Going to the Sun, Aliens Welcome!!

We have heard all across the country that there is a road in Glacier Park, Montana that will change our lives and we had to take it. Ok, a road that will change our lives… We’ll see…

When I last left you, we had just left Yellowstone and staying in a tiny town just into Montana, Livingston. We stayed at the Livingston Inn. If you are ever in Montana, I highly suggest it. It is not the Ritz that I am used to, but the innkeepers were spectacular. The rooms are newly remodeled in a western motif. The walls were lined with 524 original pictures that they have taken each with a little saying of where they were taken and by whom. A couple that you might be interested in… A close up picture of a smiling (or not so much) grizzly bear, the caption… I finally got my wife about 12 feet from a grizzly, out of the sunroof. Another, picture of a mountain lion in a tree snarling, the caption… How to make a cougar snarl? Poke him in the balls with a stick.

We had an absolutely beautiful drive to Glacier National park. It is amazing to me how some states go from completely flat to elevations of ten thousand feet in miles. We took the scenic route and passed about 20 cars the entire way. I started waving to every car that went by. I finally got one to wave back. We then started waving to all the farmers. They were very friendly. We traveled through many small towns; many looked as though they were ghost towns. Others, just as cute as could be. Each town whether it was made up of log cabins and farms, or a farm and three trailers all had a small church. Some of the churches did not look like they would hold even ten people. It is good to have spirituality on your side. We have many photos of mountains off in the distance and you could see the spirit of the Blackfeet shining through. We are all spiritual machines with capabilities beyond imagination.

Great Falls was an interesting town. They had check a child day care, casinos in the Laundromat, only one starbucks and ho paint and supplies…

As soon as we entered Glacier National Park, there was the largest purple spoon; we knew this was going to be a unique experience. The scenery was amazing. The Rocky Mountains are actually rocky. It never occurred to me that they would be mostly rock. Not sure why, just didn’t.

As we were driving up the mountain to Two Medicine Lake where we were going to make camp for the night, a Park Ranger had someone pulled over. Katie took one look at him and said, “Why couldn’t he pull us over instead of the Ranger in Yellowstone?” Yes, you guessed it; he was indeed a cutie… We started calling him Ranger Rick. How many of you read Ranger Rick magazine when you were younger? One of my personal favorites!

Just a quick side note… Have you ever wondered how they determine what color lifesaver starts the roll? Is it the same in every roll? Does each roll contain the same number of each color? Or is it just totally random? A dance of the lifesaver rolls perhaps?

Ok, back to Ranger Rick, or so it turns out, Ranger Scott, a very nice young man from Illinois making his life as a National Park Ranger. Very informative about all the different hiking trails and scenic boat rides available to take. We asked about wildlife, plants and such and he was not so helpful after all. But indeed still a cutie and cooperative. We ran into him in the street after dark and Katie and I played a game of 20 questions with him, although he did not know he was playing. We just fired question after question at him. He was very impressed of the questions we asked him. Some ranging from very simple about him to off the wall questions like, “does your mom have a type A personality?” He was a great sport and answered all the questions.

He stopped by in the morning to have tea with us and make sure that we made it through the night alright and then proceeded to stalk us for the rest of our stay in Two Medicine. It was ok with me cause, still indeed a cutie. That evening, he stopped by to show us how to properly make a campfire (not sure what it is with Rangers thinking that we do not know how to make a campfire…) Turns out, Ranger Scott is not so good at the campfires either. It was a sad excuse for a campfire. I of course gave him an awful hard time about it. I did have two bottles of wine in me, so most of you know how mouthy I get when I am drinking.

We hiked to the top of Aster park view point. Not as far of a hike as in the Black Hills, but higher. Beautiful views. If you get a chance, please check out the photos. Again, the pics that are being posted on Facebook are not the best ones. I need to have something to tempt you with when I get home and want to see you.

It was so cold Wednesday morning we were up, dressed and packed up before 9AM. That is about the time that Kate is normally waking me up. We traveled the hour and four minutes to Many Glacier where we saddled up and took a two hour scenic trail ride by horse. My horse was Red. He liked to go to the left. He only ran me into three different trees. The wranglers put a “bugger” bag on him, (which is like a feed bag so they do not want to stop and eat every tasty morsel they come across). But alas, he didn’t like that idea and was always looking for something to put in his mouth. The first couple of time it was pretty flowers. So I am going to go with the idea that he thought I was pretty and he was trying to be a nice guy and give me flowers and court me…

Hey, guess what?!?!?! I went horseback riding in the Rocky Mountains in Montana! I am a lucky girl to be able to say that. Not a lot of people get to. But if you have the chance, I highly recommend it!

After our strenuous trail ride, we had to stop for lunch. What better place than Two Sista’s Café? It was MMMGOOD and they had GR8PIES or so the signs out front said. On the roof of the building, a welcoming sign for aliens. The bathroom was outside and around the corner. Where else would it be? We had a Huckleberry milkshake and Huckleberry lemon bread pudding with a huckleberry crème glaze for dessert. I know, it doesn’t get any better… We did after all have to get out strength up for our trip to the sun.

Going to the sun Road. This road is absolutely mind altering, life changing, peaceful, out of this world. The pictures look fake. You would never even dream that there would be a place that looks like this. I am still contemplating all of the feelings and positive energy that we experienced on that journey. If that was the only thing I got to see in my entire life, it would be worth it. I do not have the words to properly describe this right now. I am still in awe.

Down off the mountain and through Idaho we went. Over the river to Spokane, Washington to see Kate’s friend Spencer and spend a couple days. We rolled in around 11 PM on Wednesday night. Just in time to zonk out for the night. Up in the morning, we showered! YES!!! A shower, first time in four days! Had a mediocre lunch and then I took myself to the ER. I have been having pain in my arm and elbow. It had gotten so bad that I could not squeeze the shampoo out of the bottle this morning. Turns out it is just acute tendonitis. The doctor recommended the RICE Massage. Some of you might be wondering what RICE massage is. Rest, Ice, Compress and Elevate. Massage it as often as possible. Good thing I have a certified massage therapist on the road with me…

Just a quick note about Spokane… crazy road system here! They never heard of grid planning. Even our GPS got lost. Luckily, I have a built in GPS chip in my head and was able to get us unlost. I think I might be part of some governmental experiment and no one knows it.

Friday we are off to the Seattle area. We finally made it to the west coast!

The Gateways to wisdom and knowledge are always open.

Practice limitless awareness and let yourself be as infinite as the heavens.

Go Jesus and Speeding Tickets...

Thank you all for taking the time to tune in! I am sure that you are curious about the title. Keep reading and you will get it...

When I left off last time, Katie and I had just had Mongolian BBQ and spent the afternoon with her cousin. We had a great night sleep in a hotel. Totally slept through the free breakfast... oops! We traveled from Sioux Falls, SD to Mitchell where we embraced the Corn Palace. The entire outside of the building is decorated in corn cobs. Very interesting. We thought that it would take us but a few minutes to go through, get some pics and be on our way. Turns out, it took us a couple hours. From, the Corn Palace we traveled the 2 miles up the road to see how the Indians lived. We threw spears and dug for fossils. Neither one of us would have been able to eat if that is how we had to get our food. We did not come anywhere near the targets. Oh well, that is why God invented restaurants.

We were attempting to make it to the Badlands, but were about 40 miles short when night began to fall and we had to have enough time to get our tents up and fire built before the darkness set in. We stopped in a little town called Belvidere. Here we witnessed our first SD sunset. Very beautiful. The campgroud that we stayed in was across the street from 1880Town where many westerns have been filmed. The following morning we attempted to go in, but the admission was too much for our budget to handle, so we passed.

We finally made it to the Badlands, where, if you have never been, I would highly recommend it. It is like nothing you have ever seen before. It is almost as you have landed on a different planet. We drove through taking picture after picture. Some are posted on my FB page, although they do not come close to what it actually looks like. Most of the pictures came from me standing up out of the sunroof. Spectacular views from up there. I would ride like that all the time if it was acceptable. You know me and breaking the law....

We spent the night in the park where the temperature dropped into the upper 30's. Man, what it COLD!!! In the morning Kate got up and went to the top of one of the nearby hills to watch the sunrise. As the sun was coming up, she noticed a buffalo making its way between her and the camp. She decided that she better get back to the campground. On her way back, the buffalo had other options in mind for her. He looked at her, she looked at him, he took off, her heart was racing. The sound that he made as he was stampeding toward her clearly drowned out the beating of her heart. This day was Kate's lucky day, he veered off in the other direction sparing Kate her life.

After her life altering experience, she came back to camp and decided that it would be a good idea if we hiked before packing up camp for the day. I was not all that thrilled about it, I kinda like my life and would like to be around a little longer. I have not accomplished what I was sent here for quite yet... Against my better judgement, the hiking shoes went on and up the hills we went. Some of the most fabulous views were seen from the tops of the hills. Once again, I highy recommend the SD Badlands!

After camp was packed up, we were on our way to Mount Rushmore. We took many pictures of dead presidents, hiked around the trails for all the different angles of the dead presidents. Off of one of the little trails there were three teepees set up with an Indian couple there. The male Indian played his drum and sang for us. It was very moving. What an amazing voice he has. It was the song that he sang to his wife of 30 years to ask her to marry him. I'll tell ya, if someone sang that to me, it would be all over. I would be putty in his hands.

When our trek through Mount Rushmore was over, we traveled route 16A the scenic byway to Custer State Park. Scenic is right. It was a breathtaking journey. There were bison all over the place. There was even a traffic jam for the herd crossing the street. After our beautiful drive through the scenic byway and we were both car sick, we finally found where we would rest our heads for the evening. We sacked out early and took it easy the next morning.

Off to Crazy Horse to see the blowing up... Well, we didn't quite make it for the blowing up. But very interesting nontheless. We opted for dinner out. After dinner we headed to the Cosmos. Where things are not always as they seem. It was an experience unlike any other. The land was level, but we were at a 45 degree angle. The gravity in this particular spot was pulling so strongly that water was flowing up hill, Kate was taller than me and we got to stand in the corner of a cabin on the wall and pretend to be superman, or women in our case.

On our final day in South Dakota we hike a six mile trail in the Black Hills. They call them hills, but I call them mountains. Thought for sure I was a goner on this day. But low and behold, I made it. And for my reward we traveled the 45 minutes to Hot Springs to soak and relax for a little while. Well, it turns out that there are not any hot springs in Hot Springs South Dakota. There are springs, but they are not hot. So the place that we went, takes the water from the springs and puts it into a hot tub and makes it hot. We soaked for a little while and I sprang for a 30 minute massage for the both of us. After our relaxing afternoon, we stopped for dinner. We had some of the tastiest pizza we have ever had. It was with spinach, tomato, basil and feta cheese.

After a good nights sleep, we packed up camp and headed for Yellowstone. Well, guess what... we didn't quite make it all in one day. So, we stopped in Cody, WY at the Buffalo Bill State park. We were right on the water. This campsite has been my favorite to date. Just absolutely breathtaking. A beautiful sunset, shooting stars, the milkyway.... what more could you ask for?

Yellowstone, here we come... Every place we go, we think that it is possibly prettier than the place before. Winding through the hills of Yellowstone, we get to an overlook and there is Yellowstone Lake. AMAZING! At the overlook we met a nice gentleman named Don who gave us many great tips of places to see on our trip. Thank you Don!

Having spent over an hour talking with Don, we were in a little bit of a hurry to get to Old Faithful. Going along with traffic, 62 in a 45, we get pulled over. The officer wanted to know why were in such a hurry. Kate replies, honestly, I wasn't even paying attention. "Well, ma'am we are cracking down on law enforcement here in the park. We need to protect our wildlife." and off he goes with license, registration and proof of insurance. It must have been out lucky day, Kate got off with a warning. (Thank Goodness!!! Cause a speeding ticket is not in the budget!!)

We twisted and turned and up and down all the way to Old Faithful. When we pulled in, we had just missed it so we had to wait the hour or so for the next rush. As we were sitting on the bench waiting, these two guys next to us started recording themselves talking and praising God that they were there. Jose was up on the bench recording while the other man was in front of the Geyser giving his speech. As the speech giver was done, Jose turned the camera to himself and started chanting "Go Jesus" ... At this point we had to get up and leave because we were about to burst into laugher and we did not want to be rude.

Old Faithful did its thing. We found camp. A lovely spot. Spacious, great picnic table, pine trees, stars, roaring fire. Awesome!

Today, we did Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Tower falls, Manmouth Hot Springs (which BTW are really hot up to 190 degrees). And into Montana where we are spending the night in Livingston.

We have seen tons of wildlife, but no bears yet. Here is a quick list (hope I get them all) of what we have seen...

elk, mountain goats, antelope, bison, deer, teradactyls, otters, geese, ducks, big horned something or other, prairie dogs, (prairie dogs have the plague or so the signs say)

And remember... Wildlife are dangerous, do not approach!

We are on our way up to Glacier National Park. After that Spokane Washington.

Happy Trails...(I am tired...)

Top 10 Things I have learned in South Dakota...

I am sure that you are all very excited to see what I have been up to for the past week... Well, me too. Here is a list of things that South Dakota has taught me.

1. The dirt roads in SD are smoother and easier to travel than paved roads anywhere on the East Coast.

2. Beware of rattle snakes!!

3. Do NOT approach buffalo, they are dangerous!!

4. Be thankful for loving families.

5. Never under estimate the power within.

6. Treasure every shooting star.

7. Take time to embrace the sunset.

8. How to go to the bathroom in the most random places.

9. It is ok to gamble while you are pumping your gas.

10. Kids love Wall Drug...

The End of Week One!!

Well, we are finishing out our first week on the road!! We are currently in a hotel in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It has been a journey to get here. I know you all want to know all about it, so here goes... (some items may be omitted to protect the innocent...)

Our first day out we thought that we would never get out of Pennsylvania. We drove and drove, just when we thought we might be close to leaving the state, we stopped at a rest area for a potty break and some Starbucks. Well, to our dismay, there was not a Starbucks at the rest area that we chose. We got a hotdog and a soft pretzel in the amount of $10. Already over budget... As we were leaving the restroom, we noticed a map on the wall with the distance that we have come and how far we have to go. "Holy CRAP!! are you kidding me??" we said in unison. We had not even made it half way out of the state of Pennsylvania!!

The day was HOT and sunny! So hot that we could barely breathe. That is until we pulled into our first campground in Belmont Ohio. Barkcamp state park. Just what we needed on our first night out, pouring down rain. By the time that we registered and picked our site, the rain had let up for the most part. We decided to get our tents up as quickly as we could before it started again. Just as we got our tents up the park ranger came around to check everything out. He was very helpful and talkative. Pat, the park ranger, gave us the do's and don'ts of camping, traveling, fire starting and life. He pegged me as being daring... Not sure I would go that far... but I am going to give it a try. We each earned our junior ranger badge and free fire wood. (it doesn't hurt to flirt a little to get stuff, right?) The friendly neighbor from across the way, Gary invited us over for some Yahtzee. Never having played before we were a little apprehensive. But I must say, I kicked some serious butt! My first roll I got Yahtzee... WooHoo!!

In the moring we packed up our rain soaked gear (my tent with puddles in it) and headed back out to the interstate. We had our fiber one poptarts for breakfast. The drive the second day was very uneventful. Nothing major to report. It got to be around stopping time and we headed to the campground that we had picked out for a discount. The guy sold us a spot for $20 and I had to argue with him and we ended up paying $10. We drove around to where he told us to go and there was no such place... That'll teach me to argue with someone. So we headed to another campground, by way of the liquor store... Nothing like camping with a nice bottle of wine.

Tents went up, the fire was made, the dinner was cooked, the marshmallows were toasted... (what is quickly becoming a typical night for us). In the morning we did some stretchy stretchy or what non roadtrippers call yoga. Wonderful after driving non stop and sleeping on the hard ground. What have I gotten myself into?? I am totally a Crowne Plaza girl, not a dirt and sweat girl, but alas, I am learning. Learning a simpler way of life and not everything has to be perfect all the time.

We finally made it to Saint Louis on the third day. We saw the arch, looks better from an airplane above it... Although still pretty shiny, ooooh,, shiny!! We walked along the arch landing, took pictures, and walked in town for a little while. There is an awesome garden "district" that has gardens, obviously, pools, fountains, art work, statues, music and so much more. It was really quite pretty. Pictures will follow shortly... We had lunch at a cute little cafe where we looked like hobo's. Everyone there was dressed in business attire and there we were in our camping and driving clothes. We had a fantastic sandwich, roasted red peppers, spinach, fresh mozzerella, avocado with a balsamic glaze. Fabulous! or maybe is just seemed like it because it did not come out of a can.

Back in the car and onto the Lake of the Ozarks in Osage, Mo. We stayed for two nights. Did a little grocery shopping, fire building, wine drinking, card playing, lake swimming, hiking (back and forth the the restrooms) and people watching. Very nice to have a day that was not sitting in the car.

Everyone in MO eats bacon. They even have bacon in the refried beans and enchiladas.

We blew a fuse in the car for the power outlets. Trying to charge too many things. So, I did what ever good girl does, called her mechanic, in Pa. When he did not answer, I had to figure it out on my own. And I did. I went into the truck stop and asked where the fuses were, the cashier sent me to the cooler where the drink fuze is. I guess not everyone can be as car savvy as me...

We spent our fifth night in Big Lake, Mo. Yes, still in Mo. I know you all know how much I love Mo. Some of you may even know that I have considered moving there. It is still an option. Did you ever just feel comfortable somewhere and you don't know why? Never fear, we still have a ton of the country to see!

Day six. We saw cornfield after cornfield. Wait, what was that??? oh, soybeans... For 300 miles. betcha can't guess what state we were in. The first person that guesses correctly wins a prize. I will give you a clue, we ended up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We spent the afternoon with Katie's cousin, Britnay and her boyfriend. Very interesting. A completely different way of life. One that I do not know how it could be ok. That is a completely different story for another time.

Mongolian BarBQ for dinner tonight and a night at a hotel, with a bed and internet and running water in the same room and everything! Nothing biting me, or scratching to get in my tent, or dripping on my head. Oh, so nice! Although, we pulled up to the hotel that we had originally planned on staying with the smell of curry and a shady looking parking lot. The windows in the hotel were half hanging off and I threw a temper tantrum. There was no way I was staying there. I would sleep in the car, or go put up my tent in the pouring rain before sleeping there. Oh, yes, it is raining again.

Tomorrow we are off to the corn palace and then west to the badlands. This is where our trip actually begins. We finally made it somewhere that I have not been before. I know, amazing! I know you all think that I have been everywhere. Not so. But by the end of this trip, it will be closer to true.

The thought for the week.... Discover your power within....