Dave and Alyson's Final Post

Dave's Final Post

Sorry for the delay in posting, I hope you all weren’t getting too anxious in anticipation! Much has happened in the last few days. We survived Vegas, a little overwhelming and ridiculously hot. The Hoover Dam was spectacular; once again, ridiculously hot (try 120 degrees for hot, no joke!). Finally, we arrived in Flagstaff, our final destination. Catching up on sleep was well needed, and although the sleeping arrangements in Flagstaff weren’t the most comfortable (going from a big comfy bed in the 15^th floor of the hotel in Vegas to a carpeted floor with sleeping bags), they were what we needed (and also my future apartment) to empty out my car, laundry, and repack for our respective trips. I am now in Anchorage, Alaska for two and a half weeks of field work, and Alyson is back in Massachusetts. :-( Anyways, read on for our adventures over the last few days, and when I can, I will be posting on my other blog about my experiences up in Alaska (http://researcharctic.blogspot.com)

Vegas

Wow, how about that ride in to Vegas. We descended from the mile high Salt Lake area into Arizona for a few miles and finally into Nevada (woo-hoo another time zone change!). The canyons and mountain passes we traversed into Nevada were incredible, and lots of fun to drive (especially when the speed limit is 80!). The temperature steadily rose, and by the time we arrived in Vegas, the car thermometer registered 114. It took us both a bit to realize it was actual heat, not just exhaust fumes from all of the traffic. As we neared Vegas, the billboards, and finally the buildings of the famous Vegas strip were in sight, a good 30 hazy miles away. All sorts of good signs, including strip clubs, 24/7 bars, etc were to be seen. Why anyone would take their child to Vegas is beyond Alyson and I, but we sure saw a hell of a lot of them once we arrived.

We drove the strip, which was quite entertaining. Words can’t do justice to all of the sights we saw, maybe Alyson can describe them a bit better than I. Let’s just say, regardless of the time of day, you are bound to see drunken idiots with beer bottles, plastic cups, or even fancy glasses of wine galavanting Las Vegas Boulevard. The best is when you see two or three people all trying to hold ourselves up. We got so caught up in being entertained people watching that we almost forgot to have our own fun.

Our hotel was the Stratosphere, on the north end of the strip. It also is home to Nevada’s (and actually if I read correctly the tallest building west of the Mississippi. It has a huge tower with 3 rides and a free fall thing that descends you over 900 feet toward the strip below at silly speeds. Like all of the hotel/resort/casinos on the strip, we soon found out that you have to lug all of your stuff through the casino to get to hotel check in. Then, in good fashion, you went through the casino in a different direction to get your elevation to the room. They certainly were smart in planning, allowing you every opportunity and then some to gamble away all of your money before paying your bill or getting comfortable in your room.

While it wasn’t the best location (a solid mile walk was in store to get to the heart of the action near Planet Hollywood, Circus Circus, the Mirage, Caesar’s (no not the home of the real Caesar, and I never did find out if it was beeper friendly or not -- Hangover reference for those of you out of the loop), it was a great hotel. Access to the 107^th floor observation deck, a huge pool/bar/lounge area on the 8^th floor, a 24-hr fitness facility (who goes to Vegas to be fit, not us!), a mall, huge casino, several restaurants, you really could just never have to walk outside.

But we did, because we were so mesmerized by the rest of the strip. By the time we went out both nights, it was past 10, but no worries because most clubs are open until 4, and some bars never even close (a lot of them have drink specials from 2 AM- 2 PM, yup thats right. The other smart way to get cheap (free) drinks is to find a waitress walking around the casino floor, sit down to start playing and snag her for a drink. A dollar tip and she’ll be sure to come back to make sure you aren’t staying sober. Going out may not have been the smartest decision, it was still over 100 at midnight, and by the time we returned to our hotel later that night, it was not much cooler.

We also enjoyed a delicious (albeit slightly pricey) dinner buffet at Planet Hollywood. For an hour we stuffed our faces (me especially -- I think I went up 4 or 5 times, and that doesn’t include the desert bar with chocolate, sundaes, cake, crepes etc). There were crab legs, mussels, prime rib (a given at most Vegas buffets), dishes from most ethnicities, and yeah, lets just say there was more than enough for even the pickiest eaters.

The Hoovan Dam!

Sadly, our time in Vegas had to end sooner than later, and upon leaving we were enroute to Flagstaff, AZ via the Hoover Dam, one of engineers greatest achievements of the 20^th century. We took the tour, which included going down almost 600 feet to where the water runs through the dam and turns 17 turbines that at peak generate enough electricity to serve well over a million homes, in addition to providing water from the upstream Lake Mead that serves most of the Southwest and Mexico with drinking water. The walk across the dam to get to the tour was an experience in itself, the mercury had risen to 120. Every 15 seconds (or at least it felt like it) Alyson would go “Dave…” Yes honey? “It’s really hot”. Just in case I may have forgotten. By the time we got to the visitor building (which felt like it was the distance of a half-marathon but probably only took 10 minutes tops) we were more than dehydrated.

We weren’t very comforted either to hear that when the construction of the dam took place during the Great Depression, temperatures reached 160 in some of the tunnels they were working in. The dam is really incredible, and the story behind its construction is equally as good to hear. The average worker made $4 a day, which back then was more than a fair days pay. Workers were trucked, bussed, shuttled, and trained in from all over, and if you didn’t like your job, there were a thousand more people waiting in line to take it. All in all, over 25,000 people worked there for one time or another. Parts required for the dam were so large, that it required the construction of a manufacturing plant on site for some of them!

Also, what really got us was the death benefits! 94 people “officially died” we were told, and by officially means what scarce records exist tally up to that number. Historians estimate that number to be in the hundreds. Also, to get any sort of benefit (ie your family would receive up to $500, but was likely on average far less), you had to die on site. That means if you were paralyzed, knocked out or what have you, and you died en route to a medical facility or at it, you were off the clock, off the worksite and not given any death benefits. Forgot about the idea of workman’s compensation! The majority of the deaths were attributed to heat stroke and carbon monoxide poisoning. Leaving the museum and hearing of 160 degree temperatures the workers endured still didn’t make us feel any better as we returned to the blazing 120 degree temps. The wind (which usually feels refreshing) really made it feel worse!

Flagstaff

Finally, we climbed back in elevation and were soon in Flagstaff (around 7.000 feet). It is now monsoon season in the southwest, and that means unpredictable storms, lightning, flash floods, and forest fires! We more or less saw all of the above in our 2 short days in Flagstaff. We did laundry, and gambled with the weather (I guess we didn’t lose enough in Vegas and were feeling lucky), putting our clothes outside to dry. While we were there, Flagstaff never got any rain, though I think every location around it did!

At the Grand Canyon, we got to see the sunset. The whole time, Alyson kept asking me if we were going to die from the impeding storm clouds. What’s great about much of the area is that in between the mountains, you can see for miles. So as we drove closer to the Grand Canyon, we watched vivid flashes of lightning, and could see where it was and wasn’t raining some 50+ miles away. So cool! But, unlike New England, the storms don’t race toward you. They kind of have a mind of their own. They all stayed in one spot more or less, and never got us wet at the Grand Canyon or Flagstaff. Also, on the drive back we smelled lots of smoke and got pictures of abundant smoke from a fire about 20 miles NW of Flagstaff that was sparked by lightning. We were shocked and nervous, but apparently to the locals it is just a daily occurrence. Luckily, none of the fires in the area were threatening residential areas like the big ones a few weeks ago.

Finally, it was time to depart. A very sad day. Hopefully Alyson and I can return to embark on another road trip, because we really did cover it all. The drive to the airport in Phoenix brought us back to 110 degree temperatures, and more real cactus (like the ones you see pictures of), but Alyson stole those pictures so you’ll have to wait for her post to check them out.

From roughing it camping, staying with some great people (thank you so much Diane and Lisa for your hospitality), to hosteling and being treated to luxury in Vegas we did it all. A road trip is certainly one of the best ways, if not the best to see and appreciate the country. I scrubbed my car this afternoon of the bug guts, but I still don’t think they will all ever come off. Thankfully, the windshield replacement will be in in August to remedy the ever growing crack, and I’ll finally have a bug free windshield! Thanks for joining us on our adventure, and don’t forget to follow my blog over at http://researcharctic.blogspot.com. I hope you enjoyed and we kept you entertained! Check back next time!

I'm now off to Adak about 1,000 miles SW on Anchorage Alaska. I will be pretty far removed from civilization, but will hope to sneak some internet access to post on my other blog!

Best,

Dave

Alyson's Final Post

This is really sad knowing it's my last post that I am writing (and pretty late too...sorry!). We were so busy towards the end of the trip, and we would have posted in Vegas, but you had to pay for the internet. Now that I am back to reality, I can finish writing my story. Here goes...

Vegas
Vegas is in the middle of the desert, in case you didn't know. There is hardly any civilization outside of it. Driving towards it was really neat because you could see the big hotels you see in pictures (and they really did look like they do in pictures and movies!). It was incredible how clean it was and how lit up it was at night. We even saw the fountain show at the Bellagio, which is the one you see in shows/movies. There are nice cars (and limos of all sorts) driving up and down the strip (and Dave's bug-guts mobile!). There are signs everywhere telling you that "You could have a girl like this (picture of a mostly naked girl) brought to you in minutes" like the girls were pizza or something. And there were little kids with their parents seeing these signs (and the kids were still out even at 2am!!!).
Do you know what 115 degrees feels like?!? I thought I did, or thought it wouldn't be bad...I was terribly wrong. Even sitting by the pool drained us. The pool water was like bath water, not enough to cool you down. They also had a hot tub going at the pool (how ridiculous, but Dave still went in it, though it didn't last very long at all!). Walking down the strip at night was hot as well, temperatures hanging around 100 degrees.
The hotel was so cool! It was really big, though not too too close to the fancy hotels in the middle of the strip. We thought we could handle walking to them, but we gave up after about a mile (and getting distracted by going into Circus Circus). The hotel, as Dave mentioned, was part of a huge tower. The view from it was really great. Our room was really nice too (I felt like a Queen after camping and being in a hostel).
Vegas is definitely a place that stands out from any other place when it comes to a lot of things. There were girls in underwear dancing on poles in front of you while you play slots. On that topic, Dave was so determined to find a slot near the lady who brought you the free drinks because he wanted to get his money out of losing the money gambling (so he figured the money he lost would pay for his free drinks...don't worry, we didn't lose much money at all). Also in Vegas, you can drink on the strip. People with beer bottles were everywhere, along with people carrying 3 foot tall drinks filled with pina coladas (though we weren't any better with our guitar...pictures to come, and you will understand). This place is certainly different with bedtimes too. People were up all night long wandering/stumbling the strip.
Last but not least (I hope I'm not forgetting anything) is the buffets. I don't know how I didn't come back 20 lbs heavier! Just one night of having a buffet was too much, never mind people who get the deals 24 hours of all you can eat from 6 buffets on the strip! The gym in our hotel was free to anyone who stayed there, but who the heck uses a gym when you could be at a buffet?!? (other than the handful of people who were in there the morning we checked out)

The Hoover Dam
I thought I was going to die this day. It was so hot! The difference from 115 degress to 120 degrees is a heck of a lot. Just the 10 minute walk from the car to the dam dried my mouth out to desert conditions, and I thought I was going to pass out. I made sure Dave was well aware of how hot it was.
On our way into the Hoover Dam, we were stuck in traffic for a long time because there is a patrol at the entrance (so no terrorists get through). We were behind a large white van with a Mexican license plate "Chihuahua." When they got to the check point, they were pulled to the side to be checked...and so weren't we! I guess a car full of belongings would be a reason to stop Dave and me?
We went on a tour which was pretty cool! Our tour guide was hilarious, and made it fun to learn so much about the dam. Dave pretty much covered all of the cool stuff we learned.

Arizona
Arizona is a really cool state! On the drive in, we saw storms in the distance on both sides of us and a rainbow above us! The drive was so pretty.The temperature in Flagstaff was also much cooler than the temperatures in Vegas and at the Hoover Dam, which was nice treat. When we got to his house, we went grocery shopping, made dinner, and passed out right away.
PS: Dave's house is really cool!
The following day was relaxing (the day before we both left). We took it easy by doing laundry, packing, and going to see the Grand Canyon. On the way to the canyon, we saw a storm in the distance. Not long after, in the general area where the storm was, we saw a cloud of smoke rising from the trees. It was a wild fire! Apparently it isn;t a big deal to the people who live there, but to me it was a big deal! The Grand Canyon looks just like the pictures. We got to watch the sunset there (and dark clouds rolling towards us).
The next day was a very sad day. We drove to Pheonix so I could grab my flight, and then he drove back to catch his in Flagstaff. The drive to the airport was quiet for the most part, minus when I saw a real cactus! It was the kind you drew growing up, or the one you get a mental image of when you hear about a cactus.

I guess that's most everything that had happened at the end of our trip, I will really miss writing about it, and being on it...but that just means we should go on another! I will post the pictures of the Grand Canyon soon, and I hope that we can make an online album of all of our pictures for everyone : )

Love,
Alyson

Heading south, and the temperatures are beginning to rise

Off we were once again, this time to Salt Lake City. We said goodbye to Yellowstone, and of course our drive out of the park was no easy feat. There were several more bison that backed up traffic as people had to stop and snap photos as if this bison was much more photogenic than the previous 5. I think it is safe to say we have seen our fair share of bison. We left through the west entrance which brought us through Montana and Idaho. Idaho seemed to have a little bit of everything, farm land, some mountains (mostly old volcanic), industry, rodeos, and trailer parks. It was nothing spectacular, at least the part we drove through, but still beats out Illinois (our least favorite state by far). But I guess after driving through the Teton mountains of Wyoming, seeing Mt. Rushmore and the real corn fields of the mid-west you kind of develop high standards for a quality state.

Oh yes, Idaho does also have lots of potatoes, and Alyson started complaining and craving a loaded baked-potato. I told her if we came close enough to a farm I would pull over and let her pick her own potato to eat but she wasn’t satisfied with that offer. She never did get her baked potato…

Once in Utah, the mountains started to surround us. Also, we entered our first 3 lane highway in at least the last 1,000 miles. We have now racked up over 3,000 miles, and have a good 1,000 more to go. Salt Lake City is surrounded by mountains on all sides of it. We came right through the downtown, and are staying in a hostel. Alyson was excited about the idea because it would be her first time in one. When we showed up, she was unsure of what to think, and feared it would be full of dirty hippies that didn’t shower. Though we did run into a few odd ducks, for the most part the people were pleasant and friendly, and we had our own room with a good sized bed. I would have to say the highlight of my evening was when we went back out to the car to gather our belongings and the sprinklers had started. Alyson had to tiptoe against the car as close as possible, though the sprinklers still got her. Two girls were sitting out on the grass laughing, thoroughly amused.

It is getting a lot warmer here, and our night in Yellowstone was even a bit warmer than the first (if only by a few degrees). It was over 70 by the time we left Wyoming, and 90 as we entered Utah. There is an excessive heat warning up for Las Vegas (our destination for this weekend). Now Vegas is typically a sauna in the summer being in the desert and all, so when they call their heat excessive, you know it’s bad. The current forecast calls for 115 by day, and 90 by night.

-Dave

We finally made it to Salt Lake City! The drive here was so boring. Idaho is such a copycat state (no offense to anyone who likes Idaho). It had fields (like Nebraska), but they were brown; it had windmills (like Iowa), but they were tiny; it had mountains (like Wyoming (but they were smaller). Coming into Utah was pretty neat though. We thought we saw smog in the distant mountains, but it was just a huge cloud of dust. The temperature keeps rising (which I like a lot).

The city was clean and nice. We saw the state building, and on the lawn, they had a blow up screen set up with people on blankets in front of it. I guess they have movies there every Thursday night throughout the summer. There were also some really cute neighborhoods in the city.

The hostel we stayed at was an interesting place. When we got there, there were two girls (from a different country) sitting on the front lawn. They looked like such hippies, and that’s when I realized this place was going to be full of them. I didn’t know what to expect when we got inside, but when I did see it, it took awhile to take in. It was so homey, in a weird way. There were people chilling on the couches in a living room area watching a huge tv, there were people hanging out in the kitchen, and there were people using the computers in a small area near the entrance. The people were so laid back (I don’t even think they noticed we were there). The room was cool too (kind of plain, but nice). I like the fact that everyone shares in a hostel. The stuff in the living room (videos, books, etc) and in the kitchen (food, utensils) were up for grabs to anyone.

There’s not too much else to post, but I am sure I will have a bunch tomorrow!

-Alyson xoxo

A funny video from the zoo and some pictures from our day heading to Mt. Rushmore

Posting from our hostel in Salt Lake City. Adventures of our day will be up tomorrow which we'll get online before we settle in for two wild days in Las Vegas.

The video is of a parrot who enjoyed scaring you and then laughing at you. He thought he was a riot.

Also, some Mt. Rushmore pictures for you all to enjoy!

A long dirt road in Nebraska that leads to nowhere...

And even on the 'highway' there is literally no one else on the road for

miles...

The downtown of Keystone, SD, the little tourist trap town just outside of Mt. Rushmore

And finally the parrot video...

Face to face with the wildlife of Yellowstone!

We got up, drove up the road to use the shower facilities and felt like a new person. After which we adventured out around Yellowstone. There is wildlife EVERYWHERE. During the day we saw bison, elk, deer, a wolf, and Alyson even spotted yes, a grizzly bear. To my surprise, she was more excited than I could have ever imagined just a week ago as we were beginning our adventure.

Also, Old Faithful was quite an event. It only erupts every 90 or so minutes so we got there with an hour to spare. As it neared, Alyson INSISTED she capture it on video, so about 20 attempts at capturing it (there were many false alarms) the moment finally came. We have lots of weeding to do of videos from today. There is lots more to discuss, but I have lots more driving ahead of me so I will leave it to Alyson to fill you in. All I will say is that after returning to the campsite, I made a BOMB fire on which we cooked hamburger helper without the neighbors assistance.

Next stop, Salt Lake City.

-Dave

This is definitely going to be a lengthy post, so get comfy! I am writing this while Dave drives us to Salt Lake City.

I guess you can call me a pro camper now for making it through Yellowstone for two nights! The past two nights were terribly freezing (33 degrees). The wind was so loud, you could hear it coming for miles through the trees, but the stars made up for it (there were hundreds). We didn’t stay very warm by the fire the first night, but last night our fire was roaring! Our neighbors came over when they saw us trying to light it, and they impressed : ) Our dinner last night was Hamburger Helper and salad. I think I ate better while camping than I do at home.

Today we covered pretty much all of Yellowstone’s “must see” places plus more. Our first stop was the nice hot showers (this was an attraction for me). We then traveled to our first real place-Old Faithful. It goes off about every 90 minutes, and we arrived with an hour to go, so we got a front row seat for the event. The closer it got to erupting, the more people got antsy. You would hear “Oh..oh..oh...awwww….wait...nope…” The kids behind us probably counted down from 10 about 20 times. When it actually did go off, it was amazing.

The next stop was Midway Geyser Basin. I am surprised nobody has heard of this before because it was just as cool as Old Faithful. The springs there were colored due to bacteria called thermophiles (don’t worry, that’s as scientific as I will get). The colors were so vibrant, and you could even see them from the road. There were red springs and blue springs.

The third stop was Mammoth Hot Springs (very uneventful). The

ride to this place was quite eventful, though. There was tons of construction (you were stuck for 15+ minutes, so Dave stood out of the car and shot grapes into my mouth...I think the people behind us found this amusing). There was also a road closed because there was a really bad motorcycle accident, and they were going to call LifeFlight. When we finally got moving we were stopped again! This time it was because of an animal. Cars were parked in the street for about a quarter of a mile, and a ranger walked by us with his walkie talkie, “Okay, so where’s the bear?” I immediately popped out of the sunroof with my camera ready. Unfortunately the bear was too deep into the woods for a picture, but I definitely saw it walking into the woods. It was brown, which meant I saw a grizzly!

Our last stop was at Yellowstone Grand Canyon. Dave insisted that we hike down the trail to it, so I put my brave face on and walked down to the canyon. It was 300 feet down and 300 feet up, but on the way up it felt more like 3,000. It was so difficult, and I felt so out of shape, but Dave reminded me that at high elevations (7,800 feet), oxygen levels are pretty low. I think he said that just to make me feel better, but then I noticed everyone else having a super hard time. The canyon itself was beautiful! The colors of the rocks were really bright, and there was a huge waterfall tumbling right next to where we stood.

After this adventure, we decided it was time for dinner. We didn’t want last night to turn into a night like the night before. Our trek back to camp was stopped when the cars in front of us stopped abruptly. Annoyed, I popped out of the sunroof while Dave peered to the side. We both saw a bison in the middle of the road just walking along, not a care in the world, no rush. I took a video because it was too funny; the bison had to be less than a foot away from Dave’s open window! (see video below!) After the bison had passed by, we were set again, hoping to make it back soon to eat.

Not too long after that, we noticed a handful of people standing on the side of the road with binoculars, which made us curious...we had to stop again. I am glad we stopped because when we asked a lady what everyone was looking at, she replied, “There’s a black wolf on the other side of the river.” Dave and I looked at each other, and, with everyone else, started jogging to the edge of the cliff to see the wolf. Sure enough, we saw it! It hung around for about ten minutes before walking back into the woods. On our way back to the car, I stepped in bison poop (and for the record...bison poop is pretty big)! I threw my shoes off and refused to wear them, so I walked around in my socks. Finally, we got back to the campsite after another while (stopping for people taking pictures of bison, more bison, elk, deer, and more bison).

I guess I’ve finally covered everything. I will let you know how today goes later…

-Alyson

PS- Every time I open a stupid bottle, it explodes on me because of the pressure. I don’t think I will ever catch on to this.

Drive to Yellowstone

I forgot the whole drive time and miles covered, but I’ll give you an update that we have now put 2,800 miles on the Subaru. The front is COVERED in bug guts, you can hardly make out thelicense plate!Okay, maybe not that bad but pretty damn close, I’ll get a picture up to gross you all out soon.

In goodfashion, we left Mt. Rushmore a bit later than we would have liked. Part of the problem was the lack of cell phone service resulting in a dead battery which was supposed to be our 6 AM alarm clock. The second was trying to pry Alyson out from under the covers. Her first night camping was a success, at least in my book. Once she got over the lack of flush toilets (I think she just held it until we made it to a rest area before Wyoming), and the howling wind at 2 AM that made me second guess how secure our tent really was, we did quite well.

As we headed off on our drive, we left the Black Hills (though if you compared them to the Berkshires which they consider mountains, either the Berkshires need a downgrade or the hills deserve more respect as mountains. Into the prairies of western South Dakota, we were soon in Wyoming. The speed limit increased to 75, and the traffic was almost non existent. Although one note, many of the country roads are posted at 65, and you can make good time on them but don’t go over a hill and try to pass a cop. He WILL pull you over. Luckily he was very friendly and gave me a warning for going 77 in a 65. I thought cruise control was going to save me, btu I guess it only works when you cruise at or under the speed limit.

Also, I have learned on this trip that you CAN NOT beat Google Maps estimated travel time. You will stop to pee and get gas, and since the good weather season is so short, especially out west, they loveto do all their road construction. And when you enter a construction zone, it is one lane, they have a lead car, its almost like NASCAR, you can’t pass them and its a red flag until they bring the other direction of traffic over. The construction added at least an hour to our travel yesterday.

Once in Wyoming, we soon saw a slight bit of white off in the distance. I told Alyson to check out the snow on the mountains, but she said that it was just clouds. It was so far off, that I was wondering if it was an illusion that perhaps the sky was slightly darker below the clouds or not. Another 10 miles later, we soon both realized it was snow, and those were mountains. A good 75 miles passed before we actually got close to them. At last, we drove through the Tetons of Wyoming, going over a 9,600 ft pass, with snow in the shady gulleys, and entered Yellowstone. There were bison along the side of the road EVERYWHERE! It took us another hour to make it to our campsite.

As we entered the grounds for our campsite, Alyson having realized we were 50 miles away from the nearest cell tower and was essentially cut off from civilization for the next 48 hours saw a sign with 3 arching lines on it (similar to a Wi-Fi here sign you see at Panera and Mc Donalds these days). Well, she was overcome with excitement begging me to use my laptop for internet access for just 30 minutes. I first told her she was crazy and we were roughing it, and upon check in she soon realzied the sign was not for wi-fi but in fact for an amphitheater they had shows in. You can imagine her reaction upon this realization.

The fire and cooking was a bit of a challenge as I’ll let Alyson discuss (take what she says with a grain of salt, I am not that bad of a fire starter!), and the night was freezing! The temperatures dipped down into the 30s (we are at almost 8,000 feet).

-Dave

I am writing this from Yellowstone! As you can see, I survived my first night camping. It wasn’t too bad. The wind last night, though, was really strong. I thought I was going to blow away (luckily I didn’t). No bears or animals snuck into the tent (that I know of). I also made sure I didn’t have to use the bathroom before we left (but I am pretty sure my bladder was minutes away from exploding). I hope there are flush toilets tonight!

Today was a day full of driving. Again, a later than anticipated start, thankfully. The ride was a little longer than I had wanted, but I got to see cool western towns that we passed through. It looked like the old cowboy movies. There were huge rocks and ranches, and the further we went, the bigger the rocky hills/mountains were. Then we got to a point where we saw snow covered mountains! I have decided that Wachusett, Sugarloaf, etc are hills, not mountains. These mountains (Tetons) are so huge and pointy. Seeing all of this is so much better than seeing it in pictures. The ride pretty much consisted of me yelling, “Look!” and then pointing the other way, “Look!”

Along the way we hit a few bumps in the road. As I had mentioned, we had a run-in with the police. Dave was going a little bit too fast (shocking, huh?) and came right up on a cop on the highway, “Is that a cop?!?…Oh crap, it’s a cop...Oh, he’s turning. We’re fine…Um, Alyson? Do you mind getting the registration out of the glove compartment?” Luckily we only got a warning, and hopefully this will be the last of these occurrences. Half an hour later, we pulled into a McDonalds parking lot and used their WiFi (last post). This is when I noticed his windshield. “Hun, don’t freak out, but I think I have bad news…” So there is a decently sized crack in his windshield, which is funny because we had seen heaps of cars with cracked windshields and chuckled about it. Itwill be fine, and it is at the top. It is growing slightly, but Dave is in denial.

When we arrived to Yellowstone, we were greeted with a Ranger who gave us the bear talk. I have had talks like going off to college, the sex talk, the talk when you turn 21, but the bear talk that she delivered was by far the most scary! You have to hang food 10 feet above the ground but 4 feet away from a tree trunk if you want to keep food out (otherwise put it in your car), they have a keen sense of smell for food and cosmetics(deoderant, perfume, etc), they can run 3 times faster than a person, people have seen bears a bunch already this year, etc. We had a little bit of a drive to our campsite and along the way we saw snow, bison, and waterfall runoffs, but I didn’t want to get out of the car (I was way too scared that bears were watching me). The only time I got out was to go to the lake.

The campsite is really nice that we are at. There are a bunch of people which makes me feel more comfortable about the bear situation, but they are far enough away so we aren’t on top of each other. There is a bathroom with running water and flush toilets (and there are hot showers 4 miles down the road)! I feel so spoiled with these luxuries.

Making dinner was probably the funniest adventure all day. We finished the marinated chicken, made summer squash, and had rice. It took about two hours to make the water boil for the summer squash and rice, and we only had a pan big enough to make half of the rice in the box! We attempted making a fire, but after a hour and a half and five “It’s roaring”s and then “Oh crap, it’s out again,” I decided to ask our friendly neighbors for some help. Everyone else had really nice fires, but we had a pitiful attempt at a fire (which looked more like a candle). Dave was not happy about this (he mumbled something about his manhood), but I really wanted a fire! It took 4 men, Dave, and I to finally make a fire. Dave wants me to mention that after that, it almost went out again, but he save the day by keeping it going.

I guess that’s all for today’s trip. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s when we see Old Faithful!

Nighty night,
Alyson

No Internet

So we are sitting outside of a McDonalds trying to connect to their WiFi, but it doesn't want to cooperate with us. It took a long time to post the past two posts, so we will write every night while we are in Yellowstone and will post them when we leave and get back into civilization. We will also post heaps of pictures when we get the internet too! Everything is going well, and camping wasn't terrible (I will tell you all about it in our next post).
Love,
Alyson

PS: So we may or may not have had a little run-in with the Wyoming Police...to be continued...

An Update after Mt. Rushmore!

We have made it into Wyoming after a night camping just outside of Mt. Rushmore, and here is our blog post from yesterday's events.

Here are another couple of pictures from Omaha first...



This morning (Monday) we definitely slept in, but I am glad we did because we were so tired yesterday. We also got an hour change (yay!) in Nebraska. When we left it started raining, so he put the national weather station on. They announced that Nebraska was going to have showers, but the Omaha area would be getting severe thunderstorms with isolated tornados. He threw a tantrum if I’ve ever seen one. There was yelling, banging, bad words...the works.

So Iowa still stands are our favorite state, but we found a favorite highway in Nebraska. It was all farms along the way with an occasional dirt road off of it (which Dave decided to take a joy ride on one of them). There were trains just under a mile long that would ride beside us carrying coal. There are no billboards out there-the closest thing to one would be the signs along the road saying “A child is a life, not a choice,” “Have you made God smile today?” and “Jesus, I trust you.”

On the dirt road I saw my first antelope. Antelope is my new favorite word (it just sounds so cool). The roads gradually bring you higher in elevation, and the land is so hilly (or rolling). The towns are super small out on the stretch of road. There are more churches in the towns than houses, and there were on average 500 people per town. We saw a fitness center made from an old garage, grocery stores the size of gas stations, and restaurants in the basements of houses.

We drove a bunch more and finally came in to South Dakota and saw Mount Rushmore. It was pretty neat, and we went on a little trail that took us around the area so we could take better pictures. Along the way we saw a mountain goat (tagged, so I think it belonged to someone). Dave saw it and instantly said, “Look at the horse!” I think we need to review our animals sometime along the trip.
After Rushmore, we drove to a nearby campsite that we saw on a map, and Dave decided it would be a great place to stay for the night. He let me pick out the campsite (how thoughtful), but I think he only let me do this so it would make me feel better about my whole first camping experience (since circa 1990...you can do the math). He brought me to the bathroom where I was surprised with toilets! Except upon further investigation, these were false toilets. They don’t flush; they have a bottomless pit (okay maybe not bottomless, but I wasn’t about to look in there to see how deep it was). Upon noticing these super modern toilets I was attacked by a super huge bug that wouldn’t let go of my foot, so I shook my foot, my flip flop went flying, and the nearby campers probably then figured out that I hadn’t really done this before.

I helped set up the tent (or at least attempted to…I was probably more in the way). We had marinated chicken for dinner (how fancy), and we were supposed to have rice (we forgot to buy butter). We substituted the rice with yogurt (not so fancy). Now we are getting ready to go to town to get some ice cream (I am putting money on this being another idea up Dave’s sleeve to distract me).

We are having a great time, and I will hopefully be able to post more. I will keep you all updated!

Love, Alyson

PS- I’m not really liking this whole “no internet thing” and especially the “no cell service.” I think it’s a good thing though. By the end of this trip I will be a pro camper : D

PPS-Being so far away from lights, Dave told me the stars tonight, with a clear sky, will be really nice. I can’t wait!

PPPS-Being up so high makes your ears pop!



We slept in this morning (Monday), which I wasn’t planning for, but it all worked out and I wasn’t going to complain about the extra sleep. Leaving Diane’s house, the rain really started coming down. We took the country road instead of the interstate through the heart of Nebraska, finding ourselves passing through small towns with population of only a few hundred. We would slow down from 65 to 35, and 30 seconds later the speed limit would be back up again and we would be through. The Nebraska Sandhills were truly spectacular, just huge dunes covered with grasses. We passed through the time zone change, laid down in the middle of the highway for pictures (since there was NO traffic!). Hit up a dirt road that went for miles into the hills, and by mid-afternoon we were arriving in South Dakota. Without fail, we missed the welcome to S. Dakota sign, about faced, and snapped a photo again. It was another hour to Mount Rushmore, at which point we were into the ‘hills’ of South Dakota, which looked like mountains. Finally, back to seeing some rocky outcrops!

Rushmore was really great, we hiked around a slight bit, snapped some photos, and headed off to find a campground. It was getting late, so we weren’t about to try for our original plan of eastern Wyoming. Instead, we found a small national forest campground with all the luxuries: a hole in the ground, and a hand water pump. Alyson is not very fond of the campsite, she helped set up her first tent, and we cooked some chicken. Unfortunately, we forgot butter or olive oil for rice, so we went without. More for tomorrow night at Yellowstone. We’re going to hit up the town of Keystone for some ice cream and to attempt to send this blog out to the world. Then, its our first night camping, an early rise tomorrow and some more sightseeing as we head to Yellowstone!

-Dave

PS to Diane: Thanks for teaching us the wave, it came in handy today when a farmer waved to us. We knew exactly what to do!

The Omaha Zoo!

Woke up this morning super early (but totally worth it) to go to the Omaha zoo! Diane gave us a really great tour beforehand around Omaha, showing us fancy rich houses and castles and Boy Town (neat place!). I don’t think Dave got as much out of the tour as I did (he slept 99% of it), so I will fill him in later and show him the pictures I took!

We saw so much at the zoo like lions, tigers, bears, gorillas, tons of monkeys, a parrot (who laughed at you...will post the video of it), the snakes and bugs (didn’t look at these exhibits)...okay you get the point. At one point, we went into this exhibit and they were showing off penguins! They did an info chat about them, and at the end we got to pet them! They felt really weird in a cool way.

After the zoo, Diane took us on more of a tour of the city part of Omaha. I was so wiped, but I couldn’t stop going because it was just too exciting. We got dinner downtown and went back to pass out before our trip this morning.

PS- The lightning bugs in Omaha are crazy! There are millions...it was cool...it made me think of that lightning bug song.

Love, Alyson





Today (Sunday) we got a chance to tour Omaha and check out their zoo! During the night, Alyson must have woken me up on 4 separate occasions because there were flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder in the distance! Every time I got pumped to get up and check them out but always fell back asleep before I made it upstairs. Behind Diane’s house (the lady we are staying with) is a big field and you can see for many miles to the west (which would have been perfect to spot the incoming storms. Of course, no tornadoes :-(, though there are sirens that rotate when a tornado does come into the area.

The zoo was AWESOME, it was huge, I think my favorite part was the desert with the snakes and cacti and scorpions. Alyson hated the snakes, and especially hated that when she viewed all the pictures we took there was no lack of snake close ups. The rain in the overnight/morning led into a warm sunny day, the temperatures were near 90 and thank god a lot of the exhibits were inside. We did a lot of walking, which was a nice change from sitting in a car all day, but certainly exhausted us right out.

The remainder of our day consisted of a walk around the downtown, there was a really cool group of bronze statues that depict a whole story (you’d have to see or read about, its a long story, just visit Diane and she’ll tell you) as well as a delicious beer sampler platter with dinner at Upstream. By that time we were REALLY exhausted, and although I wasn’t falling asleep in the car ride like I was during the morning tour, I wasn’t far off. I knew we had a long drive ahead of us, and we were hoping to get up early.


-Dave

Prime Rib in Omaha!

Distance traveled: 630 miles (2 day total: 1620 miles)
Time in transit: 10 hrs 10 min

After sleeping in a bit, we hit the road to Omaha Saturday morning. We had to make it through the rest of Indiana,Illinois, and Iowa, before crossing over to Nebraska.

Alyson has made it a point to take a picture of every state welcome sign on our travels, and Nebraska was no exception, except for the fact that she missed it the first time around. She claims it was due to the sun glare or something, but our second attempt around (yes, we drove back

into Iowa and around to re-enter Nebraska) was a bit better (at least we captured the sign).

Iowa was filled with windmills... lots of them, and the hills are a bit more abundant than we expected though Illinois was almost 100% FLAT.

So by 6 PM we made it to the great state of Nebraska. One of the best parts of the day was the time change, so we got an extra hour to get here, AND they are on the western edge of the time zone here, so the sun doesn't set until well after 9 PM.

Our first night here, we went to Farmer Brown's for dinner, and let me tell you, I have never had prime rib like we did there. Of course, beef is the specialty out here and I can see why. We waited over an hour to be seated, but it was worth every minute of it. The restaurant is a bit off the beaten path, only known by the locals in the area, but if you ever make it to Omaha, be sure to check it out.

Also, did I mention that we're in TORNADO country!? I don't think we are going to get to see one, which I am kind of disappointed about, but we did have several thunderstorms roll in overnight and it will hopefully get rid of some of the muggy weather. Today, perhaps visiting the zoo, and some of downtown Omaha!

-Dave

We left for Omaha yesterday morning (a little bit of a late start, but much needed as I didn't sleep at all on the ride!) I also drove another 200 miles yesterday, without stalling : ) The ride to Nebraska was so beautiful, minus the deer head and other roadkill on the side of the road.

I experienced my first time zone change, which was so neat! It's cool waking up an hour later..but I guess not when I'm going to bed at the same time...still pretty cool anyways. Iowa was definitely my favorite state with all of its flat farms, windmills, and lots of green. We actually saw the arms (are they called arms?) of a windmill on a bed of a truck when we passed a truck stop. Boy, they are huge up close!

Nebraska is quite a place to stay, especially when there are thunderstorms. You can see for miles (again, Dave was in his glory!). Diane's place is so nice too (the lady we are staying with). Her house is on the top of a hill so you can see the lightning off in the distance. There is also a tornado siren at the end of her street! Dinner last night was absolutely amazing (prime rib), and the portions were so big, I had to bring a bunch home.

Yesterday was a great day, and I am sooo excited to be out west. The scenery in person is so much better than any picture could ever take. Today we get to go to the zoo (Diane said there are monkeys, and lemurs, and gorillas, oh my!)

-Alyson

PS- Dave and I got pillows last night, so camping Monday night won't be as bad as I anticipate.

Day 1 Complete: Whitman - Indianapolis

Distance traveled: 990 miles
Time in transit: 16 hours 20 min

After a longer than expected evening of packing and some delicious dinner at Issac's in Plymouth Thursday night, we awoke at 3 am with hopes of being on the road at 4 (before bed I said 3:30 because I knew we would probably be a good 1/2 hr behind whatever I said).

4 on the dot we left, and with only a few hours of sleep I was having second thoughts about having to drive nearly 1,000 miles in one day. I started to realize I had no clue what I was getting myself into, but was still optimistic we would survive. My great co-pilot Alyson was conked out by Worcester, and it was only at the state lines that I could get her to open her eyes for more than a minute or two to snap a picture. Finally, just past Scranton I decided I needed a rest, and after refueling shook her and said "your turn!". She was not very amused, but nonetheless after some convincing I got her in the driver's seat. The start was rough, and the mile to get back to the highway was filled with doubts and the occasional threat of pulling over to make me drive, but she stayed awake and got us through a couple of hundred miles of highway.

We hit RIDICULOUS road flooding thunderstorms past Pittsburg and into Ohio, after which it finally cleared up as we left the hazy mountains and valleys of Pennsylvania and arrived in the flat farm country of Ohio and Indiana. We also got a real treat of 10 miles in West Virginia during which we stopped for lunch, and everyone had accents, the lady making my coffee messed it up (I asked for black, and when the lady at the counter got it, she looked at me, goes 'you wanted no cream right?' so she goes to dump it out and the lady who made it just looked and smiled in oblivion.

Also, the highway was closed for 1/2 of the drive so the traffic sucked (I think it was a conspiracy for us to say, crap, traffic sucks lets get off and spend some money in W. VA). Nonetheless, we got through the traffic of Ohio and into Indiana where the speed limit is now 70, so I can drive 85 with less fear of a ticket :-)

We stayed with an old friend from high school in Indy who showed us around the downtown. It was great, and her company she works for has sweet views of the monument in the center from their 10th floor roof-deck. Our drive back to her place left us remembering we had driven for over 16 hours and we both passed out within minutes of getting to her apartment.

Slept in a bit this morning, but we are now off to Omaha, which should be a cake walk at 600 miles!

-Dave


Only this morning did it hit me that I was going on a roadtrip when Dave woke me up saying, "Let's go to Indiana!" I was so excited that I fell back asleep (this was 3am after going to sleep after midnight). It took Mrs. Vaillencourt bouncing on the bed, uncovering the blankets off of me to wake me up. Surprisingly, we were out the door and on the road at 4am (considering it took me so long to wake up and get ready). The first few hours were very peaceful, and by peaceful I mean, I was sleeping the entire way until we got to Pennsylvania (minus occasional photos I took).

We stopped in Penn (which in my opinion had the nicest scenery yet) at a rest stop, and this was when Dave decided to wake me up and make me drive some. Unhappily I got into the driver's seat and drove 200 miles (stalling once and freaking out at least twice about construction-pretty impressive for just learning stick a month ago!). Luckily we switched back to him driving in time for a line of thunderstorms going through. For anyone who knows Dave and thunderstorms, I’m sure you can guess how this went. Once he saw the thunder clouds, the scanner was on in a second tuned into the weather.

Along the trip, Dave realised that he forgot pillows and that the zipper to the cooler was broken. I think these were the only "bad things" about the day (other than in Indiana when he freaked out about the huge bugs that kept hitting his windshield and splattering everywhere).

It was a long trip, 16 hours, but when we made it to Indianapolis in a shorter amount of time than we expected (especially because he immediately increased the speed when he saw that the limit was 70 in Indiana), we were in pretty good moods. It was so cool to see that it got dark at almost 9:45. Tonight, Lisa, who kindly let us stay with her, showed us around the city. She showed us her office, her roof deck of her office building, the state building, the canal, and lots more! It was really exciting, especially the part where the homeless guy started washing his shirt in front of us after making friends with Dave! By the time we got back, we were ready to pass out...so here I am saying goodnight! Getting to sleep in until 7am tomorrow for the trip to Omaha, what a treat : )

-Alyson