Just got into Minnesota

So allow me to update what's happened since I left Gonzaga Monday afternoon. I stopped at a rest stop just on the border of Idaho and Washington. The area was pristine and I used my outdoor stove for the first time to make some chicken ramen. I left full and continued into Montana territory shortly thereafter. Montana was a little chilly but wonderful to view. The mountains and valleys were carved in a grandiose style, leaving something ever more awesome around each bend. Initially, I was going to stay in Missoula right around U. of Montana, but I ended up staying one town closer to Yellowstone (Butte) so I wouldn't have to drive too long the next morning.

Tuesday morning I woke up in the parking lot of a Best Western and snuck in to have some of their continental breakfast. Eggs, orange juice, yogurt and sausage were some of the things which greeted me and I ate them quickly. Stuffing myself wasa good idea because I ended up not eating until I got well out of the park.

I pulled up to the West Entrance of Yellowstone around noon and left around 7. Within minutes of arriving I saw a couple buffalo grazing by the road. This wasn't like the Golden Gate Park buffalo, these two were ginormous. And there was something about the way they felt natural amongst the setting which added to the giddyness of a 'wild' animal. Geysers were around the next few bends. Seeing smoke and gases coming out of the ground was fascinating, especially when I got to see a closer view of the pools and geysers. Brilliant oranges, soft blues and rich greens occured naturaly from the geothermal activity. Old Faithful roared high into the sky right on schedule at 3:02. I drove around for a few more hours (saw a moose! which was pretty fucking rad), spending some extended time at a lookout over Yellowstone Lake which was empty. What a wonderful park.

The drive out of Yellowstone was amazing as well. I left through the east entrance and went down Sylvan Pass into the Shoshone National Forest. This area had lots of rocky formations which evoked the intense Native American spirit which once thrived here. Indeed, the drive to Cody was the most beautiful drive of the trip so far.

I decided I would stay the night in Buffalo, Wyoming, which meant I needed to take a harrowing path over a 9,000 foot pass to get there. This was a terrible idea. I drove around 25 mph the entire way up the mountain due to winding roads, narrow switchbacks and increasing fog. This seemed to go on forever until I finally made it to the top, only to find things had gotten worse. Signs which read "watch for fallen rocks" and "watch for cattle on the road" greeted me along with more fog and pouring rain. The winding path down the mountain was sketchy at many points and I was a little unnnerved to not see any other cars for the past hour. At one point I rolled down my window to look outside and down to see the yellow line because the rain coming down so hard coupled with the fog made visibility impossible. After what seemed like forever I rolled into Buffalo around 11 and quickly found another hotel parking lot to stay the night.

I awoke early the next morning knowing I had a 12 hour drive from Buffalo, Wyoming to Minneapolis, Minnesota ahead of me. That meant driving across all of South Dakota. Which I did. Before the trip I thought Wyoming would be boring to drive across, but nothing compares to South Dakota. 6 1/2 hours end to end of pairies, rolling hills and small towns. Granted, I never pulled off to see the 2 big cities or Mount Rushmore, but I didn't feel like I was missing much and got through the state as quickly as possible. The drive through Minnesot went quite well and I eventually arrived at my destination around midnight central time (13 hour drive day). My aunt greeted me with enormous hospitality and a grilled cheese sandwich to die for (warm shwoered helped and was probably necessary). I'm not sure how long I'll be in town as there are quite a few things to do here.

I'll post some pictures from the last few days next time, until then...