Night of Wednesday the 28th.
Were still driving through the mountains on our way down to sacramento. We just stopped for gas and I ended my turn of driving. While I was driving I was thinking about how many different things a song can do for a person. The right song can put you to bed or wake you up when youre tired. It can make you happy or sad. Bring back good memories or bad memories you wish it hadn’t. A good song can excite you or make you somber. It can make you think, or let you forget about everything and just sing along. A really good song can pretty much do anything. For me there are a couple of songs like this.
First there’s Konstantine, one of my favorite songs ever. It always makes me think of a girl I used to date for a little while. But it never makes me think of how it ended or any of the bad things; it just makes me think of all the times we were happy and having good times together. The song makes me reminisce and mostly just makes me happy.
Theres pretty much anything by Kings of Leon but mostly Revelry and True Love Way. Theyre both fun songs. Really good songs. Shes a fun girl. A really great girl with way too much pull on me. These songs make my thoughts heavy, bittersweet. Nice to have them at all but wish I could hear more of them I guess. Metaphor make sense? Yep lets hope so.
Then there’s anything by Jack’s Mannequin which just makes me immediately happy and playful. Mostly these songs remind me of times spent with good friends doing fun stuff and being dumb. Reminds me of an ultimate tournament we made a dumb video at. Reminds me of signing the lease for our house. Most times I have been listening to jacks in my life have been good times.
1000 times a day by The Early November for some reason makes me feel hopeful. The story behind the song goes that this couple dated for a while before breaking up and not talking for a long time then got back together and got married at the end of the song. I guess it’s the happy ending that makes me hopeful that ill have a happy ending also.
There’s a ton of songs that just make me feel goofy and like dancing or being stupid. It wasn’t me by shaggy comes to mind right away.
Seventy times seven reminds me of some stuff ive done and been through on both sides.
The point is a good song can completely change your mood/outlook/attitude. Moments in my life are marked by the songs I was listening to while I was living the moments. Right now, life is incredible and im listening to a lot of Third Eye Blind. So im sure ill always have good feelings when I hear them from now on. Suppose that whole conditioning thing we learn about in psychology might hold some weight.
An account of my roadtrip 2010 and life afterwards.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Seattle/Portland
Night of Monday july 26th-Wednesday july 28th
Monday night we finished up our drive to Seattle and got some tbell at the first one we could find. After tbell we found a walmart and did some grocery shopping. We mostly got more soup and vegetables to cook on the engine or over fires. After walmart we went over to starbucks nearby and stole internet for a while. I posted my pictures and most recent blogs, checked up on facebook, and read some world news. Nothing has happened it seems. After we finished up with the internet we headed back over to walmart and found a parking spot for the night. It wasn’t a great night of sleep but it wasn’t as bad as the first time we slept in the car.
We woke up the next morning and went to find our hotel, assuming we wouldn’t be able to check in for a while but we could at least explore the area. We arrived at our hotel around 9:30 and were actually able to check in right away. We checked in, ate breakfast, showered up and got ready to go out for the day. We filled up a bag with some snacks, water, our flasks, and long sleeve shirts. Then we rode the train to downtown Seattle. We explored some of the bigger attractions (pikes market, the space needle, and the only place in seattle with beach access.) Then we rode around to some parks and got subway. We filled our subway cups with the liquid courage from our flasks and walked around taking note of all happy hour deals. We found a good hang pier to hang out on and stayed there for a little while. Once our cups were finished we walked around to the happy hours we had noted earlier. The first one, also the first happy hour I had ever been to, was on a boat. I enjoyed a nice cold budlight there as the ship rocked back and forth trying its best to make me seasick. This was one battle I would win however. After getting off the boat seasick-free, we biked up to another happy hour in an Indian restaurant. The rest of the night went much the same way. Biking around, finding bars, getting one drink, leaving to go somewhere else.
At the end of the night, and by that I mean around 9 oclock, we headed back for the train station and boarded. I wasn’t sure hans had made it on the train so I texted him to check. He made it. We rode through the 39 stops before ours then got off the train and biked back to the hotel. We thought about going to another bar in this area but the time was getting short since it was a Tuesday night. We went to bed.
The next morning we woke up the latest we have on the trip. Probably because of sleeping in the car the night before and drinking the day away. But it was a good night of sleep none-the-less. We showered up again and packed up our stuff. We were too late for breakfast. Dang it. We left for Portland. We arrived around 2 and found parking near downtown then got onto our bikes to explore the city. After a little work we found a visitors center with maps and realized that Portland doesn’t have too many attractions. We biked around and found some cool parks, shops, and cultural areas. Portland seems to be a city with more culture/history/art type of things than attractions. Still it was a cool place to bike literally all the way around. Oh and yes, I fell off my bike for the first time or I guess I should say my bike fell without me. Those train tracks in the middle of the road should come with warnings. My tire got caught in the track and went down. I stayed on my feet in an impressive display of agility and awesomeness. Must be all the training.
Now we are back on the road headed to Sacramento. We’re not sure if we will just drive through the night there then find camp or drive about half way and camp or what. We’re 21 and 2200 miles from home and we’ll do whatever THE HELL WE WANT!! Just kidding. But really we will just see how we feel and do that. The next week should be pretty exciting. As with the whole trip. But the two big stops (LA and Vegas) are coming up at the end of this week and moving into next week. But truth be told, im not looking past any day of the trip. Every day brings something new and exciting for me to experience.
Monday night we finished up our drive to Seattle and got some tbell at the first one we could find. After tbell we found a walmart and did some grocery shopping. We mostly got more soup and vegetables to cook on the engine or over fires. After walmart we went over to starbucks nearby and stole internet for a while. I posted my pictures and most recent blogs, checked up on facebook, and read some world news. Nothing has happened it seems. After we finished up with the internet we headed back over to walmart and found a parking spot for the night. It wasn’t a great night of sleep but it wasn’t as bad as the first time we slept in the car.
We woke up the next morning and went to find our hotel, assuming we wouldn’t be able to check in for a while but we could at least explore the area. We arrived at our hotel around 9:30 and were actually able to check in right away. We checked in, ate breakfast, showered up and got ready to go out for the day. We filled up a bag with some snacks, water, our flasks, and long sleeve shirts. Then we rode the train to downtown Seattle. We explored some of the bigger attractions (pikes market, the space needle, and the only place in seattle with beach access.) Then we rode around to some parks and got subway. We filled our subway cups with the liquid courage from our flasks and walked around taking note of all happy hour deals. We found a good hang pier to hang out on and stayed there for a little while. Once our cups were finished we walked around to the happy hours we had noted earlier. The first one, also the first happy hour I had ever been to, was on a boat. I enjoyed a nice cold budlight there as the ship rocked back and forth trying its best to make me seasick. This was one battle I would win however. After getting off the boat seasick-free, we biked up to another happy hour in an Indian restaurant. The rest of the night went much the same way. Biking around, finding bars, getting one drink, leaving to go somewhere else.
At the end of the night, and by that I mean around 9 oclock, we headed back for the train station and boarded. I wasn’t sure hans had made it on the train so I texted him to check. He made it. We rode through the 39 stops before ours then got off the train and biked back to the hotel. We thought about going to another bar in this area but the time was getting short since it was a Tuesday night. We went to bed.
The next morning we woke up the latest we have on the trip. Probably because of sleeping in the car the night before and drinking the day away. But it was a good night of sleep none-the-less. We showered up again and packed up our stuff. We were too late for breakfast. Dang it. We left for Portland. We arrived around 2 and found parking near downtown then got onto our bikes to explore the city. After a little work we found a visitors center with maps and realized that Portland doesn’t have too many attractions. We biked around and found some cool parks, shops, and cultural areas. Portland seems to be a city with more culture/history/art type of things than attractions. Still it was a cool place to bike literally all the way around. Oh and yes, I fell off my bike for the first time or I guess I should say my bike fell without me. Those train tracks in the middle of the road should come with warnings. My tire got caught in the track and went down. I stayed on my feet in an impressive display of agility and awesomeness. Must be all the training.
Now we are back on the road headed to Sacramento. We’re not sure if we will just drive through the night there then find camp or drive about half way and camp or what. We’re 21 and 2200 miles from home and we’ll do whatever THE HELL WE WANT!! Just kidding. But really we will just see how we feel and do that. The next week should be pretty exciting. As with the whole trip. But the two big stops (LA and Vegas) are coming up at the end of this week and moving into next week. But truth be told, im not looking past any day of the trip. Every day brings something new and exciting for me to experience.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Yellowstone/shoshone
Saturday July 24th night-Monday July 26th evening
Saturday night when we arrived back at the campground we were greeted my Milf Mcporkable. She was awfully easy on the eyes for a 40 some year old woman. The rest of the night was spent doing nothing but drinking beverages and being manly. We woke up in the morning feeling phresh as usual and proceeded to the daily activities. We hit up hayden valley for our first stop which is basically a giant grazing ground for every animal in Yellowstone. It is the wolves rendezvous point and where they raise their cubs. We did not see any wolves however. What we did see was some bison, a bear, bison, elk, bison, a bald eagle, pelicans and bison. There was a herd of about 500 bison.
After hayden valley, we headed down towards Lake Yellowstone, which is the biggest high elevation lake in North America. Swimming is discouraged though, because the water struggles to get to 60 degrees even at the warmest times of the year. We checked out the lake a little bit, then went further south to West Thumb Geyser Basin. This had some of the coolest geysers in the park and also presented us with the chance to talk to a pretty lil thing who was totally diggin on us. We had to part ways after walking the trail however, and will most likely never see her again :(
After seeing this we had hit all the stops on our Yellowstone trip so we decided to leave the park. We left Yellowstone and headed for the national forest to find a place to camp. We decided to check in on one of the actual campgrounds that are in the forest. It was empty and self-registering. So we drove in and set up the tent. We figured no one would come to collect money or even come into the campground at all. A few people drove up to use the bathroom and one car actually came in to camp. We went down to talk to the people who much like us were college aged kids on a long road trip. We decided not to hang out with them and go back to our site to bro out more. We spent the night throwing entire trees onto the fire and laughing as the flames went over 6 feet high. Then we went to bed. A good evening for sure.
We woke up bright and early and pack up our things and left within 15 minutes. We drove out to twin falls, Idaho and saw Shoshone park. The falls are really neat to see. We free climbed up a sheer face to get a better view of the falls. Okay fine it wasn’t a sheer face, but the climb was steep enough to slide down at 40 mph. Okay fine it wasn’t 40 mph, but it was fast.
Next we left the falls and started driving to Seattle. This is still what were doing now. Its an awfully long drive. We saw an attractive girl driving her car as we passed by so we slowed down to hold up a sign that says “phone #?” After laughing, she promptly showed us her ring finger, which had a ring on it. Crash and burn. But it was still the highlight of the drive so far.
The only other thing worthy of a mention is how much of a barbarian I feel like. It has been 7 days since I last showered. We pooped in the woods, made fire, ate food cooked over a fire and food cooked in an engine. We’ve climbed several dirt covered mountains, played in muddy streams, fixed our bikes covering ourselves in bike grease, camped in forests, carried ash covered wood and just generally have gotten very dirty. We regularly do things that would be considered unacceptable in normal society (i.e. scratching ourselves blatantly, picking nose, pooping pants regularly, burping whole sentences, etc.) Hopefully soon we will be back in a city and return to being normal respectable humans. Hopefully.
Saturday night when we arrived back at the campground we were greeted my Milf Mcporkable. She was awfully easy on the eyes for a 40 some year old woman. The rest of the night was spent doing nothing but drinking beverages and being manly. We woke up in the morning feeling phresh as usual and proceeded to the daily activities. We hit up hayden valley for our first stop which is basically a giant grazing ground for every animal in Yellowstone. It is the wolves rendezvous point and where they raise their cubs. We did not see any wolves however. What we did see was some bison, a bear, bison, elk, bison, a bald eagle, pelicans and bison. There was a herd of about 500 bison.
After hayden valley, we headed down towards Lake Yellowstone, which is the biggest high elevation lake in North America. Swimming is discouraged though, because the water struggles to get to 60 degrees even at the warmest times of the year. We checked out the lake a little bit, then went further south to West Thumb Geyser Basin. This had some of the coolest geysers in the park and also presented us with the chance to talk to a pretty lil thing who was totally diggin on us. We had to part ways after walking the trail however, and will most likely never see her again :(
After seeing this we had hit all the stops on our Yellowstone trip so we decided to leave the park. We left Yellowstone and headed for the national forest to find a place to camp. We decided to check in on one of the actual campgrounds that are in the forest. It was empty and self-registering. So we drove in and set up the tent. We figured no one would come to collect money or even come into the campground at all. A few people drove up to use the bathroom and one car actually came in to camp. We went down to talk to the people who much like us were college aged kids on a long road trip. We decided not to hang out with them and go back to our site to bro out more. We spent the night throwing entire trees onto the fire and laughing as the flames went over 6 feet high. Then we went to bed. A good evening for sure.
We woke up bright and early and pack up our things and left within 15 minutes. We drove out to twin falls, Idaho and saw Shoshone park. The falls are really neat to see. We free climbed up a sheer face to get a better view of the falls. Okay fine it wasn’t a sheer face, but the climb was steep enough to slide down at 40 mph. Okay fine it wasn’t 40 mph, but it was fast.
Next we left the falls and started driving to Seattle. This is still what were doing now. Its an awfully long drive. We saw an attractive girl driving her car as we passed by so we slowed down to hold up a sign that says “phone #?” After laughing, she promptly showed us her ring finger, which had a ring on it. Crash and burn. But it was still the highlight of the drive so far.
The only other thing worthy of a mention is how much of a barbarian I feel like. It has been 7 days since I last showered. We pooped in the woods, made fire, ate food cooked over a fire and food cooked in an engine. We’ve climbed several dirt covered mountains, played in muddy streams, fixed our bikes covering ourselves in bike grease, camped in forests, carried ash covered wood and just generally have gotten very dirty. We regularly do things that would be considered unacceptable in normal society (i.e. scratching ourselves blatantly, picking nose, pooping pants regularly, burping whole sentences, etc.) Hopefully soon we will be back in a city and return to being normal respectable humans. Hopefully.
Yellowstone
Day Something. Time doesn’t matter out here.
The last blog ends with us going out to a national forest to camp for the night. Although a national forest is generally a huge area, this one was hard to find. We actually ended up camping on private property, but the people around the area didn't care and let us stay the night. We started a fire and cooked up some tasty soup and mac and cheese. It was maybe the best cooked-over-fire-food ever made. Then we drank some keystones and broed out for a while around the fire. When we woke up the next morning we cleaned up camp and headed back for Yellowstone. There was a big traffic cluster almost as soon as we got into the park. Turned out there was a wolf out in a field that everyone was stopping to watch. He was too far away to take pictures really, but it was still pretty cool to see him.
We traveled down to the campground we wanted to get a spot at but it was full so we had to head back up to Indian creek, which is far north of everything we were doing that day. We got our campsite and checked out the hot foreign girls two or three sites down from us before heading out for the day. We went south to Norris geyser basin and saw some geysers, which are basically just big pools of boiling colorful water I guess. That's a pretty bad way to describe it cause it’s actually a really cool sight. After that we drove around to the upper and lower falls of Yellowstone, which are big waterfalls that the Yellowstone River flows over. The river also created the grand canyon of Yellowstone, which we obviously had to take a free climb up. Just kidding, that would be impossible. After the falls and canyon we headed back to our campsite, filled up our flasks, and got to work for the night.
Woke up today at 6:30 to 31ยบ weather. Awesome. Packed up camp in the frozen tundra then headed down to another campground. We got a site for real this time and went on to see the sights for the day. This day started out with us being the luckiest people in the world. We drove down to old faithful and sat down only to see her go off about 3 minutes later. Then we biked ourselves over to morning glory pool. Morning glory pool is a spring with bacteria living in it that makes it look like the morning glory flower. The colors in the pool are incredible. The full effect of the pool has been lessened by dumbass travelers throwing stuff into the pool and plugging up its underground source.
Our appetite for biking was not quelled by this short bike to morning glory pool so we headed over to a much longer trail and biked up and down it. There were some decent sights on this trail. The coolest part of it was seeing two bald eagles flying around over a creek. Along the bike trail was a turn off for fairy falls so we decided we would walk down the path. The fourteen-mile trek turned out to be worth it. But really it was only a mile and a half. The temperature around the fall dropped about 15 degrees and the mist from the water pounding into the rocks around the fall was awfully chilly. Next stop was grand prismatic spring. This was as incredible as everything else out here. There’s really no other way to describe this stuff. The pool is just like most of the other geysers, with incredible colors and boiling water. This pool had some of the most pronounced colors of all the springs or geysers. Check out the pictures. Then we tried to drive back to our campground for the noche but we had a few stops. First there were elk on the side of the road. I was pretty surprised by how huge they are. The ones we saw were all females and basically just look like overgrown deer. Very overgrown. The next stop was for a motorcycle accident, which we didn't see but the traffic jam lasted about an hour and half. And now were back at the campground. Oh and we also saw two grizzly bears on the ride over.
So that makes the list up to wild black bears, grizzlies, buffalo, bald eagles, a bobcat, rattlesnakes, deer, elk, wolves, river otters, ravens, hawks, rodents.
The last blog ends with us going out to a national forest to camp for the night. Although a national forest is generally a huge area, this one was hard to find. We actually ended up camping on private property, but the people around the area didn't care and let us stay the night. We started a fire and cooked up some tasty soup and mac and cheese. It was maybe the best cooked-over-fire-food ever made. Then we drank some keystones and broed out for a while around the fire. When we woke up the next morning we cleaned up camp and headed back for Yellowstone. There was a big traffic cluster almost as soon as we got into the park. Turned out there was a wolf out in a field that everyone was stopping to watch. He was too far away to take pictures really, but it was still pretty cool to see him.
We traveled down to the campground we wanted to get a spot at but it was full so we had to head back up to Indian creek, which is far north of everything we were doing that day. We got our campsite and checked out the hot foreign girls two or three sites down from us before heading out for the day. We went south to Norris geyser basin and saw some geysers, which are basically just big pools of boiling colorful water I guess. That's a pretty bad way to describe it cause it’s actually a really cool sight. After that we drove around to the upper and lower falls of Yellowstone, which are big waterfalls that the Yellowstone River flows over. The river also created the grand canyon of Yellowstone, which we obviously had to take a free climb up. Just kidding, that would be impossible. After the falls and canyon we headed back to our campsite, filled up our flasks, and got to work for the night.
Woke up today at 6:30 to 31ยบ weather. Awesome. Packed up camp in the frozen tundra then headed down to another campground. We got a site for real this time and went on to see the sights for the day. This day started out with us being the luckiest people in the world. We drove down to old faithful and sat down only to see her go off about 3 minutes later. Then we biked ourselves over to morning glory pool. Morning glory pool is a spring with bacteria living in it that makes it look like the morning glory flower. The colors in the pool are incredible. The full effect of the pool has been lessened by dumbass travelers throwing stuff into the pool and plugging up its underground source.
Our appetite for biking was not quelled by this short bike to morning glory pool so we headed over to a much longer trail and biked up and down it. There were some decent sights on this trail. The coolest part of it was seeing two bald eagles flying around over a creek. Along the bike trail was a turn off for fairy falls so we decided we would walk down the path. The fourteen-mile trek turned out to be worth it. But really it was only a mile and a half. The temperature around the fall dropped about 15 degrees and the mist from the water pounding into the rocks around the fall was awfully chilly. Next stop was grand prismatic spring. This was as incredible as everything else out here. There’s really no other way to describe this stuff. The pool is just like most of the other geysers, with incredible colors and boiling water. This pool had some of the most pronounced colors of all the springs or geysers. Check out the pictures. Then we tried to drive back to our campground for the noche but we had a few stops. First there were elk on the side of the road. I was pretty surprised by how huge they are. The ones we saw were all females and basically just look like overgrown deer. Very overgrown. The next stop was for a motorcycle accident, which we didn't see but the traffic jam lasted about an hour and half. And now were back at the campground. Oh and we also saw two grizzly bears on the ride over.
So that makes the list up to wild black bears, grizzlies, buffalo, bald eagles, a bobcat, rattlesnakes, deer, elk, wolves, river otters, ravens, hawks, rodents.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
End of Day 5 and day 6
End of Day 5 and day 6
We headed from devils tower over to the battle of little big horn monument. This was a really somber sight. To see so many graves of so many fallen soldiers really makes you think about things. It was a really good history lesson to walk through the park/monument area. For some reason I felt pretty emotional seeing everything there.
After leaving the battlefield we went to try to find a place to camp for the night. We figured it would be cool to camp near a lake and possibly cliff jump so we found one in the area that we thought would be in the national forest. The drive there was pretty incredible with the way the sky looked up in Montana. Guess it really is Big Sky Country. After arriving we found out it wasn’t in the national forest and was also the shadiest place ever. So we left. The road system into/out of this place was one very long road with a series of dead end roads branching off. This meant we had to back track over the last 40 miles or so of driving we had done. Then we figured it would take us so long to get to the next national forest we might as well try to get close to Yellowstone, which was our next destination. We started driving west and noticed the sky looking pretty ominous in front of us. We figured we would be driving into a thunderstorm or something but we had no idea what mother nature had in store for us.
The storm we drove into turned out to be the worst storm ive seen in my entire life. The winds had to be blowing over 70 miles per hour and the rain was moving horizontally. To add onto this we were driving across an Indian reservation and saw one or two cars in about 90 miles. There were no gas stations, no hotels, no shelters for cars, no homes, no signs of civilization. As if that's not bad enough, they forgot to pave the roads too. Without a doubt this was the most scared I had ever been in my life. I legitimately thought we were driving right into a tornado. The storm finally broke and I stopped fearing for my life…for the most part. Every once in a while a good bit of rain would come down again and id have to ask mother nature to cut it out, but it was not as bad as before. After the storm was pretty much over we drove down some more high way and eventually found a pull off in a national forest and slept for the night, waking up every couple of hours for lightning or thunder.
We woke up in the morning and headed for Yellowstone national park. The drive there was ridiculously scenic, awesome, and pretty dangerous. We stopped a few times to take pictures which all turned out really great. We also had to stop to play in the snow since you don't get many chances to do that in July. When we got to Yellowstone there was a huge traffic jam of people stopping to look at a herd of bison on the side of the road. Once we got farther inside we decided to see some of the top attractions in the part of the park we were in. Hans and I went down by Lamar river/valley and stuck our feet in after eating lunch. We strolled down the river a couple hundred yards and looked back to see a bison right where we started our walk. We also found a skull and spine of some large animal laying in the field we were walking through. It would’ve made a good wall ornament but we decided to leave it instead. We then drove over to tower’s fall, stopping on the way for another free climb as usual. We climbed up a small rock formation above a river and got a pretty good view of the river. When we arrived at towers fall we walked down to see the fall and took some pictures. Then we kept walking down and got into the river a few feet. The water was ridiculously cold. We headed back up the trail and decided to see the mammoth hot springs before we left the park to camp for the night. We hiked up a trail by the hot springs and got a good view from the top. The water was about as warm as a hot tub in some spots and even warmer in others. We weren’t supposed to touch it but obviously we did anyways. Then we hiked down and headed out of the park. The roads get pretty congested whenever there is wildlife to see, which is a pain in the butt, but its worth it. So far we have seen wild bears, buffalo, a bald eagle, a bobcat, rattlesnakes, deer, and several birds and rodents. The bigger attractions causing the traffic jams of course. Yellowstone is a beautiful place to be. We will be here for four or five more days. Im sure we will hike, bike, swim, see lots of cool things, and be satisfied by our experiences before we leave. I cant wait. As for now we are going up to a national forest to camp for the night and then heading back into the park tomorrow. Ill keep you up to date…if anyone is reading this.
We headed from devils tower over to the battle of little big horn monument. This was a really somber sight. To see so many graves of so many fallen soldiers really makes you think about things. It was a really good history lesson to walk through the park/monument area. For some reason I felt pretty emotional seeing everything there.
After leaving the battlefield we went to try to find a place to camp for the night. We figured it would be cool to camp near a lake and possibly cliff jump so we found one in the area that we thought would be in the national forest. The drive there was pretty incredible with the way the sky looked up in Montana. Guess it really is Big Sky Country. After arriving we found out it wasn’t in the national forest and was also the shadiest place ever. So we left. The road system into/out of this place was one very long road with a series of dead end roads branching off. This meant we had to back track over the last 40 miles or so of driving we had done. Then we figured it would take us so long to get to the next national forest we might as well try to get close to Yellowstone, which was our next destination. We started driving west and noticed the sky looking pretty ominous in front of us. We figured we would be driving into a thunderstorm or something but we had no idea what mother nature had in store for us.
The storm we drove into turned out to be the worst storm ive seen in my entire life. The winds had to be blowing over 70 miles per hour and the rain was moving horizontally. To add onto this we were driving across an Indian reservation and saw one or two cars in about 90 miles. There were no gas stations, no hotels, no shelters for cars, no homes, no signs of civilization. As if that's not bad enough, they forgot to pave the roads too. Without a doubt this was the most scared I had ever been in my life. I legitimately thought we were driving right into a tornado. The storm finally broke and I stopped fearing for my life…for the most part. Every once in a while a good bit of rain would come down again and id have to ask mother nature to cut it out, but it was not as bad as before. After the storm was pretty much over we drove down some more high way and eventually found a pull off in a national forest and slept for the night, waking up every couple of hours for lightning or thunder.
We woke up in the morning and headed for Yellowstone national park. The drive there was ridiculously scenic, awesome, and pretty dangerous. We stopped a few times to take pictures which all turned out really great. We also had to stop to play in the snow since you don't get many chances to do that in July. When we got to Yellowstone there was a huge traffic jam of people stopping to look at a herd of bison on the side of the road. Once we got farther inside we decided to see some of the top attractions in the part of the park we were in. Hans and I went down by Lamar river/valley and stuck our feet in after eating lunch. We strolled down the river a couple hundred yards and looked back to see a bison right where we started our walk. We also found a skull and spine of some large animal laying in the field we were walking through. It would’ve made a good wall ornament but we decided to leave it instead. We then drove over to tower’s fall, stopping on the way for another free climb as usual. We climbed up a small rock formation above a river and got a pretty good view of the river. When we arrived at towers fall we walked down to see the fall and took some pictures. Then we kept walking down and got into the river a few feet. The water was ridiculously cold. We headed back up the trail and decided to see the mammoth hot springs before we left the park to camp for the night. We hiked up a trail by the hot springs and got a good view from the top. The water was about as warm as a hot tub in some spots and even warmer in others. We weren’t supposed to touch it but obviously we did anyways. Then we hiked down and headed out of the park. The roads get pretty congested whenever there is wildlife to see, which is a pain in the butt, but its worth it. So far we have seen wild bears, buffalo, a bald eagle, a bobcat, rattlesnakes, deer, and several birds and rodents. The bigger attractions causing the traffic jams of course. Yellowstone is a beautiful place to be. We will be here for four or five more days. Im sure we will hike, bike, swim, see lots of cool things, and be satisfied by our experiences before we leave. I cant wait. As for now we are going up to a national forest to camp for the night and then heading back into the park tomorrow. Ill keep you up to date…if anyone is reading this.
End of day 3 and Day 4/5
Went to Sioux falls park two nights ago (Monday night) and saw the park, which was pretty awesome. We biked around the falls and went down to dip our feet in the water. After that we went over to our hotel and planned the next day out more clearly. We made an early night of it and got to bed around 10:30. The next morning we woke up and started the busiest day ever. We headed out from the hotel to badlands national park. Along the way we had to stop at the corn palace just to see what it was all about. There were some pretty cool giant murals made out of corn and some pretty cool wigs we had to try on in the gift shop, for no reason of course.
Badlands national park ended up being a really cool sight to see too. Apparently the Badlands were aptly named such by French explorers that tried to traverse the land, but failed because the rocks are too ridiculous. We did some free climbing there and made it up to the top of a ridge for a pretty cool view. After that we finished the drive through the park and headed up to Wall Drug Store. In the camping section we found two necessities for the rest of our trip: 1. Awesome 75-cent Budweiser hat that will be key in picking up chicks and 2. 8-ounce flask that will provide the liquid courage to hit on said chicks. We sat down for lunch and got a buffalo burger and worlds biggest beer. Buffalo meat was pretty tasty, and like always beer was immensely
tasty too.
After Wall we headed over to Rapid City to see Bear Country USA. I suppose the best way to describe this is that it’s a drive through zoo where the animals are not in cages. Upon entering the place we see a giant wolf standing in the middle of the road, not willing to move for anything. In the place we also saw bobcats, reindeer, elk, foxes, and badgers. Oh and of course, bears. Hundreds of bears. Really incredible animals. At the end of the drive through part, there is a walk through part where you can see bear cubs and wolf pups along with several other smaller animals. The bear cubs were possibly the most playful animals imaginable. Its also pretty impressive to see an animal the size of a large house dog just climb up a tree like its no big deal.
The next stop was mount rushmore. Rushmore is awfully impressive. The size of it and the work that had to go into it make Rushmore really impressive. We snapped some shots and went back to the car to find a camp site for the night. We turned up a gravel road and traveled a little distance before finding a relatively flat land to throw the tent up on. Camping in national forests is free and awesome in case you were wondering. We set up the tent and started a fire up like men. Then we sat down on a rock by the fire and enjoyed the view and some keystones.
The next day we woke up pretty early to some animal exploring our little patch of land. We scared it off though. Hopefully it wasn’t a bear. We decided we wanted to go hiking so we looked on the map and found the hardest trail of course. After turning down a gravel road and driving approximately 12893 miles to find the trail, we gave up and decided to poop in the woods instead. At this point we saw some cool cliffs and decided it would be a good idea to free climb up to them. We ended up blazing a trail way higher than originally planned, but that's what being manly is I suppose.
Next we got back to the car and drove over to Devil’s Tower National Monument. This is basically just a giant cylinder of rock with thousands of large boulders around the main structure. Visitors are allowed to climb up about 100 feet on these boulders at the bottom. Hans and I had to climb up about 400 of course. Breaking rules. We’re total rebels. But seriously, risking life for the incredible view was a pretty good idea Id say. And really, we could only fall so far right?
And that's about all we’ve done in the last forty hours. Good thing we don't need sleep.
Went to Sioux falls park two nights ago (Monday night) and saw the park, which was pretty awesome. We biked around the falls and went down to dip our feet in the water. After that we went over to our hotel and planned the next day out more clearly. We made an early night of it and got to bed around 10:30. The next morning we woke up and started the busiest day ever. We headed out from the hotel to badlands national park. Along the way we had to stop at the corn palace just to see what it was all about. There were some pretty cool giant murals made out of corn and some pretty cool wigs we had to try on in the gift shop, for no reason of course.
Badlands national park ended up being a really cool sight to see too. Apparently the Badlands were aptly named such by French explorers that tried to traverse the land, but failed because the rocks are too ridiculous. We did some free climbing there and made it up to the top of a ridge for a pretty cool view. After that we finished the drive through the park and headed up to Wall Drug Store. In the camping section we found two necessities for the rest of our trip: 1. Awesome 75-cent Budweiser hat that will be key in picking up chicks and 2. 8-ounce flask that will provide the liquid courage to hit on said chicks. We sat down for lunch and got a buffalo burger and worlds biggest beer. Buffalo meat was pretty tasty, and like always beer was immensely
tasty too.
After Wall we headed over to Rapid City to see Bear Country USA. I suppose the best way to describe this is that it’s a drive through zoo where the animals are not in cages. Upon entering the place we see a giant wolf standing in the middle of the road, not willing to move for anything. In the place we also saw bobcats, reindeer, elk, foxes, and badgers. Oh and of course, bears. Hundreds of bears. Really incredible animals. At the end of the drive through part, there is a walk through part where you can see bear cubs and wolf pups along with several other smaller animals. The bear cubs were possibly the most playful animals imaginable. Its also pretty impressive to see an animal the size of a large house dog just climb up a tree like its no big deal.
The next stop was mount rushmore. Rushmore is awfully impressive. The size of it and the work that had to go into it make Rushmore really impressive. We snapped some shots and went back to the car to find a camp site for the night. We turned up a gravel road and traveled a little distance before finding a relatively flat land to throw the tent up on. Camping in national forests is free and awesome in case you were wondering. We set up the tent and started a fire up like men. Then we sat down on a rock by the fire and enjoyed the view and some keystones.
The next day we woke up pretty early to some animal exploring our little patch of land. We scared it off though. Hopefully it wasn’t a bear. We decided we wanted to go hiking so we looked on the map and found the hardest trail of course. After turning down a gravel road and driving approximately 12893 miles to find the trail, we gave up and decided to poop in the woods instead. At this point we saw some cool cliffs and decided it would be a good idea to free climb up to them. We ended up blazing a trail way higher than originally planned, but that's what being manly is I suppose.
Next we got back to the car and drove over to Devil’s Tower National Monument. This is basically just a giant cylinder of rock with thousands of large boulders around the main structure. Visitors are allowed to climb up about 100 feet on these boulders at the bottom. Hans and I had to climb up about 400 of course. Breaking rules. We’re total rebels. But seriously, risking life for the incredible view was a pretty good idea Id say. And really, we could only fall so far right?
And that's about all we’ve done in the last forty hours. Good thing we don't need sleep.
Day 3
Day 3
So last night ended up being about the most perfect night possible. Hans and I biked out to some bars around our hotel. The first bar was pretty hoppin for a Sunday night. Lots of people in there, live music, good looking girls. We had to order a Schlitz since it is the beer that made Milwaukee famous after all. We left that bar and headed out to another where there were no people so we left right away and went to the last bar, right next to our hotel. There weren’t many people but there were a few 30 year old bros sitting at the bar. We plopped down next to em and ordered a drink. We had to jump in their conversation when we heard them talking about family guy. This inevitably led to the discussion about our road trip at which our new friend Dan got really excited. He was probably the coolest guy ill ever meet, since I cant meet myself. While talking Dan ordered us a couple of drinks and told us about a road trip he went on to New York City. Slept in a sleeping bag in Central Park. OG.
Today we got up around 7 and packed up our stuff so we could get out on the road by 8. We got up to the Mall of America at about 1 and were greeted by approximately 2000 hot girls age 15-25. We figured someone told them we were coming and they were all just waiting to see us, but it turned out another fella named Zach Efron was gonna be there too. I guess they came to see him, not us. After spending about 3 hours in the mall walking around, gawking at girls that will graduate high school in about 2034, we headed out and are now on the road to Sioux falls. We’re gonna hit up the park tonight before checking in to our hotel. I hear it’s a beautiful park so im looking forward to it. And tomorrow will be a big day. After posting this I probably wont have internet for a while, but ill try to write something every night and just post it next time I have internet.
For some deep thoughts. Its pretty cool being out on the open road like this.. We just came around a bend on the high way and could see for literally about as far as possible down the high way. There’s just something about seeing so much open land that is completely undeveloped. Its also pretty interesting to look into peoples cars while we pass them and see what is hanging off their mirror. Every one has something different up there. Im having a pretty good time so far. Everything is going as planned, and going really well. I've taken some good pictures so far which ill post on facebook, but I feel like there will be a lot of really cool stuff to get pictures of in the next couple of days/weeks. Guess I don't have many deep thoughts going on right now…Maybe when we get out in the camping parts of the trip ill have more time to think.
So last night ended up being about the most perfect night possible. Hans and I biked out to some bars around our hotel. The first bar was pretty hoppin for a Sunday night. Lots of people in there, live music, good looking girls. We had to order a Schlitz since it is the beer that made Milwaukee famous after all. We left that bar and headed out to another where there were no people so we left right away and went to the last bar, right next to our hotel. There weren’t many people but there were a few 30 year old bros sitting at the bar. We plopped down next to em and ordered a drink. We had to jump in their conversation when we heard them talking about family guy. This inevitably led to the discussion about our road trip at which our new friend Dan got really excited. He was probably the coolest guy ill ever meet, since I cant meet myself. While talking Dan ordered us a couple of drinks and told us about a road trip he went on to New York City. Slept in a sleeping bag in Central Park. OG.
Today we got up around 7 and packed up our stuff so we could get out on the road by 8. We got up to the Mall of America at about 1 and were greeted by approximately 2000 hot girls age 15-25. We figured someone told them we were coming and they were all just waiting to see us, but it turned out another fella named Zach Efron was gonna be there too. I guess they came to see him, not us. After spending about 3 hours in the mall walking around, gawking at girls that will graduate high school in about 2034, we headed out and are now on the road to Sioux falls. We’re gonna hit up the park tonight before checking in to our hotel. I hear it’s a beautiful park so im looking forward to it. And tomorrow will be a big day. After posting this I probably wont have internet for a while, but ill try to write something every night and just post it next time I have internet.
For some deep thoughts. Its pretty cool being out on the open road like this.. We just came around a bend on the high way and could see for literally about as far as possible down the high way. There’s just something about seeing so much open land that is completely undeveloped. Its also pretty interesting to look into peoples cars while we pass them and see what is hanging off their mirror. Every one has something different up there. Im having a pretty good time so far. Everything is going as planned, and going really well. I've taken some good pictures so far which ill post on facebook, but I feel like there will be a lot of really cool stuff to get pictures of in the next couple of days/weeks. Guess I don't have many deep thoughts going on right now…Maybe when we get out in the camping parts of the trip ill have more time to think.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
First two days
We embarked on our journey yesterday evening traveling up to my house in valpo for the night. This night went about as planned minus the tough crowd of funny-joke-haters. Hans and i were throwing out comedic gold, but to no avail. After waking up at 7 am for no reason, we ate breakfast and packed up for the long journey ahead. We arrived in milwaukee today at about noon and checked in to our hotel. Then went to a grocery store and got some good eats. Liquor here is ridiculously cheap. We headed down town and took our bikes off the rack not knowing where we were going. We had about 20 minutes to find the brewery before the tour started and luckily got some directions from a pretty lady. Got to the brewery on time, drank good beer, learned how its made, then headed down to the beach. Water was about 7 Kelvin so we threw a disc around for a while impressing all onlookers. Had a couple bro's clap for us and ask if they could throw one. Nice people here in Milwaukee. Then we biked back to the car about 4 miles, not knowing where we were or where we were going, but using the sun and tall buildings as a guide. Good thing we're incredible navigators. Yep. Anyways. At the hotel now about to get ready to go out for the night.
Perfect start to the trip. Im excited to see what the next couple weeks have in store for us. Hopefully more of the same. Ill try to write more later and more of what i think instead of just recapping events, but for now i just want to enjoy myself and be worry free. Hope things are going as well for others as they are for myself.
Perfect start to the trip. Im excited to see what the next couple weeks have in store for us. Hopefully more of the same. Ill try to write more later and more of what i think instead of just recapping events, but for now i just want to enjoy myself and be worry free. Hope things are going as well for others as they are for myself.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Moments
Well seems like a great time for some late night philosophy with Mattski. I've been doing some more thinking and talking with people as the trip draws nearer. I’ve come to two semi-realizations. Two things to discuss: moments and clean slates.
Life is simply made up of a series of moments. Some good, some bad. Some memorable. Some not so much. How do we know which is which? Sometimes what you think is the worst thing at the time ends up being something youll look back on as a good moment. Sometimes what you think youll always remember, you have a hard time remembering the next year, month, or even week. Which moments are really important? Which moments define who we are and who we’re going to be? I don't have the answers to these questions, but I do know that I have had some moments of my own and that this trip will provide even more. In the last couple of weeks I’ve seen shooting stars, swam across a lake, bonged a beer under water, danced with people I don't know, made a fool of myself, but ultimately made memories.
I want this trip to be filled with more memorable moments, the good moments as this summer has been so far. I want to party in Las Vegas so that when someone asks me 15 years from now what the craziest thing I’ve ever done is, Ill know. I want to watch the sunset over the grand canyon so when someone asks what the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen is, ill know. When someone asks me a question about my life, I want to have good answers, exciting answers, real answers. I want to do everything that I can possibly do and make these moments as memorable as possible.
The other thing ill keep short since this is already getting long (that's what she said). Clean slates. Blank pages. Wouldn’t it be cool to wake up every day with a clean slate? Somewhere where no one knows who you are or what you’re like? You could be anyone you wanted to be. You could do anything you wanted to do. That's the situation im going to be in over the next month. I get to choose who I want to be for that day and no one is gonna know the difference. Then the next day I can choose to be someone else. Every day will be a fresh start. Im excited to see how that changes who I am. And when I come back if I have changed, ill be coming back with a clean slate also. A fresh start to my senior year of college. The future holds many possibilities, all of which excite me.
One week. Cant wait.
Life is simply made up of a series of moments. Some good, some bad. Some memorable. Some not so much. How do we know which is which? Sometimes what you think is the worst thing at the time ends up being something youll look back on as a good moment. Sometimes what you think youll always remember, you have a hard time remembering the next year, month, or even week. Which moments are really important? Which moments define who we are and who we’re going to be? I don't have the answers to these questions, but I do know that I have had some moments of my own and that this trip will provide even more. In the last couple of weeks I’ve seen shooting stars, swam across a lake, bonged a beer under water, danced with people I don't know, made a fool of myself, but ultimately made memories.
I want this trip to be filled with more memorable moments, the good moments as this summer has been so far. I want to party in Las Vegas so that when someone asks me 15 years from now what the craziest thing I’ve ever done is, Ill know. I want to watch the sunset over the grand canyon so when someone asks what the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen is, ill know. When someone asks me a question about my life, I want to have good answers, exciting answers, real answers. I want to do everything that I can possibly do and make these moments as memorable as possible.
The other thing ill keep short since this is already getting long (that's what she said). Clean slates. Blank pages. Wouldn’t it be cool to wake up every day with a clean slate? Somewhere where no one knows who you are or what you’re like? You could be anyone you wanted to be. You could do anything you wanted to do. That's the situation im going to be in over the next month. I get to choose who I want to be for that day and no one is gonna know the difference. Then the next day I can choose to be someone else. Every day will be a fresh start. Im excited to see how that changes who I am. And when I come back if I have changed, ill be coming back with a clean slate also. A fresh start to my senior year of college. The future holds many possibilities, all of which excite me.
One week. Cant wait.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)