SOUTH DAKOTA! BADLANDS!!

We wanted to make it to the Badlands before dark and see Mount Rushmore and maybe the Crazy Horse Monument so we had a lot of driving ahead of us.

this is what most of the drive looked like.

We made it Rushmore, put Crazy Horse on our the “next time” list and got into the Badlands with enough time for a scenic drive and were able to enjoy the most gorgeous sunset yet as we set up camp.

This path looks REALLY hazardous!

Mountain goats!!!!

It may have been warm there – but it was still the Park’s “winter season” and this had some pluses and minuses:  aside from some friendly campers from Mississippi just starting their road trip, we had the place to ourselves HOWEVER the only road through the park was closed for roadwork.  We were still able to see a lot and drove some back roads through some grassland ranches (that we may or may not have been allowed on) and got back on a section of the park road and saw prairie dogs(!!) and the breath taking yellow mounds.

Our cute little campsite! It was so windy!

the circle of life

Sean and Nash climbing down a narrow pass.

Geo out in the midst of it!

the yellow mounds begin!

Prairie Dog!!!

I am so glad we made it to the Badlands! They were just sublime.  

If you want to see more photos click here!

Unfortunately there were more road blocks that we couldn’t get around so we never made it to the wilderness back country area and didn’t get to see bison [giant sad emoticon].  We made our way back through the ranches and got on the highway and headed east with the goal of making it as close to Madison, WI as we could.   We made it to Rochester, Minnesota! 

xoxo

IDAHO & MONTANA

Throughout Idaho and Montana there were a handful of towns, sites and parks that were recommended to us by our friend Ben, and ones we had wanted to check out  - unfortunately most of the parks’ roads were not cleared of their winter snow and it was still quite cold.  Crater of the Moon, Yellowstone and Glacier National Park were all put on the “next time” list (which is now quite long).

The Volvo may not like the hike up through the Rockies, but we did – it was really gorgeous.   We stopped in Missoula to stretch out legs and grab some lunch.  After a chilly-but-refreshing hike along the Clark Fork River and some lunch at Food For Thought we were back on the road.

Abandoned boots on the river.

We spent the night in Billings, and had our first couchsurfer.com experience! John, our host, was a really great guy and we really appreciate him letting us crash their for a night.  We had planned on two nights, but as I had mentioned earlier, the snow and closed roads made us rethink our Yellowstone plans and head for The Badlands in South Dakota.  It was in the sixties there! 

SPOKANE

Our last morning in Seattle was a touch bittersweet – our west coast tour of sites, cities and old friends was over and it was time to begin heading east; we were feeling like the trip was over.   (After getting on the road we realized we still had thousands of miles to travel and many stops to make, so the bittersweetness faded away and the delirium of driving through plains and prairies for hours began to set in)

The first stop on our eastward journey was Spokane, WA – Jennifer & Mike, good friends of Sean from Ann Arbor are living in Pullman while Mike attends grad school.

We spent most of our time walking along the parks on the Spokane River and the bridges over looking Spokane Falls. 

After a big lunch and lots of catching up we turned in for the night and prepped for some long driving days.  

We let Jennifer take all the photos - so as soon as she emails us some we can put them up here, for the time being all we have is the only photo I took with my iPhone - Sean and a giant radio flyer wagon.

xo

Seattle!

The Bluest Skies are in Seattle

Seattle was a blast – and not only because we got a little break from the rain - but, as is the theme with almost every stop along the west coast, we got to connect with some dear old friends!

Jesica and Colin moved to Seattle a couple of years ago - and now she's pregnant and they're about to be married!!   Jesica is just glowing! We got to touch her belly a lot.

There's a baby in that belly!!

Our first full day in Seattle we were treated to more of the wet PNW weather we had been getting on our trip so we went to the Pike Place Market and then the Seattle Art Museum (SAM).  The SAM was having a really awesome Calder exhibit but we weren't allowed to photograph it.  [sad emoticon]. We could take pictures of some of the other cool things:

that's a coffin!

The next day the weather was a little better so we were able to do some outdoor city activities - like checking out the Olympic Sculpture Park.  

a gaint Calder "stabile" (stabile never caught on the way mobile did...)

giant typewriter eraser! I LOVE it.

Anyone remember when there were silver trees like this in Madison Sq Park?

While in Seattle, we stayed with my good friend Rich and his husband Charles in their amazing apartment in Capital Hill.  We were right across the street from Volunteer Park, a great place to walk nash – and we got to climb the old water tower there at sunset.

Rich and Charles were such amazing hosts – they made us dinner, we made them dinner – they took us out, and they spent a whole day driving us around sight seeing.  We had vegan donuts at Mighty O, went to gas works park, out to Snoqualmie Falls, lunch at Paseo, out to Golden Garden, then to ice cream.... a very full, A+ kinda day!  Jesica left work early and spent the day with us too!

Sean and Richard in the Seattle Public Library

The Public Library

Gas works park

Sean at Snoqualmie Falls

Charles and Geo

HOUSEBOATS!

Nash peeing on the "Leash Pets" sign. FACE!

Golden Garden

We watched these adorable little ducklings for about 30 minutes.

Later that evening we hung out with Sean's friend Puja at her new apt (no furniture yet!).  We forgot our camera so all we have to show for it is a picture of us! ha.

xo

Oregon Installation

I totally forgot to add photos of the installation Sean, Rebecca and I made (yes, we had help on this one!!).

here are some photos: (some were taken by rebecca)

we titled it:
If a Candy Cane Falls in the Woods and No One is There To See It, Does It Gather Moss?

constructing!

It was brought to my attention by Sean that there were very few pictures of him enjoying Oregon...

here are two more! :)

xo

g

OREGON!!!!!

I could live amongst the Redwoods in a tree house for the rest of my days and be very happy – I was drawing up plans and getting ready to begin construction but we had to sail on and head north – into the wet, wet, wet pacific northwest. 

Our first stop was Ashland – to see the amazingly talented Chinasa Ogbuagu in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s production of Lynn Nottage’s RUINED.

From left, Chinasa Ogbuagu, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Victoria Ward. Photo by Jenny Graham.

If for any reason people reading this can make their way out there to see it I highly recommend doing so.  It is such a wonderful play – heartbreaking and really important and the cast and design are excellent. 

We got to catch up with Chinasa afterwards and swap stories of our adventures.  I love Chinasa!   We forgot our camera so all we have is a photo with sean’s blackberry.

From Ashland we made our way up to Portland! The city of roses! Stumptown! 

Portland can be a tricky place – locals tend to be very friendly when they find you are from out of town and get you to admit how wonderful their city is  – but it’s a trap!  They will they tell you they want to keep it a secret and make you promise not to tell anyone if you think it is a great place.  So, I could tell you how wonderful I think Portland is – with all the amazing craftman homes on the east side.  How good the food is, how wonderful it is to have the amazing nature of the PNW all around you – but I can’t.  So that is that.  

We stayed with our friend Michael for a couple of nights and spent the days wandering around with the fabulous Rebecca Frost Mayer.  It was Rebecca’s birthday the Friday we were there so we got to treat the birthday girl all day! And the sun even came out for a little bit – but as quickly as it came out it went away and rained cold, cold rain on us. 

We saw Theatre Vertigo’s production of GOD’S EAR.  It was a great production of such a beautiful play, and Rebecca’s mother was the costume designer! (they were good!)

That weekend sean, Rebecca and I made our way up to the MT HOOD VILLAGE RV RESORT right on the outskirts of the Mt Hood National Forest.  We got a “rustic” cabin for the weekend (rustic is kind of a loose term – sure there was no kitchen or bathroom but there was heat and cable…)  This place is DA BOMB, as the kid’s say.  It was Easter weekend so we more or less had the place to ourselves – it also has a really good set up – the tent and cabin area is far from the RV area and it is full of trees.  I should also mention there is a pool, sauna and hot tub – and we made good use of that.

Our cabin was called the Snowflake Sleepover!

It was great to have a friend camping with us.  We made a yummy dinner and played scrabble and on Easter morning we went on a wonderful hike in the Mt Hood National Forest – we made an installation too.

Rebecca headed back to Portland and we spent another night relaxing in our secluded cabin (I think we were the only campers that night!) 

The next morning we met up with Michael and hiked up to the Bagby Hot Springs.   The mountain was covered in snow – and we soaked in the log tubs while it snowed on our heads.  It is a wonderful place!

That night we had dinner at Clyde Common and met up with our friend Erin at Bye and Bye for some beers.  Erin had just finished some home renovations and was kind of enough to let us crash for a night before we journeyed on to Seattle.

Oregon Coast!

We got an early start the next day and after breakfast with erin and some coffee from Random Order we were on our way.  We headed north to the Ecola State Park.  The hike was super muddy (and super fun) with such amazing views of the coast. 

We also went to the beach in Fort Stevens and saw the wreck of the Peter Iredale.  After a yummy lunch in Seaside we were on our way to Seattle.