feelin better

Because both of my parents and I were so miserable about being apart for the holidaytimes, Mom and Dad bought me a ticket home! So I'm spending the end of December with them (with a few hugs and love for my girlfriends first). I feel so much better. Now my tree (photo) doesn't seem so pathetic. At least my mailbox has been getting some love. The glass globe is a Steelers Christmas ornament that I won in a raffle at the bar where I watch all the games.

It's a good place, full of die hard Steelers fans. Lots of screaming, cheering, and beer at 10AM. The early games are one of the semi-crappy things about living on the west coast. It is simultaneously a good excuse to drink beer in the morning. What can I say? Sometimes I like to shed my homebody-ness that I've adopted since college and be social.

Tonight, however, I am listening to WDVE online. Go Steelers!

Home (alone) for the Holidays

Hey. Sorry. I've been bad about keeping this up. Here's a pretty picture to make up for it. I went snowboarding at Mt. Hood on Thursday with my football-friend Greg. (We go to a Steelers bar together on Sundays to cheer on our home team.) Anyway Mt. Hood is big and beautiful. This photo is from not too far below the summit. (At the top of Cascade lift if anyone knows MHM.) The two huge snowy mountains you see in the distance are Mt. Jefferson and peeking out behind and to the left Mt. Washington. I love that you can see the clouds DOWN BELOW everyone skiing! This was around 11:30am. My muscles are still crying, it's been a while since they were used for snowboarding. Those aren't everyday moves, y'know.
My apartment is great, I love my landlord (except I don't love that his pipes wake me up in the morning when he uses anything water-related). No luck with the Planned Parenthood job, though I am still volunteering 1-2x per week. I'm applying here and there, but I (stupidly) have been slacking.
Speaking of applying: my OHSU application is in and I expect (hopefully) to hear from them about interviews sometime around X-mas. Rumor has it they try to get everything in the mail by then so they don't have to deal with it afterward. Send the admissions people lots of positive vibes for accepting me!!
December 2nd marked my 6th birth was a doula! I'm learning so much and feeling really wonderful about the support I am providing to women. I'm staying in Portland for the holidays and, since most of the doulas in my group are of the Christmas-celebrating variety, I offered to be on-call on the 25th. I hope I can be a doula for a Christmas baby! That would make up for not being with my family.
Cheers.

And now ladies and gentlemen, for her final farewell performance: The Sun

After weeks of rain and clouds and temperatures in the low 50's during the day... the Sun has decided to pay Portland one last visit before spring. (hopefully i am lying) Today was bright and 60 degrees - with happy news on the breeze. I GOT AN APARTMENT!!!! Finally! I was starting to enter panic mode because my subletter is coming back on the 4th and no one wanted to rent to me since I didnt have a job. yucks. The wonderful woman for whom I babysat 3 days agreed to call me her nanny- it worked! To top it off, I got a job interview at Planned Parenthood - where I have been volunteering recently - this Monday so everyone wish me luck. I also went for a long, kind of scary-because-I'm-not-used-to-riding-on-busy-streets bike ride with my friend Jenn to enjoy the lovely weather. Man I thought I was going to lose a lung from breathing so hard in the cool air. It was awesome, then I had a burger. Yeah that's right. A cheeseburger.
Some other updates since I managed to neglect posting for a whole month:
-I have been a doula for TWO births already!
-I spent 4 hours at the county juvenile detention center on a tour to see if I wanted to work there. (It was cool, seems rewarding, but I'm a scaredycat)
-I've spent countless hours playing Wii at Jenn's house over the past two weeks. Probably more than all my previous video game hours combined.

Fall is Here

I don't really have much news since the last post. My job search has still yielded nil, and all the Portlanders I've talked to groan about how bad the job market is here. So I'm trying not to take it too personally. Most of my days are spent at the computer searching jobs and apartments, since I have to be out of this one in a month. That kind of stinks because, aside from the cat, this apartment is working out quite nicely.
Oh the cat.
Generally I like cats. But this one is the devil. He attacks my feet and legs with his claws and teeth for no reason. He cries all the time for no reason. It's so annoying and I'm always afraid of being bitten while walking across the room. He darts in front of you so you trip over him with your momentum. It sucks. He's a bully. I have to carry a squirt bottle around the apartment to keep him in line. At least he doesn't pee in my bed like my sister's cat used to do.
The weather has turned chilly and the rainy season has begun. It will last until summer probably. My roomie says it's "wool socks time." But he's a California boy and after years in Portland, still isn't quite adapted to cold winters. He said he never wore a hat and gloves until he came here. But I have started wearing long pants and socks around the apartment. Partly because it's chilly and partly as protection against the cat.

Two Weeks In

I am still surprised at how easily I've adjusted (so far) to a totally new city where I know so few people. Gabe was the only one I was in touch with in the days before I arrived, and I've only seen him once! He's a busy bee in his 2nd year of med school. I finally got in touch with Ian and we spent Saturday night at a brew fest on the coast. A few home-brewers brought in their beers, and the large group of partiers tasted each one and voted for the two best. Some of us took a hike around the property on a blackberry hunt/feast. Blackberry bushes were everywhere! Later three bands played into the wee hours and we camped out on the host's 5 acres of forested coast land. It was a beautiful place, and the rain waited until we were packing up the car to leave the next morning.
I've applied to a few jobs in the area, but not enough time has passed for me to have heard back yet. I did, however, interview and get accepted to an exclusive doula group called PDX Doulas. The doulas in this group are assigned one shift a week in which they are on-call for 12hours. Women who arrive at OHSU to give birth are offered a free (volunteer) doula and if they accept, whoever is on-call comes in and stays for the whole birth. Right now PDX Doulas is supported by a grant from Care Oregon, so the volunteer doulas do receive a small payment for each birth (regardless of how many hours it lasts). I am so excited to start assisting laboring women, and I feel privileged to be a part of this special organization. It is a large commitment, but I'm happy that women who ordinarily wouldn't or couldn't have the benefit of a doula now have that opportunity. I am so lucky to have found and been accepted to participate!

portland!

I made it! I'm sitting near the one window in my apartment that anyone can get an internet signal through. The whole city has free wireless, but for some reason it doesnt penetrate buildings very well. So I dont have to really hang out the window, but we did have to push a desk right up against it. No problem, free internet!
I've unloaded most of what I need from my car, and I've arranged to rent a storage locker in an apartment building across town. I'm trying to decide if I should bother with it, though, because last night I met a woman with a lot of connections, one being free storage space. She's a nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital and wants to help me get a job there because they will pay 75% of your tuition for medical-based degrees. Which would be awesome! She was very friendly and wants to offer me all sorts of help getting situated. I'm waiting for her to call me around noon, we're going to have lunch and she will show me around.
The apartment is big and my room already has a queen-sized bed in it, so no more air mattress for me. hooray! my roommate is very nice. he works at planned parenthood. i think he's a nurse. right now i'm starving because i havent gone grocery shopping yet and i dont want to eat his food. so i'm off to get food and laundry supplies because i got bike grease all over my new shorts last night while unloading my bike from the roof of my car.
hasta luego

couch surfing

Rather than on a couch, actually, I spent Thursday night on climbing crash pads in the gear room at the house of a friend of a friend of a friend. Got a brief look at SLC, but I didnt want to waste time walking around. I drove to the Temple Square Friday morning after a nice breakfast out at a place called Eggs in the City. It was surrounded by a high wall, looked unwelcoming. So I didnt park or go in.
Friday I drove to Boise and had a nice evening with Kathryn. We went to dinner at a restaurant called Bardenay, where they also distill their own liquor. It was a neat atmosphere, with a big copper distillery thing and lots of handsome waiters. Afterwards, we saw Death at a Funeral at the local movie theatre. Very funny English flick. Highly recommend it! Saturday morning while Kathryn had a class at Boise State, Blake took me out on his sweet new motorcycle to Big City Cafe where we had a great breakfast. I had Belgian waffles with honey, yogurt, raisins, and granola on them; an unlikely but delicious combination. Later, the three of us hung around the house for a few hours, listening to music and catching up. Blake went to work and Kathryn and I threw our bikes in the back of the truck and drove to a really nice park, where we mounted the bikes and rode along the Green Belt, a paved bike path that follows the Boise River. That night, we showered and got dressed up pretty to go to dinner where Blake is a server. We sat in his section, of course, and he pampered us with a four-course steak dinner at his expense. He served us delicious appetizers and salads, expensive wines and fantastic steaks. We ordered berries napoleon for dessert and he brought a caramel creme brulee in addition! We were so full we could barely get out of our seats! Our leftovers were actually our dinner tonight as well.
This morning Kathryn, Blake, and two of Kathryn's Boise friends and I went to brunch at another fancy shmancy restaurant. I feel like a princess with their star treatment! We gorged on the brunch buffet and then drove back to the same park where we rode bikes. We dropped off a car there and drove to another park about 5 miles away. There, we inflated tractor inner tubes and floated down the Boise River for over 2 hours. It was relaxing, and exciting when we had to go over little rapids and baby waterfalls. There were hundreds of people doing the same thing, on rafts and tubes of all shapes and sizes. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm. The river was cold, but not unbearably so. We had our bottoms in the water the whole time because we were in tubes instead of rafts. It really was a great day. Now Kathryn and I are planning to have dessert out in town somewhere since all of our leftovers are gone. (There were no dessert leftovers because of course we found our appetites again once dessert arrived!) Tomorrow is Labor Day, we will grill out for lunch before Blake has to work again. Other than that, we havent made plans for the day yet. But Tuesday I get back on the road, so we'll have some sort of a last hurrah for this visit I'm sure.

the eve of departure's eve

...does that even make sense? I just like the word "eve."
So my time as a Crested Buttian (possibly pronounced byoo-shun) is drawing to a close. I've spent most of today packing packing packing. I stupidly packed my radio early in the day, so I had to listen to neighborhood sounds while I continued.
I dont know if it's the altitude or just Colorado, but there are no crickets or cicadas or any noisemaking creatures here. So at night, instead of a constant din, there is only silence. It still weirds me out when I'm trying to fall asleep. And when I visited Pittsburgh, I felt like I was in the jungle. All in all I had a very nice visit home. I saw friends and family, though not everyone I wanted to see. There wasn't enough time, sorry if you didn't hear from me.
Thursday morning I am heading out. I'll jump back on Rte. 50 into Utah, where I plan to stop at Arches Nat'l Park. In high school I got a bookmark that had a picture of Delicate Arch and ever since, I've wanted to visit. After that I'm stopping in Salt Lake City to rest at some friend of a friend of a friend's house, so I dont have to drive 11 hours in one day. Friday I'm off to Boise, ID to spend Labor Day weekend with Kathryn. YAY! Then on to Portland on Tuesday, where the journey I set off on on May 25th finally comes to rest.

still love it

this is the lake that hurt my foot. it's an awesome place, just enter the water by any other means than jumping.

where did the summer go?

well it looks like i've neglected the blog for over a month, sorry. July was spent mostly just working 45hrs a week. It was a little more than I had hoped for and I felt like I couldnt do anything fun because I was working so much, and such a weird combination of hours in the day that I couldnt coordinate activities with other people very often. Eight members of my family came to CB to visit Julie and me for the last week of July. I worked less while they were here and I was psyched to do some hiking and biking. But I stupidly, and against caution swung off a rope swing into a beautiful lake at a depth of about 3 feet. So after hiking back down to the car and then waiting tables (AKA running around) on my aching, throbbing foot for 6 hours, I decided I might have broken a toe or part of my foot. I iced and elevated for a few days, but since the restaurant had recently lost a number of servers, I couldnt call off and had to work two more shifts. Great. So four days after the incident I finally went to get x-rays. They told me it was a sprain and to stay off it. yeah right.
I ruined my chances to play outdoors with the fam, they went off hiking and biking without me.

As soon as they left, Julie and I packed up, I taught her how to drive a stick, and we headed west (July 30). We drove along Rt. 50 "The Lonliest Road in America." It starts out winding out of Gunny, loops around Blue Mesa Reservoir (beautiful), starts to straighten out around Grand Junction, and finally stretches countless miles straight through deserts of Utah and Nevada. It was extremely hot driving through the desert and we were nervous to run the A/C for fear of overheating the car. So we stuck it out with the windows down, blasting music and sweating through our clothes. We spent the night in a motel in Ely, NV which seemed about halfway. We debated about how to pronounce the name of the town, she guessed right. (Rhymes with "really") The next day we finished NV and as we crossed the border into California, everything was suddenly green and lush. Then the trees parted to reveal fabulous Lake Tahoe. It was like a mystical oasis at the end of a day and half driving through desert and salt flats (see white streak that looks like a lake in photo above). Rt. 50 took us on a tour around the lake, then toward Sacramento. There we turned north and drove through vinyards, orange (or were they almond?) groves, strawberry fields, and sunflower fields. One of the farms had funny signs along the road advertising their fruit. My favorite sign said "Peach be With Ya."
Eventually we started seeing the famous redwood trees and we knew we were close. Humbolt County, CA, one third of the famous Emerald Triangle. Our friend Caleb lives just outside of Garberville and we spent the next two days with him and his family, setting up for the festival and enjoying the weather and a secret(ish) falls/swimming hole. On Thursday evening we set up camp in our prime location, just behind backstage, and the party began. Reggae Rising (formerly Reggae on the River, but changed because of political/community strife) was a 3-day reggae festival with a ton of famous artists and bands, pretty good vendor food, 12,400 people, and lots of floating on the Eel River (along which many people were camped). It was reggae, so of course there was a cloud above the festival site the whole time, but what else would you expect? Afterward, when everything was being broken down until next year, we returned to Caleb's where we spent a few more days visting with him and his family. Wednesday morning we headed south (then east) again, after taking some photos in the Avenue of the Giants.

Tomorrow I'm going back to Pittsburgh for a few days. Then after two short weeks left in CB, I'm off to Portland.

Getting into the Colorado Groove

By now Julia is all healed up and back to normal. I've decided I pretty much hate my air mattress bed but am too cheap to get a real bed for only two months. I'm gonna stick it out, neck-aches and all. I've gone rock climbing a few times and I love it. I somehow managed to get a free pair of brand new climbing shoes (which are usually about $50) and a chalk bag for $2 so I figure I can splurge on a good harness (safety!). So far I've been sharing Julia's harness but I want my own. The first photo is me celebrating the awesome knots I just tied. Oh the glorious knots! Ha ha. The second is me getting started on my first outdoor climb. Yessssss.
Two days ago my friend took me kayaking for the first time! I didnt have a lesson on how to roll back up if I got flipped, he just explained how to escape from the boat if I found myself upside down. We went on a relatively meandering part of the Gunnison River and I had a blast. I dont think, however, that I will be buying kayak gear anytime soon. Outdoor sports are pricey.

This past week was Fat Tire Bike Week, celebrating mountain bikes (which have fatter tires than road bikes). There were a bunch of representatives with bikes that people could demo out on the trails for free, unfortunately I didnt get a spare day to do it. I was hoping to do it tomorrow but I think they're packing up. There were also a few tents from the New Belgium Brewing Co. because they make a beer called Fat Tire. There have been a few races and dirt jumping competitions. But last night's race was the coolest. It was the "chainless race." People on all sorts of crazy looking bikes (as well as normal bikes) removed the chains, so you can't pedal, and raced from Kebler Pass into town. They had haybales at the bottom because it ended in a big curve and a number of people wrecked, but mostly everyone was okay. People had wild costumes on and some were enjoying a brew as they coasted down the gravel path. I had to work at the restaurant, but it was slow enough that I could dash outside and watch some riders careen around the bend. Tonight the restaurant is closed for a wedding reception, our boss told us to dress nice, but out uniform is jeans and a t-shirt. So I'm not sure if I'm supposed to nice that up, or wear something completely different. Hmm.

Acclimating

I've been in Crested Butte for one week. I have a job at a BBQ restaurant called Cowboys and might snag a day job somewhere else as well. Gotta save up to replace all that dough I just spent on my 3,000-mile trip. Julia and I have settled in to our place for the most part, there are still a few boxes lying around. Yesterday, not because of any boxes, Julia tripped and sprained her foot. We had a nice little adventure to the hospital (30min away) and now she's maneuvering pretty well on her new crutches. I think this summer is going to pan out nicely. Write or call!!

Monday, June 4: Fin

We ate a delicious breakfast at the Waffle House next door to the Motel 6. Our booth was connected to the counter, behind which all the employees were gossiping. Our server was talking about how she hoped she could open a bank account because everything is harder to accomplish when you are a felon. She was talking about her parole officer and how her mom got fired for having charges of her own. Devin and I couldn’t believe our ears. She was talking about being a felon like it was being blonde or something. After breakfast we got in the car and drove all the way to Crested Butte, with one stop in Buena Vista (in search of a Wendy’s) where we ate Subway sandwiches. We made it to Crested Butte after a million (5?) hours of driving. We unloaded my car into my bedroom, then I had to do some maneuvering to fit the bed in. We had a fantastic sushi dinner at the Lobar, chocolates from Julie’s friend at the chocolate shop, and stayed up a little later lounging around the house. We went to bed around 10:30, exhausted, dizzy, and breathing hard. Yay altitude!

Sunday, June 3

We kind of threw this day together at the last moment. We took another one of the scenic highways around the National Forest. It was nice and slow. We then stopped in a small city on the edge of the park for breakfast the Rt. 16 Diner. Which was kind of had a sixties atmosphere. We then returned to the Reptile Gardens for one last time to see what we missed the first time. The large Galapagos Tortoises were outside today and it looked as if they had a little more energy than the first time we saw them. One of the employees was letting people get over the fence to touch them, so we just had to join in. Both Devin and I got to rub the neck of the giant which he obviously enjoyed. He stood up and stretched out his neck in a demonstration of pleasure. We zipped quickly around and saw what we missed on Friday, the Komodo dragon, and the snake floor. Then we were off to Devil’s Tower, across the border into Wyoming. We drove a lot today cause everything we wanted to see was so far apart. Anyway the tower was fantastic. We walked a trail encircling the base that was about a mile and a half. On the way around we saw the very same Prairie Rattler that we saw at the reptile gardens two days before. Only this time it was in the WILD!!! I wanted to cuddle with it but the ranger counseled me against it. We snapped a few pictures oohed and ahhed and were out of the park around 2pm. We set off for our next destination Spearfish. I wanted to see fish babies being raised at the hatchery. Back across the border into South Dakota we were looking for a Wendy’s but were unable to find one. So hungrily we entered the Historic Fish Hatchery. There were little ponds of all sizes holding fish of different ages and sizes. The biggest was about 3ft, we bought some pellets to feed them with and walked around looking for fish eggs and feeding the different fish as we went. Sadly the smallest fish on display there was about 5 to 6 inches. It was great fun feeding these fish though because when the pellets were dropped in there was a literal feeding frenzy. Tails flopping, water churning the fish went mad to get those little brown balls of food. We then headed to Deadwood to see gambling and fake gun-fighting. Deadwood was a wild gold panning town when South Dakota was being settled. It sprang up over night for the gold and was a hot bed for debauchery. Now it is all gambling the main street had a gambling parlor in every other establishment, we saw an ice cream parlor with gambling, restaurants with gambling. The main reason we went there was for the gun-fighting which was lame; we actually missed one show when we were playing Black Jack in a bar because we thought the show was at 8:30pm, but we heard gunshots at around 8:24pm. We cashed out went outside saw it was over and looked at each other. It was time to go. We left in search of Wendy’s again after having a little something back in Deadwood. The road we ended up driving had just about nothing on it let alone a Wendy’s. We had to stop frequently as we came upon groups of two to three deer in the middle of the road that didn’t move until we were right next to them beeping the horn. We changed drivers at around 10:30 and Devin drove the rest of the way to Cheyenne where we planned to stay for the night. By this time we were starving because we had been holding out for a Wendy’s, but realizing this was a lost cause we stopped at a gas station in Cheyenne. We asked the attendant where would be the best place to stay in town. He told us the refinery was being fixed and there were a lot of people from out of town fixing it, so we would have a heck of a time finding any place to stay. We drove back towards the highway and sure enough every hotel/motel we stopped at had a no vacancy sign in the window. We grudgingly decided to press on into Colorado and stop as soon as possible. We eventually found a motel 6 in Fort Collins another 45 min down the highway and promptly checked in and fell asleep all in one haphazard motion.

Saturday, June 2

We awoke after a rainy night, mildly damp but in good spirits. I -Steph again- made friends with a woman from Wyoming in the bathroom at the campsite. She told us that we had to go to Spearfish to see the Fish Hatchery, so we added that to our list of things to do in the Black Hills. Saturday was Crazy Horse day for us. A man named Korczak (I forget his last name) was asked by Henry Standing Bear to carve a mountain monument to the natives of the area, since they were overlooked during the construction of Mount Rushmore. Originally Mount Rushmore was to be of the heroes of the West like Lewis and Clark, did you know that? Anyway, Korczak created a beautiful sculpture model for his design for the Crazy Horse monument, Crazy Horse riding his steed, hair flowing back in the wind. In the photo you can see the real one off in the distance. I'm pretty sure if you click on the picture it will open up much larger. The first blast was made in June of 1948, and for decades it was Korcazk alone, and later his sons joined in, chipping and blasting away at the mountain. For the last 22 years, every June, there is the annual Volksmarch. It is a 6.2mile circuit hike up to the face of Crazy Horse. This monument is to be the biggest in the country (world?). It will be about 15ft higher than the Washington Monument in DC and over 600ft wide. It is a sculpture in the round, so it can be seen from three sides. We labored up the mountain, trying to maintain speed so we could accomplish more things later that day. There were hundreds of people there participating. Babies, toddlers, even elderly people trudging along. Devin and I helped a guy carry his stroller, with baby inside, up a particularly steep and rocky portion. We made it to the face, which was something like 9 stories high by itself, took a bunch of pictures, ate granola bars, and hiked the much shorter path back to the base. The 6.2 miles did not include the long walk from/to the parking lot. Whew! We spent a very short time in the visitor’s center, mostly to use the restroom and look at some photos of the mountain before blasting began. Then we set off for the town of Hot Springs, thinking we’d get a nice soak for our imminently aching feet and legs. When we got there, we found that the “Hot” Springs were really more like Tepid Springs, so we went to the local bath house to cheat. We got in their Jacuzzi to enjoy heated up spring water and relax our muscles. The proprietor of the Springhouse told us that they named the town Hot Springs to draw visitors (still works) but that there was all kinds of historical “evidence” that the spring water, though not hot, had real healing properties. After a soak and a nice soapy shower, we drove up to Wind Cave National Park. Wind Cave has over 120,000 miles of explored tunnels and rooms, all under about 1 sq mile of land. It also only has one known natural entrance, which is a hole in the rock that measures approximately 8X10 inches. The first explorers must have been quite skinny, or at least very flexible. I tried to dive in there, but I’m pretty sure my shoulders wouldn’t have made it all the way through. I also got a little claustrophobic waiting for Devin to snap the picture. Nowadays there is a much larger entrance with stairs and a railing that was dug/blasted out for us to tour part of the cave. It is a barometric cave, the name Wind Cave came from the air that blew out or sucked in from the natural entrance with changes in air pressure outside associated with the weather. The Native Americans felt it was a sacred place from which the buffalo came and was the origin of man. There is a fascinating formation called boxwork that is essentially fossilized cracks. It’s hard to describe. Wind Cave contains 95% of the world’s known boxwork. After Wind Cave, we decided to drive along the Wilderness Loop Road in Custer State Park to try to spot more bison as well as some other creatures. We saw bison and a few pronghorns, lots of deer and prairie dogs. Devin was set on seeing a huge herd of bison as the Custer brochure claimed to have 1500 head of buffalo in the park. He thought he spotted something over a hill, so we turned off onto a dirt road and discovered a huge mass (400?) of bison with tons of calves. It was really awesome. We headed to Keystone in search of dinner and ended up at a touristy (well the whole town was touristy) Mexican place called Arriba! Restaurant. The food was a lot better than we guessed it would be. We bought firewood just outside of town and went back to the campsite for a nice warm fire and more Harry Potter (of course!) before bed.

Friday, June 1

First thing we woke up relatively dry and traveled down the Needles Hgwy to Rapid City. We fought with the internet trying to maintain a signal but kept losing connection. At least the Chai was good. We got a late start that morning and after the internet fiasco finally started sightseeing around 2pm. The Journey Museum was the first on our list of sites to visit. It was a history of the Black Hills, everything from how the unique area was formed to the Native Americans that first inhabited there. Terrible stories about how the U.S. government slowly pushed the Native Americans from the lands they held sacred. There was also an atlatl but it was nailed to the wall. Not nearly as fun. After we searched for Dinosaur Park, a collection of life sized statues that overlooked the City. We found them, but it was pouring rain and seeing as how they were outside we decided to sit in the car and read Harry Potter hoping for it to pass. Eventually it died down and we got to go climb on the cement behemoths. When we were finished we stopped to get supplies for our mountain pie maker(Cheese, Tomatoes) and got a lunch of deep fried tamales and potato salad from the grocery store Mmmmm Oily. We ate in the car whilst driving to our next destination, Thunderhead Falls. It was located in an old gold mine shaft the actual falls were 600ft underground and pretty neat. After about 10 minutes there we were off. The Reptile Gardens/World/Land/Park/Thing we couldn’t remember the actual name. Steph got us lost on the way there and we ended up in a rural development marked no outlet. So we had to turn around and made it there about 15 minutes before last admittance. The park didn’t close til 8:30 though so we had enough time to see most of the park and two shows. The snake show was great. We got to touch an 8 ft Albino Burmese Python (sooo smooth), as well as see 4 venomous snakes including a hooded Cobra, and a prairie Rattlesnake(the only venomous snake in South Dakota). A lot of the out doors exhibits were closed because of the rain and closing time, but we also managed to see a Gator show. The same guy who did the Snake show taught us all how to wrestle an alligator. He was on a little island and just pulled a gator tail first out of the moat filled with at least 25 gators and Crocs. While he was demonstrating gator wrestling the 25 others looked on hungrily with their chins resting just out of the water just as captivated as the 10 people in the audience. When it was over he brought out a baby gator that couldn’t have been more than 2ft. Steph asked if she could hold the gator all by herself. The keeper agreed slowly stating that they weren’t supposed to do such things but an agreement was reached where she could hold the body while he held the mouth shut. He did let go of the mouth for about 10 secs just long enough for us to get a picture of Steph and the gator. Our reptile fantasies fulfilled we then made for Rushmore, much to the chagrin of tired Stephanie. It was cold, rainy and windy. We got there at 9 o’clock cause we heard that was when they turned the lights on for night viewing. To our dismay the lights do not go on at 9, instead a park ranger gives a little speech about god knows what and they play what might as well have been a 400 hour long video about why each of the four presidents deserves to be carved into the stone mountainside. Finally the lights came on slowly and we laughed because the rain had made funny patterns as it dripped down the faces. Washington looked to be crying while Madison seemed to have a bloody nose. We left as soon as we got a few pictures. We got back to the site around 11 had another grilled cheese dinner and passed out.

Thursday, May 31

Woke up in Mitchell, SD and found breakfast at a diner (Fanny-something) while we planned our day. First we went to the Prehistoric Indian Village, where our very nice, but somewhat breathless high-school-student-summer-job-tour-guide told us all about the Native Americans that lived on that spot. There was an archeodome under which archeology students (not currently there) were carefully excavating the ancient sites of the earth lodges that housed the Native Americans. The best part was when Devin and I got to practice throwing spears/arrows with the atlatl. I hit the deer target right in the chest! I was the first girl to hit a target. Victory! (It wasn’t the deer I was aiming at, but we don’t have to worry about that.) Devin wouldn’t let us leave until he hit one too; he knew he’d never hear the end of it. To keep the playing field even, as soon as he hit one, we had to leave immediately. After that we went to the famous Mitchell Corn Palace. It is their civic center, where they have craft shows, basketball games, etc. But the outside is decorated with ears of corn. This year’s Corn Palace was a tribute to rodeo, and there were corn murals of cowboy boots, rodeo scenes, and more. We went inside to look at the photos of all of the previous Corn Palace designs, dating back to the late 1800’s! Next we set off westward again. We tried to take a scenic bypass that would have led us north to Pierre, we followed a snaking river in order to reach the specific road, and when we finally got to it, the road was closed and we turned south back to I-90. The whole detour was about an hour. We pressed on until we neared the Badlands. One of us recomended that we take another scenic highway through the Badlands citing that it couldn't take more than an hour or so. We pulled off 90 and started through. THe first pull off was jaw droppingly gorgeous, we just sat there staring around at how alien the landscape looked. We made our way to the next pull off and spent another while there. An hour and about 300 pictures had elapsed before we realized we had to get a move on, but even then we had trouble tearing our eyes from the striated dark red and tan landscape. We had our first run in with prairie dogs and Bison here, although it they were too far away to get a good picture. Finally we realized that if we didn't start driving we wouldn't make it to the campsite til 9pm and we had no idea when the park closed. We hightailed it to Custer State Park straight through Rapid City to the south. On the way in we had one of the trips best moments. We rounded a bend and right smack in the road was a Bison. He was so close we could have spit on him so we circled around and videoed him at close range. Though we saw some bison in the Badlands Custard, thats what we nicknamed him, was up close and awe inspiring. We picked up essentials: firewood, firestarter, bread, butter, and cheese. We found our reserved campsite – completely open, no trees – lit a fire and set up our tent. We made campfire-grilled cheese, read more Harry Potter, and went to bed.

Many Miles from Madison to Mitchell

This first photo is me (duh) wearing Chicago's "Bean" for a hat.
The internet connection at the Alternative Fuel Coffee House here in Rapid City, SD keeps kicking us off so it's hard to get photos on. Here's one to wet your appetite.
Wednesday we had a nice breakfast at the Sunprint Cafe in the USBank building, and after writing to you from Ancora coffee shop in Madison, WI, we visited Monona Terrace Community Center, another Frank Lloyd Wright design. The whole building incorporated a lot of round, cylindrical structures. We explored the inside a bit, but the rooftop gardens overlooking Lake Monona were really pretty. With our backs to the lake, we had a perfect view down Martin Luther King Ave/St/Blvd/Dr? straight to the state capital building. We knew we had a lot of driving ahead of us, and it was nearing one o'clock, so we left town for more westward driving along I-90.
We stopped for lunch at the drive-in (my first!) A&W and were tempted by the Spam Museum there in Austin, MN. We resisted and got back on the road, not stopping again until Sioux Falls, SD. In Sioux Falls we drove around in circles before we managed to find Falls Park. We stretched our legs and walked around the falls. There wasnt a lot of water, but there were a ton of red/pink rocks that made the view quite lovely. We realized that these rocks tied in to a lot of the surrounding area because many of the roads were the same reddish color. We then drove around town for another 15 or 20 minutes searching for a used-book store (or any book store for that matter) because we desperately needed Harry Potter 3 as we had finished the second book along that drive. Unlucky in that venture, we set off for Mitchell. We found our glorious Corn Palace Motel, complete with enormous plaster beasts out front (Bison and some other furry thing). We spilled icky cheese-curd juice on the bed and had to bug the awesome old lady who ran the place for new sheets at 11pm. Side note: She was the same woman with whom we made our reservation over the phone. We think she lives there. And never sleeps. We we're tired and smelly so we watched the end of Galaxy quest and ended a hard day of driving lazily.

tuesdays with cheese curds

Tuesday we had a breakfast of fresh apricots, coffee, and fresh Wisconsin cheese curds (from a gas station). Somehow, it managed to satisfy us until our late lunch, with a supplement of Junior Mints around 10am. We drove straight to The House on the Rock, a wild structure built by Alex Jordan to house collections of everything from dollhouses to suits of armor, giant organs to carousel horses, there was an enormous octopus attacking a whale in the Heritage of the Sea room, the world's largest carousel (which had all sorts of animals, but no horses, all the horses were on the walls). There was so much to see there, and the myriad collections were broken up by huge music machines - violins, pianos, cellos, bassoons, harps, drums... all played mechanically when you put tokens in the slot. Words and photos do not do this place justice, you absolutely must visit. Take all three tours, the $26 was worth it! make sure to buy lots of tokens to play the music machines.
We spent almost 4 hours in the House on the Rock, someone told us it was a 3.5 mile tour. We then drove to Taliesin, ate a late lunch at the cafe in the visitor's center, and spent a boatload on the tour there. This tour was two hours, led by John, who knew his stuff and was fun in a college professor kind of way. Taliesin was the home of Frank Lloyd Wright, and for all of his personal glory, this building was not holding up well. He used the cheapest materials he could find because he wasn't into planning for the future, especially when it came to his own home. It was a really spectacular looking place, the outside as complicated as within. the ceilings were incredibly low in a lot of places (~6ft) and some of the guys on our tour had to duck. Not me though. After Taliesin we drove to Madison, stopping at the Shoe Box (the midwest's largest shoe store) which we had to investigate. In Madison, we strolled State Street and ended up in State Street Brats - a crazy college bar that happens to serve food. we ate outside and wrote on all the postcards we had bought in the last few days. After dinner we went back to the campsite at Lake Kegonsa, hung out lakeside till the bugs chased us away, and went to bed after another short fire and Potter session.

Still trying to catch up...

Monday, Memorial Day, we woke up in Racine and I posted "Day4" while we ate our continental breakfast of toast and waffles. We drove out to the S.C. Johnson Wax building, most of which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was closed for the holiday and we couldn't really see over the high outer walls. We went over to Wingspread, another Wright creation, but the gates were locked and the building was hidden behind the trees. Oh well. We then drove leisurely north to Milwaukee, rather than getting back on the highway, enjoying glimpses of Lake Michigan. Once in Milwaukee, we headed straight for the Miller Brewery, only to find that it too was closed for Memorial Day. ugh. we peeked in the windows, frowned a lot, and got back into the car. Next we found the Pabst Mansion, where Captain Frederick Pabst (of Pabst brewery) once lived. We took the official tour through the house and saw a lot of fancy hardwood floor work, a huge elk antler chandelier, and a giant walk-in cigar humidor. Our tour guide loved to use the words "however" and "actually" often inappropriately placed throughout sentences. It was both entertaining and brutal to listen to. After the tour we asked him for recommendations for lunch and other Milwaukee sights. He was very eager to help, which we noticed of many Milwaukeeans. We did find the place he recommended: Miss Katie's Diner. It was around the corner from the mansion. It was a cute little diner with a claim to fame from Rachael Ray and Bill Clinton. The manager spotted our Lonely Planet book and took it upon himself to tell us everything there is to see in Milwaukee. He wanted to chat about the Steelers, too. We had a hearty breakfast(lunch) for about $15 and set off for the Domes. We had a little trouble finding them because, like our friend from the Pabst mansion, the diner manager gave awful directions. The 3 giant domes of the Mitchell Horticultural Conservatory contained tropical, arid, and seasonal flower arrangement (Miss Spider's Garden). After the Domes we drove down the road to Leon's, a drive-in frozen custard stand. We gorged on custard and regretted it all the way to Miller Park, which we also had trouble finding. Thanks Miss Katie's manager! We bought standing-room only tickets because the Brewer's were playing the Braves, who used to be the Milwaukee Braves before they moved to Atlanta. So it was a big game for the Milwaukeeans. We only stayed for a few innings to beat traffic out of town, but we made sure to stay for the best part of the game: the racing sausages. Just like the pierogies at PNC Park, Miller Park raced sausages of different origin (rather than fillings). The newest member of the sausage race team was the Chorizo, the Spanish sausage. But the Hot Dog won the race, while the Chorizo sadly finished dead last. After the game we drove west to Lake Kegonsa State Park where we set up camp, bought (native!) firewood, s'mores ingredients, and stopped for dinner at Culver's where we ate butterburgers for dinner. The kid behind the counter was pretty terrible at explaining what a butterburger was, and we were the first people who had ever asked. They thought we were crazy. and though we did eat them, we still dont really understand.
We went to bed early after a fireside Harry Potter readaloud and s'mores.

Backlogging

Hello from Madison! We've done so much in the last few days that I could only get in days 1 and 2 in the first post. Sunday we spent in Chicago again. First we went to the Shedd Aquarium. Our legs hurt from walking all over and from still being sore from Saturday. We loved the frogs and geckos, they had a komodo dragon special exhibit, too. He was biiiig, and laaaazy. He didnt move ooooonce. Then we had lunch at the Bongo Room, which was a breakfast-only joint, so we really just had a second breakfast. but it was sooooo good. The place was super-chic and the sweet breakfast items looked like decadent desserts. We had an amazing avocado-y breakfast burrito. Definitely a place you should try if you're in the area. on Roosevelt near museum campus.
Next we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. That place was so huge, we couldn't cover all of it. we probably only saw half of the exhibits. They had all the miniatures from this season of CSI on display there, it was really awesome to see things from one of my favorite shows in person. They also had a huge be-a-CSI exhibit, but we were stupid and didnt get tickets in time. We saw some other great things there. They had the U-505 German U-boat and the whole thing was inside! We saw an omnimax show Hurricane at the Bayou about Katrina and New Orleans wetlands. They had an enormous working model train display, Devin insists it was 3,500 sq ft. They closed the museum and kicked us out before we saw everything we were interested in. I'll have to make another trip. At least we got to eat astronaut ice cream. After that we went to find the Robie house, a Frank Lloyd Wright treasure, in Hyde Park. On the map it seems close to the museum, but we walked about 20 minutes before we even found the street it was on. We treated ourselves to a bus ride back.
We returned to Millenium Park via the red line and strolled across the BP Bridge, a big twisty metal pedestrian bridge. We walked to Buckingham fountain, it was big. Devin lost his camera case. No one was surprised. We backtracked all over but it was gone for good. We mourned. Then we rode the blue line back toward O'Hare, got in the car, and drove to Racine. We made it to our hotel around 10:30pm and crashed.

Day 4: cheese country

Yay internet!
So we set off Friday from Pittsburgh and drove all the way to South Bend, IN where we spent some time wandering the Studebaker Museum. After we finally found it, that is. The address in our book was wrong, I guess they had moved to a different building and not called the Lonely Planet people. So after driving up and down the streets of South Bend (really cute town by the way) we called the museum and they directed us there. It was cool seeing the history of the corporation and the evolution of the vehicles. We then discovered the South Bend Chocolate Company which had finished tours for the day but we poked around the "chocolate museum" amd bought a few goodies to eat on the way to Chicago. Then we headed out for the last leg of the trip - to the Chicago/O'Hare Super8 motel. Our room was huge and we had to park my bike IN the room with us because parking was in a low-ceiling garage.
Saturday morning we woke up early and took the motel shuttle to the airport. From there we bought two-day metro passes and hopped on the train to downtown Chicago. The ride was almost an hour long! It felt like forever before we got into the heart of the city. Our first destination was the Field Museum. It was too big to see everything and still have time for other places in the city, so we saw animals, dinosaurs, and a special extra dino exhibit. Devin loves dinos and knew the scientific names of all of them before we got to the placards! We also headed downstairs to the underground exhibit where they "shrunk" us down to 1/100 of our size so we could go underground and see roots, ants, and worms. Next we wanted to go to the Shedd Aquarium but the line was soooo long we left it for Sunday. Instead we went to Millenium Park to see the cool ampitheater that looked somewhat like an exploded tin can. We played with our reflections in the cloudscape sculpture "The Bean" We hiked, starving, for a million blocks to the super McDonalds that was two stories, had a latte and gelato bar, and looked like a space station. But we didnt want to eat McDonalds so we kept walking and found the Weber Grill Restaurant. The burger I had was maybe the most delicious ever. After that we took a train and a walk to Astor Street in the Gold Coast to see some old houses designed by famous architects. After that we rested our aching feet at the Loew's theater and watched Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Finally we went to the John Hancock building at 10:30pm to see the whole city from 94 stories high. It was pretty to see the lights lining the streets and the darkness of Lake Michigan.
It's time for me to run, we're on the way to Milwaukee now. I'll post again soon with more and I'll try to get some photos on, too.

Heading Out

tomorrow is the big day, westward ho! i've got pretty much everything packed in some sort of container; box, bag, trash can... all the rest is just getting thrown in willy nilly. mostly because i like to say willy nilly. first stop is south bend, IN to see the studebaker museum and eat food, then we'll end the day in chicago, where we will spend the weekend.
i'm so excited for this adventure, and for spending the summer with julie. but as i am gathering up everything to carry downstairs and stuff into my car, i'm feeling a little emotional. this is the first time i'm leaving home with no real plans to return. going to college wasn't the same, i knew i'd be home for the summers and probably move back after graduation. but this is the real deal. i'm a little scared because of the uncertainty of what's ahead, but at the same time i think that a little uncertainty is fun.
as you may know, i'm moving to portland in september ultimately for grad school. but you may not have known that i haven't applied to school yet, so it's really just me moving to portland with some hopes and dreams and a carload of stuff.
i'm going to try to write here often during the trip and hopefully i'll figure out how to post photos as well. i'll check my email every time i'm online to post so keep in touch! i'm also keeping my same pittsburgh phone number probably for quite a while, so you can call too.
it's hot in my room. julie said it snowed yesterday in CB. wow.

adventure pending

my plans are proving to be more and more flexible. portland has been postponed in favor of a summer in crested butte, CO with my one and only li'l sis. i swear, this is going to be so awesome. we discussed it a few weeks ago, and after a five day visit last week i am increasingly psyched for this little detour. her friends and neighbors are all super friendly and everyone wants to show me around.
meanwhile back here in da 'burgh everything seems to be piling up; school work, work work, and my stuff all over my bedroom. i have to do some serious sorting of what i need to take along (considering also what will fit in my car), what i want to keep tucked away in a box for a while, and what i need to finally let go of. yikes.

new life

well that title has a triple entendre.
tonight at 8:07pm: spring begins!
also, obviously, i'm off to Portland soon for my own new life.
but especially at the moment, babies! not mine, not yet. i just got back from my DONA doula workshop. i completed an important step in the certification process toward being a birth doula.

a birth doula helps a woman (and her partner!) through labor and delivery [emotionally, physically, and informationally] by being there for her completely and applying extensive knowledge of birth and natural methods of pain management. a birth doula acts as an advocate for the mother by helping her find her own strength, not by speaking for her. Studies have shown that the presence of a doula reduces the rates of interventions such as cesarean (by 50%), pitocin (by 40%), forceps delivery (by 40%). Use of a doula also reduces the length of labor (by 25%) and increases the number of women reporting higher satisfaction with their births and more confidence in themselves as mothers.
every mother deserves a doula!!!

i can't wait to finish the rest of my certification and get started on helping women birth happier.

feels just like the real thing!

Don't ask me how it happened, but I found an awesome website called limbs and things
Totally sounds gory I know. But it's not. It's clinical and, well... rubbery.
If you can imagine.
Check it out, especially if you're interested in anything medical. Like how I am enamored with birth. Suh-weetness.


Disclaimer: If you dont already know how truly weird I am, viewing this website with me grinning in mind will give you some idea.