Foreword: Now that my family is home safely, I can post the blog I wrote about the trip out west. I know it's long. I tried breaking it into days so it would flow better.
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The stuck RV
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Ah, the travels!
I’ve been all over the upper U.S. on this trip and now we
are driving in Montana as we head to Medical Lake, Washington where I will work
for 8 weeks. I probably won’t post this until a few days later though. Some of
this is excerpts from my journal, in addition to extra comments I decide to
write.
Excuse, or get over, the randomness. Bumpy RV rides shake up
the brain. J
To recap my trip thus far, Sunday, May 11th was
spent in Chicago – The Windy City (see previous post).
Monday, May 12, 2014
From there we went to South Dakota on Monday. Monday was a
rough day. Everyone was fighting and in bad moods. Our first stop was at the
Corn Palace in Mitchell, which was very cheesy. We only stayed there about 15
minutes before we headed out.
Cheesy Corn Palace
We drove across the state until we got to the Badlands,
where we promptly accidentally pulled off too far on the road and got stuck in
the sod. Some good ole’ country boys were driving by so they pulled over to
help. At one point we had a Dodge, Chevy, and a Ford all there trying to help!
Alas, the RV was stuck. So we had to call a wrecker from Rapid City (about an
hour away) to come haul us out. While waiting for the wrecker to get there, I
laid on one of the back beds and read. My brothers went hiking in the Badlands.
The Badlands look like the Grand Canyon kind of, but they are made of dirt not
rock. Eventually the wrecker came and got us out and we drove down the road and
picked up the boys from where they were hiking.
The Badlands
We got into Wall, South Dakota later that evening and stayed
in a cute campground. I got my first shower of the trip – that was the
highlight of my day. Ball caps and deodorant only go so far. It was nice to
just stand in the hot water and wash off. Then I went to bed and shivered all
night because the temperatures were down to 20 degrees or so.
By this point, my bad first impression of South Dakota was
only getting worse. I don’t know how Laura Ingalls Wilder did it! It was cold,
rainy, and windy. And flat – so, so flat. I was missing the mountains majorly.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
In the morning we walked from the campground over to the
Wall Drug store. It was also cheesy, but we took some funny pictures in the
“Wall Drug Backyard.” Mom got 5¢ coffee, so she was pretty happy! I bought my
postcards and a funny redneck birthday card.
From Wall we headed to Keystone, SD to see Mt. Rushmore. Mt.
Rushmore was definitely my favorite thing in South Dakota. Seeing the stone
mountain among green pine trees and a bright blue sky was gorgeous! It was
incredible to think about how they carved it so long ago.
There was also a bit of excitement at the park. As we were
taking pictures with Mt. Rushmore in the background, we noticed a person up
touching Lincoln’s beard. Thinking that it was a little odd because we didn’t
think people were allowed up there, we started watching the guy. After a while
we walked down the trail to see if there was a place you were allowed to go up.
Dad was still up at the top and he called down to tell us that a ranger was
coming down. A whole host of rangers came and started to go up the mountains.
Caleb, of course, was wishing it was him up on the mountain touching Mt.
Rushmore so he was trying to look as suspicious as possible. I don’t know if
they ever caught the guys. But we left soon after and headed to Wyoming.
When we arrived in Douglas, Wyoming that evening we met up
with my good friend Nathan who is out there working on a cattle/horse ranch. We
all went out to eat at a super delicious Mexican restaurant called La Costa.
For being decorated very tackily, the food was amazing and
we talked to the owner, José a little bit. When he found out we were from PA,
he brought out this piece of paper and said “We are opening a restaurant in
this town, do you know where it’s at?” And when we looked, we started laughing
because it said “Chambersburg” on it. So we told him that it was very close to
us and we go there often, and when he opens the restaurant, we will go there
with friends. It was just a really funny coincidence.
We also talked to some guys at a table beside us about
traveling, food, and all kinds of other things. If the locals hang out at a
place, you know it’s a good spot!!
It was wonderful to see Nathan again. I haven’t seen him in
almost 2 years! My brothers had tons of questions for him about ranch life.
Micah said he would love it except he couldn’t do the whole “getting up early”
thing.
Side note: José’s a Steelers fan…and I thought I escaped all
of those when we went out west!
Us with Nathan...Micah got cut out
Wednesday, May 14,
2014
We got up early and drove across Wyoming. Not a whole lot to
see along the way. Wyoming’s terrain is a lot like South Dakota’s – according
to the locals “no trees that weren’t planted” and hills, but generally flat. I
talked Dad into going through the Grand Tetons, and man, was that a fantastic
idea. I didn’t like Wyoming until I got to the Grand Tetons – then I fell in
love. They are absolutely breathtaking. Blue, icy water. Tall, snowy mountains.
Rocky shorelines.
Rachel and I went biking/rollerskating around the road for a
while. The weather was about 48 degrees. Near perfect in my book because I can
wear jeans and a sweatshirt. There was snow all over the ground. I could
definitely live somewhere like that. I love the mountains.
Wednesday evening and
Thursday, May 15, 2014
We arrived in Yellowstone Wednesday evening and settled in.
The boys went trying to “bear hunt” and Rachel and I went biking to look for
bears. None of us saw any sadly. But we slept and then went on a Yellowstone
marathon Thursday. First we drove through some hot springs and stopped to take
pictures of the first buffalo we saw. In some parts of the park, there were 3+
feet of snow!
Second, we stopped at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We
took pictures of some waterfalls. Dad and I climbed up this one spot and looked
down upon the gorge and the falls. It was so pretty!! Caleb and Rachel climbed
up this high rock and looked down over the cliff. As a sister, I was terrified
for them.
Then we went up to the north side of the park to Mammoth Hot
Springs. I was expecting something cool, not a cinder pit. That is literally
what it looked like. It was an ugly wasteland because of the chemicals in the
hot springs coming up and covering everything. And the springs weren’t even
springs…sometimes there was a trickle of water and sometimes there wasn’t.
There was this one called “Cupid Springs” and Mom and I walked over to it, and
there was nothing but the ashy-ness. I made a joke about “love running dry.”
Corny, but we got a good laugh out of it. We spent a long time at Mammoth…way
too long for it being as boring as it was. We did get a good bike ride and walk
in. I guess that’s something.
Cinder pit look-alike
On the way back down in the park, we stopped at Norris
Geysers. Mom, Dad, and I got out and walked down through the one part. While it
was wasteland looking, there were actual random pools of boiling water so it
was neat to look down into those. The bacteria made them all different colors –
bright blues, rusty oranges, long black hair-like ones, mossy green. It is a
very interesting geological place – if you’re into that kind of thing.
Around 6pm, we got to the part of the park where Old
Faithful is. Old Faithful goes approximately every 90 minutes. So we had to
wait an hour until it went again. It was super chilly as we waited and I forgot
to grab my jacket. Thankfully Caleb let me borrow his. It felt like forever
until the geyser started spurting a little water, but then it would stop. But
finally it “erupted” into the sky. It was pretty cool. It’s not every day you
see water shooting 106-180 feet into the air. I wouldn’t say it was the best
thing ever though. We wanted to take a family picture with Old Faithful behind
us (which included stepping into the “Do Not Step” zone). So whenever it
starting going, we quickly jumped down and set the camera’s timer. Needless to
say, it was an Old Faithful Photo Fail. We couldn’t stop laughing about it.
Micah is going to try to photo edit it so we have Old Faithful behind us.
Old Faithful
After Old Faithful, we went into the RV and Mom got supper
ready. Dad, the boys, and I walked up to this deep pool called Morning Glory.
It was pretty incredible to look down into it. It’s so deep. A huge vat of
boiling water.
Morning Glory hot pool
We left the park later that night and drove to the town of
West Yellowstone, where we stayed the night and pulled out in the morning.
Overall, Yellowstone was alright, but not my favorite
National Park. The scenery wasn’t overly pretty to me. I was sad that I didn’t
see any grizzly bears or wolves, but I got to see buffalo and coyotes. It’s
incredible to think that Yellowstone is one of the world’s biggest and most
dangerous volcanos – a “super volcano.” I can’t even imagine it in the summer
with all the people…it must be an absolute zoo. I would come back though, even
if just to see the wildlife and hike.
I got a very cool mug that says “Advice from a Wolf – Stay
on Track” on the front. On the back it says “Trust your instincts. Be at home
in nature. Keep your den clean. Howl with your friends. Be a leader. Pack life
with good memories!” I love it! It describes me, and who/what I aspire to be,
very well!
Friday, May 16, 2014
Caleb’s 19th birthday is today! We are on the way
to Medical Lake, Washington. Montana and Idaho are pretty states to drive
through. Lots of mountains and pine trees. We didn’t do too much today, just a
lot of driving and I’ve spent most of the time writing about this trip and
planning for my next trip.
Wrapping up
I probably won’t say too much more about the trip since we
are going to settle down in Medical Lake for a few days. But overall it was a
fun trip. It still makes me want to travel and explore new places and meet new
people.
I saw so many little kids, especially little boys, while we
were traveling. It makes me excited for when I have my own kids and can take
them to all sorts of places and on all sorts of adventures!
Life is good, traveling makes it better!!
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