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!

Onward to Yellowstone

Greetings (again) from the road!  We have reached the halfway point of Spokane, and today we are turning the car back around and going east.  It's hard to believe that a week has already gone by and that by this time next week we will be back in Paducah. 

So much has happened since I last blogged. We saw the intricately carved faces of Mt. Rushmore, toured the Crazyhorse monument and Native American culture buildings, drove over the mysterious yet glorious Black Hills, cooked burgers over a campfire, camped through two nights of heavy thunderstorms, and journeyed onward to Yellowstone. 

The drive to Yellowstone took us through the state of Montana. Montana is known as the "big sky" state. I get it. I understand now. A good stretch of the day took us through Native American reservations and ranch land where there is absolutely nothing. It was beautiful but quickly became boring, and those of us in the back seat were beginning to get a bit antsy and slap happy. We were more than willing to stop in Billings, Montana for lunch to break up the drive. 

I've never been to the Rockies, so as were approached the mountains (that you can see for MILES) I was ridiculously excited. Since leaving Japan, Ian and I have both missed our mountains. Rolling through the mountains valleys and over wild rapid streams reminded me of our beloved Kuma Gun in Japan. The instant we arrived in Yellowstone we understand the beauty of the place. We've heard and read so much about the place, but you can't fully grasp its magnitude until you're there. As we entered through the North Entrance by the Roosevelt Arch whereTheodore Roosevelt dedicated Yellowstone as the first national park, I got goosebumps. 

We stayed in Madison campground, which was toward the western edge of the park, so we had a bit to drive before we reached our destination.  We saw elk and bison, neither of which I had seen before. We drove in parallel to a mountain river, through a gloriously green valley, wrapped around a mountain, through evergreen forests, over steaming hot springs, and finally reached our destination with about an hour of daylight to spare. We set up camp and started a campfire (for warmth...Yellowstone was COLD!) before calling it a night. 

On the Road Again

Greetings from the road again!  It's another looooong day in the car as we make our way to Yellowstone. I left off on Tuesday as we were making our way to Mt. Rushmore. 

South Dakota is a flat state without a lot going on until you get to the western part of the state.  It was really weird to see for miles and miles without trees, houses, or anything. We randomly stopped somewhere for gas and met a guy from Henderson, KY. Small world!!  

One of the best things about crossing South Dakota was the billboards. We saw a billboard advertising the largest bull head in the world, a corn palace, and our favorite, WALL DRUG!  Wall drug in an amazing touristy town located in Wall, SD. We saw the first billboard advertise "Wall Drug, only 355 miles!"  ONLY, you guys. ONLY!  After that, every couple of miles it was: free ice water!  5 cent coffee! Giant T-Rex!  Good eats!  We decided that we HAD to go, and said that we would only stay for thirty minutes to check it out and get back on the road. Well, thirty minutes turned into two hours because it. Was. Too. Awesome. 

By the time we reached the campground in Keystone, SD all of us were ready to get out of the car.  We pitched our tents and settled in for the night as darkness approached. Our KOA campground was fantastic!  It was almost like not camping at all.  We had a great grassy area all to ourselves with water access right across the gravel drive, bathrooms and showers a short walk down the road, an outdoor tent area that provided an all you can eat pancake breakfast, great lodge area with helpful staff, a coffee shop, restaurant, swimming pools, and tons of other amenities. Ian and I went to take showers after we settled in, and just as we got back to our tent heard a sprinkle of two on the top of the tent. Within a few minutes, it was a downpour and full thunderstorm. Lightning flashed, thundered crashed through the hills, the wind whipped around the sides of the tent, and the rain just wouldn't stop. Well, we survived!  That was our first time camping out in the USA, and it was definitely a trail by fire. 

Chicago

Good morning from the road!  Yesterday was a looooong day of travel, and today is even longer!  Yesterday we were up at 5:30 and on the road shortly after 6. By noon we were in Chicago and spent the rest of the day sight seeing.  

I've been to Chicago before, but one thing that I really enjoyed was the architecture. Chicago has a ton of gorgeous buildings!  The picture above is the iconic Trump Tower, which is currently the second tallest building in the Windy City. 

No trip to Chicago is complete without  a stop in Millennium Park to see The Bean. It could quite possibly be the birthplace of selfies as everyone and their mother wants to take a picture of themselves in the shining reflective surface. 

Our next stop was the Sears Tower (..or Willis Tower...or whatever they're calling it these days). The last time I was at the top of the Sears Tower, I wasn't able to go in the little plexiglass box that extends four feet from the side of the building. It's a little trippy because you can look down and see the city right below your feet. CRAZINESS!!

We wrapped up our day in Chicago with (what else?) a deep dish Chicago pizza at the BEST pizza place on the face of the Earth, Giordano's. 

It was an early night so that we could have an early morning. That 3:30 wake up call came just a little TOO early, but we knew we had to get on the road. Our mission for today is to travel over 900 miles to Hill City, South Dakota. Tomorrow we'll tour Mt. Rushmore and Crazyhorse.