and halfwayish across Wyoming! It was a good long drive, but wow was it ever scenic! Mountains in the distance rose and fell, the clouds were jagged and soft, and in the distance I could see the little spots where it was raining. I drove through those spots of rain and into sunshine. I saw lightning in the distance, then lightning up close, and then lightning in my rear view mirror. I drove past Douglas and Casper. I filled up my tank in Chadron before going west on 20, then north on 25, then onto 20 and then 26. Today I am much in need of an oil change. It will be the first thing that I do in Riverton. Oil change. Then find a post office and drop off letters. Tibby is letting me crash here an extra night, so I’m going to pop up to Thermopolis and check it out and come back down here in the evening.

Tibby and I took an animation class together. She was a semester behind me and I went to her Thesis proposal whilst I was defending that focus week. She works for the local newspaper as a photographer, and freelances, and is generally a badass. She treated me to dinner, which was awesome. I ordered the pear and gorgonzola salad, because helloooo vegetables!  She took me on a little driving tour of Riverton. Reminding me of Bremerton in scale and entertainment provisions. I drove through some towns that had single digit populations listed on their sign. Riverton is around 10k.

I’m wondering if I will be able to camp at the Tetons and Yellowstone, so I’m going to plan to arrive at both in morning times. i.e. drive all day, get close, sleep, get up early and go into the park then. That worked out well for Badlands. And I need to remember to keep an eye on the weather, because Chadron was a close call and driving through minor storms reminded me that hey, the weather is different out here.

8/16/2014 Riverton, Wyoming 8am

I’m leaving Riverton today for Tetons National Park! It’s the weekend and it’s a popular park so I’m planning on not being able to camp. I’ve had a few good nights of rest, so I should be good for a few nights in my car.

Yesterday I went to Walmart and got my oil changed, and my tires rotated, and new windshield wipers. I’ve been needing new wipers for a few states now (well more than a few states). No Jiffy Lube presented itself nearby, and I get free rotation on half my tires because I got them at Walmart. Anyway, that was more morning/midafternoon (took longer than I expected). Then I drove up to Thermopolis, where you can have a free 20 minute soak in this hot sulfur bath. So I did that. Very warm, very eggy smelling. I wandered around the two blocks of downtown and drove on back to Riverton. There is a nice section of the drive that goes through Wind River Canyon (Wind Canyon?). It is a winding road that goes down and through a canyon, which is true to its name: windy. The drivers were nuts! Passing dangerously, and going over the white line to peek ahead to see if it is passable. Thankfully there were many pull outs, so I was able to pull off the road and park for a bit to let people pass.

I mellowed out at Tibby’s (who was gone working) for the rest of the day. Washed a few things. Watched a movie. Generally relaxed. Nice to just kick back on a couch for a day with no requirements for further activities or driving or anything. But now it is the morning and I must hit the road once again! A pitstop is needed to replenish my cooler of ice and food, and then it is off to the National Parks of Wyoming! Then Montana! Then across Idaho and to Portland and then Washington and then I am done…

That came rather suddenly, but then again it is the 16^th of August. I have probably two more weeks of travel to do? Week and a half? But I’ll be back in Washington by the end of the month, so that is good on the timing front of things.

8/16/2014 8pm Signal Mountain, Grand Tetons National Park, Wyoming

Up at the overlook watching the sun set behind the Tetons. So beautiful. I am in the company of Sherry(Sherri?) and Scott up here. The sky is fading from blue to orange behind the peaks, which are soft grays with mottling of white. The mountains are very jagged and looming. A bit unreal considering how flat the rest of the landscape is. They just pop up in the horizon, and come more into focus. I wish I had a better camera so that I could capture the details. The little trees, the jagged rocks, just the beautiful faces of the range. Can’t wait to come back! Had a good full day today! I got into the park at around noonish. Got my visitors center stamps and postcards, then I drove down to Jenny Lake, ate, filled my water bottle, and hit the path! I did the half way around Jenny Lake walk to Inspiration Point. The walk was pretty flat with a few ups and downs. Inspiration Point was up some fairly steep switchbacks. You can take a shuttle boat across the lake if you want to skip the walk, but I didn’t want to fork over the cash so I just walked the wak. About 6 miles of hiking? At least 5. Took me four hours, though I spent some time sitting atop Inspiration Point hydrating and catching my breath and reading. A good solid hike. I passed a hiker who told me a moose was on the side of the trail, and there it was! Just sitting and munching. I told the next few hikers I passed to keep an eye out for the moose. I did a drive down to the bottom entrance, and then worked my way back up as the sun was going down. I took plenty of pictures, and went up to Signal Mountain The summit faced away from the Tetons, but a point down a ways faces toward it. I struck up a conversation with the others up here, all waiting for the sunset.

I could have camped here, but I opted not. A bit too expensive. Easier to drive to the nearest Walmart. Then I’ll get an early start on Yellowstone!

I wish I had more to say about Tetons. Looking forward to visiting it again!

7/17/2014 6pm Mammoth Springs Visitors Center, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

A wonderful thing happened! As we were saying our goodbyes, Sherri offered up the spare twin bed at their Tetons rental cabin for me to sleep in! I accepted their offer and I had a nice rest in cozy National Park comfort, instead of hours of driving out and sleeping in my car discomfort. What wonderful people Sherri and Scott are! Thank you so much, if you are reading this! I hope you have fun in the San Juan Islands.

And thus I was enabled to roll into Yellowstone early in the day. I came up the south entrance and found out Old Faithful was going to blow next at 10:30 and it was 9:50 when I was in the Grant Village VC. So I drove on to Old Faithful, and I don’t know if it was exactly 10:30 but it was blowing as I was walking up to it. The next scheduled eruption was noon. I hung around the VC, filled my water bottle, got my WPA postcards, and got a chocolate milkshake. By this point time had went by pretty fast, so I grabbed a spot for the noon eruption, which after many false starts blew at 12:13. Pretty great to have the reaction of the many MANY visitors when the little burps of water come up, but not the whole shebang, and finally the satisfaction of the whole thing. Pretty snazzy!

I did the shorter geyser loop, and returned to my car. Onwards towards Madison. I went to the Grand Prismatic Spring, which was indeed grand and colorful. I parked outside of the parking lot and walked in. I do not like the crowds, not one bit! I like to hike and see nature, not crawl through lots looking for the first spot available and then deal with the throngs at the scenic vistas. It’s well visited for a reason, but dang did I enjoy my time at Theodore Roosevelt more largely due to the lack of crowds. This National Park really needs a proper shuttle system.

Anyway, I drove on up to Norris, where there was no parking so I continued east to Canyon Village, where I loitered at Artist Point and checked out the canyon and falls. It continued to be lovely but the hustle and bustle blocked me from really being able to relax. I’ve been feeling antsy all day, like I can’t wait to be done with the park instead of sitting back and enjoying it. Tetons, despite crowds, somehow thinned them out in a more palatable way. Same for Zion.

From Canyon I went north and then west and here I am at Mammoth Springs. It was a glorious drive, and some of my fuel economy has recovered on the way down. I’m going to do some late afternoon hiking around the springs, and then I’ll be heading North into Montana towards some sort of something. I’m seeing more and more Washington license plates every day.

Shout out once again to Sherri and Scott.

8/17/2014 9:24pm an overlook in Yellowstone

After wandering around the many boardwalks around the springs, I found my way to an overlook to watch the sun go down, now I’m waiting for the stars to fully come out. The L key on my keyboard is taking more effort to use than it should. There is a line of cars. The road between Norris and Mammoth is under construction, so I’m guessing these cars were behind a slow/stop person, and they were allowed to proceed.

I made a wish on the first star I saw. The first star that wasn’t actually a satellite.

8/18/2014 8:30am a McDonalds in Bozeman, Montana

The Walmart I slept in was the most populated one yet. There were several clusters of the now very obvious to me campers and over night sleepers. I pulled in across from a truck and near a medium sized motorhome and a truck towing a trailer. Safety in numbers! My phone is having issues charging from my a/c adapter in my car. Really annoying when one is relying so much on their phone, but I knew how to get to Bozeman (really easy, just north on 89 out of Yellowstone then west on 90 when one gets to Livingstone). And I just kept an eye out for the Walmart sign and there it is. So now it is charging and I’m starting the day with 3$ of junk food. I need ice for my cooler. So after I do the internet rounds, I’ll fill up my tank and get some ice and then Butte to see BT’s show, and then upwards towards Glacier National Park. I’m planning on today being a driving day, so that I can pop into Glacier early instead of late. So I’ll be going scenic and slow. Bummer I won’t be hanging with BT himself in Butte, but plans change and one must change with them. I’ll see him when I get to Portand.

Badlands and Storm Warnings

8/11/2014 an i90 rest stop near Wall, South Dakota

Getting a jump on this entry even though I haven’t gone far since the last one. Drove down to Hot Springs then across to 79 and up. There was some nice mottling happening to the landscape as the sun set, and the moon rose fat and red into the dark blue horizon. At first I wasn’t even sure if it was the moon, due to not watching it rise so suddenly ever before as far as I remember.

Had a nice conversation with Mom and Dad and sorted out the final details of this trip. It’s just going to be National Parks and driving from here out, with a stop in Portland to see the old familiars. Three weeks to go, which gives 11 days to get to Santa Cruz to retrieve my stuff from storage.

8/12/2014 an i90 rest stop not at all near Wall, South Dakota but also very far from Sioux Falls

I had a very fun an enjoyable day at Badlands National Park! I arrived and the campground had a sign that said full, and I was bummed to not be able to stay, but camping was also more expensive than I anticipated so I wasn’t too bummed. Later on the sign indicating fullness was removed (I guess once people had checked out) but my mind had already recalibrated to enjoying the most out of the day I had and continuing on in the evening, so that I didn’t feel like occupying a site. I got my stamps at the visitor’s center, as well as postcards. I watched the video talking about wind and erosion. Badlands is eroding at an inch a year, and it is an oddity in terms of National Parks because it allows visitors to roam wherever they want, over rocks and through grass. There are lots of great areas where you can hike up and around the formations. There are also apparently tons of fossils to be found. I didn’t find any.

The scenic overlooks provide many different points of view of the park, instead of the same view just slightly down one way. There was a surprising amount of green stretching through the park, among the pale rocks. I saw big horn sheep…or were they prong horns? Or deer? Something on my evening drive through the park. I saw the fossil talk, and then hiked the Door hike, which was a stretch of boardwalk and then you make your own path from marker to marker across the rocks. 9 markers in total. The Window hike was just a boardwalk to a nice vista and I talked to Max and Lauren (Laura?) who were very seasoned travelers, and they had their lovely 15 month old daughter Razlin (pronounced raz-lynn, not sure how it is spelled) with them. She walked the walk on her own. They are headed to the same parks I am headed to, so maybe I’ll see them again! Notch was awesome. All three trail heads came from the same parking lot. I devotedly brought and drank water on all of these hikes. Notch goes through the canyons and then up a huge semi-difficult ladder (though younger kids managed it) ontop of the formations, and then along the cliff side to a wonderful vista. I sat there in the shadow, holding onto my bookmark against the breeze, and read for a while. My legs seem to have gotten a good amount of sun today, and I’m trying to remember if my arm hairs have always been blonde or if they have been bleached by the sun. My face is slightly pink in places, but not burned. I have too good of a base tan going on right now to burn, unless I really worked at it.

The visitor’s center’s water fountain has a part built into it for refilling water bottles (more flow than the sipping part of the fountain) and it has a “how many plastic bottles have been saved from you refilling here” counter. This was also present at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I kept my bottles filled. Hydration is important! There were many people on the trails that lacked apparent water bottles. I get that they are heavy to lug around, but they are very important things to have! I did one final scenic drive and got pictures of the sunset from Bigfoot Picnic Viewpoint Area Place, where I ate lunch earlier in the day (a lunch of Subway I bought when leaving Wall, viva the 5 dollar footlong!) and worked on my postcards. Gorgeous sunset.

I caught the ranger program, which was general knowledge of the plants and animals. The highlight was the star tour! A different ranger had a high powered flashlight and was able to point out different constellations, which were very visibly in the post-sunset pre-moonrise sky. Gorgeous starry sky, especially with the dark outlines of the rock formations. There was a telescope set to Saturn, so I got to see the rings through that! Also I saw the International Space Station whizz by. I overheard a mom telling her kid to go look at Saturn and the kid whined “but I’m not into planets”. She threatened to revoke technology from him for the next day, so he in a huff went to go look through the telescope and see Saturn and her rings. Overheard at National Parks would be a good book/blog/twitter.

Hiking, lunch, water, OH! Wall Drug! I started the day by going to Wall Drug. I picked up the (actually free) bumpersticker for Carmen to replace one that was lost. I also got a few postcards and souvenirs from the clearance section. A mug and a little something something. I like postcards. I like mailing them to people and thinking who to send what design to. I have a stack to drop in a mailbox, which I will probably do in Nebraska. Wall Drug is a little compound of stores, which combines tourist shlock and local craft and some higher end stuff. A nice little oasis of things on an otherwise pretty unremarkable highway.

So now I’m on to Nebraska! I really need a shower. Maybe I’ll call campgrounds in Nebraska and the first one to say they have shower facilities is getting my patronage.

8/13/2014 Chadron State Park, Nebraska

This park is DECKED OUT! It has a pool, which costs extra, showers, a crafts center, cabins. Tons of stuff. It’s like a mini resort in Nebraska. There is a thunderstorm warning, and it is supposed to start pouring around 6. I didn’t take the stuff out of my tent, just piled it in the center as usually when it rains it is the seeping of the sides that fills the tent around the edges, so stuff in the middle is fineish. I just really hope it doesn’t rain. I think the thing that aggravates me the most on this trip is being rained out of a camping spot. But for the time being, I’m glad to not be driving and I’m happy to being full showered. My feet get it the worst from not bathing, .then my hair gets gross. The rest is easy enough to tidy up.

So I woke up at my rest stop and drove east on 90, filled up my tank where I turned south on 85 and in retrospect it probably would have been quicker to go to the park and backtrack south to Carhenge, instead of going allllll the way south to 2 and then over on 2 to Alliance. It was a pretty big down and over…but I did get to see a lot of Nebraska. The rolling hills, the road construction, the fields and fields, the road construction…it was blue skies and hot.

Now it is gray skies and still hot. I got to Chadron State Park, got my tent site, which was primitive, which just means no electricity and there were not clear lines of which tent site was wear. I dig a park that has cheaper tent camping. I showered half way (no shampoo) and went to find out the pool cost extra, so I showered all the way (yes shampoo) and now I’m at the “Trading Post”. I may quickly go back to my site and remove all my camping gear from inside my tent, and come back here.

Stay tuned!

take me back to Teddy

8/10/2014 a rest stop on i90 between Sturgis and that place that is east of Sturgis

                                                                                                                      

I got my second Junior Ranger badge, and third total at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Honestly that park is going to be one of my topsies, it is really pretty! It is flatter than the Utah parks, but it has some nice buttes and the grasslands just do that iconic thing of being pretty and wafting in the wind. The sunsets are nice because the buttes catch the light in just such a way. The skies could twinkle a little more; they don’t have the clarity that was present in the Adirondacks or by Big Sur on the ocean. Those have been the top skies thus far. I spent two wonderful nights at TRNP, and considered staying a third but decided the road must go on.

Currently I am going to car sleep nearish Mt Rushmore, so I can knock it off in the morning and then go to Wind Cave NP. It doesn’t look like there is camping in the park, so I’ll probably head East after that towards Badlands, depending on timing. I’m right now in a sort of cluster of things to do. I wish I could sleep at this rest stop but it seems to be one of the “no sleepy overs” ones, but I’m sure there is a Walmart nearby. I’m near a big enough city. I’m just going to sit at this rest stop a while, do some computer things and charge the devices and load up the MP3 player. I get three hours here, I’m going to use them! Plus driving while the sun is setting is no fun at all.

So, Theodore Roosevelt National Park. There is a North Unit and a South Unit. North Unit is 52 miles North on 85 from iwhateverIwason. I drove up there on my second day, which was a nice little drive, and did the drive. A ranger had a telescope set up and he showed the visitors the deer through it, so that was cool to see. There was lightning in the distance and a thunderstorm/scattered showers warning, but wonderfully it only barely rained for 5 minutes in the evening! Still on the second day I had unloaded everything from my tent just in case it rained while I was gone. I’ve learned me a thing or two! The North Unit was a bit, well, absent. Not much going on, but it is a pretty isolated park. But it didn’t have the road construction that was going on at South Unit. Dirt washboard as dad put it. I went slow, to the annoyance of other drivers, and my car is riding fine. Doesn’t seem mad at me, though it does seem like it wants a wash. I got in early (sorry this write up is happening after the fact so it is rather disjointed) on the first day, so I got almost three whole days at the park, plus a bit of a fourth as I was leaving. I got my site first, it was in the walk in tent section, but my spot just had about 15 feet from where my car was parked to my tent area. I opted for walk in not because of availability, but just because I have a smaller car and less stuff, so I figured I’d leave a place for someone with more stuff. Got the tent up and I went to do the scenic loop around the park.

I had my fingers crossed that I would be able to see a Prairie Dog, but dang did I see many more than one! The loop went through several towns, and they were all over the place making little meep meep meep squeaky noises. Cute little creatures, though at the second ranger talk I attended I found out they cannibalize each other’s young! Aggh! Grotesque! I still bought a plushie, to go with the bison from my 2011 Utah trip and the turtle from 2013 Hawaii. I’ve been waiting to see which plushie I get on this trip and it was a prairie dog! Speaking of bison, the first time I got held up in traffic, there was one walking in the lane towards me, with a line of cars being it. I slowed to a stop till it passed me, and continued on. Closest I’ve ever been to one! It gave me some side eye, but I think every eye a bison gives is from the side. The second time a herd was crossing the road. The first night, there was some heavy huffing in the fields by the campground, and me and my campsite neighbors (Jeff, Michael, Bennet, and amazingly: Aunt Lisa and Niece Brynn, for realsies) shown our flashlights out and there were bison in the fields! Pretty far away, but they sure were there! On the last day, I took a little hike but didn’t feel like continuing the hike due to having to wade across the Little Missouri River, but it’s all good because there was a herd of bison across the river just chilling. So many bison! And I saw several wild horses. One walked in the middle of the road, seemingly oblivious to the cars it was holding up. The animals out here both don’t care about humans, but also don’t get close to them. It’s a good combo for wanting to see animals, but not wanting to be threatened by them.

I slept in the first morning, but woke pretty early the second. I changed and then lay in my tent reading for a few hours, before finally packing things up. I’m currently reading The Marriage Plot, and I am loving it! I’m already well past half way, and looking forward to what happens in the end. I’m not sure what I want to happen, I just want to spend more time with the characters.

I got the Junior Ranger pamphlet from the ranger at the Painted Canyon visitor’s center. Her last name was Zylland, and when I commented on never hearing that last name before she said that she and her husband combined their last names when they got married. At the main visitors center I met the other Zylland. The latter Zylland was the ranger who gave the dangerous animals talk, at which I learned about the cannibalism of prairie dogs.

The Junior Ranger book was tough! Lots of activities and very specific things to think about and find, information wise, but I completed it! Ranger Amanda Allen (two first names, another ranger told me not to trust people with two first names but Amanda Allen struck me as very kind and trust worthy AND she was a Hitchhiker’s Guide fan) swore me in with enthusiasm, and I got a round of applause. This ranger badge has a prairie dog on it, not the standard National Park crest.

The hikes at the park unfortunately are a lot of one ways. I prefer loops. I did the Coal Vein Burning Coal Thingy trail and the Wind Canyon trail and a bit of a few others. Very nice views. I drew one of the views for the booklet, and Amanda Allen photocopied it. OKAY SO I HAVE A CRUSH ON AMANDA ALLEN! SHE WAS REALLY NICE! And she did the tour of the Maltese Cabin that Roosevelt lived in. The first night, the ranger talk was actually from a Lacotah man who spoke about the Sibley Campaign and the massacre that followed, as well as about oral traditions, stories, and what the actual local tribes are called.

The best part was just sitting in nature, out in the fields, with a good book and a bottle full of water, and just…being there. Doing nothing much beyond being somewhere very far out, content. That’s really what it is all about. I love this middle of nowhere parks that have great vistas and silence and warmth, and I can just relax so well. Big Bend, Zion, Theodore Roosevelt, Acadia. Well, Acadia was more populous but again I just sort of sat out and enjoyed being there. I’m looking forward to more of this. Driving and driving, setting up my tent, and just that being it. It’ll be a nice way to round out this trip, after seemingly many weeks of driving and activities and doing this and that.

On the way down from the park, along the very straight Highway 85, I went off to see the “Center of the Nation” which is a pile of rocks and a sign that could be painted way better. One of those things you go a little bit (7.8 miles) out of your way to visit because when are you ever going to be on Highway 85 in South Dakota between Buffalo and Sturgis again? I think about that from time to time: when am I going to be here again? Cities are easy enough to fly into, so I don’t mind passing them up, but Theodore Roosevelt National Park? I almost didn’t drive up to the North Unit, but I reasoned it’ll be a while before I’m out here again so I should go and I’m glad that I did.

I dislike the times when I’m waiting till it is late enough for me to doze off to sleep. The few hours to kill till I know I can curl up across my front seas. Timing is sometimes hard to manage like that. I had perfect timing for North Dakota. I’m glad I did that much night driving. I saw Salem Sue, the largest Holstein cow, which is put on a hill overlooking just… what there is to overlook. It was great to look upon the land at night, with the little lights scattered across the nothing. And I could drive slower than the 75 that was asked of me (that just kills my gas mileage) and not fuss with other cars. I slept at a Walmart that was a short drive from the park, and because I crossed into Mountain Time, I arrived even earlier. I’m still adjusting to the new time. It’s good for it to be earlier in the morning, but not in the evening.

Hope all is well with you, sorry this is so late in coming. Wifi has been scarce.

8/11/2014 Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota

I come out of a cave and find out Robin Williams has died. That is just tragic. Depression is a real struggle. I don’t know what to feel.

So uhh… Wind Cave National Park was nice! I decided to go for the tour, and it was really fun! An hour and a bit through caves with box formations, 85% of the world’s type of this formation is found in these caves. How neat! I chatted with Nathan, a guy who is photographing National Parks, and Lillie the tour guide. A nice bunch of people. I’m currently using their wifi as it seems like they won’t close for a while. I’m in the visitor’s center, not the cave, on the wifi. Would be fun if the cave was hooked up like that. The cement path through the cave was built by the CCC and it still holds good! I still say of the caves of this trip, Carlsbad Caverns are the best, but Wind Cave far surpasses Mammoth Caves. Sorry Kentucky!

I slept in my car and in the morning I got ice and cash back, using that cash I did my laundry. Clean shirts, clean socks, clean underwear, clean pillowcases! That should get me through the rest of the trip. Did I mention there was a big motorcycle rally? There are still bikers in the area, which adds a nice flavor to the tourism. Anyway, the laundromat was nice. I did the dated, working atmosphere of them. Got my clothes clean and I went to this bead shop Elnora recommended and picked up a bison tooth to turn into a necklace later on down the road. Then I went to Mount Rushmore!

Where my annual pass didn’t cover parking, but I paid it under the “when am I going to be here again?” clause. Mount Rushmore I am filing under: visit once but that’s really all. It’s a cool sculpture! And great monument to just America and its ideals and all that. And it was built by a Dane, so hurray for that. It seemed smaller in person, maybe because all the photos of it are so close up. I toured the museum and sculpture studio. I pressed a penny. It was very crowded, though not unbearable. Plenty of parking. Would so many people have annual passes that charging for parking is a better option than an entrance fee? Interesting loophole there, America. After two hours I was ready to scoot, so south I went to Wind Cave National Park. As I said I went on the tour. Tomorrow I want to cruise into Badlands National Park and secure some camping and then have fun in the park. The park called Badlands.

Two parks in one day! Whooo!

up as far as we can go, then down and around to those flat bad lands

8/7/2014 Woodenfrog State Forest Campground, Minnesota

There is a bird whose call sounds almost like the Mockingjay from Hunger Games. Almost, but not all the way there. I think I’ve heard some loons too. It’s nice up here on Kabetogama Lake, by Voyageurs National Park. The night is cool, the day is hot. There is a breeze rustling different parts of the woods. I sat out on a rock and watched the sunset, and studied the ripples of the water as they crossed one another; combining into a supple grid of parallel lines under and on top of each other.

After two nights of car sleeping, it was good to stretch out in my tent. And the camping was onlt $14! With no out of state fees or day camping fee. It’s been many states since it was that cheap. Michigan almost got there, but the day camping fee brought it up.

Today I’m going to take a hike or two in Voyageurs by the lakeside. Most of the park is only accessibly by boat, but it’s still lovely to look at. Then I’ll see if I feel like driving to Bemidji or cutting due south and doing some more camping and then Bemidji tomorrow. There isn’t anything of much interest for me in Bemidji, except for a few photo ops. But it’s sort of my “once I’m here, I’m going to North Dakota next” point of reference. North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska. I have to drive over the majority of one of them and it is going to be North Dakota, because their National Park is way on the west side of the state. Right now I am cross referencing the going ons in South Dakota, to see where those various places are.

And having just done that, it looks like the monument of American Manifest Destiny that is Corn Palace is getting the axe. Mt Rushmore, Wall Drug, Badlands NP, and Wind Cave NP are all in relatively the same area of South Dakota, but Corn Palace is too far over to detour. So yes, driving over North Dakota, down into South Dakota for some of those sweet, sweet National Parks, and then Nebraska for… Carhenge. Then it is Wyoming time! I’ll get to Yellowstone and Grand Teton on the way out into Montana…but there is also Rocky Mountain NP in Colorado….it’s just a little bit south. I’ll see how I feel when I get to Nebraska, but I’ve at least resolved the Dakota Descent.

So, The House on the Rock was surreal, amazing, eclectic, overwhelming, and beyond any expectation. The rooms didn’t seem like they ought to be so big, because the structure itself doesn’t seem that big, but then again I never really got a good look at the building. Going up into the mountains, it’s all obscured by hills and trees, and you enter from the top and go down these walkways. There is never a moment of standing below something huge and approaching it. I paid to visit all three sections. If I had to pick a section after visiting all three, I would say the second is the one to put money on. The first one is the house, which is lovely. It is low ceilinged, with plenty of Tiffany lamps and retro and antique styling. It’s a little bit of a maze, but that just adds to the intrigue. It’s dark and warm and not practical, which is why it is so great. The second section is the automatons and the nautical exhibit and the street of yesterday. I wish I had more tokens for the automatons. If you hung around long enough, someone else was sure to put in tokens to activate it. The tokens cost money, not much, and it is smart to have it set up that way because if it was “push a button to activate” then everything would be playing at once and it would be such a cacophony. As it was, you would hear a player piano one room over, or a large music box tinkling away in the corner for a minute. I spent my tokens on a music box, a clown that called me a sour puss, a fortune reader (which gave me a very on point fortune), the Red Room which played the sugar plum waltz, I think, another orchestra automaton, and a magician automaton. I think the Red Room was my favorite, but oh if I could have listened to The Mikado or The Blue Danube. The Street of Tomorrow had jugs and drums. Automaton being an automated contraption. Some were little tricks, some were full orchestras with violins and drums and pianos. They were themed and stuffed with decorations, and lit to spur the imagination but not for clarity. Few exhibits and collections were labeled, which added to the mystery of the object, but it also allowed the collections to not be divided into “eras” or “make” or just general museum type guidelines. But I’m getting ahead of myself, that is section 3.

Section 2 had a nautical room with model ships and objects and pamphlets from various cruises, and it had a three story sculpture of a made up whale eating a boat, while a squid attacked the whale. After the nautical room, which has a name that I can’t recall (which comes after The Street of Yesterday, which is an old recreated street with facades), was a little food court. I bought some ice cream. There was a car covered in tile, Burma Shave signs, hot air balloons, and other things. The gateway to the third section is the carousel. The. Carousel. 200+ mounts spinning around with chandeliers and lights and peacocks atop. And not a one of the mounts was a horse. There were centaurs, nymphs, a bull dog. Mermaids, monsters, dragons. The horses were on the walls, stacked high and wide. There were angels crowding the rafters, and music played continually. No one could ride the carousel, but oh to watch it spin! It is a narrow hallway to get into the room, and you just see spinning and red and lights and my jaw dropped.

I stood for a long while, watching it spin. There is apparently now a “The House on the Rock” style of painting carousel animals. Something about going dark to light, and not as bright as others.

Dazed I continued on to the third section. The collection section. Circus figures, automated toys, a giant orchestra that played up this two story circus … caboose? I think is the only way I can put it. Doll houses and dolls. Little doll scenes in bell jars, that struck me as sad. A gun collection. Antique guns, art object guns that were never meant to be fired, and the highlight: a prosthetic leg with a built in holster. There was a reproduction of the crown jewels, and armor, and a diorama of knights with one on an elephant, because why not? The third section was also home to a winding room of structured things. Horsemen of the apocalypse, a tree made of cheese drums, organs and organ music, mannequins on a bridge, winding staircases to nowhere, up and down and all around and way too dark to really get a hang of any one thing.

A good five hours I spent in there. I’ll have to go back some day, and drop a tenner on tokens just to listen to everything. And the instruments had several songs, so even everything wouldn’t be it all.

Overwhelmed I returned to my car and set about driving for hours back across Wisconsin and up into Minnesota. I hung a right at St. Paul (I have no interest in the Mall of America) and camped at a rest stop on i35. A nice one that clearly allowed people to sleep. I managed to sleep in even, and got into Duluth at around noon, where I got a haircut. It was a quick trim and I’ll have to work on my bangs a bit, but oh I feel so much better having clean hair, and less hair too. I had about 4 inches removed and it is much lighter. My split ends were getting scratchy and uncomfortable. Onwards north on 53 to Voyageurs National Park. Got in at around 3:30, got one of my NP stamps, and went on to Woodenfrog Campground, unsure if I would camp or continue on. But at $14, I obviously was going to camp. So I saturated myself with bug spray, set up the tent, went to the swimming hole and read, then went back to my campsite and sat on a rock by the lake and watched the sunset. I retired to my tent, intending to read further, but I instead just went to sleep. Rest while I can in case I end up in my car for a few more nights.

There are no showers here, but with my hair clean I feel much better as a whole. And I’m not sweating like I was a few states ago. I’m leaving humidity behind, and the nights are cool. The space around me is changing. Nature and location. The oceans are far away from me now. Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Superior. I’ve seen them, touched a few of them, and now there will be smaller lakes and then no lakes and then those blessed mountains.

8:45 pm a rest stop on I94 in North Dakota

Well, I decided not to camp another night in Minnesota. I got really bug bitten for one when I went hiking, even though I put on bug spray, and for two the first camp site I got to was way expensive and it didn’t have showers so I was like “feh!” and decided to start the journey across North Dakota. Knock out a bit of it tonight, so that tomorrow I won’t have far to go to the National Park, and then I can camp for a bit!

I did a little hike at Kabetogama, but like I said I got bug bitten so it was cut short. I drove up to International Falls, swung by Menard’s (pronounced apparently muhNARDS and not MAYnards as my mind kept pronouncing) and got more bug spray (mine is almost out) and oil for the car. It’s due for a change soon, but figured I’d put more in and then I can get it changed a little bit later. Not much later!

I drove to Bemidji and it was a very repetitive drive. The trees were nice but they were not all close in. I guess with winter, you don’t want trees close to roads. So while scenic, it wasn’t spectacular. I got the campsite tip at the visitors center and scenic drove some more, and then after I decided I didn’t feel like camping, I went west on 200 and then down into Fargo, and finally got onto 94.

I’m going to get a small peppy bevvie and set Bismark as the goal, and then camp at a rest stop…unless they don’t allow over nighters then I’ll find a Walmart in Bismark. This rest stop doesn’t allow them, so I’ll drive through the next few and see if they keep with that custom.

Catch you on the flipside! Flipside being Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

day tripping in Iowa

Holla from a McDonald's ~1 hour from The House on the Rock. Got a wee breakfast and got on their wifi and plugged in my devices. Got about an hour to hill till I can leave to get to THonR till it opens.

Iowa was fun! I had a nice scenic drive across to Iowa City and down to Riverside and then up to...uhh this place and then further up to McGregor. Though I suspect I would have hated it if I had had to spend ~6 hours driving to any of these locations, as it was I only had a little over an hour between each place, and it was lovely golden corn fields at top, which finally started rolling up and down after two states of flat.

I swung by a rest stop/visitors center and picked up a map and a pamphlet for the Hobo Museum which used the Hobo typeface, because I find that kind of thing funny.

First up: Riverside. The proper Riverside, because there are many across America. This Riverside is the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. You know, from Star Trek.The town has a carved stone sign commemorating this event. It's tucked behind a building, but there is a sign on a telephone poll pointing which way to go. As I left, a family showed up to grab photos. I wonder how many Trekkies/Trekkers come through every day to gt a photo? I continued up and east to the Field of Dreams filming site. And on a Monday afternoon in the middle of summer, there were plenty of people at the location and some were playing baseball! How long ago did that movie come out, and people still come? I walked in the corn a while, and talked to this older guy Jack who was from California and also a roadtripper.

Onwards to Effigy Mounds National Monument. There are these mounds across America that were made by the indigenous people centuries ago, and some have managed to preserved. I did a little hike, though their definition of "steep switchbacks" needs to be revisited. The mounds were lovely, and it's great that they were able to be preserved. I got rained on a little during the hike, but what's rain to a Washingtonian?

I drove on up back to Wisconsin, so that I wouldn't have to drive far to The House on the Rock. I found a Walmart and read in the parking lot till I dozed away. Woke up early and wet to McDonald's and refreshed. Now the Montana Christmas episode of King of the Hill is on the tv and I couldn't be happier.

Fun is abound today, too bad the weather is a bit dismal. Oh well, I'll be continuing west later on. Hopefully Minnesota has nice weather. There is a chance of storm Thursday - Monday.