Lived Perfection.

Today was a wonderful day. It wasn't perfect (we got stuck in traffic, crazy tourists with unruly kids abounded, it was colder than we'd like in August), but it was filled with several truly perfect moments.  And those of you who know me especially well know that I do not use the word perfect to describe my life EVER. 

After a long and trying day yesterday, we decided to focus on seeing a few new parts of Yellowstone and to set reasonable expectations for the day.  This meant not trying to see everything or rushing through the park; we were, in essence, following our bliss.  The other key adjustment is that we decided to be nice to each other.  And genuinely nice, not the insincere niceness that makes us cringe.  The choice to be gentle and kind was particularly important because national parks are exhausting in every possible way.  Before we left for the trip, a friend suggested that we'd be challenged by the enormous amount of time we would spend together in the car.  I scoffed and told her she was underestimating us. After all, it's not uncommon for us to spend 6-8 hours together in a stretch.  However, what I didn't quite recognize is that this car time is different. It's full of monotonous scenery at times, lots of traffic, and the weird fatigue of just sitting on your bum all day as you are shuttled around a ridiculously large space.  But we prevailed. 

Turbos Flamas!

After breakfast, we drove from Big Sky to West Yellowstone where we picked up box lunches from our now favorite spot called Ernie's.  A no-frills kind of place, Ernie's features great food and great people watching.  Once stocked up on all sorts of treats (see today's culinary wonder to the right), we were ready for whatever the Park had to offer us. Our first destination was the canyon. Yesterday we had a glimpse of this so-called canyon and were not really impressed but decided we probably should humor the park and take a look.  In March, I made a trip to the Grand Canyon and returned a changed woman, so I found it hard to believe that this lesser canyon could teach me anything.  But since my counterpart had not made that trip with me and has not seen the GC yet (don't worry, it's the next place I'm dragging him), I figured I'd humor him.  And to be honest, I whined several times that I really needed to see two things: beautiful wild flowers and awe-inspiring waterfalls. So, he figured he would have a chance to silence the whining at least for a little while.

The Motivator.

Humility.

When we reached the canyon rim, I felt myself wavering; this could be an amazing sight!  We approached the trail and noticed that there was a ton of people in various states of disrepair all around the trailhead.  But we are younger and in better shape than these folks, so we arrogantly tackled the trail without either thought or water. From the top, we could hear and see the magnificent falls. I could feel the awe building. Of course, I couldn't simply agree to go down so I made my counterpart convince me this was a good idea.  About half way down the ridiculously steep and unstable path, I knew I couldn't stop until we reached the bottom.  And my pride overpowered my senses as I saw all sorts of people making the return hike with ease. In fact, there were at least 20 small children running up the steep hill giggling all the way.  But it was worth it.  When we reached the lowest point we were able to see the true attraction.  The waterfall that made the above mentioned "Motivator" look lame and silly.  Instantly, I was humble before the powers of the Universe.  The sheer natural force and amazing beauty were completely inspirational and perfect and amazing.... until the uber enthusiastic international tourists overpowered my ability to be kind and gentle and nice and we had to flee.  We couldn't have one of the three black people in Wyoming arrested for assaulting presumably innocent travelers! 

The trek back to the top was insane.  We stopped frequently, but we only lingered long enough to get our heart rates back to normal because at each landing there were more crazy tourists (most of whom had children who had never heard the word "no" and found the ledges rather tempting).  At each stop, my counterpart promptly lied about how much distance we had covered and the lies felt great (even when we were at 50% completion three times in a row!).  After the ascent, we decided it was time for our picnic lunches and ventured farther down the rim in hopes of a quiet place to eat and rest.  However, there is no such place during tourist seasons.  So we enjoyed our lunch from the car and were able to people watch again!   This is when our paths crossed again with our favorite character of the day!  We affectionately named Biker Granny when we first crossed paths with her as we were leaving the waterfall. Despite many people's warnings that she shouldn't attempt walking to the bottom of the trail in those shoes, Biker Granny went on with her bad self.  I cannot explain how happy I was to see her again and with my camera ready.  Please take a look at the heels she is wearing in the picture below! I can't walk in such devices of torture when I'm on level ground, sober, and trying with every muscle to look confident and sexy. And here's Biker Granny hopping off a Harley AT YELLOWSTONE PARK AND TACKLING TRAILS!  Color me impressed. And worried about her breaking a hip. But mostly impressed.

Go On, Biker Granny!

After a quick stop for coffee and trinkets like magnets and post cards, we headed to Mammouth Springs.  By the time we reached the springs (some 30+ miles later), I could tell I had a finite amount of energy left and even less patience.  We wandered around for a bit and saw things that were spectacular--like the picture to the right.  However, I should note that I didn't take this picture because by the time we approached the money shot of this gigantic hot spring, I had nothing left.  I thought I could do it, really I did.  But as we climbed yet another steep grade and were immersed in the chatter of tourists and the screaming children I could go no further. I wish I could blame it on the high altitude (which was had an effect all day) but it really was an intolerance of crazy that made me stop.  As dramatically as I could, I told my counterpart to go on without me and that I'd wait for him on the other side.  He agreed (a little too easily, I should add) and took the digital camera to the top of this beast. 

What did I do in his absence? Well, I perched myself on a bench and started watching the people.  In the thirty minutes without him (to be honest, it could have been 5 minutes, the crazy makes time go slowly), I had a baby spit up at me, a run away Korean child sit with me, his worried mother interview me as to her son's whereabouts, and best of all, a crazy man walk up to me with a digital camera no further than three inches from my face and pretend to take a picture.  He then smirked and said "now that's a beautiful picture!" which only further upset the wife who had been lagging behind.  Thankfully, it was not a real close-up of my face, but MY GOODNESS! Where do these people come from and how do they function in the real world!?!?! 

Finally, my counterpart returned to me and we were able to escape further incidents.  We decided that we'd both had enough of the people and left the park.  We then drove to Bozeman, MT again (one of the three places we know how to find) where we rejoiced in the familiarity of Target and then had a great dinner at a weird burger joint.

Farewell, Yellowstone.

Dusky Big Sky.

After dinner, we drove back to Big Sky (this time in daylight!) and tried to find a place to watch the sunset.  We didn't have much luck, but as we were exploring the town a little, we were able to find that dusk can be even more magical than the sunset that came before it.  It was perfect and I never knew I was looking for it.

After the quick tour of Big Sky, we returned to the hotel to chill the sampler of local beer we bought along with our coffee this afternoon and to plan our next day.  It was agreed upon that we would try to find something else to do tomorrow.  We thought "seeing" Wyoming would be great, but when we mapquested it, our New England sense of proximity ended that plan quickly.  Instead we decided to tackle Helena, MT.  There are a couple of local breweries there and since my counterpart love to brew beer (and has somehow used my competitive nature and love of creating new recipes for baked goods as ways to trick me into enjoying this process, too), this was an easy choice.  And then we discovered there's also a sapphire mine and some cool shops, so Helena quickly became a (gendered) win-win situation. Beer and jewels, oh my!

Yummy Local Beer!

Now that I had a plan, I was free to enjoy the evening.  So we grabbed the beer and headed back to Big Sky where we found a parking lot adjacent to a field and stretched out under the stars.  Talk about perfection. I ignored the fact that I could hear my mother's voice in my head and she was was focused on how unsanitary it is to stretch out on the ground and instead embraced the moment.  For two hours, we endured the sub-50-degree temperatures and simply enjoyed the beauty and magic.  I have never seen so many stars before.  Thanks to technology, we were able to use my counterpart's new star-gazing phone application to identify the many things present in the Big Sky night.  Jupiter was the most amazing, but I was also completely smitten with the clarity of the Milky Way. And the Big Dipper. All of this ignores the fact that we saw at least 30 shooting stars, some of which were simply marvelous. 

Much like dusk gave me a perfect moment, the Big Sky night gave me what I never knew I was always looking for.  Apparently, the Universe wants me to learn that simplicity and perfection are closely related and found where we least expect it. 

Simple Truths

After a long, restless night of sleep, I awoke determined to have a marvelous day.   The first thing I saw was this view from my hotel window:

Yup, That's Montana

My goal was simple:

Today is going to be a day of honesty, of warmth and joy, and of simple truths.  This is my goal every day, but it's not always on the forefront of my mind. But that changes now, I thought confidently.

How did that work out for me, you ask? Well, I don't think I fully understood how much work would go into such a task.  But I started out with my head in the right place by examining myself to see how I could live simply.

  While brushing my teeth this morning, I couldn't help but to notice how differently my counterpart and I had packed our toiletries.  Sorting through the three bags I need to travel with (one for hair supplies, another for every emergency you can imagine, and the third for actual toiletries, I realized that there was a simple beauty in the way he packed.

Simplicity.

The Opposite of Simplicity.

Granted, he needed to use my toothpaste because he forgot to add his, but the ease with which he could go through the trip was enticing.  Will I stop carrying a cure for every possible ailment or need? Probably not, but I will return to getting everything into one bag.... or die trying. 

The rest of the day was good, but tiring.  Yellowstone is beautiful.  But you already knew or suspected that.  Nature is neat (especially when contained in a park and easily navigated by car). Animals are cool.  Humans... not so much, but the other stuff was great.  

My Favorite Image From Today

Beautiful Yet Foreboding

We took lots of great photos and saw some amazing sights, so the details of the day don't really matter....

Cool Hot Spring

 I still have much to learn about living simply.  But the beautiful images from the day will surely help remind me that there are miracles everywhere. 

 

And you'll be happy to know that we stopped counting black people midday when we had seen over a dozen.  I think the total would have been around 18 or so, but the point is that I wasn't the only one!  So long, circus freak!

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

It's late and I'm very tired, so this may be more fragmented than I would like.  Hopefully it will capture all of the day's adventures....

Today was a day of mixed blessings.  We left the cozy confines of our Connecticut home at 4am in order to make our 6:35am flight. After several long lines and lots of waiting, we had the familiar pleasure of Dunkin' Donuts in our hands and were ready for our long day of travel.  The plan was simple: fly from Hartford to BWI and wait all of 20 minutes for our connecting flight which would take us to Salt Lake City.  Well, easy doesn't really work for us.  Instead, our 50 minute flight lasted almost two hours as there was a terrible storm in the Baltimore area and flights were in holding patterns.  By the time we reached our gate, it was 10 minutes past our connecting flight's scheduled departure. Thankfully, however, the weather caused a major bottle neck and our flight was delayed two hours!  And we were psyched that our flight was delayed?!  This was the moment we knew it would be a long and wacky day of travel.  The second flight was just under five hours and replete with many children ranging from newborns to tweens--all of whom made sure we never forgot they were present.  But it was fine.  Why? Because we were on an adventure!  

While killing time in the airport, my counterpart was reminded of the fact that I've never gone to Las Vegas.  After lots of teasing and mockery, I decided I could take it no more and needed to get myself to Sin City! Once we finally boarded the plane, we had an additional 30 minutes to entertain ourselves before we were finally airborne.  How did we spend that time? Why, we sorted out how we could add a short trip to LV before we returned to CT of course!  Thank goodness AAA sends so many goodies when you order trip info because it took us no time at all to come up with a game plan.  Hours later, we were able to change our flight for a nominal fee and now we've added Vegas to our trip.  We will drive from Salt Lake City to LV on Wednesday morning and then return Thursday night.  Our new flight home will be midday on Friday, and not a minute too soon, I imagine as we've already spent a lot of time in the car and it's just the beginning.

OK, I've skipped some important information about the day.  Upon arrival in SLC, I was pleased to be off the plane after the four hour long delay.  The first thing that caught my eye that is worthy of this blog is the picture to the right. 

What's for dinner?!

Please understand two things about this Tyson's Chicken vending machine: 1) it's real and includes chicken, fries, and all sorts of fun-filled treats; 2) IT WAS TOTALLY SOLD OUT.  Seriously.  NOTHING TO BUY AT ALL. And this was our first fins/lashes moment, but it was somewhat unpredictable.  My counterpart was totally disgusted by the machine.  I, however, was fascinated and totally intrigued by the inner workings of such a creation.  Perhaps my years of loving the Texas State Fair has prepared me for this very moment.  Or maybe it's the mad scientist in me.... Either way, I was ready for the adventure to begin as Salt Lake City had already surprised me!

Local Flavor

From the airport, we headed north towards Montana.  About an hour outside of SLC (please note that the drive from SLC to Big Sky, MT is supposed to take around 6 hours), we stopped for treats and a much-needed bathroom break. That's where we discovered the delightful candy pictured to the left.  What is it? It's a nougat/taffy-like creation with peanuts.  My counterpart LOVED it and plans to bring many BIG HUNKS home with us.  Of course, the sentiment "if it were only that easy to bring home a big hunk" was left unspoken....

Also, because of a couple of experiences I had today, I've decided to keep a black people count.  What happened? Well, when we walked into the convenience store to fill up on diet coke and other necessities, we received many strange looks.  Everyone was very pleasant, but we were clearly an oddity that they couldn't sort out.  And as dynamic as our duo is, I knew we would stand out so I didn't think much about it how these encounters would play out.... That is, until we stopped off at Wendy's in Idaho Falls for a quick dinner and the 12+ young blond children in the restaurant were beyond fascinated with us.  And I mean standing up in their chairs to ogle.  One brave boy about 3 or 4 years old playfully engaged with me, but the rest were all sorts of confused.  As we finished eating amidst all of the stares, I realized that it's quite possible that I'm the first black person these kids have seen.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  But this is the first time I've had that experience in the U.S., so it's going to take some getting used to. And I'm not sure I want to get used to the circus freak greeting.

Day One Black People Count (BPC): 3 (one police officer at the SLC airport; two young-ish males fishing from a bridge somewhere between the Idaho and Montana border.) Here's hoping my brethren are awaiting us in Wyoming tomorrow!


In addition to counting brown people, we've also invented our own version of the silly VW Punch Buggy game.  Instead of counting cars, the objective is to find churches.  Boring? One would think it could be, but it's been rather informative and a great time filler.  And as many of you know, I like any game that I win easily. I think the score is gnw 88, counterpart 2.  We'll see how he does when I'm driving tomorrow!

Somewhere in Idaho

The rest of the drive was less eventful. Although it took us seven hours and we had some technical difficulties, it was a success. We saw our first magical sunset (unfortunately, it was while driving) and lots of cool landscapes.  If the two pictures here are any indication, I will have AMAZING things to share with you tomorrow! By the end of the drive,

First Sunset

I was thoroughly exhausted and unable to keep my eyes open.  It's a good thing that I wasn't driving and that I've been faking being awake for years.  Anyway, we survived and are super excited for the next week of adventures!

Origins.

The Beautiful Source.

Before we embark on this journey, I think an explanation of the title is in order. I'm not a "car person" but this spring we noticed the very sleek, sexy headlights for the new Audis.  Lovely.  Despite their simple elegance and beauty, it became clear that we saw the headlights very differently.  

I think the following dialogue captures the essence of that first sighting:

Together, almost perfectly synchronized, "Ooooooh."

"Sweet, they're like shark fins," my masculine counterpart proffered. 

"Really? They seem more like eyelashes heavy with mascara," I countered.

And that easily, the debate was born.  In the months that followed, we spotted countless examples of these new lights. And each time the result was the same: awed beauty of the fins/lashes. 

Now, on the eve of our first long trip together, I thought it would be fun to keep track of the things we see differently and (god willing) the many things we see similarly, especially considering the adventure ahead of us.  Where are we going? Over the next week, we will journey to Yellowstone National Park; Salt Lake City, Utah; Big Sky, Montana; and countless towns and "cities" in between.

One last note: As native New Englanders, our trip will inevitably introduce us to new landscapes and peoples.  While we've been nothing but excited about the trip, these challenges promise to deliver memorable and entertaining stories!  What will be our greatest obstacles? Bear attacks? Escaped murders? Mormons? Dry towns and caffeine-free living? Stay tuned to find out!