Miles 3482-3735: Duck Inn and Drive to Spokane

     Yesterday morning, I woke up when Dad left the room for coffee. I followed him and we sat together on the porch. It was really quiet and peaceful, especially compared to the last night. Mom went to yoga downtown, and we had breakfast. I had another waffle with strawberries and bananas and tea. When Mom came back, we packed up and left Whitefish for Spokane, Washington. Shout-out to Tyler, Mark, and Alyssa!! The Duck Inn was an amazing place to stay and you guys were so helpful. The rooms were very comfortable and the breakfasts were delicious. Thanks for providing such an awesome environment. I would definitely recommend the Duck Inn to anyone who needs a place to stay in Whitefish. On our way to Whitefish, we stopped in Libby, Montana, for lunch at Cabinet Mountain Brewing Company. It was really good food at a very cheap price. We stopped at one more place before Spokane: Kootenai Falls. It was a bit of a walk to the Kootenai River and Falls, but it was a pretty overlook. First we went to a swinging bridge down the river from the falls. It was less of a place to watch the river and more of a small thrill for people who wanted to say they had walked over a swinging bridge. It was kind of fun though. The overlook of the falls was pretty. It was more extreme rapids than a waterfall, but it was still cool.


We got back in the car and drove to the Montvale Hotel in Spokane. After we unpacked, we went to dinner at Steam Plant, where we got brisket nachos and I split pasta primavera with Mom. Spokane was a little sketchy, but we walked down by the riverfront, where there was a Fourth of July carnival. Once we got back to the hotel, we watched the Return of the Jedi while we blogged about Glacier National Park. 

“Many small people, in small places, doing small things can change the world.”
— Eduardo Galeano

Miles 3216-3481: Glacier National Park

This morning, Mom and Dad woke us up at 6:30 so we could get into the park earlier. I had one of Tyler’s waffles again, this time with strawberries and bananas (amazing). We drove two-and-a-half hours to the opposite side of Glacier, to the trail-head of the Grinnell Glacier hike. It was a 10.5 mile hike, round-trip. We walked by Swiftcurrent and Josephine Lake. There was the option to take boats over the lakes to cut off three miles, but we didn’t. It was a really beautiful hike, with an elevation gain of about 1600 feet. It was kind of tough, but not that bad. Grinnell Lake was so blue; it looked kind of like the hot springs at Yellowstone: red and orange around the outside because it was shallow, and a deep turquoise blue in the center. The glacier was kind of underwhelming from far away, just a sheet of snow and ice. It was small, which was really sad, because global warming had been melting it for the past few centuries. We wanted to get closer to the glacier, but there was a snow wall across the path. To get across it, you had to step over a two-foot crevice and walk along a two-foot wide path of ice. There was a sign a while back saying that you shouldn’t go farther unless you have an ice ax and the ability to self-arrest. We went a little ways past it, to where a waterfall spilled over the path. Plenty of people were crossing the snow wall, even one family with a girl much younger than Jackson. Two rangers came up to the wall and were telling people how dangerous it was, but people just walked right past them and did it anyway.

Once we finished the hike, we left the park and drove to another entrance, at St. Mary’s Lake. We ran in the visitor’s center there, to ask a ranger what the weather was like in the park. She said it was very foggy and she wouldn’t recommend driving back through. Instead of going through the park back to Whitefish, we went around again. Back in Whitefish, we got Italian and ate at the hotel. We had lasagna, spaghetti, pizza, Caesar salad, and bread. Tyler sat with us while we ate and we talked. We ate on the porch and everyone in the city seemed to have fireworks they were setting off. As Jackson said, it sounded like we were in the middle of World War II. There were fireworks that made every sound you can think of: loud cracks, deep booms, rapid-fire pops, and the whine that you think of preceding the falling of a bomb. We walked to Sweet Peaks again and got ice cream. It was like walking through a war zone. I got honey cinnamon and it was pretty good. Once we got back to the hotel, we turned and looked back at the town; it looked like it was on fire. There was a blanket of smoke over the whole city. The whole scene was very Americana; the fireworks and celebration of the nation’s birthday. I half expected to find a movie crew somewhere filming it all. Time to finish writing and enjoy the unique downtown of Spokane!!

“Don’t do dumb things.”
— Anonymous Northwestern Student

Miles 3099-3215: Glacier National Park

This morning, I woke up, got dressed, and went downstairs. I had one of Tyler’s famous waffles; Jackson had one yesterday and it looked delicious. It was. I sat talking with Mark and Tyler for a while. When I came back upstairs, I was informed that the young Mr. Farmer had commanded quiet until 9:00 sharp so he could get his beauty sleep. I read until the young master had eaten and prepared for his day hiking. We got into the park around 11:30 and stopped by the visitor’s center for pins and stickers. We were planning to do the Avalanche hike, but when we drove by, there were no parking spots. We kept driving on the Into-the-Sun Road through the park. It was beautiful; Glacier has a lot of different environments/landscapes: mountains, deep forests, big lakes, waterfalls, and cold snow-melt streams, and of course, glaciers (we didn’t see any today). I apologize in advance for how many pictures I took; every view was so beautiful that I had to take a picture. None of the pictures or anything I could describe could come close to Glacier, or for that matter, any of the national parks we’ve been through. We could have been in South America at some points; how humid it was and the forests were almost like rain-forests in some ways, so thick and wet and quiet.

We drove up to Logan Pass in between two mountains. The visitor’s center there was so crowded that we couldn’t park. We turned around to head back toward the Avalanche hike and stopped for our packed lunch on the way. There was a parking spot, so we started the hike. It was 4.6 miles, so I thought “two hours, max”. I was right, but it didn’t seem like it because it took about one hour, twenty minutes on the front half and forty minutes on the back half, because of the elevation changes. We hiked to Avalanche Lake, which was really beautiful, with the mountains and some waterfalls/snow-melt streams in the background.

We hiked back to the car, but before we left, Jackson and I (mostly me) waded in a creek. It was really cold, but felt good. We left the park and went into a gift shop right outside the park entrance. Jackson got a t-shirt and I got a sweatshirt. We picked up pizza from Jersey Boy’s Pizzeria, with salad and garlic parmesan wings. We took it back to the hotel and ate at a table in the lobby. Tyler sat with us while we ate and we talked about the best things to do in Glacier tomorrow. We’re going on a longer hike tomorrow. We came back up to the room and here I am now.

“I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.”
— Anne Frank

Miles 2963-3098: Whitefish and Eureka

When we woke up in the morning, we went down and got breakfast. I had some of the daily egg casserole, which had mixed vegetables that day, which was pretty good, and a blueberry bagel with cream cheese. We rode to Eureka, Montana, for Jackson and Dad to play golf at the Wilderness Club. After we dropped them off at the golf course, we went by the club house to pay for our trail ride that we were doing later. Mom and I went shopping. We went through several thrift shops and an antique store. We went into a cool apothecary-like shop, where they had this cool stuff called boba/bubble tea. You choose base tea (black, green, jasmine, etc.), they add a flavor, and you can add-ins, like the bobas (bubbles). I had a Mango n’ Matcha with cherry bobas. the bobas are the frozen yogurt toppings that pop in your mouth. It was delicious. We also went through a local art gallery. I ended up buying a locally made leather bracelet with a turquoise stone. After lunch, we went back to the Wilderness Club for our trail ride. We got on our horses and went around the arena just fine. As soon as we left the arena, we started having problems. Mom’s wouldn’t move and mine wouldn’t stop eating. Every ten yards, he stopped for more grass. The instructor told me to keep his head up, so I tried as hard as I could and when he finally yanked his head down, he ripped open my blister from climbing. When we finally got them under control, the trail ride was really fun. I just love the feeling of being on top of a horse. There were great views on the trail too. After the ride, we went by the club house to pick Dad and Jackson up. I had time to finish the Boys in the Boat (it was awesome; thanks for the recommendation, Elizabeth!!). We sat at the clubhouse with them and the people they played with while they ate lunch. They played with two Canadians and apparently talked a lot. It was really interesting, listening to their conversation. We stopped by Whitefish Lake before we went back to the hotel. We had dinner at the Buffalo Cafe in downtown Whitefish. We got chips and salsa for the table, and I split the huge Mexican Mac n’ Cheese with Dad and it was delicious. When we got back, I was too tired to blog and just went to bed.

“I will not be another flower, picked for my beauty and left to die. I will be wild, difficult to find, and impossible to forget.”
— Erin Van Vuren

Miles 2658-2962: Drive to Whitefish

Breakfast yesterday morning was more burritos. After I quickly packed up, I practiced the flute, because I wouldn’t be able to for the five days we’re in Whitefish (hotel, not apartment). The Duck Inn was awesome: small, family-friendly, and it had a great atmosphere. One of the owners, Tyler, is one of my mom’s best friend’s little brother. We went out to dinner with him at a place called Latitude 48. It was delicious: I got linguine with elk meatballs, and we got calamari, pork buns, brussel sprouts, and Korean cauliflower for the table. We went to an ice cream place down the street, Sweet Peaks. I tried the huckleberry ice cream and it was good. I’d been seeing huckleberry everything throughout Wyoming and Montana. Apparently they grow wild everywhere out here. I got a huckleberry milkshake, but it was pretty bland, mostly just sweet. It was a little over-sweet. It was still good though. Back at the inn, we showered and got in bed. I started reading a book that I got in Bozeman, Boys in a Boat, recommended to me by Elizabeth.


“It’s a small world after all.”
— The Sherman Brothers

Miles 2641-2657: Bozeman

We woke up in the morning and all did our own thing: Mom looked online for things to do in Bozeman, Dad went on a run, Jackson played a game on his computer, and I watched Netflix. Breakfast was delicious breakfast burritos. Online, Mom found a climbing gym in Bozeman, Spire, that she would take us to. Dad dropped us off there and took the car to get serviced. The climbing gym was so awesome. I doubt there’s one like it in North Carolina, much less near Winston-Salem. Most of their walls were around fifty feet tall. They had auto-belay, top rope, lead rope, and normal belay climbing. They also had bouldering (about ten foot walls that you climb without a rope). I loved it so much; Jackson said he liked it, but got bored/tired after a while. I would have stayed there much longer if my hands had been used to it. I’ll need to build up calluses if I want to keep climbing, which I do. We went out to lunch in downtown Bozeman at Backcountry Burger Bar, where I got chicken and vegetable soup in tomato broth, which sounds weird, but was actually really good. We went to an ice cream place across the street. It took me a very long time to decide, but I got a milk-and-cookies milkshake. Milk-and-cookies was basically cookies-and-cream with chocolate ice cream. It was delicious. We drove to Montana State University to practice field hockey and baseball respectively. We went back to the climbing gym for a little more, but our arms were tired after a few more runs. Thanks to Hannah for getting me into climbing!! I love it now! We went back to the apartment and walked to dinner at Montana Ale House. We had what I called Asianized American, Americanized Asian, and Americanized Mexican: Asian teriyaki wings, bison pot stickers, and bean dip with chips. It was delicious. Back at the apartment, we finished the Two Towers. It was an awesome movie. Can’t wait to watch Return of the King!!


“If you never did, you should. These things are fun and fun is good.”
— Dr. Seuss

Miles 2455-2640: Drive to Bozeman and Bozeman

We weren’t in a hurry to get up that morning which felt really good, as did the heating, because it had been very cold all the mornings camping. We finally went to breakfast around 10 (our time) in the hotel. When we went back to the room, we had a lot of clean laundry from the last night to put away, so we repacked our trunks. When Dad took Jackson’s trunk to the car, he had forgotten to brush his teeth. The second time, he had forgotten to get his things out of the shower. He’s so smart, but so absent-minded sometimes. My dad says he’s the “dumbest smart kid he’s ever seen.”. On the drive to Bozeman, we stopped in West Yellowstone for Texas Style barbeque. North Carolina barbeque is definitely better; I drowned my sandwich in barbeque sauce, but it was still pretty good. We drove into Bozeman around two and check-in at our Airbnb was four. So we walked around downtown Bozeman. It’s a cool little town. After we checked in at the apartment, we went to the grocery store so we could actually cook dinner and breakfast. While Mom made dinner, I posted pictures and wrote the camping trip blog post. After dinner (tacos and Southwest salad), we got ready for bed and started watching the Two Towers. We want to watch the three Lord of the Rings movies before we go to New Zealand and we finally were somewhere with a DVD player. We got about halfway through and then went to bed. We’re going to finish it tonight. I’m so excited!!!

“Maybe I don’t have to be good, but I can try to be at least a little better than I’ve been so far.”
— When I Drink by the Avett Brothers

Camping Trip Recaps: 6/23-6/28

Camping Trip Day 1: 6/23

    We met the rest of our group at the Lexington Hotel. Our guides to start were Blake and Katie. Our group consisted of six other people: a family of four (Iris, Julian, Kate, and Geoffrey) from Ann Arbor and a father and daughter (Neil and Hannah). Iris was my age and Julian was two years younger than Jackson. Hannah was 25. Our agenda the first day was the Yellowstone thermopools. They were really cool. The van rides between them were long, but didn’t seem like it because Hannah knew lots of riddles and games, like the Hat, Wombat, Moon, and Elephant Games. You guys should prepare to be mystified when I get back. We saw Old Faithful as well; it was a little underwhelming, but still pretty cool. We got the hardest riddle of the week after Old Faithful: “Stick falls. Woman dies. How?”. It took us so long to figure out that we talked about it all through our next stop at Grand Prismatic Pools. The pools were cool and supposed to be really colorful, but it was a cool day, so they were very steamy and we weren’t able to see much under the steam. The first two nights we would be staying in hotels outside Yellowstone, so right before we got to our hotel, Julian asked us “What comes up and goes down at the same time?”. We were planning to go to the pool later, so our deal was that if we figured it out, we got to throw Julian in, but if we didn’t, he could push us all in. Let’s just say that we all got shoved hard. After we unpacked, we went down to the lobby to play cards. We played Sevens, Hearts, and Dirty Hearts. We also ended up playing hearts during dinner. We sang camp songs on the way home; Hannah is like a camp counselor (she actually is) and it was so fun having her on the trip. At the pool, after Julian shoved us all in, we played Marco Polo and went to bed. After the first day, I knew that Iris was nice and fun to talk with, Julian was very entertaining and fun to hang out with, Hannah made the trip so much better with her riddles, games, and songs and she knew a ‎lot of random things like the geology of the springs or species of birds we saw, and Jackson was the same old Jackson. Blake was funny (he hit Jackson with a snowball) and Katie was really nice. The parents all got along pretty well.

Camping Trip Day 2: 6/24

    We had breakfast at the hotel and met everyone else on the van. Our entertainment in the van that day consisted of Ghost and Contact, more games from Hannah and her dad, Neil. We also played, wait for it, Mafia. We stopped at the Norris Geyser Basin first, which was cool, and then went to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, specifically the Lower Falls, the tallest water fall in the United States (around 308 feet). It was really awe-inspiring, looking down over the side. The walk down was scary: steep and thin paths, with a long drop off the side. Next was Steamboat, the tallest geyser in the world. It’s very unfaithful and inconsistent; it went off eight times in a week once, but also stayed dormant for almost a decade at one point. Unsurprisingly, we didn’t see it go off. We yelled at it, called it names, and pretended to walk away trying to ‘make’ it go. We stopped at one more place, where Dragon’s Mouth was. It really sounded and looked like there was a dragon in the cave. You could film a movie there; it was that realistic. Our hotel was made up of cabins. We played Hearts in Julian and Iris’ cabin before dinner, and at dinner. We played a huge game of Dirty Hearts in their cabin again after dinner (eight people) and it was so fun!!!

Camping Trip Day 3: 6/25

    Breakfast was in the hotel and then we loaded back into the van. We headed to the boat ramp, where we would launch our kayaks onto Jackson Lake in Grand Tetons National Park. Our luggage went on the j-rig (boat that went with us everywhere on the lake) and anything we might need on the kayak went in a dry bag with us. I was in a double kayak with Mom; I missed being able to have a single by one year (you have to be 14). I wanted to be in the back so I could steer, but the lighter person had to be in the front. A new guide, Miles, joined us for the camping portion of our trip. We kayaked two miles to start and stopped for lunch on an island of a name I don’t remember. We went about five more miles to our camping site on Grassy Island. After setting up our tent and sleeping situation, we played a hand of Dirty Hearts, but then Jackson got bored of “doing nothing but cards, riddles, and songs”. Julian invented a new game that became a new pastime for the next two days; it eventually became known as Tree Huggers. We would pick a target on the island and you had to go there stepping on nothing but rocks, fallen trees, and sticks. I had forgotten how awesome it was having a kid around who wasn’t worried about acting all grown-up. Maybe Tree Huggers was a silly, childish game, but we didn’t care because it was super fun. Thank you to Julian for reminding me that it’s okay to be a kid more than every once in a while. The camp set-up was very efficient; the kitchen, the bathroom, the hand-washing station, all of it was put together so fast. Props to Blake, Katie, and Miles for that. Dinner was delicious, chicken marsala, and dessert was awesome too, strawberry shortcake. We sang songs around the campfire in the dark, exactly how you would imagine a camping night to end.

Camping Trip Day 4: 6/26

    Breakfast was at 9:30, giving us plenty of time to play TH. We packed bags for kayaking and hiking to Lee Lake, an alpine lake. We were given a chance to swim in 50° water. Julian, Hannah, Iris, and I all took it. We were going to hike up to Trapper’s Lake (35°), where we could do a Polar Plunge, but some people were too tired to hike more. We hiked back to our kayaks and kayaked back to Grassy Island. We played Tree Huggers before dinner. After dinner, we played Dirty Hearts and sat around the fire until it got really dark.

Camping Trip Day 5: 6/27

    We had to pack up our tent and sleeping gear that morning, and it was really frustrating. We packed up all of our stuff and then kayaked across the bay. We did a hike up to an amazing view and then Blake decided to take us ‘bush-whacking’ up to a better view over the trees. It was awesome. That was where Hannah talked about her rock-climbing and backpacking experiences. Thank you to Hannah and Katie for inspiring me to want to do more things like this: camping, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, backpacking, all of it sounds amazing now. We kayaked about two miles to a place where we ate lunch and Hannah taught Iris and I some camp songs. The wind really picked up then and we actually saw some whitecaps out on the lake. I was scared that we would have to get on the j-rig to our last camping place, but Blake said it would be okay. It was so fun kayaking over the waves. We got splashed and wet, but it was perfect weather for it, hot enough that the splashes felt good. Our last camping spot was Spalding Bay. The mosquitoes were everywhere. I liked Grassy much better than Spalding, but it was still awesome because it was camping. After dinner, Miles and Hannah played Black and White Magic and I finally figured it out after two days. We went to bed after watching the stars when it got dark.

Camping Trip Day 6 & Miles 2412-2454: Drive to Driggs, Idaho

    We woke up in the morning and went to eat breakfast. We were supposed to make ourselves a sandwich for lunch on the river as well, but I forgot. We had to pack up our tents and sleeping gear again. We kayaked back to the boat ramp where we had gone out on the lake and had to say good-bye to Miles. It was the first of a series of really sad good-byes. Spending most of your time for even three days with a group of people make really strong friendships really fast. We drove in a different van to the entry point on the Snake River. Blake and Katie split us up into groups for the two rafts. The four of us were on Katie’s raft with Iris and the other five were on Blake’s raft. We also had a new guide named Carlos on our raft, ‘supervising’ Katie. The rules of the park required that to go down the river alone rowing the raft, you had to have done it ten times with ‘supervision’. Congratulations to Katie for doing her tenth lap!! The river was pretty flat, no rapids, but it was a lot more fun than I expected it to be. We played Black Magic and I’m Going on a Picnic and finally just talked. I ate a bunch of snacks instead of lunch. When we pulled off the river after about two-and-a-half hours, we loaded back onto the van to go back to the Lexington. It took us forever to switch our stuff from the OARS bags to our bags. Then it was time to say good-bye. It was really sad knowing that we might never see our newish friends again. We began driving to Driggs. The shower at the hotel felt so good. We went to a pizzeria in Driggs that was really good and then Jackson and I watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at the hotel room (it just happened to be on) while Mom and Dad did our dirty camp laundry at a Laundromat. We then went to bed. I know that in these posts, I haven’t done any justice to the beauty of either of the national parks or to any of my new friends. Julian, the mosquito assassin, Iris, the reader, Hannah, the riddler, Blake, the joker, Katie, the encourager, and Miles, the helper. There are so many stories I could tell and I’m going to miss all of you guys so much!! Thanks for the great memories. I would definitely recommend an OARS trip to all those adventurous families. Especially to the Reynolds, you guys would love doing something like this.


“It’s the friends we meet along the way that help us appreciate the journey.”
— The Wizard of Oz/L. Frank Baum

Miles 2131-2411: Drive to Jackson thru Grand Tetons National Park and Jackson, Wyoming

Breakfast this morning was at the hotel. I had some yogurt and a cream cheese bagel. We ate in the courtyard of the hotel, which was really fancy. There was a koi pond, four of the five hot tubs, balconies from the rooms into it, and lots of tables in the middle. Once we got in the car, we started the four hour drive to Jackson, Wyoming. We went through some elevation changes when we crossed the Tetons mountain range. The temperature dropped as we went up, dropping to as low as 43 degrees, and it even snowed for about two minutes at one point. When we came down into the valley, the temperature came back up to a pleasant 65, and the sun came out. We stopped at the Grand Tetons Visitor’s Center to get our National Park’s Passports stamped, and to get stickers for our trunks and pins for our growing collection. We drove into Jackson, which my parents had been talking about as if it was huge, but it was a small, resort town. Like how Monaco is a playground for rich people, Jackson’s economy relies on tourism. Our hotel didn’t have a luggage cart, or an elevator, so we had to carry all our trunks and suitcases up the stairs. We walked around and went shopping around Jackson. The only thing I ended up getting was a Grand Tetons t-shirt, but there were a lot of cool shops in Jackson, with hand-made jewelry and other things. We had dinner at a place called Gather at 5:30 MT, where we got Korean pork buns for appetizer and I got elk bolognese. We had a meeting with OARS, the company guiding our camping trip. We got to see the rest of our group and it’s only ten people plus our guides. One is a family, with two kids around Jackson and I’s age. The girl, Iris, is twelve and seems really nice. I’m hoping we can become good friends over the next six days. I won’t be able to blog for that time because we’re going completely off-the-grid. I’ll make sure to journal every night and I’ll give an abridged version on Friday, when we get back. The camping trip is through Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Park. Hope you guys can survive without my blogging 😉!! Miss and love you guys!!

“To die will be an awfully great adventure!!”
— Peter Pan/J.M. Barrie

Miles 1860-2130: Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, and Drive to Casper

This morning, we had some time to kill, so we had breakfast and chilled some while Mom and Dad packed up. After we checked out, we ‘snuck’ back into the game room for a family game of pool, kids vs. adults. I played terribly and only hit in one ball. We lost, but actually not bad because Jackson played pretty well. We started driving to Mount Rushmore. When we got in view, I was surprised; it only took up about a third of the mountain. It was very detailed though. At the gift shop, we got stickers for our trunks and the car-top carrier and pins. I think Jackson and I, or at least me, are going to start collecting pins at any museums or national monuments we go to. We walked down to get closer to the mountain, and you could barely see Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. I know Hamilton died out a while back, but that was the one of my only sources of information on Thomas Jefferson. It only displays him in a negative light, but he was a good president. During his presidency, it was banned for slaves to be imported from Africa. We left Rushmore for Custer State Park, which was suggested by Mr. Lalonde (thank you!!) as a great place to see wildlife, especially buffalo/bison. I always thought that those were two different species, but they’re the same thing; buffalo are just in Africa and Asia, while bison are in North and South America. There were some really pretty views off cliffs. They’re called the Black Hills and my dad was like “If these are hills, what are the Appalachians?”. Jackson: “Speed bumps.”. We decided to do the Wildlife Loop, where you’re supposed to see lots of wildlife (odd right?). We didn’t see anything until about halfway through, where we came across our first of three herds of buffalo. They were humongous. We actually got pretty close once, about 75 yards. We saw a few pronghorns (antelope-like), but that was basically it. After we got out of the mountains, it looked basically the same as it did before them: flat and prairie like. When we got to the hotel in Casper, it was huge: five hot tubs and an indoor pool. We went to the pool, got pizza for dinner, and got in the hot tub right before bed.

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
— Theodore Roosevelt

Miles 1726-1859: Badlands, Wall, and Drive to Keystone

When we woke up yesterday morning, we had to leave pretty early, so we ate and packed up faster than usual. We had to unpack books and electronics from our backpacks so we could fill it with hiking supplies. On our way to Badlands, I was envisioning a hike through woods. Then, Mom said we’d need sunscreen and our big hats because we’d be out int the sun, so I revised that idea: so I thought we’d be out in open fields for miles around. We came over a hill and saw the park; I was so unprepared. Before you continue reading, look at the pictures that I took. It was otherworldly, like the surface of Mars. There were cliffs, column-like things called buttes, and beyond them, fields as far as the eye could see. The first stop was only a few miles inside the gate, at a overlook where you could get out and walk around. We took so many pictures in the park itself, and most of them were here and on our hike. There was a catch: almost no railings. We found out later that Badlands is an open hike and climb park. There was an idiotic family near us. The dad was wearing a cowboy hat and boots on the side of slippery gravel cliffs. The son seemed to have a death wish. One time, he walked up to the very edge of the cliff, leaned over the side to look, and began sliding his foot, intentionally, off the side. His mom yelled at him five times before he came back. The mom didn’t seem to like them very much however: she kept sending them out on the edge of cliffs so she could get “really good pictures”. It was so annoying and scary; I really didn’t want to see them fall. Everything turned out fine eventually though. We saw some bighorn sheep on a bute a ways off, and next to the road on the way to the Visitor’s Center. There were two babies that we saw: one sitting like a dog on a cliff and one that clambered up to the top of a bute. At the Visitor’s Center, Jackson and I each got a National Park’s Passport and a Badlands pin. I’m going to start collecting pins when we go to museums and national parks. The National Park Passport is cool, because I can use it forever, getting it stamped whenever you go to a National anything (Park, Monument, Memorial, Seashore, River, Path, Parkway, etc.). We did two small walks down to some scenic overlooks for more pictures, and then steeled ourselves for the big one: the ten-mile hike. I wasn’t that nervous. I was just really hoping that no one else would want to turn around early. Badlands was such a beautiful place; I hope you’ll look at the pictures I posted because I really can’t describe it. I may have taken too many pictures, but better way too many than barely not enough. I was so glad we did that long hike, because we got to see so much of the park. It took us about two hours each way, and we took a short lunch break at the turn-around. There was an odd contrast in the park: the red and brown stone of cliffs and buttes, but there were yellow flowers everywhere. From now on, I’ll always remember the difference between Yosemite and Yellowstone, because Yellowstone is closer to the flowers in Badlands. There were only two negatives about the hike: we had to keep our heads down at the ground while we were hiking, so we couldn’t look around and I was constantly a little nervous about rattlesnakes. About every mile or when we merged with a different trail, there were signs saying “Beware: praire rattlesnakes.”. There were rustling noises all around us, but they were really just bugs and birds in the long grass. Mom said she thought she heard one near the end, but it doesn’t really matter now. I would definitely do that hike again. Overall, Badlands was amazing; I haven’t really been to many or even any national parks, but I’ve seen pictures and I believe Badlands will stay one of my favorites. We drove back into Wall to visit Wall Drug, a combination of old-fashioned drug store, museum, mall, and restaurant. We explored and got old-fashioned milk-shakes, except for Mom, who got a chocolate malt. I got a chocolate mint shake, which I thought would be like mint chip, but it was like a chocolate milkshake with mint flavoring in it, like a York peppermint patty vs. mint chip ice cream. It was different, but pretty good. Our drive to Keystone was over the same prairies, where you could see for miles, and pretty uneventful, until… we came over a hill and there were huge forests and mountains. It looked like we were back in the Appalachians in Virginia. We got to our hotel, the Roosevelt Inn, on Cemetery Road (not creepy at all) around six. There was a teddy bear in the room (for Theodore Roosevelt), but I was sad we didn’t get to take it with us. We had to pay ten dollars, and Mom wouldn’t let me use my money that way. We were looking forward to swimming before dinner, but the pool was tiny. I could probably have jumped from one side to another if I wasn’t worried about slipping. Change of plan, Jackson and I played pool in the game room until time to shower and get ready to dinner. We tied a set of two games, 1-1. Dinner was at a place called the Powderhouse Inn. They had lots of gamey meats, such as duck, elk, buffalo/bison, quail, and venison. I got buffalo stew in a bread bowl and it was delicious. The sauce had taken on the flavor of the buffalo, which was very delicious and hard to describe. When we went back to the hotel, we journaled and got in bed.


“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.”
— Theodore Roosevelt

Miles 1442-1725: Aberdeen, Ipswich, and Drive to Wall/Badlands

This morning in Aberdeen, we didn’t have anything until 11:30, so we were planning to go to a park, run, and maybe do go-carts or mini golf before we had to go grocery shopping. Then, Jackson slept in until 8:45 CT. So in the end, we just sat around the hotel room watching ESPN while Mom went grocery shopping. At 11:30, we met my grandmother’s cousin (my first cousin twice removed), Lyla, at her weaving classroom. She had so many looms, and thread, and everything else weaving related. I wish there was somewhere like that in Winston. I have a loom at home, and I can barely do anything with it. I can’t read any patterns, set up a loom, or do anything other than the simplest designs. We went to lunch at a place called the Flame, where I got a bleu cheese burger, which is a lot better than it sounds. We met my grandmother’s other cousin, Diane (Lyla’s older sister), at her and Lyla’s studio in Ipswich, the tiny town of 954 people where my great-grandfather grew up. Lyla had even more looms at her studio; one of them had eight harnesses, which, trust me, is humongous, and so wide. Diane and my mom talked a lot about family history, especially Uncle Lyle, Lyla and Diane’s father. Diane also showed us Pawpaw’s, my great-grandfather’s, old property and the historic library. At the library, they happened to have two extra copies of Pawpaw’s senior yearbook, and the librarian was willing to give them to Mom. Mom ran straight to the post office to send them to Pampam, her mom and my grandmother. After we left Ipswich, we began driving to Wall, South Dakota, near Badlands National Park. On the way, we drove through Pierre, the capital. It was a really beautiful spot, hidden in a little valley next to the Missouri River, but the city was really disappointing. The capitol building was undergoing construction and everything else in the town that we saw was small, grey, and boring. The hotel we’re staying at in Wall is different: you get to stay in your own miniature log cabin. When we got here, I spent probably 45 minutes in the gift shop; it was huge and had so much cool stuff. I didn’t end up getting anything but a postcard, but it was still cool. We had a home-cooked meal for the first time since we left home, and it was delicious: pasta with vodka sauce and a caesar salad. They had a fire pit that was lit, so we also did s’mores. Then we came back to relax, watch TV, and blog. I’m so excited for tomorrow: we’re going to, hopefully, hike over ten miles, as long as no one chickens out into turning back early. I have to finish packing up, so goodbye for now and miss you!!


“If you don’t know your history, you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it’s a part of a tree.”
— Michael Crichton

Miles 1135-1441: Minneapolis and Drive to Aberdeen

Today was the first day where we weren’t in any hurry to get dressed or pack up, or at least me. All I had to do was slip on flip-flops and a sweatshirt to go get breakfast and jump in the car. Jackson and Dad played golf, and Mom and I went to the Mall of America, the largest mall in the country. There was literally an amusement park inside the mall, along with over 555 stores, restaurants, and other attractions. You could be in there for months and still not visit all the stores. All we ended up getting were some bathing suit tops, but it was still really cool getting to see how massive the mall itself was and it was really fun getting to spend some time with my mom. We had lunch in Minneapolis at a little place called Revival, which was ironically a Southern restaurant. It was the first place since we started the trip that actually had sweet tea, and I was so happy that I could finally get an Arnold Palmer. You guys, you don’t appreciate sweet tea until there’s no more of it. I got a chicken and waffle sandwich and ironically again, it was the best fried chicken I’ve ever had, and it was in Minnesota. Before we left the city, we went by the Walker Art Gallery, which according to my mom, is one of the most famous contemporary art collections in the country. We walked through the sculpture garden, which was really beautiful. I’m posting some of my favorite pictures from there on this page, but if you want to see anymore or any extra pictures from the architecture cruise, check the gallery page. Once we got out of the suburbs of Minneapolis, we were in the middle of nowhere. You could literally see for miles in every direction. It was amazing, awesome, and completely awe-inspiring, how far you can see, how small you feel, and how alone you are. Everything from Fast Food Nation, the Omnivore’s Dilemma, and Nomad Farms came rushing back when we passed some big commercial farms. It smelled absolutely terrible!! We also saw some horses (Frances!!), cows, two tractors, two Cadillac’s just sitting a field, one cowboy, and a partridge in a pear tree. Aberdeen is the third biggest city in South Dakota, and has a population of less than 30,000. It still sounds like a lot, but that’s about one-tenth of Winston-Salem’s population. There is no downtown area, and absolutely zero skyscrapers. The tallest things are trees and church steeples. We went to dinner at Danger von Dempsey’s Pizza and Brewhaus, which had delicious pizza. We came back to the hotel and here we are!! I can’t believe it’s only been five days since we left. It feels like at least a month since I’ve seen any of you, if only because every day is so busy. Make sure you tell us about any important stuff happening at home in the comments. I’d really love to hear anything from you guys, on the blog or through texting or email. Miss you!!

“A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.”
— Thomas Keller

Miles 727-1135: Drive to Minneapolis

Hey guys, we’re still alive!!! The elevator didn’t drop us. This morning, Mom and Jackson went on a run down by North-Western where Dad and I did yesterday. While they did that, Dad and I went down to the work-out room. On our way down, we noticed that one of the elevators was shut down and being worked on. Hmm, I wonder why?! While he did weights, I did some dance pointe-prep strengthening exercises, and then we did core together. I was sad to leave Chicago, because it was so big and we didn’t get to see more of it. The drive to Madison, where we had lunch, was fairly uneventful, except for one thing: there was a fire on the runway of Chicago Air that we saw on our way out of the city. We hit two new states for me and Jackson: Wisconsin and Minnesota. We had a really good lunch at a place called Graze, in Madison, Wisconsin, that was right across from the very fancy, neoclassical (fancy vocab from architecture tour yesterday) capital building. I got a grilled cheese with tomato soup and we got cheese curds for an appetizer. They sound disgusting, but they’re basically fried cheese, like mozzarella sticks, and they were served with a delicious buttermilk ranch. At the capital, there was a LGBT Pride ceremony where they raised the flag over the capital building. Apparently, a new democratic governor had convinced the Senate to allow Wisconsin to officially support LGBT. On the way out of town, we drove through the University of Wisconsin. Jackson and I had a few small arguments in the car ride, but they all turned out okay. We got to let out our steam later tonight. When we got to Minneapolis, we were surprised to find that it was much warmer up here than it was in Chicago. Hazelwood Food + Drink was a delicious choice for dinner, where I got chicken pot pie that tied last night’s risotto for Best Meal of the Trip. Back at the hotel, we got in the pool for a little horsing around before bed. We cooled down in the hot tub afterward and then came up to shower, blog (check), and get in bed. BTW, I’ll add the mileage number tomorrow when I can check the car. I miss you guys so much!!

“Don’t you ever let a soul in the world tell you that you can’t be exactly who you are.”
— Lady Gaga