Two Yellowstone Videos

Sorry for the sideways one!

Driving through South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin

Hello everyone. This is Greg. Is this the same font color as the last post? I'm not sure it is, but oh well. So I'm going to tell you about today. It was the most driving of our entire trip. Google Maps and our GPS disagreed on the length of travel, but I'll tell you we left at about 11 AM (after a short detour drive to Mount Rushmore) and finished at 12:30 AM, and that's with very few stops.

Mount Rushmore was cool to see. There isn't much to do there once you see it though, so it didn't take very long. We had Lily waiting in the car and the other two pets waiting back at our hotel. We also learned that they are carving out a gigantic Crazy Horse that won't be done until 2050 and can fit an 5 bedroom house in the horse's nostril, so we'll want to come back someday to see that. After all this driving, the states and days are starting to all seem the same to me. That might also be because they look similar anyway. During the day, we run the A/C in the car to make it somewhat tolerable, but the Honda does this weird thing where it leaks water all over the passenger seat's floor when it's on.

There isn't much to say about the drive today. (For Little House on the Prairie Fans, we did pass by the Laura Ingalls Wilder home site in South Dakota! Oh, and we saw a very tiny town still intact from the 1800s. That's something to say about the drive!) We didn't set foot at all in Minnesota. We drove right on through at 80-85 mph in the 75 mph zone. We crossed over the Mississippi River, which would have been really cool if it wasn't pitch black outside. Street lights are so rare around here. Also, we noticed that drivers from Utah and Illinois are the worst. They are huge speedsters and will risk their lives to get in front of you. Seriously, seriously, seriously! Some of these drivers must have a death wish.

Let's see...oh! We're changing our route. Instead of another long drive to Buffalo tomorrow, we're doing a "short" 8 hour drive to Dayton, Ohio. Erin will be doing most of the driving, since I did most of it today (She was complaining about "restless leg syndrome" or something. I don't ask questions. I just go along with it.) My shins were hurting very badly!!! Greg was the one who told me it was probably restless leg syndrome! Then, we'll have an even shorter drive to Pittsburgh the following day. We figured we can see Niagara Falls anytime since we'll be living only a couple hours away.

Well, I guess that's all for today. We're in our hotel in Madison, Wisconsin. Now I have to wait for Erin to proofread and approve this blog before I can post it. Pictures will come later! Proofreading complete. Thoughts added. Time for bed!

Wyoming is Truly the Wild West: A Blog from Both of Us

Erin = black font

Greg = blue font

We began the day by leaving our wonderful little log cabin to explore Yellowstone National Park. We went ahead and did the Grand Loop through the park. We headed to Mammoth Hot Springs at the top of the loop, and we saw a few bison in the distance on our way. We took a hasty walk around the hot springs to see the views while not leaving the pets in the car for too long.

After viewing the white stone, we left and got back on the loop. Before long, we came across a crowd of people, and as we looked out the window, a little black bear was rummaging through the bushes on the side of the road. I was super excited!

Crowds of people were always the best way to spot animals. They might cause some traffic, but you know there’s something good to see. There was a bigger crowd later on the loop that had

spotted a big brown bear with some cubs, but they were so far away and laying in some grass that they were hard to see. Also, Lily was trying to climb out the window after we had left the car, so we made it a fast stop. Erin was always trying to get me to pull over because there was a bison or elk in the far distance, but I kept telling her we’d see better ones.

Just when she was about to give up hope, we drove past a couple bison hanging out by the road, one laying down just ten feet from the road, and one even crossing.

We were stoked. Later on, we pulled over to find two huge male elk just a little off the road. We went pretty close to take some pictures, but when one of them looked straight at the crowds, I made Greg go with me back to the car. They tell you to stay a good distance from the animals for a reason. Besides the animals, we saw mud volcanoes and of course, Old Faithful, which erupted about fifteen minutes after we arrived.

It was sooo crowded there and very hot. We had to take all three animals with us to the geyser so they wouldn’t melt in the car. It was a lot of work and a little embarrassing carrying a chinchilla and a fish around, but it was worth it to see the geyser.

When we left Old Faithful, we got stuck in a line of traffic that delayed us about 45 minutes. Worst case scenarios were running through my head. We had been warned upon entering the park that buffalo gore visitors who get too close, and I was thinking maybe an accident had occurred. By the time we reached the cause of the traffic, we discovered it was yet another elk hanging out by the road.

By the time we got out of the park, it was about two pm, and we still had a nine hour drive ahead of us. We were a little disappointed that we didn’t see any moose, but overall, we were satisfied with the trip. We had a long, boring drive through Wyoming for a while. Then, we got to some exciting parts with winding roads and plenty of animals.

We had to cross a mountain range, and the Honda had to accelerate and brake around tight hairpin turns. We had to stop for cows and deer crossing the road. There were “Open Range” signs alerting us that the road was just part of the sheep and cows’ domain. Little towns we crossed through had small populations, one reaching only ten. Later on in the day, we saw loads of deer on both sides of the highway, and as the sun started setting, we came across an SUV from Texas parked on the roadside. When we looked to the right, we saw what we had been waiting for: a male and female moose!

So that part of the drive was pretty exciting. Later on, it was late and dark and we still had a long way to drive. I had been driving for a while and let Erin sleep. I was starting to get sleepy too, even with a Monster energy drink (those have been coming in handy). So there I was, driving along and minding my own business. The lights on the little Honda are not as bright as I’d like, and the windshield was covered in splattered bugs, making it very hard to see. Suddenly, a dead deer appeared in the middle of my lane and I had a half second to decide what to do. Fortunately, that’s not enough time to process it and I just ran over it with no harm done except scaring Erin so much that she thought we were dying. It certainly woke us up and kept our hearts beating fast for the next ten minutes.

It scared me so much that I have been incredibly paranoid of deer leaping into the streets ever since. The constant deer crossing signs do not help my paranoia. When we arrived in Rapid City, which has a population around 59,000, I felt like I was in a huge city. That’s the effect driving in the wilderness for hours has on a traveler! When we pulled in to our hotel at 2 AM, we were looking so forward to sleeping, though we only got about four hours. I’m glad we did the Wyoming wilderness drive, but I can’t say I want to do it again anytime soon…or maybe ever.

Agreed.

P.S. We don't have the adapter for our camera, so when we get to Syracuse, we'll put a bunch of pictures in one album, so enjoy these few phone pictures for now.

Update to Come

We arrived in Rapid City, SD at 1:30 this morning. We really need some sleep, and we might be changing our route for the next two nights. We made it safely, and we saw some awesome wildlife and earth action in Yellowstone! More to come later.

California Cows, Oregon Waterfalls, Idaho Lightening Storms, & Montana Cabins

Happy cows come from California. Well, maybe, but still, it gets old passing by those happy Californian cows. Driving north from Sacramento does offer some better views than the trip to San Diego, but there are still plenty of plains of yellowed grass and plenty of grazing cows. Let’s just say that Greg and I were very happy to pass the “Welcome to Oregon” sign on the road.

Oregon offered loads of beautiful empty land, and Portland started to feel like a really long way off. We were planning on meeting up with Richard, Megan, and their new baby as soon as we reached our motel, but the time kept ticking onward without our arrival. We got excited when we drove through Portland and caught glimpses of the bridges and gondola over the city. Finally, at about 8:30 PM, we pulled in to the cheap Motel 6 located in close proximity to Rich and Megan’s apartment. We got to meet little Benjamin, who is just over a month old. We all went out to eat at a nice restaurant, and we caught up a little in the time we had together.

After another short night of sleep (also much interrupted due to the constant trains going by the motel), we headed off at 7:30 AM to make our journey to West Yellowstone in Montana. We left the Portland area to head east into Idaho and viewed Oregon’s beautiful cliffs, trees, and waterfalls. It was a good way to start the drive. Once we crossed into Idaho, the road quickly grew boring. We were already extremely anxious to be finished with the day’s driving, and our GPS informed us we wouldn’t make it until 8:30 PM. A little later, we realized we were now in a different time zone, so it would be an hour later than we expected when we arrived.

In Idaho, we drove (with a speed limit of 75) through massive lightening storms.

I have never seen so many bolts. They were occurring rapidly all around our car. For miles and miles, they surrounded us. The rain was intense too. When we reached the Montana border, we could barely see. It was dark, and there weren’t any street lights. We pulled up the Hibernation Station at about 10 PM.

After the Motel 6, I was expecting something similar, as we had booked the cheapest place we could find in West Yellowstone, which was a bit tricky, as it is the high season and most places don’t allow dogs. We pulled up to the location to find a bunch of individual cabins. Greg thought there was a separate motel in the back, but when he went to check in, he came out with a key to one of the cabins. So, tonight, we are resting in our own little cabin and wishing dreadfully we were staying here a week on vacation :)

P.S. Lily is such a good girl in the car!

The Dreaded Tub

A tub has been clogging up my little Honda's trunk for quite some time now. I'm sure it's been there for over a year, probably over two years. During these past years, I have wiggled and wedged all kinds of things around the tub, for I have dreaded to pull it out and clean out the contents. It's one of those objects that I knew would take time and effort to go through and clean, so I left it alone.

Well, tomorrow I am taking my car in get an inspection, as it must be declared to be in tip-top shape for the trek across the states. I decided it was time I really needed to clean out the tub. Within the next nine days, the trunk needs to be cleared in order to fit what we need for the move. A dog crate and chinchilla cage are just two large pieces of the puzzle that need to fit in my trunk. So, I pulled out the tub.

I found old papers from my sophomore year of college. I found loads of pictures from freshmen year, and they all brought back so many memories. I found magnets, one an "E" and one a "M" that Monica and I had bought to decorate our dorm room. I found old notes from Jenn. I found a picture Hannah had colored for me. All of it took me on a trip down memory lane, and if anything, it made me a little sad as I remembered distinct memories I've shared with my friends and family members.

These past few days have been madness. Moving out was harder than I imagined, and we only moved from an apartment we had lived in for nine months! I can't fathom moving out of a house we had lived in for years. I have a new appreciation for all those going through the moving process.

Greg and I were very happy to complete step one of the madness. We officially moved out of our apartment, and now we have nine days left. Those nine days are booked to the brim, and they will go by quickly. I have two weeks and one day before my classes start, which means in two weeks and one day, I will already be in Pittsburgh. That seems crazy! With all the stress going on, I haven't had much time to grow sad over leaving. I'm so excited about starting this new adventure, but I will be very sad to say goodbye to family and friends. Looking at old pictures and notes reminded me of all my friends, and I miss them deeply.

All in all, I am very glad I went through the dreaded tub :)