Hello hello, I am a little late with an update on our trip across the Great North, but better late than never, I suppose. Our initial plan was to take Brian’s Xterra from Seattle to MN, spend a few days with John and Candy V in Minnesnowta, have Brian’s brother fly into Minneapolis and then he would continue south from there with the bro to Florida to move back home for a few months. I would then fly back to Seattle with a couple days to spare for packing and saying goodbye before heading to Australia. However, we started feeling some funky little hiccups coming from the ol’ Xterra whenever it was idling, and a few other weird clinks and clanks here and there, so we got a little worried it may not make it all the way. Plus, Brian wasn’t sure he was quite ready to leave Seattle just yet, and a room opened up for a month or so at his friend Annie’s AMAZINGLY cool house in Ballard (think rooftop decks, bamboo everywhere, huge backyard, treehouse, and pottery studio in the back). So, we hatched an alternate plan to pack up Scoobs (my silver Honda Civic) with all my life possessions and make the journey west in him instead. This way, my parents wouldn’t have to fly out in the spring, smush all of my belongings into Scoobs and drive him all the way back in MN for me. We’d also get a pretty epic road trip in together before I had to take off across the world for school. And last but certainly not least, Brian would get to see Minnesota in all it’s negative temp, freezing windchill glory (ha...ha...ha).
We stuck it out in Seattle throughout the snowstorm of the century (which, of course, shut down the entire city for two + days), and a lovely follow-up ice storm, just in case the snow wasn’t enough. Luckily though, the day after the freezing rain came down a warm front showed up and everything started melting really fast. We took off on a Friday when the roads were heavy with slush and soft ice. When we got to North Bend, only about 30 minutes along the way, we realized that all of the gas stations were down due to loss of electricity except for one, which was running their generator. People were lined up for gas, filling not only their vehicles but two or three containers on top of that. It was pretty much mayhem, but we filled up and got out of their quickly. Due to the snowstorm and warnings about the pass being pretty treacherous, we decided to buy chains the day before just in case. It turned out we probably didn’t HAVE to have them on, but for safety’s sake we stopped alongside the road with all the semis and chained on up. We were slow rollin at about 30 mph for a good 20 minutes, and although we felt a little sheepish as the four-wheel drive SUV’s blasted by us and we crept along the road with the semis, there were a few spots that looked like they would have been pretty dicey without the chains. We took them off right after the pass and then finally got on our way. Driving through the mountains has always been one of my favorite things, and we had no lack of beautiful views driving from Seattle west through Montana. We went through two or three more significant passes over the next two days, but luckily the weather stayed nice for us and we didn’t run into any real roadblocks. We did, however, have one pretty scary evening driving to our hotel in Livingston, MT. Just after dark we hit a whiteout snowstorm that left us with sight only of the white line on the side of the road to know whether we were still on track or not. The snow was swirling in every which way, and at one point we realized there was a towering cliff to our left and a massive drop off to the right. We had no idea we were coming into another mountain pass, and it was probably the last place we wanted to be driving when our visibility was only about five feet. It lasted for only 24 miles or so, but it took us over an hour to get through. But, we made it, and it made for a good night of sleep in Livingston. And of course, we felt after all that that we earned ourselves another huge continental breakfast waffle in the morning (or in Brian’s case, two).
The drive continued to get more interesting as we continued through eastern Montana, thanks to a random stop off at an exit that said “Pictograph Caves”. We never made it to the caves, due to an icy steep road, but we parked and took a beautiful walk over the hills. We climbed a fence, got some cool pictures from the bluffs, and even fed some horses that we encountered on the way back. They were fuzzy with their thick winter coats and some of the most beautiful, docile horses I have ever met. One of them let me feed him some raisins, and we stayed for awhile, letting them munch on some hay from our hands (probably not what their owner wanted, but we had to). Definitely one of the highlights of the trip. After the horses, we continued on through the northeast tip of Idaho and onto South Dakota. We decided that since we were staying in Rapid City, which is only about 30 miles from Mt. Rushmore, we should make the quick trip. We started off our third morning by heading to the four famous heads in the rock. I wasn’t expecting to like it much, since I assumed it would be chalk full of loud tourists (ok, not unlike me I guess), but it turned out to be pretty amazing. The scale of the rock carving is just so crazy... even the pupils of the eyes are like, four feet tall. Plus, we were the only ones there, which made it very quiet and serene. After we had our fill of Mt. Rushmore (and, admittedly, figured out that the fourth head was Teddy Roosevelt and NOT the president we though it was- oops), we continued on through SD. I wasn’t expecting much from South Dakota, but thanks to Brian’s obsession with maps and route planning, we took an amazingly beautiful detour through the Badlands. I had never known what this area of the Midwest consisted of, but I had heard they were beautiful. It honestly was like we had stepped out of the car onto Mars. The landscape changed immediately from yellow, flat grass fields to miniature mountain ranges of red, black and orange rock dusted with a fine layer of bright snow. Every place we stopped throughout the Badlands continued to get more and more beautiful with brightly colored rock, thousands of slopes and cool patterns of shadows down in the valleys below. The best part was that we were once again the only people there... apparently it is a very, very good idea to go to these parks in the offseason. Plus, the snow and bright blue sky made everything contrast beautifully. I felt so lucky to be in such an amazing place with someone I had become so close to and who appreciates this sort of thing just as much as I do.
Post-Badlands driving was, unfortunately, the most boring portion of the trip by far. Brian fell asleep for a couple hours while I drove, and I honestly think the only thing I saw the entire time he was asleep was yellow grass and maybe a silo here and there. Oh, and an owl. I saw an owl swoop in front of the car for a second, so that was exciting. And then it wasn’t again. For a long, long time. BUT we finally made it into Southern Minnesota, hopped on 35 and headed north toward good old Apple Valley. I think we finally pulled into my driveway around 1:30 am, which was just about what we expected after not leaving the Badlands until 3 pm or so.
Of course I had to give Brian a mini tour of the house first thing after arrival, and as we did this the Murph Man woke up and noisily came to greet us. He peed a little bit from excitement, slobbered on me to say hello and then promptly had to show off his stair ball skills to Brian. Oh, Murph. Always a character. Over the next few days he factored into our daily routine by acting as “X factor” during our hockey games (he would jump in and try to steal the ball from time to time), leaving behind some nice poo piles on the sidewalk that Brian’s shoe happened to pick up and bring along to the Science Museum, and continue to nuzzle up and wipe his lovely smelling drool alongside one of us at all times possible. Gotta love him.
We spent a good amount of time shovelling an ice rink on Alimagnet, playing some Holland vs. Italia broomball and hockey (shout out to Candy V for the sticks and mini soccer ball), eating lovely candlelit dinners (again, thanks to Candy V) with mom and dad, cozying up to movies in the basement, and checking out each and every activity, including two omnitheater productions, at the Science Museum. We spent our last day at Pepin with the ‘rents and Murphy, and although it was a “wintry mix” of slush and snow coming in sideways from the lake, we still managed to get out for a walk around town and show off some of the quirky elements of one of my favorite places in the world. And of course, Florida boy put up with it all with a smile on his face and a good attitude toward the cold temps and snow.
So it’s a rushed and late account of an amazing road trip, but I had to throw it in there before the rush of Australia news. Here are some of the pictures we got throughout the trip... credit to Brian and his mom’s old film camera for the vintage looking ones. They’re my favorite.
Our random exit stop in Montana
My favorite of the horses. He was the only one who wanted my raisins.
These guys were so awesome.
Cheesy Mt. Rushmore shot
Our first glimpse of the Badlands
On Mars
My favorite
The bright blue sky made the colors in the rock look amazing
Home on the range
BPauts on a big red rock
Credit to BP for this awesome shot
Team Italia
Ice cream in our coffee AND they have a caboose outside?! Can you find a cooler little place than that? I don't think so.
This is what we do to Floridians who visit Lake Pepin.
Thought that was a good one to end on... that’s all for now- I will follow this up with an update on my arrival in my new Australian home as soon as I have a chance. Love to all!
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