MAY 25 BOLDER BOULDER

I survived another 10k race! The Bolder Boulder 10k is the second largest road race in the nation--over 50,000 people ran! It made for some crazy logistical planning...due to massive road closures and limited parking, I had to drive up to Boulder the night before and stay with my cousin's fiancee's brother-and-his-girlfriend (Dave and Julie)'s friends. Follow that? I showed up at the house around 10pm, it went something like "hi nice to meet you, thanks for letting me sleep on your couch, goodnight." They lived in a super key location; the race actually was routed on either side of their street so I could walk to the start line. A crazy scene--people raced in heats according to their pace, starting with heat AA...I was in heat MP. Yeah. Equal amounts of really serious runners as those wearing gorilla suits, grass skirts, and superhero costumes (see Dave and Julie in thier race getup, below). The race was lined with tons of bands, a trampoline crew, elderly belly dancers, people handing out beer to runners, a slip-n-slide station, bbqs....Basically a six-mile long party, that finished in the CU football stadium. I wish I could have brought my camera, but I really didn't want to run with it. In the end, I ran almost the exact same time as my Montana 10k. (Wah! I sort of trained for this one! I'll blame the altitude and the fact I had to dodge and weave the crowds.) The official results: I got 291st out of 581 in my division, and 8775th out of 26182 women. I may go pro soon, with numbers like that.

Finishers of the race got a free goody bag and beer, and we sat in the stadium to watch other finishers and a team of competitive jump-ropers perform in the middle of the stadium (random?). Met with Dave and Julie and collected free samples of food at the promotional tents. Just as I had filled my bag with pounds of giveaway nutrition bars, etc, and we prepared for the mile walk back to the house, it began to thunder loudly and pour rain. After running 6 point something miles, I had to run another mile back in rain so heavy I could barely see--and carrying my bowling ball of a snack bag too! Exhaustion. Below: Made it back to the house soaking wet, but happy!

MAY 23 DENVER/PARKER CO

I attended my first bridal shower today, thrown by Jenny's aunt Pat. Felt fairly out of place. Had to rescue the ladies confused and daunted by the task of opening a champagne bottle for mimosas (um, excuse me, I'm sorry, you really shouldn't use a corkscrew...)
It was a tightly run ship--I got busted for talking with my drink in hand (if I gestured with my cup, there was a slight risk of spillage on carpet!) and was consequently the only bridal shower guest relegated to, whenever speaking, having to place her cup on a mini-tv table set brought in and set up just for me. Slightly humiliating.
I was also appointed the gift-hander-over-person when I sat too close to the wedding gifts. The bride-to-be received a serving platter, shower curtain rings, and about 6 hot pink striped victoria's secret boxes, the contents of which I'm fairly sure were shocking and quite scandalous to a few in attendance (namely, those that gave the serving platter and shower curtain rings). Below: Jenny super stoked on that platter.

Later in the day, attended another milestone soiree: the high school graduation party of a distant cousin I didn't know I had! I got to see my favorite New York-Italian relatives George and Ann. I'm not quite sure how we're related exactly, I think they might be cousins of my grandparents. Regardless, they make me feel closer to my Italian roots. A lot of squeezing hugs, cheek-pinching, hand-holding, proclamations of how Italian! I look, encouragement to eat the pasta dishes they made, and when she was across the room, Ann would wave at me with one little finger. Before I left, George hugged me and gruffly proclaimed, "have a wohn-duh-ful life." Love it!

MAY 22 BOULDER/DENVER CO

Woke up this morning to preparations for huevos rancheros, including made-from-scratch refried beans. I don't have to tell you how delicious those were. Or why I had seconds. Or why that was a bad idea (coughCrohnscough). Worth it though.
Returned to Denver midday, meaning to go on a training run for the upcoming 10k I'll be running, but somehow kept procrastinating. Jenny and I finally pulled it together to go for a run in the evening, but we decided to kill two birds with one stone by running our errands at the same time (i.e., run to the video store and grocery store). Oh, and we accepted the margaritas the neighbors offered us shortly before we left. Clearly I'm really serious about training.

We must have looked pretty funny, jogging around downtown Denver with a movie in hand. At one point, a fire engine pulled up at the stoplight we were waiting at and the firefighters waved at us and asked what movie it was. Pretty glad we had decided to go with a James Bond movie over the cheesy chick flick! Also picked up applesauce at the store for dinner. I'm pretty positive no one else is training by running the neighborhood with applesauce and dvds.

MAY 20/21 DENVER/BOULDER CO.

Ice-cold coronas on a hot evening followed by a sweet concert at the Bluebird Theater in Denver with Jenny and friends. Joe Pug opened for Horsefeathers. Pretty cool indie-folk band--they've got guitar, cello, violin, banjo--and at one point, a saw was played. The crowd wore a lot of plaid, and were the types to wear retro horn-rimmed eyeglasses without prescriptions (I know because this individual was part of our crowd; have to admit I gave them a pretty hard time for wearing fake glasses as an accessory, but then again I'm new to the indie-folk fashion scene.)

The next morning off to Boulder for Jenny's bachelorette party! We met up with two of her friends (both nurses, like Jenny), and went bouldering at "the Spot", an indoor climbing gym. Fun climbing with a group of super strong girls. They all helped me find routes I could do (and not do--I ended up with quite a few chalk hand prints on my back and butt from the girls helping me reach holds I couldn't get too...). Learning the terms of climbing--like when you've been climbing for a while and your forearms get "pumped" (really tight) and your veins kind of stick out. Really funny that I was with a bunch of nurses at this point--they all took turns looking at my arms and discussing how easy it would be to do an IV on me. Noooo thank you.

We went out to dinner on Pearl Street in Boulder--found a place with "bottomless wine glasses" for $5. We sat, ate, and drank for hours. It was quite lovely, and you would have never known it was a bachelorette party save for Jenny's hot pink tiara and inappropriately shaped necklace (I won't elaborate, but she made several attempts to hide it over the course of the night.) Before heading home, we stopped at one more bar and had a few neon green shots. (Not a super good idea, but the bartender was a friend of theirs, and our tab after a few rounds was $4, total.)
We made it home safely, and after a huge plate of nachos, fell asleep.

MAY 16-17-18 Denver, CO

Have been in Denver the past few days with my cousin Andy and his fiancee Jenny. So fun! Frisbee in the Cheesman park, hiking in Boulder, breakfast burritos, and climbing adventures.
Andy and I did a hike on Saturday in Boulder canyon scouting a bouldering site he wants to come back and climb. Unfortunately, we totally misread the directions and hiked for 5 or 6 miles in the wrong direction. Fun anyway, and good views (see below).

On Monday morning, Andy and Jenny and I met their friend Karl at the local coffee shop, St. Mark's. Jenny and I worked on the crossword puzzle over coffee and chai and almost finished it! (Only a few squares off--nobody knew a 5 letter word for "Norse poem", although everyone at the table contributed a few guesses in viking accents.) Afterwards, it was off to the county courthouse to get their marriage license. Karl and I went along as witnesses, although we proved useless as they aren't required. We were just glorified photographers, but it was fun anyway. (See below: the formal wedding party.)


License to wed secured, we set off to climb in Clear Creek Canyon, which is right outside of Golden, CO. I wish I could write an entry about how calm and collected and what an expert climber I turned out to be, but it wouldn't be true and it wouldn't be as funny as my real-life chicken adventure. Although I won't officially declare myself afraid of heights, I'm not a huge fan of being really far up on a cliff above a freeway and a rushing river.

I tried to play it cool, but I'm pretty sure my hardcore climbing cousins and friends saw right through me, as they literally had to hold my hand on the mountain goat-like trail up to the base of the climb. Our base camp was just steep enough that I almost felt more comfortable when I was on the rock with a rope because at least I was secured! We climbed a 5.7 difficulty route, for those of you who speak climberese. The very beginning of the climb had an overhang, so (although I really shouldn't divulge everything but I will), once I reached it I was helped up and over it by Jenny who was belaying me. The rest of the climb wasn't too bad if I kept my eyes on the rock. At one point they told me to enjoy the view, so I turned around and looked down, and then started sweating and almost threw up. So I didn't enjoy the view anymore. But--I made it up to the top, and that's what counts, right?

Watching Andy and Jenny climb was amazing. They are so collected and graceful and brave! Very inspiring. Jenny leading a climb on left, Look closely for Andy on right. He's up there.

DAYS 19-25 Parker, CO

Have been enjoying Colorado life with my fam! Painting a lot with Auntie Kris--have started on three oil paintings so far. Decided to sign up for another 10k, the BolderBoulder. At least this time I have a little heads up to train for it: have been doing runs everyday since I registered (gotta get acclimated!). Another favorite activity at the Iltis house: watching the squirrels trying to get into the birdfeeder. It's not as boring as it sounds, believe me. Will update more and add pics soon!

DAY 18: May 9th, SD-WY-CO

Woke up having slept quite well, but also much colder than I've ever woken up to. I apologize for the repeated references to my being cold, but I've come to find that this is a major factor in car camping in spring in places that are not California. This morning was the most brutally cold--my cocoon of warmth sleeping arrangement was no match for the thick layer of frost that had built up on all my windows. I'm pretty sure it snowed last night. When I turned on the car the outside temp read 31 degrees and I finally felt validated for being so freezing.

First stop before hitting the road: A tiny little bakery on Hot Springs' main road. (also may have been the only business in town open, so the choice was easy). I'm pretty sure I walked through time warp when I came through the door because I walked straight into a bible study group of miners from 1909. Really. It was maybe 6:30am and these guys were sitting around in their dirty overalls with beards that reached below the table discussing (no, arguing) biblical passages. I wondered what they possibly could have been up to before 6:30 at their age that could have gotten them so dirty. Their discussion then turned to robbing banks, although I'm pretty sure this was a metaphor for something else that just went straight over my head. Or not?

Bakery selection in South Dakota is much like the healthy breakfasts of Wyoming: 24 different kinds of doughnuts. Really. I was kind of hoping for a muffin, or maybe a croissant, but my choices were limited to chocolate covered, glazed, long, round, jelly stuffed, sprinkles, or maple glazed. Egh. I also saw one of the miners enjoying a large plate of gravy with two lumps in it (biscuits, perhaps?) Funny that this is 4 doors down from my beloved health store. I ask if they have croissants just for fun, as I don't think I can bring myself to eat the local fare. Luckily, I guess they keep the croissants in the back (I believe it may be because it comes from a costco box). Regardless, I had a cup of coffee and a non-doughnut breakfast for $1.90, so I was happy.

On the road again. (And yes, that song gets stuck in my head every time I think these words.)
Cruise through miles of fields and farms, and decide to listen to local radio. First station I tune to is Native American drums and chanting. An interesting change, so I decide to listen for a bit. Kind of a trip trying to imagine the tribes traveling through here following bison rather than farmers cruising in their pickups. I sort of thought I'd listen for a song or two, but they all kind of melded together and then I felt guilty changing the station, like it would be disrespectful to the culture. So I got stuck listening to drumming and chanting for almost an hour.The exciting drive, above.

Events on the road: lots of antelope. I no longer am so enchanted by an antelope sighting. The first time I saw one in Yellowstone I actually pulled over and took pictures. Now, I silently curse at them to stay where they are, because they think nothing of suddenly leaping into the middle of the road as you approach, as evidenced by lots of antelope piles on the side of the road (or even in the middle of it). Out here, where the speed limit is 75, a collision is an event that would ruin both of our days. Thus, the cursing.

Not much else to say for the 6 hours of driving towards Colorado. At one point, near Cheyenne, I was behind a country music star. I know this because he had his name and the songs he was famous for printed on the windows of his faded blue dodge minivan (e.g. Edgar Halls, Country Music Singer, of "Buffalo Roam" and "Wings of Eagles"). Now that's marketing for you.

I can also say I have made a sigificant contribution to the future improvement of Colorado highways as I got stuck on the toll road for awhile (thanks a lot, GPS. what do you think I am, made of money??) Three toll booths and $7.50 later (more than I've spent on food for the past 3 days), I exit without knowing where I'm going but knowing I there has got to be a way to Parker without emptying my wallet. It just takes ignoring the GPS directions (this sounds like a british woman saying "RECALCULATING. RECALCUALTING. RE-RECALCULATING" over and over).

Late afternoon: Finally reach Parker, Colorado, home of Auntie Kris and Uncle Steve! So happy.

DAY 17: May 8, South Dakota, Part 2

Alright. The saga continues...

After emerging from the bowels of the earth in an elevator (yes, they've put an elevator in the cave), I push Southward to Hot Springs, South Dakota. I'm long overdue for some food, so I find a sweet little health food store in town. In case you don't quite grasp the significance of this, finding a health food store in South Dakota when you're hungry is like finding an oasis in a desert when you're thirsty. Granted, I've never been in a grocery store so small (perhaps the size of a large dorm room?) and the fresh produce is limited to a few heads of lettuce and an apple on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Regardless, I feel instantly at home and am even "recognized" by the other shopper (her: you look really familiar. I think you're in a picture with my friend...me: not likely. her: are you a biologist? you look like a biologist.) I'll take that as a compliment, though it may be due to my being very dirty and smelling of cave and campfire. The clerk told me of a sweet camping spot nearby--no more "parking lot" camping for me.

There's still quite a bit of the day left, so I set off to find the Mammoth Site. Story goes, a developer in the 80's was bulldozing this site when he hit a mammoth tusk. Construction was delayed until they could dig it out, but the mammoth remains kept coming. The housing site was scrapped as they realized this was a significant site, and so far, 55 Columbian mammoth remains have been unearthed since then. Apparently it was an ancient sinkhole in which the male mammoths couldn't avoid (yes, all 55 remains are male-haha). They haven't even finished excavating yet, so they just built a huge building around the site (and now charge for admission. smart.)
I know it's completely and totally unfair to mention this, (especially as my mother is a speech therapist!) and I'm not trying to poke fun at anyone, but without the following detail I wouldn't be describing the true experience: Our tour guide had a pretty good lisp. Things came out like "55 Mammothth fell into the thinkhole".
The site had a behind-the-scenes area where you could see the lab where they make casts of the bones they find. But don't be mislead: I am totally lifting a real mammoth femur bone here, duh.

After I was mammothed-out, I set off to find the campsite. It was a bit of a challenge to find, and I ended up on a few miles of super-pothole-y dirt road. But: It paid off. I found a perfect little spot right next to the lake and the only other campers where a little family in an RV (Mom playing soccer with her 2-year old twins, dad fishing and catching sporadic fish which whip kids into frenzy...) It was even gloriously sunny, so I had a nice afternoon reading my book. As night fell, the RV neighbors invited me over for beer and campfire, but I was so tired I had to turn down the tempting offer. (see below: my gorgeous campsite!)

I woke up at midnight confused as to how long I had been sleeping, because it was almost as bright as day. Turns out the full moon was so bright, it was casting shadows all over the campsite. Weird, but not weird enough to keep me up too long. zzzzzzz

DAY 17: May 8, South Dakota, Part 1

Woke up at 5am. Over it, and cold. I’ve slept in my clothes so all I have to do is throw on my shoes and start up the car. (Yeah. road bum, I know, but I was COLD and there wasn’t a warm cozy bathroom--like Elk Butt 3, to change in.) Anyway, I’ve heard the best time to see Mt. Rushmore is at dawn, so the timing will work out. Stop at the nicest rest stop I’ve ever seen on the way (way to go, South Dakota--who would’ve thought? It even had a computer touch-screen with weather/road conditions.) Getting hungry going through small po-dunk towns but refuse to stop at McDonald’s, and that seems like their only food fare. Rapid City saves the day with a little indie bagel shop. Reach Mt. Rushmore right as it opens; I think I’m the 4th person there...the visitor’s center hadn’t even opened yet! My first impression of this Great American Landmark? Holy. Crap. It’s. Cold. Freezing, in fact. The wind chill was bitter. I only include the following picture to prove my point: don’t I look like a warm, happy camper?


When the visitor’s center finally opened, I went straight to the informational movie as much to learn as to unthaw. It’s actually a really interesting story, and one of the better interpretive museums/visitor’s centers I’ve been to. A few interesting facts for my readers who have not been to the Great Faces themselves: The eyes are 11 feet in diameter and 90% of the sculpting was done with dynamite. Boom.

A hike to the base of the monument gets the blood flow going, body temperature now back up almost to, say, 36 degrees. (My extreme sensitivity to the weather could point to my being cold-blooded.) Near-tragedy: another self-timed photo op went bad as my frozen fingers bumbled the camera off the 3 foot stone ledge onto stone below. Somehow survived, except now it time-stamps all my pictures 2003 and the volume is stuck on high.

Consider eating lunch at the tourist cafe (“Monumental Breakfast” including biscuits and gravy...yum?? no.), but as I am one of the world’s cheapest travelers, I instead go a cup of water (free) and pocket some of the jelly packets at the toast station (what, they don’t technically charge for them, and I have peanut butter and bread in the car. It’s genius actually. I’ve done this enough times to know that one packet is too little and three is too much. Try it sometime.)

Southward, with the heat in the car turned all the way up. It actually snows while I'm driving, though it melts as soon as it gets near the ground. Pull over near the Crazy Horse monument (in progress, I think the finish date is around 2050?), but the guidebook says you have just as good a view from the freeway as you do if you pay $10 to park in the visitor's center. So. I snap a a quick pic and move on.

Next stop: Wind Cave National Park. I had never heard of it before, but it's possibly the coolest cave I've ever been in. Pulled up just in time to join a tour going through, although I missed the intro speech, this is what I can tell you about the cave: The Native Americans were aware of it, and there are some buffalo legends associated with it. In the 1800's, the white settlers were confused by a whistling sound and traced it to the cave's only natural opening in the ground. A 16 year old did most of the spelunking and mapping with a candle and a piece of string to keep from getting lost. After 4 years, he gave up trying to find the end and declared it endless. Even to this day, when the modern cave mappers think they've found a new cavern, they'll find his initials somewhere on the wall. It's the 4th longest cave in the world and one of the oldest. (The ranger even pointed out fossilized coral!!) Think about that one for a sec. South Dakota.
Of course, as my camera is wont to do, it ran out of batteries and memory space within 5 minutes of being in the cave, with my reserves in the car. The tour lasted over an hour and we were 200 feet below ground.

I'll have to come back with the rest of my day in Part 2, TBC...

DAY 16: May 7: Cody, WY-Spearfish, SD

Woke up in my lovely, lovely humongous bed to warmth and a strange absence of elk butts. Do a bit of repacking, take advantage of the heart-healthy (free) breakfast of the big bear motel: coffee and doughnut holes. But did I mention it was free? There was a banana on the card table, too, so I took that as well. (Hope it was for me!)


First activity of the day: The Buffalo Bill Historical Center. I pull some mad money-saving skills at admissions by flashing not only my AAA card, but my (long expired, never really valid) University of Hawaii student ID. Booyah. The center is made up of five museums. A gun museum, a Plains Indians museum, the Buffalo Bill Cody museum, the Natural History Museum, and an art gallery (closed for construction, wah). Though myself not a gun enthusiast, I checked out that section (hey, when in Rome, right? Well, when in Cody...see left pic, becoming Western) Lots of really neat things in each section. Getting a better understanding of the “Wild West”. Sort of. At least now I’ve seen their guns, saddles, and taxidermy.



Onward to Devil’s Tower. Prretty boring drive. Had to break out my ipod NPR for this one; local radio really wasn’t cutting it. Highlight: I drove through a town with pop: 10 on the sign. Talk about small town. Once I hit the pass things got a lot more interesting. They have signs posted to all the rock outcroppings telling you how many millions of years old they are. Also: Saw my first marmot! They are so cute. And fat. So cute and fat. I want to snuggle with them, but they seemed more intent on snuggling with my tires and/or undercarriage of the matrix. Luckily I denied them the privilege, but they must be unhappy with marmot life they way they laze about in the middle of the highway. Beyond this, another high point of the trip was getting gas at less the $2/gallon. Yeah.

The closer I got to Devil’s Tower, the more I kept hoping the radio would skip to some obscure station and I’d be able to make out a song through the static. Anyone seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Please rent it. Although this natural wonder is plenty cool on it’s own, when you make it the central theme of an alien movie it becomes that much cooler. Also, the eerie alien song from the flick was STUCK IN MY HEAD. The ranger that admitted me looked like she could be twins with the ranger that admitted me in Yellowstone. (Does rangerism run in the family, or do those hats just play tricks with my eyes?)

Not only is Devil’s Tower an amazing display of geological magic, not only is it an pop culture movie icon, but it is also considered sacred by the Native Americans in the area. So, that’s pretty much a trifecta of power and amazement. Combined with the fact I got there late in the day, the sky was doing some weird cloud stuff, and I was almost completely alone when I did the 45 min. hike around the base, I was well freaked out. The turkey vultures that were circling overhead did NOT lessen the creepiness of the situation. All throughout the forest surrounding DT, the Native Americans leave little offerings of colored fabrics in the trees, so you’ll round a corner and see a big white figure out of the corner of your eye, only to realize it’s cloth hanging from a branch. I did manage to spot some climbers rappelling down the side. Made me dizzy just looking at them; I do NOT have the guts to do that kind of stuff. That is quite a literal statement, I might add, as I have 14 cm less of ‘em than most of y’all. (I had to work in a Crohn's/surgery joke somewhere!)
My photo challenge of the day was trying to get a self-timed photo of myself with the tower. It is so flipping tall that you can either get a) your face and the trees at the base or b) Possibly a few flyaway hairs from the top of my head and the top of tower. I shan’t post my miserable failures. My solution was to ask a Japanese tourist who had been in the middle of photographing his girlfriend on her motorcycle in front of it. He was happy to, and even counted to three in English for me!

Continued on to Spearfish, South Dakota to find a campsite for the night. My GPS felt it would be funny, as the sun was rapidly setting, to lead me to every dead end in the town, recommending I turn the wrong way onto/off of onramps, and then lead me in a repeating circle (I caught on before it happened twice, but still). Luckily for Garmin (my GPS), I had recently changed the voice accent from “American” to “British” so for some really I was a little more polite when I yelled at it. Finally found the Spearfish City Campgrounds which is SUCH a sorry, far cry from Yellowstone campgrounds. I miss bear danger. As I settled in, acutely aware of the teenagers-up-to-no-good I had passed in a nearby parking lot, I wished for rain as a soothing sound to fall asleep to. Unfortunately, I got my wish plus some. I’m not quite sure the source, I think it was drops accumulating and then falling in fat water-bombs from the tree I was parked under, but it sounded like somebody was dropping rocks onto the roof of my car all night. In my 2am delirium, I even considered getting out of the car to make sure my roof wasn’t dented. Please turn up the volume on your computer before you play the clip below. It’s pitch black, but all you really need is the sound anyway.

ADDENDUM DAY 15

Forgive me, I neglected to mention I went to a bubbling, boiling, MUD VOLCANO. Now, how exciting is your day when you can forget to include that in your blog?

DAY 15: Yellowstone-Cody, WY

A WHOLE lot colder last night. Kept warm inside my sleeping bag, but was really not pumped about getting out of my cocoon this morning. Have really been wanting to go for a good hike, but after seeing so many large predators, going by myself seems like a pretty bad idea. Decide to ask my Alabama friend as I can't bring myself to leave the park before I get my hike on.

Luckily he was down for a hike, so we grabbed maps, the bear spray, and some water and headed to Lava Creek trail, a 4.3 mile hike to Undine Falls. Amazing hike, but I'm glad I wasn't alone. Had the feeling of being watched by tons of animals I couldn't see the whole time. The animals we did see: Pronghorn, mule deer, and a bison. (I kind of freaked out at the bison. It's scary enough when you see them from the car; on foot it gave me a mini heart attack. Those dudes can reach speeds of 30mph if they feel like charging you! The waterfall itself was pretty awesome, the trail took us to be right at the level of the falls. Long way down A little further above the waterfall, something weird in the water catches my eye. Upon closer inspection, have found possible the most gruesome natural sculpture ever. Poor elk.





















Round trip hike: 8.6 miles, knees a bit cranky. After a quick lunch, I wish 'Bama luck with the summer and head towards Yellowstone's East entrance. Raining a bit, but I'm hoping it will clear before I get to the pass...but I was way wrong. It just got stormier. I did have to stop short for a coyote at one point. He stopped in the middle of the road and looked me in the eye for what seemed like a long time. Best part of the drive back: As I was near Yellowstone Lake, spotted 3, yes THREE grizzlies!! There was nobody else on the road, so I pulled over on the opposite side of the road and watched Mama Bear and her cubs play around. A bird kept flying overhead, and one of the cubs kept rising on it's hind legs and batting at it. Unfortunately, this is the point at which my camera felt appropriate to run out of batteries. Damn.

The pass was a scary drive. The road had been cleared, but very cold, icy-looking, and huge snowbanks on either side. I drove 20 mph the whole time and was sweating in fear of sliding off the cliff. Soooooooo glad to reach flatlands, and headed to Cody for a night in the Big Bear motel (complete with bears on the shower curtains. Also: the receptionist had an especially choice mullet.)

DAY 14: Yellowstone National Park

This picture, at left, is what I woke up to this morning. Apparently the eating right outside my car door was choice this morning. I have since rechristened this campsite Elk Butt 3. In other good news, waking up meant that I have survived my first solo camping. Slept pretty well, surprisingly.

Decided to drive into the Lamar valley and find the famed yellow nissan xterra belonging to Yellowstone’s most prominent wolf biologist, Rick McIntire. I have been told that wherever he’s parked, wolves won’t be far away. On the way, stopped and had a little self-guided trail walk, quite lovely. Also saw some bighorn sheep on the side of the road! Once I had crossed the Lamar River bridge, I noticed a bunch of cars pulled over (and we know what that means don’t we.) Although the xterra wasn’t present, I caught the license plate of one of the trucks: DRUID6. I happen to know one of the wolfpacks is named the Druid pack, so I felt this was a good sign! Several people with large spotting scopes and cameras with telephoto lenses were hiking up the hill across the highway, and one of them told me a pack has been spotted with a fresh carcass. (!!) Although it was very far away, I could make out a pile with dog-like figures standing over it. A few people let me look into their scopes and I was looking straight into the face of a black wolf with a bloody muzzle, as it stood over a bison. A few minutes later, a yellow xterra pulled up. Ha! I watched for a long time, until it began to rain. Pic below: my camera was put to shame by the telephoto lenses. The best I could do was a shot of the shooters. (Wolf site directly to the left of the tree stand on the right.)

I pulled back on the road headed towards camp, in case the rain turned into a storm. Not long after, the rain began to let up and I again saw cars pulled over. This time: a black bear! And later: a pronghorn antelope! A pretty good safari day by any standards.

Back in Mammoth, I was long overdue for lunch, so I found a spot near the hotsprings and made some food. Peanut-butter banana sandwich with organic hot cocoa mix sprinkled in there for some fun. A very filling meal, which I walked off on the paths around the hotsprings. Pretty crazy stuff. Smelly, too.

I checked out the other buildings in Mammoth, scouted a coffee stand for tomorrow morning, and inspected the general store and the hot springs hotel. Have suddenly become overwhelmingly tired. I knew the CA support crew would want to know if I survived the night on my own, plus I had a lot of bragging to do about my wildlife safari, but have not gotten cell service since Old Faithful. Decide to drive towards Gardiner until I get service to check in. While I was close, filled up on gas outside the park.

Got back just in time to reclaim Elk Butt 3 for the evening. Campsite filling up quick tonight. Decided I need to get out and have a bit more exercise, so I hiked a trail up a nearby overlook and down close to Lava Creek. The wind was so strong, it almost blew me off the hill. Tried to do a bit of drawing, but the chilly wind made it a pretty unpleasant experience. I had my back turned to Mammoth area for awhile as I was drawing, and when I chanced to look over my shoulder, I had to do a double-take: A huge, dark storm was almost right on top of me! I jogged as fast as my little elevation-weak lungs could gasp and got to my car as it began to pour. At 4:45, settling in for a long evening in the Matrix.

Luckily the sun managed to shine through the rain and I kicked back with some snacks and a pillow and read as the rain drummed on my car. Rain let up around 6:30, did a lap around the campsite to see if anyone had a bonfire going so I could escape my car for a bit and still stay warm. As most of the other campers here are retitrees in RVs, there was only one campfire to bum from. A 21 year old from Alabama who had just driven up for a summer job in Yellowstone. Reminds me a lot of my little bro, if Pete had a thick southern accent.

Climb back into the Matrix-pod at dark (sun doesn't set til nearly 9pm here!!). Thinking about launching next leg of trip tomorrow.

DAY 13: May 4th, Mammoth Campgrounds, Yellowstone National Park WY

Left Bozeman this morning after Vanessa showed me her latest job site, a pretty hip dentist office downtown. Quick drive to Livingston, refueled. (got gas and tea. Tea blend name, by the way: “Evenings in Missoula”. It was good, but I can’t figure out what was in it.)

Pretty drive through Paradise Valley and into Yellowstone! Got really excited at the Roosevelt Gate. Began talking to myself like Yogi the bear (hey hey Tin-ah, whaddaya think about a pic-i-nic in Jell-y-stone to-day?) Pretty addictive to talk like that, glad no one else was there to hear me. I had been told there were 7 ft. snowbanks on the ground, and had been gearing up to dish out a lot of green for a motel room, but when I pulled through the Mammoth campsites, it was a warm 50 degrees with no snow in sight! I reserved campsite #3 right away ($14, close to the ranger station and bathrooms. key). Then I continued on my merry way and checked out the Visitor’s center. Decided to bust down to Old Faithful today and back. Before I took off, I dutifully had a small pic-i-nic on the benches consisting of a pb and banana sandwich. Thought of Yogi, again.

Yellowstone is BREATHTAKINGLY GORGEOUS. It blew me away. I think I drove the entire hour and a half with my jaw open. It was all I could do to remember to keep my foot on the pedal and steer. And the hotsprings and venting sites, what a trip. Steam rises out of the land in the spookiest way here. Old Faithful was pretty snowy. Somehow, someway, without ANY planning, I had absolutely perfect timing. I arrived to find the benches pretty packed, but nothing was really happening. About six minutes later, it errupted and it was spectacular! I wanted to clap or something, but everyone was pretty quiet. I guess that’s not cool around here. Later, I found out it only goes off every 90 minutes. Damn, I’m good. Would have been bummed to wait and hour and a half in the snow. I watched the movie in the visitor’s center afterward and learned that 2/3 of the world’s geysers are here. My favorite moment of the movie: At one point, the narrator says “64,000 years ago, the landscape here looked dramatically different” and a little white-haired lady sitting in front of me stage-whispered “I did, too!”. I laughed out loud.

The drive back was equally as spectacular, and beyond, as I rounded a corner and found the normally empty highway a makeshift parking lot. People had just stopped their cars in the middle of the road and were all staring intently at something on the side of the road. Emily and Mark gave me a tip when you see people pulling over, pull over too, because most likely it’s something really cool. And it was!!!
On the shore of a little lake by the side of the road ambled a young GRIZZLY BEAR!!! It was SO amazing. Not a little guy, but not too big either. It was pretty funny, every time he moved his head this rush of little clicks would go off, from everyone’s cameras. I probably took 50 pictures, 49 of which are probably pretty bad. I’ll have to do some major editing later.I watched for almost 10 minutes, then got on my way when the little guy wandered off.

Other wildlife seen today: Tons and tons of elk, bison, and a jackrabbit. The bison are so huge!! It’s like if you covered the matrix with curly fur and added horns.

Back at the campsite, I rearranged the car for my little sleeping berth and made myself a pretty sorry dinner. Tuna straight from the can onto two slices of bread. Egh. I ate it just so I wouldn’t be hungry later, but I’m going to have to be a bit more creative next time. Went for a little walkabout the campsite loop before I went to bed to stretch my legs; I really regret not bringing my camping stove or even anything to start a fire with. If I stay here tomorrow, I’m going to make friends with somebody who has a fire. (see my camp set up, below) Also, the bathrooms are very clean and very warm. On my last stop before bed, I have to admit I lingered a bit in the warmness and did a bunch of stretching. So lucky nobody came in to see the weirdo stretching by the sink.

Used up the last bit of remaining daylight to practice ukulele. I really hope nobody could hear me.

DAY 12: Bozeman

Started out the day with an awesome run. Vanessa took Tristan (the dog) and rode her bike alongside me jogging until she got me on a great running path. Beautiful, sunny day although I did run past random snow piles on the ground.

I planned on going to the Museum of the Rockies, and just as I was out the door, Vanessa randomly gave me a free pass to it! Woohoo. What luck. My favorite thing was seeing the world's largest T-Rex skull (see picture. If I look afraid, it's half because I would have been one bite for that thing, and half because I think I might get busted for setting up my automatic timer in the museum!! haha). Pretty neat stuff. Kind of regret not becoming a paleontologist and going on big digs. Also checked out the photography exhibit on Montana's sheep ranching. Had no idea "lambing" was a verb.

In the evening, Vanessa and I hand-made ravioli. Yes. Felt like such a badass kneading dough and spinning it through the pasta press. Not bad eatin' for a road trip, huh?

Day 11: May 2. On the road again: Missoula-Bozeman

I went to a farmer's market in Montana today! So fun. Like Santa Cruz, but minus the drum circle, plus a few bison meat stands, and a whole lot colder. Bought some artisan chocolate for Vanessa, a friend of Emily's with whom I'll be staying with tonight in Bozeman. Also stocked up at the Good Food Store, the most awesome grocery store I've ever been to. No need to wax on about grocery stores in this blog, just take my word for it...

Was on the road by midday. Listened to local radio, which was a lot of country music (although I'm not a big fan of the genre, it matched the landscape pretty well). An easy 3 hour drive to Bozeman. Vanessa is an architect who lives with a 14 year old terrier in a great 1930's cottage which she's remodeling. Super friendly, and I get to stay in the guest house--in a little loft! So cool. We went out to dinner at a place called the Naked Noodle, which is all about pasta (heaven!) Indulged in 4-cheese macaroni and cheese. Soooo delicous. Probably soooo bad for me. Don't even care at this point.

Vanessa is also the captain and coach of a coed hockey league (!) and took me to a hockey party in the neighborhood. Met a lot of interesting characters, which was enhanced by the side-comments from Vanessa about what kind of ice-skater they were. Ended up participating/watching a jam session which included guitar, keyboard, drums, and a jaw harp. Yup. (My participating was banging on the drums now and then.) That's how they party in these parts.

DAY 10: May 1, First Friday

Bought a road atlas today. You'd think that I would have already had one, being that I am on an extended road trip, but I somehow failed to think of that. While downtown, I finally saw what I thought would be a typical Montanian. So far, everyone has been extremely well-dressed and articulate (what a let down, ha). Secretly thrilled to have sat one booth over from two aging cowboys wearing plaid at lunch. Their conversation was centered around what caliber gun should be used when teaching an 11-year old how to shoot gophers. Which, naturally, led to a lively discussion about marmots. (Marmits? Varmints? Something else that needed to be shot, anyway.)

Later, checked out the art scene in downtown Missoula for First Friday. All the galleries are open late and serve wine and snacks--pretty fun. Went to sushi for dinner I was very doubtful--sushi? Montana? But the group was set on it. I made sure to order a roll with chicken.