The Final Entry... for now

Well, as most of you know, Jef and I have been home for quite some time now.  And I'm just now making myself write the last blog entry for our trip! I think I was procrastinating it because part of me didn't want it to be over. We had such an amazing time on our trip--it was one of the best decisions I've ever made, and I can't wait to do more traveling.

I'll try to pick up roughly where I left off. After we went to Yellowstone, we spent a few more days in Bozeman and then decided to work our way over to Minnesota, Jef's home state.  We traveled back down through Wyoming and over to South Dakota so we could see Mount Rushmore on our way.  Traveling through South Dakota was spooky.  I never really considered why they call it the Badlands until we were driving though it. I didn't take any pictures because I guess at the time it didn't seem like there was much to take a picture of.  It was the most desolate place I've  ever seen--like some setting that Cormac McCarthy dreamed up.  The landscape was empty, there were hardly any trees, only rugged shrubs that looked like they had a hard life. The land was harsh, threatening, and it made us feel small. Jef said he thought it had the lowest winter temperatures in the country--I'm fine with never knowing what that must look like.

As we approached Mount Rushmore, the landscape started to change--into tourist shops mostly.  Jef and I were so distracted by all of the obnoxious tourist traps that we were almost startled when we saw Mt. Rushmore appear so quickly beside us.  For some reason, maybe because we'd seen so many pictures of it, we weren't expecting to be blown away.  But both of us were pleasantly surprised --the size alone, especially at first glance, was stunning.

 There was a really nice walkway that was framed with the state flags leading up to the monument.

 Jef using the binuculars to get a close up of the monument. Each eye is 11 feet wide!!

 We were not expecting the faces to look so alive. Borglum carved the stone in such a way that the sunlight reflecting off of the pupils made their eyes almost sparkle--it was hard to look away, you half expected to them blink!

After Mt. Rushmore, we made a bee line for Minnesota!

We drove until we got to Minneapolis, which was a much bigger city than I expected!  Jef had a long list of restaurants that he frequented when he lived there and we were eager to start checking off the list.  Because dessert is the most important meal, we decided to start with Izzy's Ice Cream.  As some of you know, Jef's favorite dessert (and maybe his favorite food..) is ice cream.  We both fell in love with Wilcoxson's, the gold standard ice cream in Montana, but Jef still claimed that Izzy's ice cream in St. Paul was the best he'd ever had.  I was of course suspicious, but excited to eat ice cream.  We tied Olive up outside and went inside.  I was shocked and disappointed to find the most expensive ice cream prices I've ever seen!  Jef admitted that he'd forgotten how pricey it was.  Feeling somewhat deflated, we spent $12 on two single scoop cones.  Maybe it was just that I was too upset about the cost, but I was not impressed. We both agreed that Wilcoxson's is the champion.

Later that day we decided to drive out to Forrest Lake, the area where Jef grew up. It was such a beautiful place.

This is where some of Jef's neighbors lived.  They had a dairy farm and Jef spent a lot of time over there as a kid. 

 Another beautiful house in the area. 

Here it is! This is the house Jef grew up in.  His dad bought it as a little cabin and then added on to it.  The small tree in the foreground is an apple tree--Jef's family planted it! It just so happened that the people who are living here now happened to notice us looking at the house--they were so kind. The woman invited us in and gave us a tour of the house!  She even invited us out for a cookout she was hosting a few days later.

Here's Jef wading in the lake that felt so endless to him as a child.  He kept remarking about the gravel--how it triggered so many sensory memories for him.  He said it was probably because he spent much of his time barefoot in the summers, so he looked at the ground a lot when he walked. I thought that was sweet.




Since Forrest Lake is near the Wisconsin border, we decided to camp along the St. Croix river on the Wisconsin side.  As we were driving there, we found this old fashioned burger stand.  It had been there since the 50's and was largely unchanged. They made their own root beer--it was delicious!

When we arrived at our campground, we were a little wary of paying $28 dollars per night for the "delux" campsite, which was all they had left. It turned out to be the most perfect campsite either of us had ever seen--we stayed two nights and had a blast.  The site was secluded and was located right next to an ice cold stream that flowed down a hill of rocks and into the St. Croix.  We let Olive run wild and she had a ball.  It was really something to see her bounding up and down the steep ground, weaving in and out of trees.  We walked down the stream and built miniature dams at the bank of the river until our feet were numb from the cold spring water.

Olive exploring the chilly stream.

 Yeehaw!!!

 Sweet, tired Olive. 

 So sad to be chained up. 

The next day we were headed to the Minnesota State Fair!  I've never seen so many people.  We did end up going on the last Saturday before the fair ended, so it was probably the busiest day.  Jef and I exercised commendable control on fair food--we shared everything and ended up having: a famous Pronto Pup corndog, a rootbeer, a beer, mini donuts, cheese curds, and of course, 25 cent all you can drink milk. 

 One must be careful to savor the mini donut. 

 Jef got a free beard trim!

 We also had fun seeing all of the livestock shows. All in all it was an over the top fun day.

 I sure do hope we can have goats some day!

The Minnesota State Fair was the last big activity we had on the trip.  That leaves just one more exciting thing to write about--our engagement!  

Jef proposed on August 10th in Bozeman, Montana.  We were on a walking trail one evening.  We'd walked up a hill that overlooked downtown and the mountains behind it. I had a feeling he was about to ask, and even though we'd talked about it so much, I haven't felt so nervous around him since the first day we met. It was the happiest I've ever felt within the space of a few minutes. 

My ring.  The diamond was worn by Jef's grandmother and then his mom. I feel so special to be wearing it now. 

Jef and I truly loved every minute of this trip.  We saw and did so many things that we'll never forget.  I am so glad we decided to have this little adventure, risky as it may have been.    Traveling with Jef, I'm learning that you really can do the things you want to do. You might have to sleep in the car sometimes along the way, but it's a small price to pay, isn't it?

Yellowstone!

This past Monday Jef took me to Yellowstone to celebrate my 24th birthday.  My guests included elk, chipmunks, and buffalo!  We had high expectations for the park, and yet we were still amazed over and over again.

We left Sunday night (it's about 80 miles from Bozeman to Yellowstone) and arrived at the park just before dusk.  

Here we are at the North Entrance of the park. President Roosevelt laid down the first cornerstone of the arch in 1903.The quote at the top, which is taken from the 1872 legislation that created Yellowstone, reads, "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People"--indeed.

Upon entering the park we were almost immediately greeted by elk--and lots of them! It was incredibly tempting to pet one, but I managed to resist the urge. 

We only had time to see one site before it got dark--Mammoth Hot Springs.  It was eery and stunning and certainly whet our appetites for more.  It's difficult to tell in the pictures, but there were thin streams of steaming hot water running down the limestone.  The water beneath the formation is superheated by magma and then finds its way up through the limestone to the surface. The hot water running over the limestone creates these white, chalky mineral deposits which make many of the rocks look like they're covered in frost. 

We slept in the car that night and were eager to set out early the next morning.  Our first stop was to the visitors center where Jef and I purchased our National Parks Passport. It looks like a passport and has spaces for you to get a stamp for each of the national parks. We hope to one day fill it with stamps from all the Parks.  While there, we also attended a ranger-led talk about wildlife safety in Yellowstone.  From what I'd heard from other travelers we've met while on the road, its common to see bears and wolves in the park--so I wanted to be prepared.  The ranger essentially said to stay 100 yards from bears and wolves, and to carry bear spray (we had none).  (Unfortunately, we didn't end up seeing any bears OR wolves! We want to revisit the park in the winter to hopefully rectify this.)

There is one main, figure eight-shaped route through Yellowstone. As you drive there are dozens of small stops and then about six major stops, many of which have their own visitors centers and gift shops.  Since we only had a day, we mostly stopped at the main sites. Our first stop on Monday was Norris Geyser Basin -- which was a large area that had dozens of smaller geysers and thermals. 

Since the ground is unstable you can only walk on the boardwalk, which circles the entire basin.  You can see the boardwalk in the background on the right.

Jef: "How about these geysers, eh?"

Tiny bacteria called thermophiles are the cause of the bright colors that surround most of the hot springs.  They thrive in extreme conditions and as a result have been studied in order to learn more about possible life on Mars.  The green thermophiles appear where the water is cooler (though still hot), while the red-orange ones signal the hottest water. 

Steamy

Another site we stopped at--I can't remember the name of this particular hot spring.  It did bubble every few minutues though, which was exciting. 

The steam created by the tiny eruption was enough to fog up the cameral lens!

Our next stop was the famous Grand Prismatic Lake--which is probably the next most iconic Yellowstone feature (Old Faithful being the first).

The hot springs around Grand Prismatic pump out hundreds of gallons of water per minute--much of it runs off into the Firehole River.

Excelsior Geyser. According to the plaque, it hasn't erupted for a decade or so and could blow at any moment!

Grand Prismatic Lake.  I really wish they would've thought to elevate the boardwalk here so that you could get a better view of the lake and all of its incredible colors! It was difficult to capture the rainbow effect with the camera, but you can kind of see it here.

Our next stop was Old Faithful--by far the biggest tourist attraction--it was packed!  It erupts every hour and the crowd was huge.  Hundreds of people stood packed around the boardwalk, quietly waiting with their cameras perched --it reminded me of The Birds.

Old Faithful minutes before the projected eruption time...

Yar she blows!

The steam blowing off to the right created a lovely rainbow!

As dusk was approaching, we asked a ranger where was the best place to see buffalo--he told us we'd have to wait 20 minutes to cross the road at Hayden Valley because the buffalo gather in such large herds. So off we went--and boy was he right!

Here they were gathered just off to the side of the road.

This guy came right up to the side of our car!

Hayden Valley

Random side of the road picture

All in all, we had an amazing day. We can't wait to go back!