02

We woke up on Thursday morning and retrieved our camping belongings from the spots. Alan and Noah’s tent was not to be seen, and ours was collapsed with a sizeable puddle of water on the inside. Their tent was discovered, lodged in a mud ditch, and was painstakingly recovered. Since many of the mountainous parts of our camping area was just comprised of layers of muddy sediment, and it had heavily rained the night prior, walking on the surfaces was incredibly difficult, versus the ease and dryness of the night before. Every time we took a step in it, the top layer of mud clung to our shoes and stayed there, creating a heavy and tall platform for our feet to maneuver. The mud would randomly dislodge itself from the feet, and then fresh layers would build up. Altogether, it was inconvenient and made movement relatively impossible. But we successfully got our things from our camping area and into the car. We said goodbye to Alan and Noah, they were staying longer in the Badlands, and we headed out to Wall Drug.

We were covered in dirt from the Badlands, and still are. This morning Cheryl wiped some from my glasses, and we keep finding it hidden in every nook and cranny of the car and our belongings. When we got to Wall, South Dakota, we got a much-needed oil change at a Pennezoil that was also a fancy espresso bar. (Also to note: in Wyoming we discovered another Pennezoil establishment that was also an espresso bar. We think it’s some weird marketing ploy to emasculate diesel mechanics and drum up business from the coffee crowd.) We got pretty disappointed by the kitsch of Wall Drug (although, what did we really expect?) and ate at a café where Cheryl and I could actually get real-live veggie burgers!

After Wall, we headed to Mount Rushmore, which was pretty breathtaking. I’ve seen pictures of it all my life, but seeing it right in front of me was completely different, and pictures can’t really compare. Also, Washington’s eye is 11 feet wide! Ridiculous!

It was a pretty great thing to see, and Matt got really good looking ice cream to eat while Cheryl and I browsed around the gift shop and saw some guy who helped carve the whole thing. After Mount Rushmore, we went to Prairie Berry Winery, a way classy and legitimate winery that had some really interesting and delicious wines and really nice and helpful staff. We decided on getting a bottle of rhubarb wine, and headed out towards Wyoming, where everyone is super friendly and there is an average of 5.193 people per square mile.

We wanted to find a place to camp before it got dark, so with some trial and error, and after spotting moose and elk and cows, we finally found Sitting Bull Campgrounds in Ten Sleep, Wyoming, near a beautiful stream and the snow-capped mountains, where it was very cold. We cooked soup on a fire at our campsite and set things up. The night was freezing, and apparently I was the only one to sleep through it fully without any trouble. That’s what we get for camping somewhere that snow is able to survive at this time of year.

That morning we left camp, bright and early, but not before making friends with an fervent squirrel, visiting the nearby stream, and being grateful for not having been devoured by bears.

We passed several towns with populations ranging from 109 to 1800, and had lunch at a little diner that once again proved that everyone is nice in Wyoming. We stopped in Cody, Wyoming and poked around at the Buffalo Bill Historical Museum.

After that we were headed towards Yellowstone, with hopes of making it to Glacier Park in Montana for the night.

-Kate

Yellowstone was incredible. We saw more bison than any of us could probably stomach, as well as a fox, geysers, hot springs and mud volcanoes.

The air smelled so strongly of sulfur that I thought we all might die of stench exhaustion. Despite scent issues, Yellowstone was amazing and we all really loved it. I wish that we could have spent more time there, because there we did not see even half of what we could have.

After getting out of Yellowstone and into Montana (which I failed to honk the horn upon entering as a result of waiting for a more official sign) we stopped at a Super 8 to steal their internet and try and find a place closer to Glacier National Park to spend the night. After the previous cold night sleep, we all wanted somewhere warm to rest our heads. We ended up staying at a Super 8 in Conrad, where we all took much needed showers.

The next morning we headed to Glacier National Park.

Upon our arrival we purchased an annual national park pass. We headed into the park and stopped at one of the first places to park. We walked a trail down to a lake and were in awe of the beauty around us. I was extremely tempted to go swimming, but the water was absolutely freezing. After standing in it for only a few minutes, my legs began to hurt. The park was really beautiful throughout and we made many more pit stops to check out the sites. Eventually, while driving up the road, we hit a roadblock and park rangers who informed us that the rest of the road through the park was closed. Since there is only one road through the whole park, this meant that we had to turn around the way we came, leave the park, and drive all the way around the perimeter in order to keep on going. As a result, we drove at least an extra 100 miles than we were planning on, and spent probably 3 hours doing so. The roads were very curvy which did not help, and overall depleted morale rapidly. Our original plan was to make it to Seattle from Glacier National Park in the same day, but this detour made that nearly impossible. We drove for as long as we could, stopping in Missoula for dinner, and continuing until we reached the Nites Inn in Ellensburg. It was not the nicest place, but it was the cheapest thing we could find and we were all tired. While we were there, we saw a commercial on television for ear plugs and sleeping pills “specially designed for women”. They were pink, as was all of their packaging, and they came in some type of purse shaped carrying case. I am still in awe of this, and need to find them somewhere.

We left in the morning and headed toward North Bend, Washington. For those of you who are unaware, this meant that we were on our way to see the sites of Twin Peaks.

Our first destination was Twede’s diner, which is the Double R from Twin Peaks. Although slightly disappointing on the inside, it was a pretty awesome experience. They have 50some-odd burgers, all of which can be substituted with veggie patties, and they all come with endless fries. We drank coffee as black as the sky on a moonless night and stuffed ourselves with fried food. Despite our full stomachs, we made room for cherry pie. Kate and I had little problem deciding that if ever there were a time to set aside veganism, this was it. It was delicious.

Before, during, and after we ate we went to the back of the building where they had all kinds of Twin Peaks memorabilia. Mostly they just had trading cards, magazines, newpaper clippings, and photographs, but it was still really awesome. We took pictures inside and out, and picked up a twin peaks map that was drawn in colored pencil and photocopied.

After Twede’s we decided to set out to find as many sites as we could. We unfortunately could not find many, since it has been so long since the show was filmed. We found the train cars and the giant log from the series.

We decided that we would just go to Snoqualmie Falls and see the Salish Lodge (which is the Great Northern in the show). The falls were absolutely beautiful.

We decided to hike down towards the water to see them more. This was not the best of ideas since we were pretty ill equipped to do so. We were dressed pretty inappropriately for a hike (skirts and not sneakers) and did not bring any water with us. This caused me to be kind of a grump, and rude at points, but overall I think we are all glad we did it. We hiked back up, and went on our way to Seattle.

When we arrived in Seattle we were met by Stacy (Matt’s birth mom), her husband Robert, a handful of their friends, and their 15 year old beagle named Baxter. They were having a barbeque, which ended up being incredible. We ate tofurkey sausages, portabella mushrooms and asparagus all together in a hot dog bun. It was wonderful. All of their friends were very friendly and we felt really good about being there. After everyone left we headed to the video store to rent Purple Rain, but left with Fire Walk With Me. We watched the movie that night. Matt and I fell asleep much too early on, and Kate stuck the whole thing out.

The next day Stacy and Robert showed us around Seattle. They took us to the pike place market, which was huge and totally incredible. We ate at a Mediterranean restaurant, and found vegan desserts at a bakery. They were delicious! We sat by the water and took in the sights of Seattle. After we left we went to Fantagraphics, and Kate bought a comic book. We came back, went for a walk, and then went out to dinner. Stacy and Robert took us to a vegetarian/vegan thai place that was absolutely amazing. They then dropped us off in an area of Seattle called Freemont, which is the “center of the universe”. We stumbled upon a giant sculpture of Lenin that was offered for the modest price of $250,000. We walked around, and ended up at a bar called Triangle Lounge. We spent the night there talking and drinking, and eventually took a cab back to Stacy and Robert’s.

It is important to note that Stacy and Robert were really wonderful and generous to us. It was really nice to feel at home and a little less like we were living out of a car/tent/hotel. I wish that we could have done more to thank them, but I am sure that they know how much it means.

The next morning/early afternoon we headed out to Sedro Woolley, and ended up at the farm around two o’clock. It is really nice here, but more will be written about that later!

-Cheryl