Lessons I Learned While Traveling West

It's been a little over a month since we returned from our loop around the USA, and I've been meaning to write this blog.....but alas.  While Ian and I have done a fair amount of travel outside of the country, this was one journey that we were excited to take since neither one of us had spent too much time west of the Mississippi.  As we rode MANY hours in the car, it gave me lots of time to think about lessons I learned on this trip, and here are a few (in no particular order):

1) Just because my car has five seat belts doesn't mean five adults should ride in it.  We learned this lesson well.  I boast about my Focus' deep trunk, and thank God for it!  With five grown adults riding in the car, we didn't have a spare spot for luggage up front, and the trunk was completely loaded down.  While overall I think each person in the car would agree that the trip was an incredible journey and we happily spent the time together, I feel like there were a few moments of tension.  What do you expect to happen when you spent loooooong days of travel (our record was 16 hours!) in a tiny crammed space?

However, the tiny confines of my car became a home away from home, a stage for the girls to belt out "Let It Go" as the guys rolled their eyes, a space to wave at random strangers while rolling through the Badlands, a dry area to crank the heat after getting caught in a cold rain storm, a sanctuary to laugh and reminisce our good times in Japan.

2) You don't HAVE to change clothes every day.  Our days camping taught us this.  I think I wore a shirt for three days straight.  Yes, I am awesome at life.  The good thing about Rushmore and Yellowstone was that both areas were cooler, meaning we were sweating and stinking less.  Shower?  Nah.  We can shower when we have four walls around us instead of canvas sides.  Another lesson I learned while traveling is that "clean enough" clothes will suffice.  Our last night of camping in Salinas, Kansas Ian wanted to run a load of laundry at the campground.  I said, "At this point in time, why bother?  The only person you're going to run in to tomorrow who knows you is me, and I've made my peace about wearing dirty clothes."


3) Our country is freaking huge and beautiful.  I mean...I knew this.  You learn about the vastness of the Great Plains in your 4th grade social studies books.  You expect the Rocky Mountains to have out-of-this-world views.  You know about the changing landscapes....but to actually SEE the cityscape of Chicago melt into the cornfields of northern Illinois and Wisconsin, become the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota, level out into the prairie of South Dakota, roll into the jagged Badlands and Black Hills, level off into the big sky country of Montana, rise again into the Rocky Mountain wilderness of Wyoming, slip through the barren desert of Idaho, etc, etc, etc.  I thought this trip might quench our voracious appetite for travel.  Alas.  Before we even stepped foot in our home state of Kentucky, I was already planning our next trip.  If anything, this trip made me want to see MORE of the USA.  I want to swing through the southwest, drive up the West Coast, visit more of the New England states, tour the ultimate wilderness of Alaska, and so, so much more.


4) Going unplugged is amazing.  I'll admit that I took my phone everywhere we went.  Did I have service the whole time?  No.  I took it for its camera.  The entire time we were in Yellowstone, none of us had a bar of service, and you know what?  It was refreshing.  I didn't HAVE to respond to emails or texts, COULDN'T have the distraction of social media or TV, and didn't NEED to return anyone's call.  Did we get bored?  HECK NO!  We were in Yellowstone!  If you get bored in Yellowstone, something is seriously wrong with you.


5)  Reconnecting with friends and arriving right where you left off=best friend status.  It had been about six months since we had seen Mollee, a year and six months since we had seen Melissa.  Yet was the conversation stilted?  Were we at a loss of conversation topics?  Were there awkward pauses because we just didn't know what to say to one another?  HECK NO!  It took us about five seconds after picking them up at the airport for us to reconnect, chat away, and become the idiots that we are.  That's what I love about those girls.  We can have serious, intellectual conversations about our futures and what we want from life, but the next second we are laughing at a "that's what she said joke" or discussing the quality of farts.



So.....what's next for us...?  Shortly after getting home and settling in, I started saving for the next big trip.  We're hoping to go to Washington DC in the spring to visit another friend from Japan, Justine.  I'm pinching pennies and saving dimes.  I've always been a saver, not a spender.  HOWEVER, I don't mind spending money to travel and see the great big world that's beyond Paducah, Kentucky.  Let's go!  Let's do this!

Wyoming

If you are feeling drowsy, don’t drive through Wyoming.  If you are one of those people that likes to get close to “E” before filling up, don’t drive through Wyoming.  Wyoming is beautiful in its own way but HAS to be one of the most boring states in the union.  

On our way to Douglas, WY to visit Nicole and Brian, we were on a stretch of two lane road from Rawlins to Casper, and There.  Was.  Absolutely.  Nothing.  No houses.  No farm animals.  No on-coming traffic.  Just…nothing.  We got so bored that we started playing games.  Ian honked the horn for a good thirty seconds straight without lifting his hand.  No one…not even a single cow…was around to know the difference.  Whenever we met one or two cars of on-coming traffic, we would wave furiously in an effort to make new friends in that desolate landscape.          

When we finally (FINALLY!) made our way to Douglas, we met Nicole and Brian at a local burger joint before making our way to a brewery that had just opened up in town.  We stayed up pretty late that night catching up and talking about things since we had last seen one another.  

The following day was Friday, our fifth anniversary.  Hurray!  Nicole and Brian both had to work that day, so Ian and I explored the great town of Douglas by ourselves.  We started off with a picnic breakfast in the riverside park and made lots of friends with the geese that continued to hesitantly approach our table to see if we would feed them.  

There are two museums in Douglas, the pioneer and train museums.  The pioneer museum was okay at first, but it quickly became just a collection of random things piled into cases.  There was stuff from the early days of Douglas to WWI items to flapper dresses to modern day tea sets.  Ian and I took our time at first viewing each item but quickly became bored, so we moved on to the train museum.  It wasn’t so much of a museum as a couple of old train cars left open to explore.  We walked through each one of them before deciding to visit the tourism office next door. 

For as small of a town as Douglas, the kind lady at the tourism office gave us a TON of handouts.  I don’t think we walked away from YELLOWSTONE with that many handouts!  We learned that (fun fact!) Douglas, WY is home of the mythological jackalope.  When we told the lady that we were from Kentucky, she said that we HAD to go visit Sir Barton’s grave.  Sir Barton was the first triple crown winner, which was cool to see since it was the previous weekend that American Pharoah had won the triple crown.

After all of those fun filled activities, we stopped by the grocery on the way out of town for lunch items and made our way to Ayres Natural Bridge State Park.  It is exactly as it sounds, a giant slab of sandstone that creates and natural archway over a creek.  Our first task was to climb it, which we did with ease.  From the top we were able to scout a nice hammock spot and walked down to claim it for an enjoyable afternoon of leisure.  Both of us were pretty exhausted after being on the road and go, go, going for so long, so we took pleasure in our slow afternoon.  When we were bored with laying in the hammock, we’d walk down to the creek and wade for a minute before our feet were frozen, and then we’d repeat.  It was a glorious afternoon.  

That evening we were invited to Brian’s family’s ranch for dinner.  Wyoming is beef country, and Ian and I agreed that the steaks Brian’s dad made were some of the best we’ve ever had.  Once we left the ranch, Brian suggested that we go for a drink.  I’m not much of a “bar” person, but if you ever find yourself in Douglas, Wyoming, you MUST go to the White Wolf Saloon.  The inside is decorated with any and every thing.  Walls are covered with animal heads, bumper stickers, signs, old trinkets, and everything you could imagine.  I didn’t take one picture in this place, and I regret that.  The bartender/owner was so friendly and basically sat down to talk to Ian and I for the duration of the night.  He was hilarious and explained how he obtained several of the crazy and random items on the wall.    

I'm almost finished now!  I only have two more days to cover!  Woot!

Salt Lake City

I’m really good at telling lies.  For example, I told any of you who are willing to read my rambles that I would keep up with this blog as we traveled.  Ha!  Then, I told you that I was only a few days behind and would soon get caught up.  Ha!  Ha!  THEN, I told you that I’d at least finish the Salt Lake blog on our Sunday drive home.  ALL WERE LIES!

Well, I’m going to give it my all (unless this is a lie) to finish up the story of our journey West.  I left off with us arriving in Salt Lake.  Krista and her family live in Sandy, which is a little south of SLC proper.  I was really amazed with the mountain views in the SLC area.  It seemed like no matter where we went or where we turned our heads, it was natural beauty.  

Krista took us for a hike that Tuesday morning.  She promised us a “short two-ish hour hike”.  No big deal, right?  What she failed to mention was that it was STRAIGHT UP.  She kept saying that “part of” the hike was like a stair-master.  This might have been true for a true adventure-seeking outdoorsman like Krista, but for two out-of-shape Kentuckians unaccustomed to thinner altitude air, it felt like QUITE the challenge.  However, the view from the top was incredible.  Once again, everywhere in Utah has an amazing view!

After our trek down, we grabbed lunch at a local pizzeria and chilled at Krista’s house for a bit before heading back out.  She works at a climbing gym in Sandy and was able to show us the ropes (puns…I love them) for climbing.  Ian and I haven’t been on a climbing wall since senior year of high school.  (We love to tell the story about how I, a tiny little girl with no upper body strength, climbed the highest on the wall during the senior retreat.  EVERYONE was amazed.  ….until Ian Reed had to go and blow by my record about ten minutes later.  Grrrrr…) I forgot how exhausting climbing is.  It requires a lot of muscle groups that I really don’t have.  Plus, putting on that harness and having someone be in charge of “holding you” if you fall made me a little nervous at first.  I had to remind myself to NOT look down during the first climb, and I was a little quizzical when I reached the top and Krista said to “relax and let go.”  It was still a ton of fun!

That night we met up with Sarah, a friend that graduated from St. Mary with us.  She cooked us dinner, and we got to meet her step-son, River, who is only the cutest kid ever!  She suggested that we hike Donut Falls the following day. River asked if Donut Falls is where donuts fall from the sky.  I knew I could be friends with this kid at that moment.  

The following day we decided to do a couple of touristy things before meeting Sarah for lunch.  We drove to the actual salt lake to see it.  It…looked like a lake.

Then we drove back into Salt Lake City proper to visit Mormonland!  Temple Square was incredibly beautiful.  As we approached the temple area, we saw a bride with her wedding party and awww’d.  Then we saw another bride…and another…and another.  As we walked around the building, I think we saw about seven or eight total, which confused us.  How could so many people get married at the church on the same day?  Luckily, there are plenty of Mormons around to ask!  Many of them are “on mission” in Temple Square and walk around helping tourists and spreading the faith.  We were approached by three different groups that morning.  The first group simply handed us a map of the area and asked if we had any questions.  After we had walked around a bit and saw all the brides, we asked the second group about that.  They explained that the temple, unlike our Catholic church, is divided into multiple rooms, and there are several “wedding rooms”.  A bride will select which one she wants, and that’s where the family and friends will go to have the ceremony.  The third group of Mormons that approached us was the most religiously driven.  They started off very kind, asking about our trip, if we like SLC, what brought us to SLC, etc, but then they VERY skillfully slipped in bits of religion.  We eventually had to pull ourselves away so that we could meet Sarah for lunch.

After lunch, we drove to Donut Falls, which Sarah PROMISED was a short hike.  It was enjoyable.  However, the water was too high, so we couldn’t approach the “donut” area (where the water falls through a hole, giving it its name).  Ian crossed part of the river, but I didn’t want to go too far since the rocks were slippery.  

That evening we made our way back into the city to meet another friend, Kayla, who just so happened to be in SLC the same time as us.  We finished our tour of Temple Square with her by visiting the Tabernacle (where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs) and the convention center.  Security at the convention center is a little…weird.  In order to go to the top of the building (where there is an excellent view) you have to take a tour guide who walks you through the building and tells you a little more about the Mormon faith.  Yay!  The top of the building was pretty could.  As we walked around, it was easy to forget that we were on the top of a building since there were thirty foot trees, green meadows, and flowing water.  The views weren’t too bad, either!

On Thursday when we left SLC, Krista’s mom allowed me to dress in a bee suit and play around with her bees.  I had told her that my grandfather and grandmother raised bees for a bit, and she showed me each hive, explaining how they made honeycomb and how to harvest the honey.  It was really cool.

Finally…on our way out of town we stopped in Park City, where the ski/bobsled/luge/etc events were held during the 2002 Olympics. It was fascinating to realize that thousands of people were crammed into that spot watching the world’s best athletes compete.  Ian and I decided to ride down the alpine slide, and in order to do so we had to take a lift to the top of the mountain.  (As we were taking the lift and passing by the ski jump site, I realized how crazy the ski jump event is.  THE HILL IS SO FREAKING STEEP.  How can anyone do that without completely killing themselves?)  The alpine slide was awesome.  Careening around curves while sliding down the mountainside is definitely something I recommend doing.  After we reached the base of the mountain, we walked around the Olympic museums before heading out of town and into the next state that I’ll blog about…Wyoming.     

To Salt Lake We Go!

Yes. I am behind. Ian and I are one day away from the end of our trip, yet I have barely covered our travels from this week. I have a looooong day in the car tomorrow across the flat and desolate state of Kansas, so maybe I'll get caught up then. 

We said our goodbyes to Melissa on Monday morning as we left Spokane, discussed the next possible time we could all get/travel together, and left knowing that it was a ten hour trip tour next destination, the Salt Lake City area. Although it was contrary to logic, we had to go west on I-90 for a bit to pick up the next major highway.  We didn't get too far outside of Spokane before the landscape completely changed. Washington is known as the evergreen state, but I'm calling bull on the eastern part we saw. As we traveled south through Oregon, we saw the same thing. I had no idea that area of the country could be so dry!!

We stopped in Minidoka, Idaho (near the tiny town of Jerome, Idaho) to see the remains of the Minidoka Japanese Internment Camp of WWII. I really wanted to go because one of the summer books that I assigned is Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and one of the main characters of this novel is sent to that camp. (If you haven't read the book, I definitely recommend it!). I thought it would be really cool to take pictures and show my kiddos the remains of the camp this fall when we discuss the novel.  

Although Minidoka quickly became the seventh largest city in Idaho as more and more Japanese were interned there, today it is nothing more than part of the Idaho desert. The sprawling acres of the camp were sold off, and most have become farm land. We walked around and read the placards describing what each building was used for.  It took us about forty minutes to tour the whole camp, and even though it was five in the evening, we were drenched with sweat and COULD NOT imagine what life would have been like on a daily basis in such a harsh and unforgiving climate. 

When we got back on the road, we still had about three hours to go. The Idaho desert turned into the Utah desert. We passed by signs warning drivers of possible dust storms and high winds, and I'm guessing that "Rattlesnake Pass" got its name for good reason. 

I honestly thought that Utah was one big desert, but the closer we got to Salt Lake I was proved wrong.  The sun was setting (at 9!!) as we rolled into town, and the backlight of it against the mountains was incredible. It bounced off the clouds, providing this gorgeous purple haze.  Well, I thought I could wrap up all of our Salt Lake experiences in one blog, but I think I'll cover the rest tomorrow in a different one, and I'll further discuss how my Utah-is-one-giant-desert theory could not have been further from the truth. 

Spokane

Today's blog comes to you from Douglas, WY.  Our trip is winding down, and as it does I begin to feel anxious. There are so many MORE place I want to go now!  I want to take a road trip across the southwestern states and up the coast of California to Yosemite.  I want to go to the Florida Keys. I want to tour Maine in the fall. I want to see our nation's capital. I want to hit up things we missed along this trip: Devil's Tower, Colorado, Portland, And all the places in between. I want to see and do it all!!  I think it's time to start researching and figuring out what would be feasible. 

Last Saturday we left Yellowstone. We dropped off Mollee and Will at the airport in West Yellowstone. As we departed, I asked a random guy outside the airport if he would take a picture of the five of us since we had so few group pictures. I could tell he felt uncomfortable with my phone, so I told him to push the big white button on the bottom. He somehow managed to take a selfie, and for that I thank him!

Without Mollee and Will in the car, we had a bit more space to stretch out, which was nice.  We drove through the rest of Montana (which was beautiful), a quick cross through Idaho, and into the evergreen state, Washington. 

Melissa lives in a cute house that she shares with her roommate in Spokane, Washington.  Once we arrived, we aired out all of our tents and sleeping bags, washed loads of laundry, and showered. Melissa went to pick up dinner and her boyfriend, Ian hung out in the hammock in the backyard, and I went for a walk around Manito Park. As I walked around, I knew I was sweating. I felt myself sweating....however, thanks to the drier air, it instantly evaporated. I've never experienced a dry heat, and it's so weird but pleasant compared to the humidity of the south!  

The following morning Ian and I went to church. It was the closest church to Melissa's house, but we didn't realize that it was an old people parish. We were the youngest people there by about thirty years. The parishioners were so old that during communion, we had to sidestep a couple of walkers. The man sitting next to me was very kind and said that it was so nice to see young people in the parish and told us to come back any time. He was super welcoming. I felt bad telling him that we were just visiting Spokane and would be on our merry way the following day. He told us that if we were ever back in Spokane, we should come back to the church. So sweet!

Melissa took us to meet her parents in Nine Mile Falls that day. It was about a thirty minute drive outside the city and borders a gorgeous lake. After meeting her parents and getting the tour of Melissa's childhood home, we decided to take the canoe out on the lake. It's been a while since I've canoed, but I love the feeling of being on the water!  We crossed the lake and went around one of the bends before docking to play in the water for a bit. When we returned to the Barcellos house, Mrs. Barcellos had prepared us a feast for lunch, and we enjoyed a lovely picnic outside. 

That night we drove back into town, met up with Melissa's boyfriend, Tyler, and ate delicious German food. It has been a loooong time since the Reeds have had good German food, so even though we weren't terribly hungry after our delicious lunch, we powered through to devour our schitzels and brats!

Yellowstone

Let's see. I think I left off upon our arrival in Yellowstone. I'm about a week behind, and I really thought I was going to be better about blogging....but alas. I fail at life. 

Yellowstone was one of my favorite places on this trip so far. Yellowstone is just so rugged and beautiful. Even though we only had one full day in the first ever national park, we made our time count. When I was first researching where to go and what to do in Yellowstone, I had to stop. There was WAY too much to do in too little time. Ian and I already agreed that we would have to come back at some point in time. We didn't even cover a third of the park!  

We stayed at Madison campground on the western side of Yellowstone, which was a convenient location for the two places we DEFINITELY wanted to go, Ole Faithful and Mammoth Hot Springs. We started off our day with a brief stroll by the Madison River near camp. The pictures don't do this place justice!

After returning to camp, we loaded up to head south to Ole Faithful with hopes that since we were getting such an early start we would beat the crowds. However, we got a bit sidetracked by some of the attractions along the road, like the lower geyser basin and the midway geyser basin. Each of these places was incredible. Watching boiling water bubble to the surface and walking across a sulphuric earth crust was mesmerizing. 

We finally reached our destination of Ole Faithful, which had shortly erupted before we got there, meaning we had an hour and half(ish) to mess around before it went off again. We walked around the gift shop, and Ian found the most interesting book (called 1,000 Ways to Die in Yellowstone). As he flipped through the book, he read a few crazy ways people have drown, been mauled, fallen, or otherwise died in Yellowstone. 

I'll be really honest now. Ole Faithful was just okay. It only lasted for a minute or so, and it was just me and about a thousand of my closest friends watching it. 

If you go to Yellowstone and want to see a really impressive geyser, I recommend Lone Star Geyser. The park ranger who checked us into our campground told us about it. It's about two miles down the road from Ole Faithful, a two mile hike from that, and goes off every three hours.  We knew that we wanted to see it, so we hiked in (in perfect time as well!). We got there about 2:20, and the geyser shot skyward about ten minutes after that. It was higher and lasted almost twenty minutes. MUCH more impressive than Ole Faithful, so we therefore called it New Faithful. 

Once we hiked back to the car, we could hear the distant rumbles of thunder, and shortly into our car ride to Mammoth the skies opened. It rained on us for the whole hour ride, and even when we arrived the rain didn't stop. This didn't slow us down. We began our walk up to see the hot springs with zest and full of spirit despite the pouring rain. About halfway through the walk as the water began to soak through our clothes and we realized how miserable that night of camping in the cold was going to be, our moods began to dampen. By the time we walked all the way up the pathway soaking wet, we were miserable but excited to see the brilliant blues, greens, reds, and oranges that the deep springs provide. ......I'm not really sure what happened. Please Google "Mammoth Hot Springs" and be amazed at the beauty of the colors. The picture below is what we found. To say that we were disappointed was an understatement. 

Wet and defeated, we decided to drive to the town of West Yellowstone for a good hot dinner to warm up. I'm not sure if it was the hunger, temperature, or conditions, but all of us agreed that that was the BEST Chinese food we had had in a while!  

On our way back to the campground, something happened to me that has NEVER happened. I got pulled over!!  As I saw the flashing light behind me, I originally thought it was because I had cruised through the park entrance with really stopping. You're supposed to stop and present your receipt to show that you've already paid to get in the park, but no one was in the ticket booth, so we cruised on. However, Mr. Park Ranger man pulled me over for two reasons: I was going 51 in a 45 (really?!?) and one of my headlights was out. I turned my headlights off and on, and somehow magically it fixed the issue. He told me to keep and eye on it and then started cutting jokes with us and recommending good restaurants in the local area. He was really nice, and the best thing is that he didn't give me a ticket. Woo hoo!  

That's all for now. More later!