i heart minneapolis

i have no idea how it took us so long to get from the Badlands to Minneapolis, but we're finally here. i vaguely recall sleeping at a rest stop in mid - South Dakota, sleeping at a state campground just east of Minnesota, then driving all day and staying in a hotel in Minneapolis.

LE and T have been graciously hanging out with us and taking us to their favorite places.

on Saturday LE entertained us herself. she tooks us on a tour around the Minneapolis lakes, brought us to French Meadows for coffee (yum!). after a nap - which actually means watching "So You Think You can Dance," then we had eggplant parm for dinner (my fav & courtesy of DB), and played a rousing game of Scrabble in which LE kicked our rears... if DB and i had combined our score we'd have had the game by 30pts.

today has included french toast, a documentary film (Young At Heart), ice cream, internetting, and nap time. we'll be having eggplant enchiladas for dinner (courtesy of DB), and playing Apples to Apples tonight.

so far, DB and i agree that Minneapolis is pretty rad. will we be returning here to live in a couple years? stay tuned to find out!

Life in the Badlands

Just east of the Blackhill's are what are called the Badlands. Named such by some white people exploring, traveling east, and committing genocide. It was noted by Native Americans in the area that clearly these lands were not bad - they were teeming with life.

And, in fact, they are still teeming with life... although some of it has been reintroduced to the area due to natural populations either dying out or being over hunted by... you guessed it, the white folks who claimed the land was barren. We were fortunate to see some of this life, and we lovingly bring it on home to you.

Upon entering the Badlands National Park we immediately realized that we were on top of and traveling across a plateau. Our first stop gave us not only a spectacular view of the valley beyond, but also our first encounter with the elusive Bighorn Sheep. (Apparently, it is not common to see these cuties.)




Our continued meanderings revealed various breathtaking landscape formations.





We also saw a variety of grasses, flowers, dinosaur fossils, along with animals too far away or too quick to be captured on film - a fox, antelope, and various birds.

Fortunately for you, I am kind enough not to subject you to the two dozen photos of Prairie Dogs taken throughout the 60 mile drive around the park. I thought one photo was plenty to convince you that you, too, want your own Prairie Dog. Although, please beware... they carry the Plague.

No really, there are signs outside the park warning tourists to stay in their cars and not frolick with Prairie Dogs due to the Plague. I, however, am impervious to such signs... which is why one little fella was barking madly at me as I attempted to get nearer for a close-up. The Prairie Dog shown here did not bark - instead it posed nicely for the camera.




And, of course, no animal photo-shoot would be complete without Bison (aka Buffalo). These Bison aren't totally free-roaming because being such would be a health hazard. Apparently cows have communicable diseases that cause reproductive problems for Bison - So, the Badlands Bison are kept in a large-ish contained area. In an effort to boost morale they have been told they are free... which reminds me of how things work in certain country I live in... but I'm sure it would be "unpatriotic" to say so.

Tiny Faces

Our first stop was Deadwood in the Blackhills, an old mining town turned tourist destination. We checked out their museum and an ice cream shop; and drove through the gamblin' part of town. It's actually pretty fun/cute/cool and worth the stop - even if you're not planning to gamble. Also, there is a tv series that takes place in Deadwood.

Next we did the oil change and tire rotation. No comment on the stress this caused us post-service.

And finally we hit Mt Rushmore which is ridiculously tiny. In all the photos they zoom in and make it look like it's the size of Mt Rainer with giant faces carved into it... actually, it's rather small. Admittedly, the engineering feat is pretty impressive.

"Just one more piece of American kitsch to stick in my pocket." - DB

Wyoming 10k

We finished up our time in Montana at a campground near Ashland, and gratefully exited into Wyoming's Blackhills. As you can see, we have a pretty rad set up... beach umbrella included!




Wyoming gifted us with both the Devils Tower, created by magma and over 5k above sea-level, and finally hitting 10k on our odometer which means it's time for an oil change and tire rotation.

most important stops

Montana is too big and there appears to be no way out. we are surrounded by mountains, storms, casinos and Walmarts, yet cannot find a real ghost town. we give up.

traveling is both fun and exhausting. exhausting particularly when things on the map aren't where they say they are, or we over-extend / over-estimate ourselves (like, packing too many destinations into a single day, thus driving from 8am to 11pm). Montana is the best example of our frustration thus far. i'm willing to take up to 50% of the responsibility for this. Montana gets the other 50%.

before we began our journey we created a tentative itinerary. places we were interested in stopping / seeing, a general route, and a basic timeline. as we travel we are constantly revising - creating new plans of action, routes, destinations, etc. this is both fun and exhausting...

we're almost done seeing the areas we really wanted to hit on the first half of our trip, and we're pretty exhausted by traveling and not having a real home. it's now time to pick up the pace and get closer to seeing our friends - they are the most important stops along the trip.

ghost hunting

so, we've been driving around montana for, like, two days or something and everything we want to see that is on the free visitors state map happens to not have clear directions, road signage, etc. in fact, it's all been one wild ghost chase.

our first attempt at finding a ghost town went array when as we were getting nearer the possible turn off, a ridiculous storm headed our direction. i have to say that Montana's storms are terrifying. there is so much wide open sky that when it starts to fill up with dark ominous clouds, some of which look like they might just be willing to go tornado on your ars, it's enough to make a person hope they won't get shot knocking on people's doors. seriously, i was almost ready to pull into some farmer's driveway and beg for shelter.

two awesome pictures of an edge of the storm...



since, we were unsuccessful finding the unmarked road of the ghost town and terrified by the storm, we decided to keep driving until we were well out of storm-range. we ended up driving pretty late looking for some of the camp sites also listed on this stupid map. after miles and miles of searching down dark dirt roads, we settled on sleeping in the car behind some random kiosk in a 50 person town. we had a pretty good set up - moved the various suitcases about, put some batik skirts in the windows for privacy, and wha-la!

the next morning we resumed our ghost-town hunt. the first place we checked out was hardly what i'd call a ghost town... there were people living there. there were a few boarded up buildings that were historical from the mining period 100 years ago. DB and i agree that the town folk might be better served if they put these beautiful buildings to some use instead of leaving them sit empty.

we thought we'd make one more attempt at finding a ghost town that could meet our Hollywood expectations. so, another 15 miles of moutainous dirt road in our tiny car in the middle of nowhere found us agitated and frustrated. there were some abandoned barns and oldish looking houses, but nothing that should qualify as a ghost town.

we now refer to every abandoned or oldish building as "ghost town!"

in case you're wondering

we estimate we've traveled 475 miles eastward.
we have put about 1000 miles on the car since leaving last Sunday.

Food:

• breakfasts consist of granola with almond milk, a banana, and maybe another fruit if we've got any left over from the day before.
• lunch tends to be in towns... sandwhiches, soups, etc.
• we are eating bag salad for dinners. they are easy, require little clean up, and are yummy.
• deserts = roasted marshmallows or fruit.

yes, we are eatting enough. we have a big giant bag of snack foods... dried fruits, almonds, granola bars, and sometimes candy bars.

Sights:

• 0 bears
• 9 deer
• the continental divide
• rivers - lots of big fast rivers
• giant cheese graters (or things that look like such)
• bikers taking over a campground and setting up a tent-bar to serve alcohol
• 3 bilboards for the "World Famous Testicle Festival"

it appears a thunder storm is headed our way... so, rather than camp, our plan is to drive forever until we stop, sleep in the car(?) and get a motel/hotel tomorrow morning so we can sunbathe all freakin' day by the pool. we do intend to see at least one ghost town, hit Bozeman and Billings. oh, also, we're now on Mountain time.

25 cent showers

reporting live from the public library in Missoula, MT...

6/19 Thrs

ever seen seaguls in the desert? i don't think i had until now. yeah, an entire flock, weird.

arrived in Pullman, gave DB the grand tour of WSU. unfortunately the two places on campus i spent the bulk of my time were under renovation (the CUB, and Wilson Hall). there were a plethora of new buildings, a significant decline in amount of on campus parking, and the Bookie once again failed to have any dark red Cougar sweatshirts i could purchase for my own personal wearing. we did manage to pick up a few $1 books for our reading pleasure.

Rancho Viejo has withstood the test of time, still making it #1 Mexican food establishment in the US, 15 years running.

camping provided by Boyer Park... who thought they might be full up, then decided they had one spot left... oddly, no one else showed up that night. they probably heard about the sprinkler system which drenches the tenting spots starting around 4am. forutnately the sun was up early and dried us out. we were a bit grumpy due to lack of sleep between 3:45 and 6am. fortunately we could shower for a mere 25 cents.


6/20 Fri

i talk about the dunes so often i had to show DB. sadly, they have been much neglected. we did find deer tracks in the sand which is kinda neat.

Path:
Moscow ID for grocery shopping and lunch. yay for the co-op!
Lewiston ID because that's the direction we had to go to go east.
Lowell, ID to the free Rackliff Campground complete with fleas, bats and deer. we were a bit concerned about bears, but we slept fairly sound with no trace of animal activity.

wheats going on?

Major stops...
Start - Potholes (near Moses Lk)
Palouse Falls (lunch)
Pomeroy (Ranger Station)
Dayton (2nd lunch)
Camp Wooten (dinner and sleep)

first stop of the morning was Palouse Falls. our first sight - a Yellow-Bellied Marmot. no kidding. we literally were parking the car and saw a strange creature across the chasm climbing about. cute.




the drive was gorgeous - shining sun, green, purple, brown and golden hills abound the Palouse. we were both pretty thrilled about wind energy being harnessed in this region. some folks don't really like giant metal windmills, but i happen to think, in the right place, they can be an awe-inspiring addition to the landscape.

between Dayton and Camp Wooten we found our heritage marked. have you ever stopped at heritage markers? every time i do, i find myself wondering "what the hell is this supposed to be about?" and then i realize these markers are meant for people who drive RVs and speak in rhyme. in any case, this heritage marker, marks a stop made by Lewis and Clark, and has a plaque describing who each character is and what they may have been doing on any given day.




we weren't sure what we'd find at Camp Wooten as we entered the formerly forested area and found it had some time ago been devistated by wild fires. the camp was far enough in that there were living trees and animals... but no Wootens to be found.




next stop... WSU, Pullman, WA.

Dancing with Horses

DB engaging in tent dancing...



Chased by Wild Horses at Vantage... fortunately we spotted another traveler video taping the incident...



Post-horse we headed to Moses Lake and Warden, two places I lived as a young lass. DB got to see two of my elementary schools (K-2) and a handful of houses I lived in. Plus, my first Burger King (2nd grade field trip to see "how it's all done" in the kitchen). (no photos available).

For accommodations, we stayed at the 3 starred Potholes State Park just south of Moses Lake (photo below)... birds, rabbits, squirrels, giant black beetles, and tons of fishing (we did not see any fish, however). We did each enjoy a decent 6 minute shower which means no need to stay in a hotel for another few days.

on the road again

after 1 month in the seattle area, db and i have begun our journey eastward.

i wasn't able to visit everyone i wanted to. but i did actually try to visit everyone, which is more than i can say for previous trips to seattle.

db got to see plenty of downtown seattle, two Mariner's games (one of which was vs the Red Sox), more than anyone's share of Marysville, lots of brew pubs, a generous helping of my family, a few of my friends, and some very large mountains.

we also had the pleasurable company of quite a few deer on our camping trips to the Winthrop and Wenatchee areas. In fact, we're 99.9 percent certain a deer slept next to our tent one night near Diablo. the tenting area had sand and was flat when we set up our tent. we saw a deer before bed, then one woke us up as it huffled near the tent. and in the morning there was an indented area next to the foot of the tent that was in the shape of a large animal - likely a deer.

we also had a run in with an ambitious little mouse near Lake Wenatchee. i awoke in the dark to see the outline of a little mouse on top of the tent as it scurried across and slid down the other side. the wee fella spent half the night trying to hurdle itself back over but never made it up again.

we officially left yesterday and stayed the night at a campsite near Cle Elum. our plan is to find places we can camp for several days at a time and just relax our faces off as we head to our first true destination "Minneapolis."

Me, DB and our darling little Yaris.