Wandering Elephant: May 2010

So I left Seattle at the end of April to trek back across the country, spend some time with friends and family in New England, and then head down to Baltimore to settle into my new home. After initially hating Seattle when I first moved out there, I grew to love it and in the last few months it started to feel like home. So leaving that was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, but thankfully I had a friend to drive and explore with from Seattle to Minneapolis. That and some amazing send offs from my friends helped to lighten the blow. We hiked Lake Serene after diggin into some ribs from the BBQ Pit (BBQ served from a school bus- amazing), then camped out in Leavenworth with all of my favorite people. We left from there and headed to Missoula Montana and had some amazing pizza, stayed at a friends house and then had a tasty delicious breakfast (and everything was SO cheap! sweeeet). Drove down to Yellowstone and explored some sulfur springs, drove around a bit and set up camp......in the freeeezing cold. Then we sat in the car and ate dinner because it was too cold to sit outside. We also tried to drink coconut milk but we both thought it tasted like suntan lotion- I later found out its not meant to be drunk on its own. We got up the next day, walked around some geysers, saw the grand prismatic, and watched Old Faithful blow. Then we drove down to Jackson Hole Wyoming, got some much needed exercise, followed by an even more needed shower, and treated ourselves to a delicious dinner and the luxury of a mattress instead of a flat piece of ground. This of course, was all after my ford focus (which we lovingly named 'STRUGGLES') chugged up the rockies in second gear. We were relieved to get to the top except that on the way down, my friend Joe said 'I just heard a funny noise, and now I smell a funny smell'....mmm comforting. Struggles, Joe and I all made it safely down and the good ol girl was ready to go again after a good nights sleep. We spent a day in Jackson Hole, I tried to hike in the Grand Tetons, but it turns out that 4 feet of snow and no snow shoes isn't exactly conducive to getting anywhere. So I hung out at the visitors center and learned stuff while Joe sat in a bar nearby to write a paper. Then we drove to Casper Wyoming, oh boy is that place a joy. We camped in a hurricane (super) and got up the next day to go to Wall Drug in South Dakota. BISON BURGERS!! mmmmm and homemade donuts...and cherry pie...and bison hot dogs..and maybe more homemade donuts. And a mechanical T-rex?? yeah. Then we drove to the Badlands, set up camp and toured the park just before sunset. A-mazing. Got up the next morning and had the most epic bike ride of my life. Then for the last stretch into Minneapolis. Spent a few days there and had a great time with friends. Then I picked up my dad at the airport, we took a walk around Lake Calhoun, ate dinner at a bowling alley and left for Chicago the next morning. What a cool city!! We walked downtown and went through the park, saw the bean, and went out to dinner at Kinzies Steakhouse mmmmmmmmmm. Our destination for the next day was Buffalo, which conveniently let me see one of my favorite ladies, who I haven't seen in two years! Lovely :) Then finally home to Maine. Oh, lovely Maine.