Catching up
OK. Here it is. The big catch-up post — I’m about to summarize and stuff nearly 5 weeks into one (hopefully) brief post. For any more detailed info about an event or a place, ask me in the comments!
I left you when I was leaving Acadia National Park, that would have been August 12th. I took the more northern route to my college town of Ithaca, NY, stopping just one night in Burlington, VT where my sister’s boyfriend’s mother lives. With warm, helpful people making connections, I was invited to park at her home. Cora was the most gracious hostess; I arrived to a homemade German-inspired dinner and her tenant, a talkative man by the name of Ducks (also living in a van, but parked stationary in her driveway) joined us. We sat and talked about so many things and five hours passed enjoyably and I was pleasantly surprised by yet another visit with lovely people.
I had planned to stay in Ithaca for a few days but a heavy and steady rain set in on my second day, and being so close to home in Pittsburgh, and already having visited my favorite spots (the Farmer’s Market, Purity Ice Cream, Cayuga Lake, A Taste of Thai) and still annoyed at the married man that hit on me that now owns the wonderful restaurant I worked at 13 years ago, I decided to head south and reorganize at home.
After a couple days in the ‘Burgh, I gathered up my mother, my younger sister and her daughter and we headed to our family vacation spot in North Carolina. We camped in West Virginia on the way down and then spent several lovely days just hanging out together in the Smoky Mountains at Fontana Village. We took my niece on her first rafting trip and rented a pontoon as we always do and toured around Fontana Lake. We fished for trout (that was hilarious - imagine three women and little girl who’ve never really fished before), cooked meals, played music, and talked like we ladies do. It was just what I needed before setting off on the rest of my adventure.
First, to Nashville, where I stayed with friends I knew from Denver. I accomplished my goal of getting into The Bluebird Cafe where I saw two excellent singer-songwriter rounds. I will absolutely do that again, it was one of the highlights of my whole trip thus far. My friends came out line dancing, we did Broadway, we did a couple’s mini photo session, and ate great food. I loved Nashville and started to picture an alternate life of trying to be a songwriter, or just photographing up-and-coming singers and bands. Maybe….
Then it was northbound for a brief night in Chicago to stay with one of my oldest friends and we also met up with an old high school theater buddy (and crush) which was a spontaneous and happy reconnection. The next day I picked up a good friend, Beth, in Milwaukee and after some planning and lunch her mother sent us off with fresh produce and we headed west across Minnesota towards Badlands National Park. Now, some of you have heard this part already….
150 miles from Badlands, in the middle of nowhere South Dakota, my engine light came on after some odd rumbling and jerky transmission shifting. Luckily, a repair shop was just 10 miles away so we cautiously drove and made it to a nice family-run auto shop. We went to the only restaurant in town and indulged in afternoon drinks while we waited for the diagnosis. They wanted to rebuild my transmission for $3000. We borrowed their souped up Chevy Impala to stay at a hotel in Chamberlain and assessed the situation over wine and hot tub soaking. Thanks very much to Beth’s boyfriend, a former mechanic and very patient with all of our questions, who told us to just take the van and see how it goes, driving gently and slower. He wanted us to get it to a Chevy dealer, at least, and that maybe it would just drive fine anyway! He suspected contaminated gas and nothing worse.
So, the next day, with lots of support from Beth and a gathering of determination, I told the kind folks at the shop that we’d like to take it for a test drive after they reset the computer. And though I could tell they thought I was being crazy, we settled the bill and we drove off. Very gently. Very slowly. Counting each mile we successfully got closer and closer to Badlands, and therefore closer to the dealer I found in Rapid City. We made it to Badlands with no issues and decided to enjoy the afternoon there. We hiked a little and marveled at the strange rock formations, and met lots of bighorn sheep and bison on our way to the free campground at the west end of the park. At camp, we set up the van to the fullest, something I rarely do on my own. I grilled the veggies Beth’s mom gifted to us, we opened wine, strung up lights (which invited many giant moths), and did some cool night sky photography.
The escapade with the van continued after we made it to Rapid City and the Chevy dealer (Yay! Great signs of relief). They needed the day to get to it, so we rented a car and headed into the Black Hills, trying to make the most of being stuck. I wanted to go back to Keystone, a funny tourist village at the foot of Mt Rushmore, where I remembered an adventure park built into the mountainside. We rode the alpine slide a couple of times and 1 long zip line, both firsts for Beth (sorry, no photos!) Then we got the call from the dealer… they couldn’t find anything wrong with the van! So we booked it back down the highway to grab it before they closed, then we turned right around to catch views of Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse.
We were a bit late for Crazy Horse; we could see it but only briefly as it quickly got too dark. But we were delighted to learn there was about to be a laser light show on it, so we parked backwards, positioned to watch from the back of the van, brought out snacks and opened the back doors. The show left some modernization to be desired, but it was educational. Then we began the long drive toward Grand Teton, hoping to make it halfway and catch up on some lost time.
We arrived in Grand Teton the following afternoon and got to explore and hang out for a couple of days before Beth’s flight left out of Jackson Hole. We did a nice hike up to Hidden Falls, where a black bear came crashing out of the hillside and crossed the trail not far in front of us. I’ll admit — I turned and ran! (Which you are NOT supposed to do). But the bear had kept running too and though I was relieved it scampered away, Beth kept trying to lure it back for another look. Short on time, we used the boat shuttle to bring us across Jenny Lake, which I recommend whether or not you have time to finish your hike because it’s a beautiful view from the water.
I spent my evening in Jackson Hole after seeing Beth off, starting to feel unhappy about going on alone. Beth had been an excellent vanlife companion and remembering how to do it on my own wasn’t feeling so exciting. I comforted myself with green curry noodles and went back into the park to do laundry and stealth camped right outside the general store. After rising early to catch sunrise light on the Teton Range, I traveled northward to Yellowstone National Park.
I knew there were geysers in Yellowstone but I honestly didn’t even know what to expect otherwise. I met up with a friend who happened to be working outside of the West Entrance and had the day to explore. We made a northwest excursion and hiked to the summit of Bunsen Peak, checked out Mammoth Hot Springs, and had elk and bison burgers for dinner outside of the North Entrance in Gardinier.
After camping at the West Yellowstone Visitor’s Center, I went into the park for a couple of days on my own, camping at Madison and doing the south loop the first day and the north loop the next day. Some major highlights of the southern loop were Grand Prismatic and Firehole Drive. The colors of the rock and the thermophile microbes that live in hot, sulfuric places! The gurgling mud pools and steaming vents and gushing geysers! Oh and bison. All of the bison.
On my second day I started early at Artists Paint Pots and the morning light and the steam coming out of the earth created the most lovely effect. The northern loop includes Yellowstone Falls and oh. OH! Top 5 most beautiful places I’ve ever seen is from Brink of Lower Falls, which brings you quite literally to the brink of the 312 foot drop of a rushing glacial river into the 1000 ft Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. I stood in awe and let the beauty and majesty of this place wash over me. I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking.
The next day I was planning to head north to Glacier National Park, then further on to Calgary, Banff, across the Canadian Rockies to Vancouver… but talks and news of wildfires made me pause and do some research. It was tough to call, but after driving through the part of Yellowstone that was on fire and tasting the smoke inside my van, I decided it wasn’t something I wanted to deal with, and the fire map for the Canadian Rockies looked really bad.
But I loved Yellowstone so much, I decided I could just go back for a couple more days! I hung out with Mike a couple more times in the funny town of West Yellowstone, and went back to the Grand Canyon area for a guided hike and to Yellowstone Lake for a “scenic boat tour.” I do not recommend it, it’s not a scenic boat tour if you’re sitting the middle of an enclosed vessel with small windows. I wanted to do a nice hike a ranger recommended but a big worry for me has been bears and all of the “Do not hike alone!” signs. So I went to the trailhead and waited to see other people and asked to tag along with a nice couple, Deb and Robert, from Alabama. We reached Cascade Lake after 2.2 miles and impulsively decided to do 3 more miles to summit Observation Peak… this made the whole hike 10.5 miles! They were great company and I was super impressed with myself, setting the record for longest hike I’ve ever done. A nice lady had given me her unused dinner coupon so I treated myself to a big dinner and wine reward before leaving the park.
I had decided to avoid most of the fires, and to see my sister and friend before they were tied up with other things, by going through Idaho straight to Portland. I had no idea the cool sights Idaho possessed; St. Anthony Sand Dunes and Craters of the Moon, with lava fields and volcanoes. Eastern Oregon was striking, too, with its rolling desert hills and the Columbia Gorge. I spent 5 days in Portland, wining and dining with my sister, Chrissie, and falling head over heels in love with her city. I saw another longtime friend who sent me away with fresh heirloom tomatoes from her garden. Then I decided I should move along, especially because I was feeling very comfortable… too comfortable. I decided to go into Washington and wander for a few days, and the options were plentiful.
