Here I sit...

After two solid weeks of doing next to nothing, I've finally started going through my pictures. As I get the chance to go through each folder, I'll try to post my favorites in the form of Picasa Albums.

A couple of quick details:
10,047 miles (not including Ct.)
5,025 pictures (including Connecticut, not including cell phone pics)
36 days (with only 4 nights in motels and 8 with friends or family)
2 Oil Changes
1 Windshield (repaired when I got home)

States / Provinces that I drove through, in order (with returns):
MA, VT, QC, ON, MI, WI, MN, ND, MT, ID, WA, OR, (ID, MT, ID), WY, (ID, MT, WY), SD, IA, IL, IN, OH, PA, NJ, NY, CT, (MA)

The only ones I did not spend a night: WI and OH; IA is the only one I feel I did not truly explore much at all (despite sleeping in the state).

Still have some pics to get off my phone. (Especially some food pics.)

Well, here's the first round of new pictures: Teddy Roosevelt NP, South Unit pics

Home again, home again

Well, I've made it back to Massachusetts. Let the dogs out. (Yup. That was me.) Got started on cleaning out the Element. Realized that I'm not planning on being in a different state any time in the near future, so I sat my butt down and probably won't move for a week. I might watch a DVD or play a video game, but, mostly, I'm going to relish not needing to be on the go.

At some point in the next few days when I feel like it, I'll publish some flikr slide shows of more of my pics. I have about 4k to go through, cull, develop, etc, so it may take some time. I also want to post highlights and what I would have done differently. That'll happen 'round about the same time as the slide shows.

Maybe, just maybe, I might head up to the Whites before school starts. If I do, I'll leave some breadcrumbs here.

Made it to Pittsburgh

Got shanghaied by a little silly bundle of energy.


Went to Phipps.


Met some friends.


Had a party.

Heading out to NJ, then home.

haven't posted in a while...

Figured I otta check in.

went to cubs astros game. toured fermi labs. went to indiana dunes
nat. lakeshore. currently waiting in line for millenium force at
cedar point. will head into pittsburgh tonight so that my friend and
i can take his daughter to kennywood for her fifth. will post pics
and food when i have good net.

sadly, only a couple of days left on this trip. :_(

Quick Post

So, yesterday was a marathon drive. I left SD's Badlands by about 7:00am (MDT - 8:00am CDT); I got into Davenport by 9:30pm CDT. That was a looooonnnnnnnggggg daaaaaayyyy. I decided to not really explore Iowa to keep on schedule. (I have a ticket for the Cubs / Astros game today. Hope it clears up.) The only "attraction" I stopped for was the Corn Palace. I feel somewhat gypped. It's made of bricks and covered with corn. False Advertising.

I will say that Iowa is much hillier than expected. I was planning on some stretches where I could (at the advice of a friend) tie the steering wheel to my belt and take a nap. A good 10-mile snooze would have been a nice break from the hours-long 3-mile straight stretches mixed in with gentle curves. Sadly, the roads curve just a bit too much for a driving nap. Oh well. It probably would have frightened anyone driving past me.

Off to Fermi Labs, the game, and Chicago.

Back in Wyoming... and damn!

So I left Bozeman after seeing a bit of the Sweet Pea Festival. Very cool.

I saw the Battle of Little Bighorn National Battlefield. Amazing. Being able to walk the field and see the markers of fallen soldiers and braves brings the story home in a way that no book ever can. The monument erected in the 1990's is very poignant.

...and now for the damn! part: Not only is this the opening week of the Sturgis SD Bike Ralley (So traffic will suck), but John McCain will be in town (so traffic will double suck).

Oh well. I guess I'd been having too much good luck on this trip.

[ETA]: I went right past Sturgis. I just didn't want to deal with the mess. The overflow of bikers was spectacular. Everywhere in the area had just droves of bikers. (Is that the right term? Club? Pack? Troop? Sounds too much like the Boy Scouts...)

Bison and Wolves and Bears, oh my!

Oh, and the smell. That's one thing about Yellowstone Nation Park that no one ever told me about. I should have figured, (you know, being a chemist and all...), but all of those hydrothermal features release Hydrogen Sulfide. Its intensity ranges from barely noticeable to gag-inducing. On the other hand, the smell is just something you have to deal with, if you want to see some of the coolest parts of YNP.

As you'd imagine, there's a lot of wildlife around. And, when there's people and wildlife, there's people taking pictures of wildlife. "Bear Jams" are the traffic issue in the area. (And the delays aren't always due to bears. If it's fuzzy and along the road, people will stop and take its picture.) Now, I have nothing against this concept, except DON'T STOP YOUR CAR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, PEOPLE! Whew, I've been wanting to say that for three days now. Anyway, my list includes: bison (again, they're really not pretty creatures), mule deer, elk, pronghorn (well, in the Tetons), moose (again, GTNP), black bears (which is a species, not a true color) coyotes, and wolves. No Grizzlies, and no longhorn sheep.

YNP is really more of a bunch of parks rolled into one. The southern half, plus Mammoth (north-western section) comprise the large bulk of the active thermal features. (Although there are others out in the back country of the north-eastern, I see on my topo map. Each quadrant of the park has its own feel. There's the Yellowstone Lake (SE), Old Faithful (SW), Mammoth (NW) and Tower / Roosevelt (NE). Even staying a week in each quarter wouldn't give you the whole story. My three day trip was almost too hectic. I pulled into the campsite each night just drained from trying to see all that I could see. And I didn't even go into the backcountry. (Something I had hoped I'd have time for.) Oh well, that just means I have to come back. Dang. ;-)

Anyway, I now have a good connection. (I'm in Bozeman, MT; I'll be meeting up with an old friend of dad's family.) Some quick pics without too much discussion, I'm afraid.Hydrothermal region near Yellowstone Lake

Another feature from the same region.

Artist's Paint Pots, near Old Faithful

The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River (in the middle of the Park)

Canary Springs, Mammoth

Wolf in Tower / Roosevelt. (Told you it'd be blurry.)