The Road Back to Denver

Still Sunday, June 26, 2005

There were some low clouds rolling in over the Tetons. A few looked like rain clouds. The Grand Tetons were breath taking. I drove through stopping at quite a few look out points and turnouts on the side of the road. It was just a magnificent mixture of mountain peaks, lakes, rivers, and grasslands. After a while the sun started to break through the clouds but I knew that it was time for me to head back to Denver.

I arrived back to Denver at about 10:30pm. The trip as a whole did not turn out the way that I expected. (What did I tell ya, the Original Plan went out the window.) Without a doubt I learned a lot. I am still glad that I took it. It was definitely quite the adventure with plenty of stories and amazing sights (America is such a wonderfully diverse country). I can definitely see myself going back to some of these places in the future but next time I don’t think I will do it by myself.













There is my car ready to head back to Denver.

Yellowstone

Sunday, June 26, 2005

I allowed myself to sleep in. I was still thinking about all that happened the day before and the other issues that surfaced because of the prior days events. Nothing seemed right anymore. I was trying my hardest to enjoy all that was around me. I had a beautiful view of the lake from my campsite. There was plenty of hiking to do but I just didn’t feel up to it. (Plus they don’t recommend hiking by yourself because of the bears.) So I decided that that was the only night I would stay in Yellowstone. I did the drive by tour with the occasional pull over to get a picture. I knew I couldn’t leave without seeing the famous Old Faithful. When I got there it was experiencing abnormal activity and they weren’t sure when it was going to go off. (For some reason I really didn’t find it to be all that strange that the most predictable geyser in the country was off schedule while I was there.) Well, it finally went off and I decided to keep moving south into the Grand Tetons National Park.

Picture above: Even though it looks like there is a fire , that is actually steam coming from all the geysers.

The Best Way to Start Your Day

Saturday, June 25, 2005

I woke up and decided that today I really was heading for Yellowstone. No more detours. I continued south into Oregon (another state that I had never been to). It was about 5 am Pacific time when I crossed the state line. I was driving through Hells Canyon when I pulled over on the side of the road to get out of my car and take a picture of the mountains.

I took a couple of pictures and went to get back into my car. Only there was a slight problem. The door was locked and my car was still running. Trying my hardest not to freak out, I went around to all the other doors to see if any of them were unlocked. Nope, not a single one.

So there I was on the side of the road at 5:20 in the morning in the no mans land of Oregon. About 5 minutes late, a white pick up truck came around the bend and I waved them down. It was an older couple who God sent to save me. There was no service to use a cell phone so I was very fortunate that the people I flagged down had a satellite phone. To make a long story short, they called the local locksmith and about 2 hours later Mike got me back in my car. It was a good thing I filled the tank the night before. So the picture you see is what I call the $50 shot because that is how much I had to pay to get back into my car after getting out to take that picture (and it didn't even turn outthat great). All I ask is that you learn from my mistake and put a spare key in your wallet, purse, or hide it somewhere on the outside of your car because I don’t want any one to go through that experience. Trust me, I wasn’t laughing at the time.

After that experience, I decided not to get out of my car no matter how beautiful that sight was. All sights were set on Yellowstone. I found my way to I-84 and headed east, never looking back. Well I would love to say that it was all smooth sailing from then on, but that wasn’t the case. The day just got worse from that point on. Everything from construction to unexpected encounters and delays to closed roads to questioning why I even decided to go on this trip.
When I finally made it to Yellowstone, I was so emotionally drained that it was hard to even enjoy where I was. I saw a lot of wild life as I drove through the park to find a campsite. When I finally found one, I did the same thing I did the night before, made dinner and went to bed.

A Slight Detour

Friday, June 24, 2005

With another early start, I decided to keep moving and head towards Yellowstone. I was feeling good and was rolling with a good momentum from the day before. As I was driving through Montana, an idea popped into my head. Why not drive to Washington? I had never been there before, I was ahead of schedule, so why not.

And that is were the great detour began. Montana (picture above) I absolutely loved! It is such a beautiful state. The mountains were so amazing. I kind of forgot when I decided to go to Washington that I had to drive through the continental divide, but in the end that was absolutely fine because the scenery was just breath taking.

Idaho was still in-between Washington and me. I was optimistic about it. I had this idea that Idaho was pretty flat. Well, I thought wrong. I decided to take Highway 12 right through Clearwater National Forest in the northern part of Idaho. I should have known better than to drive 173 miles through a national forest on the last part of the drive. It was absolutely beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but the road followed a river through the mountains. Rivers don’t usually run straight when they run through a mountain and this one was no exception. 35-45mph curves the whole way.

I finally made it to Clarkston, Washington as the sun was beginning to reach the horizon. I couldn’t find the original campsite that I was going for, so I had to travel south on 129 to get to the nearest state park about 30 miles south of Clarkston. By the time I got there I was so tired and annoyed that I just made dinner and went to bed.

North Dakota

Still Thursday, June 23, 2005

There weren’t too many hiking trails and it was so hot that after about an hour and a half of driving around the park I decided to keep going and try to make it to North Dakota before dark.

I made it to Theodore Roosevelt National Park (the south unit) just as the sun was setting. I had no idea what to expect. I have never really heard much of anything about this National Park. I could not have been more pleasantly surprised. North Dakota in general was nothing like I expected. This area is also known as the Badlands of North Dakota but just coming from the Badlands of the south, I enjoyed seeing more color.

South Dakota

Thursday, June 23, 2005

I got an early start the morning of the 23rd of June. I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of time to explore and see all of the Badlands. As I hit South Dakota, it dawned on me that Mount Rushmore was in South Dakota. Not sure in what section of the state it was located, I pulled out my ever-so-handy atlas to see what I could find out. To my great surprise, I was going to drive right past it. So naturally I wasn’t go to pass this opportunity up so I stopped to check it out. It was pretty amazing but I think my favorite part was that as you walk towards it that had all the flags from the 50 states hanging above you and there a president Lincoln look-a-like that you could get you picture take with. Too cute.

Well I made it to the Badlands around 1:30pm and went to check out the campsite area to make sure I could still get a spot. The Badlands is so huge that the only way to see everything was to drive. There were a lot of Bison and there was a field with tons of prairie dogs. What I didn’t expect to see in the Badlands were the Yellow Mounds near Dillion Pass. They were such a beautiful highlight against blue and grey tones of the rest of the lands.

Peanut's Birthday

June 22, 2005
Among the people I am staying with in Denver there is also a dog that is a part of the family. Peanut is his name and he is a miniature doxen. His beloved owner, Laura, decided to have a birthday party for him. So on the 22^nd of June, friends (Left to right: Dawn, Shannon, Casey, Brian, me and Peanut) gathered to celebrate Peanut’s 12^th birthday. I will admit that at first I had trouble getting used to Peanut. But after a while he and I came to an understanding and we have become friends. Although he has mistaken my room for the backyard twice, he is a good dog and brings great joy to Laura and comfort to all that he meets. Happy Birthday Peanut!

The Road to Discovery

That one week rolled into the next, and I was still in Denver with no idea what I was going to do. I was getting a bit anxious and antsy. I started to look at my options and my atlas. That’s when this crazy idea popped into my head. Why not see a little bit of the country while I was trying to get some direction for my life. I had a little cushion to play with financially so I went for it.


The Original Plan:
Day one – Drive to Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Explore and stay the night.
Day two – Drive to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Explore and stay the night
Day three – Drive to Yellowstone National Park in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Explore and stay 2-3 nights.
Day five or six – drive to the Grand Tetons National Park. Explore and stay one – two nights.
Day six or seven – drive back to Denver.

From how things were going in my life at that time, I should have known that the minutes I started driving the Original Plan was going to fly out the window. And let me tell you, it flew about three days and a thousand miles out the window.

The Road to Denver

Tuesday, June 7, 2005












I must say that I-70 east through Utah is one of the prettiest drives I had been on in a while. I didn’t really know what I expected Utah to be like but it was pretty amazing. The drive was a long one but I could not have asked for better surroundings.

The Original plan was to stay in Denver for a day and a half. That plan was definitely in for a change. Rudy’s sister and brother-in-law were kind enough to let me stay with them for 5 days. After that I was planning on working my way east back to Michigan.
Well, as the week went on, Rudy told me that and old friend and co-worker from our college days was moving to Denver that weekend. Dawn (who was also my RD my sophomore year) and a bunch of her friends from Grad School were moving to downtown Denver. Still not sure what I wanted to do or were I wanted to go, they invited me to stay with them for the next week. So I moved all my stuff into this huge house and claimed the closet as my room. (It was a big closet) Still I continued to think about what my next move would be.

The Unexpected Wandering – Zion National Park

During Memorial Weekend, I felt God telling me that it was time to move on from my job with the Deweys. This was a tough decision for me to make because I had no idea what I was going to do next.

Over the course of the next week, I received amazing support from all my friends and family. Lynette (my roommate for 4 years in college) even managed to hook me up with a job at her camp in Wisconsin for the summer. By the end of the week, I had all my stuff packed and I was going to stay with my friend and small group leader, Stacy, for the weekend to clear my head and decide whether or not Wisconsin was right for me.

On June 6th at 4:30am I was in my car driving toward Denver, CO as a halfway point to Wisconsin. About 4 and a half hours later, I was driving through Las Vegas and my phone rang. It was Lynette. In a matter of seconds my life took an unexpected turn. The job at the camp was no longer available.

The wandering officially began. Being as close to Utah as I was, my friend Rudy talked me into stopping at Zion National Park. I took her advice. I arrived there at about noon and tried my best to figure out what to do. I was still trying to wrap my mind around the events that happened earlier.

Zion was definitely beautiful. I got a chance to hike many of the trails. I saw the lower, middle, and upper Emerald pools. I hiked up into the narrows along the river. I ended up sleeping in my car for half the night. The ranger woke me up around 1:30am and told me that I needed to go and get a campsite. Instead, I just started driving toward Denver. My mind was so busy that I wasn’t feeling tired. At around 4:30am, I made myself pull into a rest area and try to get some sleep. 2 hours later I was back on the road towards Denver.

The Big Statue in The Big Apple

New York City - Day 3 and 4
May 14-15, 2005


On Saturday, Ginger and I went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the morning. The great excitement of that morning was that Ian from this past season of Survivor was on our ferry. (Ginger is a really big fan of the show) Some interesting Statue of Liberty facts…. the length of her nose is 4ft 6in., the thickness of her copper “skin” is about the thickness of two pennies, her index finger is 8' long and the approximate amount of fabric in Liberty's dress is equal to 4,000 sq.yds. In the afternoon we went to Rockefeller Center, Ground Zero, and the little church across from Ground Zero, St. Paul's Chapel. Saturday night we set our sights towards Broadway to see The Phantom of the Opera.

After church on Sunday, we decided to do something that didn’t require a lot of walking. So we went on a boat cruise around Manhattan Island and saw some more of the famous New York City landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge and Yankee Stadium. If you ever go to NYC, I would recommend taking one of these cruises. It was very relaxing and very informational.

Bright and early on Monday the 16th, I was back on a plane to Long Beach, CA. This time I had no trouble on any of the buses.

The Big Park in The Big Apple

Central Park

The Big Picture From The Big Apple

New York City - Day 2
May 13, 2005

First thing Friday morning we went to the Empire State Building to get a great view of the city. (Picture to Left: Ginger and Alicia at the top) We couldn’t have asked for a better day. We could see as far as twenty-five miles out.
Friday was the day my legs felt like they were going to fall off from so much walking. We went to Time Square, Central Park (refer to next post for pictures), Fifth Avenue (saw Lauren Bacall coming out of Ralph Lauren), the Hershey store, and the huge Toys R Us with this huge replica of the Empire State Building built out of legos.
That day was full of famous people sightings. I got my picture taken with President Bush and Billy Graham.






I also saw the Beatles and Ginger had a picture with Frank Sinatra and the former mayor Rudy Giuliani. Of course none of these people were real but some of the time while we were in Madame Tussauds Wax Museum we began to question. It was kind of freaky how real some of them looked.