Day 12 - Salt Lake City to Reno, NV

Today was certainly a day of societal extremes, the world center of the Mormon church in the morning and sin city's little brother in the evening. As I've said though, this country is amazingly diverse culturally and I'm out to experience as much of it as possible in a month.

I figured that if I'm going to be in the world center of a semi-major religion anyway, that I should at least give it a chance and see the temple/church/shrine whatever. I'm not a Catholic but I went to St. Peter's, I'm not a Shinto but I went to the Tokugawa Shrine, so it's only fair that I should go to the Mormon headquarters while in SLC. After being there for a couple of days, I think that I've realized that the LDS church is like the Vegas of religions. Everything is flashy, a little superficial and when you step back from it, you think "are they serious??" I don't mean to disrespect necessarily, I've met a few asshole Mormon's but honestly they would have probably been assholes LDS or not. Anyhow, as you walk into 'temple square' which is in the very center of SLC, you are greeted by a few very cute girls in the 18-22 y.o. range. The one was 'Sister Yates' the other was a little more exotic, 'Sister Yamashita' from Fukuoka Japan. Apparently those missionaries do get around, they don't just pester us. So anyway, they greeted me and offered a free tour. Why not? Free is good, free is always good. So they told me to come back to that spot in ten minutes because apparently they were given on the quarter hour. When I came back however, I was a little surprised to find that I was the only person taking this tour at that time hence I had two tour guides and no way to easily duck out. Oh well...

Anyway, the tour was actually pretty interesting. Not that I'm about to become Mormon, far from it, but I did learn a few things and some things make a little more sense now. Turns out oddly enough that 'sister Yates'' dad owns the yellow cabs for all of Alexandria...small world. I did ask a lot of questions, and sometimes you could tell that they weren't used to answering semi-intelligent questions. I asked first of all why it was that all of the tour guides were young women, because we passed a few other tours and yup, all girls...cute girls at that. Apparently, so says sister Yates, they find that women impart the message better...right, whatever lets you sleep at night honey. The other question I asked might have bordered on offensive, but I honestly was curious. Apparently the Mormons believe that Jesus also showed himself to the Native Americans and healed their sick yada yada. So my obvious question (I thought it was obvious.) why didn't Jesus' teachings catch on in America? Well they didn't really have an answer, she said something about gaps in the teachings etc. but you could tell that she didn't really care for the question. Anyhow, at the end of the tour they sang a hymn as I was supposed to fill out a comment card with my info so that a missionary could bring a book of mormon to my house. I feel sorry for anyone who lives at 1875 Colefort Ct Fairfax, VA 22459 because they're getting a visit. I had to put something.

Anyway, after that I got my oil changed and the car washed and I was off to Nevada. The drive was actually really awesome. The terrain was similar to the plains yet every 20 miles or so I'd have to drive through a mountain pass seemingly out of nowhere. The time it took was just enough to listen to all of Slaughterhouse 5. Pretty good book, I think its probably good that I listened to it because I don't know if I would have followed it by reading.

Finally, I got to Reno. I tell you what, there is nothing quite like a gambling town for a non-gambler. I'm currently staying on the 20th floor in a King room for 35 bucks, go me! I walked around the casinos and spent an hour playing video poker to break even. Finally, I enjoyed the biggest plate of spaghetti with meatballs and a Sam Adam's for five bucks, hazaa! Tomorrow, th general plan is to head through Lake Tahoe to Yosemite...hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Day 11 - Park City, UT

I don't know what time it'll say I'm posting but it's about 2:15 AM here. You'd think that I'd had a big night on the town...far from it. I love skiing but after doing it for about 8 hours, I got back and intended to get some food and chillout, instead I ended up falling asleep for about three hours. The only thing left open for dinner at midnight on a Sunday in Salt Lake was a Denny's about three blocks away. Cultural experience to be honest, but I'll get to that.

Anyway, I woke up pretty early and went to the ski rental place about two blocks from the motel. I was pretty impressed to get a discount lift ticket for Park City and full rental for a total of about $70, cheaper than Wintergreen anyhow. Luckily I don't have but so much of an ego around people I don't know, because I had no qualms with telling the guy that I was pretty green to skiing and needed the easiest setup they had. He hooked me up and I was out within ten minutes, yee-haa.

The drive up was about the most beautiful 20 miles I'd ever seen. The main route up is through the Wasatch National forest, a park of red rock jagged peaks and pristine mountain rivers. It was kinda hard to pay attention to the road to be honest.

Park City is only about half an hour from downtown SLC, but jeez what a difference. It's pretty similar to Jackson, really high dollar and uppercrust. I guess skiing is what rich people on the west coast do eh? It makes sense though; no offense to Wintergreen but it's gonna be awfully hard to go back to skiing in VA. Seriously, this place was nuts and cheaper to boot! To give you an idea, there were about 50 separate runs at the resort I was at (one of four in the area). A 'run' is also quite different from what we know too. For example, my intermediate slope (a few times with no falls! woot!) started at an elevation of 9770 ft and ended at 4000 and some change. There weren't even lines at the lift for the most part. In the end, I probably spent 70% of my time actually skiing in the eight hours that I was there. It was a blast, but I was pretty damned sore when I got back to the car. Still am, but its a soreness of accomplishment, battlescars if you will. I skiied Park City and only made a minimal ass of myself, I wasn't the worst person there, which is quite a feat for me. It was the perfect day for it too, 61 degrees with 80" of powder, just awesome. I got back to the car, thoroughly worn out but quite satisfied with myself. Let me say real quick, thanks go to Matt (my new roomate and soon to be mr. x-tine) for the ski gear, it did great and it's all accounted for.

After driving back, I ended up falling asleep as I said. I hadn't planned on too much for the evening anyway, so it wasn't a huge loss. The only thing open though (as I said) was the Denny's. Something I've been noticing in myself since I've been on this trip, I end up people watching a lot. I guess it makes sense, usually I'm having dinner at home or with people so I guess I don't notice the other groups around me. It's actually pretty entertaining, especially since they don't generally notice you watching, since they're with their own groups. So who exactly occupies a Denny's in SLC at midnight on a Sunday. Well emo hipsters for one, there was a whole table of them...not laughing or even talking much...just drinking coffee and looking despondent. Poor waitress, I'll bet the whole tab for the table of five was ten bucks and I'm sure they were planning on being existential for quite some time. The other group around me was a bunch of early 20 somethings that must have just come from a bar or club. A few of them seemed pretty intoxicated and they only seemed to order fries. The best part though (i apologize for not having a picture) was the one kid in full prep gear, popped collar pink polo, patch plaid pants, mussed hair....and a neckbrace. I had to go to the bathroom to laugh my ass off, so they didn't hear me. Seriously though, a popped collar and a neckbrace. If you happen to have a neck injury, you should probably just give up clubbing for a few weeks. So many friends and yet none could tell him that he looked ridiculous? I had a good time though and I overheard a great little joke. Apparently only about 40% of SLC residents are Mormon, but they rule the town obviously. Therefore, its fairly common for non-Mormons to refer to the LDS as the "Local Dominating Superstition." I thought it was pretty clever anyhow.

So the plan for tomorrow. After getting an oil change (3200 on the trip odometer now), I'm heading on the last long haul before the Pacific. If all goes well, tomorrow night will be spent in Reno, $25 a night for the Sands resort. Gambling towns really are great if you aren't a gambler, I'm looking forward to a six dollar steak.

Day 10 - Jackson, WY - Grand Tetons - Salt Lake City, UT

Today began with a lot of frustration, damned hotel wireless. I had to spend about an hour this morning trying to connect so that I could post (after not being able to do it last night.) That's the thing about hotel wireless, it's always spotty and it'll fall out constantly. So what should take half an hour ends up wasting half your morning. ::sigh:: Anyway...

I decided to walk around Jackson this morning before heading out. It's a pretty cool little town, even if it's a bit pricey. The town square has these huge arches made of nothing but elk antlers. Really neat to see honestly, very fitting with the town it seems. I went back to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar (the place I went the night before for music) to get one of their basic t-shirts, fun little souvenir I thought. I forgot though that I was in an overpriced ski town, $35 for a t-shirt. JEEZUS H. There's no way in hell I'd spend that on a t-shirt that wasn't even that complicated. I guess if I had too much money (like most Jackson visitors) maybe that'd be okay, but as it is I'll pass thanks.

Eventually, I headed out to Grand Tetons National Park. Jackson happens to be about ten miles south of it, so it didn't take too long. The Tetons are a younger offshoot of the Rockies, and as such are much more dramatic and rugged than the mountains around them. Seeing them was pretty awe-inspiring, 13000 + for some of the peaks. The day started as really cloudy, so I was worried that I'd see jack. Luckily it cleared up some as I went through and although the clouds never completely went away it was clear enough to see most everything. It's hard to fathom how monumental they are until you stand at the base looking up. There aren't really roads that go up into them but so much, but seeing them makes you understand why. There's really no way to make a road over something that dramatic and extreme. I also got to fulfill a pipe dream for the trip. I'd said before that I wanted to stand on a frozen lake, just because I'd never even seen one before. Well, today I stood on Jackson Lake with about three feet of snow and ice separating my feet with the water beneath. I thought I was all cool, standing on this lake and not getting wet whatsoever. Of course, God has a sense of humor and as it was, I didn't stay dry for long. On the way back to the car, I stepped off of the tracks by about ten inches with my right foot, and OOPH! my right foot went about three feet into the snow. With one leg submerged and one above, it took me a while to be able to get free. Just long enough for the submerged leg to become waterlogged. I had to laugh at myself as I changed pants in the car, okay God very funny.

Anyway, I headed out from there in the direction of Salt Lake. It only took me maybe 2.5 hours and it was a really beautiful drive. When I got here, I checked into the motel 6 for 40 bucks, right in the middle of downtown. So Salt Lake is a really cool place, VERY different culturally. You can tell that this place is completely isolated from mainstream America just because there are all of these weird differences and everyone here thinks they're normal it seems. I guess if you grow up here, some of these things just seem like second nature, but to an outsider, these people are kinda weird. For one thing, and it caused me a problem, addresses here are insanely complicated. I went online from the room and found the address of the Hard Rock so I could get my pin, and it said '505 S 600 E.' That's it...that's what any SLC address looks like. So after walking around for an hour I finally figured it out. See if this makes sense. So each street is labeled with a hundreds (i.e. 300, 400,500) and a cardinal direction. It doesn't actually say 'st' on these streets, it'll just say '500 E' or '600 N.' The numbers get higher in each direction as you leave downtown. So in the case of the Hard Rock, that address means that it is on 600 E (street) between 500 S and 600 S. Anyway, when I got to the HRC I was talking to the shopgirl and I mentioned that the address system is a little complicated for an outsider and she looked at me like I had two heads. Apparently, if you've always lived in SLC it seems completely obvious.

The city itself is extremely clean, and really pretty. It is weird too though, that the land use seems all wonky. I'm staying at a motel 6 with two floors and full parking. Across the street is a fifty story building, across from that is another skyscraper, and across from that is a DRIVE THRU Wendy's. How does that make sense?? Anyway, this is what happens when a group is isolated culturally, no one seems to notice how weird stuff like that is here. After the HRC and exploring for a while, I made my way back to the motel. So tomorrow the general plan is for skiing in Park City. Hopefully, I won't break anything, we'll see.

Day 9 - West Yellowstone, MT - Yellowstone - Jackson, WY

Sorry for the late post guys, when I got to the room and tried to get the internet running it asked for a password; of course, the office was empty so it had to wait til the morning. So I'm not dead, no matter what Alexandria says.

Anyway, yesterday was something that I'll never forget. Any of you reading this, if you EVER have a chance to see Yellowstone and this part of the country in general, don't hesitate. I feel amazingly fortunate that I've been given the chance to see America at its wildest and most impressive (so far anyway). Honestly, I was expecting but so much. The girl at the snowcoach tour company should be fired, because wow did she underpromise. When I asked her where the tour was going to go, she just said 'Old Faithful.' When I asked her if it just went there and back, she said yes... So I was honestly guessing that they'd drive us to the geyser, and drive us straight back, almost like a greyhound with treads. But I was already there, so even if it was just that I'd pay to say I'd been.

At 8am, the snowcoach pulled up to my hotel. It really was an interesting engineering feat, again a place where people have learned to adapt to their environment. Apparently if I lived around there or in the Dakotas, it wouldn't be anything new or exciting. We still had to pick up a few more passengers, 8 in all. I figured that I'd be the guy from the furthest away, but we had three Germans and an Italian (and three from Minnesooootah). We headed into the park within five minutes saw wild elk and bison. These creatures are really impressive, especially to see them in the wild. Yellowstone, especially at this time of year since its mostly empty, does feel like a time capsule of America thousands of years ago. I figured after seeing these animals, that that'd be it for the day, that we'd just lucked out. After a while though, they almost became commonplace (almost mind you). We must have seen hundreds of elk and bison, along with coyotes, bald eagles and wolves. Our guide explained how the animals interacted and how each one impacted the entire environment. For example, how the success of the wolf population has lead to increased songbirds, see if you can figure that one out. It really was awe-inspiring to see such abundance of life even in what seemed to me like a hard winter.

Apparently I just don't know hard winter, it was about 40 degrees when I was there, so not crazycold. Our guide was talking about January temperatures often not getting above -20 degrees...and people STILL snowmobile all around. I can't even imagine cold like that, its like saying you have a kajillion dollars, I don't even know how to believe that that much cold exists. As we headed along the road, we stopped at the 'lower geyser basin.' Yellowstone's real claim to fame isn't wildlife, but these things called geothermals. Basically, 3 or so miles underneath yellowstone, there's molten rock. Usually this would be 10+ miles down. Because of that difference, this causes geysers and hotsprings in the thousands. Now when I say hotspring, I mean 190+ degrees hot. So even though it looks real inviting, you'd never make it out alive. You can regularly see animal bones in the springs too, from falling in. These springs though are amazingly beautiful. Bacteria live all around an in them, and they're specifically suited for different water temperatures. For example, the orange that you are seeing is a specific bacteria that can only live around 160 degrees, so as the water flows out and cools these guys grow. The green is another bacteria that needs degrees slightly cooler so you'll see it downstream. The blue is basically just devoid of life, since theres nothing in it, the sunlight makes us see it as blue.

Finally we got to Old Faithful. It was as impressive as its said to be, about 120 feet high and really violent. They can actually predict within ten minutes each eruption, about 90 minutes apart. The whole area around it was other geysers, mudpots (hot springs that have mud mixed in, makes these plopping sounds) and fumaroles (natural steam vents that you can hear for miles). These features almost don't seem real when you're there, nature in Virginia is so quiet and calm in comparison.

Eventually we headed back after a pretty full day, I didn't get back to the car until 5. Then it was off to the next destination which wasn't too far, Jackson, WY. Right now it's a skiiers town, kinda ritzy but with a log cabin motif going on. There was a really neat place that I had dinner and a drink or two called the 'Million Dollar Cowboy Bar.' It's big stuff around here, the only big nightspot. They had a great band playing, and the mix of people was really interesting. There were a bunch of the spoiled rich kids bumping up next to the real life cattle ranchers. Anybody else wearing hats and boots like that would have looked pretty silly, but they're not posing and you could definitely tell.

Anyway, today's schedule is to see the 'other' park in the area Grand Tetons. Everyone has seen pictures of them, they're some of the most photographed mountains in the world. Think Matterhorn and you've got an idea.

Day 8 - Deadwood to Devil's Tower to West Yellowstone, MT

Looking at a map it might not look like I went all that far today but all told, I put about 700 miles on Mitsy. It didn't even feel like it though, because I was touring in some of the most rugged and awesome terrain that this country has to offer. It felt more like I was touring than just going from point A to B.

To start off with, I had to get my dad's birthday present. Some of you may know already that Sturgis, SD (about fifteen miles from Deadwood) holds the largest annual Harley Davidson Rally in the world. This sleepy little town, which is maybe the size of Waynesboro at most, gets somewhere around half a million bikers for one weekend in August. Honestly, I don't know how that works, but apparently it does. ::shrugs:: Anyhow, since my dad loves his Fat Boy, I had to get him a T-shirt (happy birthday dad). I did feel slightly out of place, I'm not exactly the Harley demographic, so I got a few stares. But I can buy a t-shirt as well as any biker dammit!

Anyway, after Sturgis, I headed to the first national monument in the country. I'm not sure why it's a 'monument' and not a park though, I always thought a monument was commemorating something...not so says Wyoming. Devil's Tower has to be one of the most bizarre and awesome sights I've ever seen. In the outskirts of the Black Hills, this humongous column of stone comes out of nowhere to a height of more than 1000 feet over the valley floor. You can actually see it for about twenty miles but as you get closer you can see how the tower looks like its been 'scratched.' It's funny, there isn't really any hiking or trails for the most part, but you just kinda stand there slackjawed for a few minutes. Wyoming does a very good job of making you feel very very small.

From Devil's Tower, I headed to West Yellowstone. If you look at a map of Montana, you'll see that its right on the border of Wyoming (which is where the actual park is) and Idaho, in this little overhang from the rest of the state. As I was driving through Billings and later Bozeman, I could see the Rocky Mountains starting. They look completely different from those in NC (so far anyway). A little less 'inviting' but a lot more 'awe inspiring.' I haven't really seen what they have to offer yet though, it got dark as I was actually entering into the Rockies proper. Finally I got to West Yellowstone at about 9 pm. This place is kinda eerie right now, you can tell that during summer it's a huge tourist town. Now though, it's pretty much empty. I was tired anyway so the lack of 'nightlife' was fine by me, but I wouldn't have had much of a choice.

So tomorrow, I'm waking up pretty early (7:30) to go on a snowcoach tour of the park. Most of the roads through the park are closed to car traffic because of the snow, but the park itself is open...to snow vehicles. So they will be showing me (and other people) around Yellowstone in these crazy vans that have tank treads instead of tires. It should be a pretty cool experience no matter what I see otherwise. Anyway, I need to go ahead to sleep since I'll lose the hundred bucks if I oversleep!

Day 7 - Wall to Badlands to Mount Rushmore to Deadwood

This trip has been everything I'd hoped for so far but let me say right now that days like today are the real reason that I left D.C. in the first place. For all of the modern metropolises that I've been to and will visit, the natural wonders of the U.S. are what I really hoped to see.

I started off the day in Wall of course. Waking up at about 9am, I looked out to see that heavy fog was everywhere. I couldn't even see the other side of the parking lot. Not exactly great nature viewing weather. Hoping that the fog would burn off, I headed the few blocks to the world famous Wall Drug. It was about as tacky as I'd guessed, a fun stop but certainly not a destination. I stalled a little more by having an early lunch at the soda fountain. By the time I was done it was about noon, the fog was still around but this was the time I had so i figured that I'd see what I could see.

Luckily for me, the fog disappeared by the time I got to Badlands National park. It completely surprised me though. I was just driving through endless prairie when i saw the sign for the park. I had seen some pictures of the Badlands, but I really had no idea what to expect. Off in the distance I could see what looked like som rock formations, but they were still far off when U saw a sign for a 'scenic overlook.' Overlooking what? When i reached to the overlook I realized that Badlands were eroded out from under me. I was already at the rim of the canyon. Let me say now to anyone reading this, if you ever get the chance to go...it's amazing. It seems like a Mars landscape. These canyons go hundreds of feet deep and the rocks are so many different colors. The landscape almost seemed unreal. As I was going through the park, I saw a turnoff for 'prairie dog town.' These little guys take over whole fields at a time making countless burrows. The 'town' that I went to had to have a few thousand of them. As I walked up, I could hear many of them 'chirping' at me and whenever I got too close, they'd disappear into the tunnels. Finally on the way out, I stopped again as I passed a wild herd of Bison. These guys are humongous and seemingly nothing but muscle. They saw me and seemed to not really care, I wasn't going to push my luck though. Thirty feet away was close enough.

After the Badlands, I set the GPS to take me to Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills. It's funny to see, because the Black Hills are only thirty miles from the Badlands and the prairie but they are actually an offshoot of the Rockies. Flat...flat...flat...boom! mountains. Mount Rushmore was in the Southern part of the park so it took me about an hour to get to it. Pictures can't really show how majestic the moutain is. I ended up taking a trail around the heads and my camera got a real workout, thank god for digital photography.

I ended the day by driving to Deadwood, SD, which is on the northern edge of the black hills. For those of you who don't know, this town is one of the most sucessful historic restorations in the country. This town has quite a history: after gold was found, it became a roaring lawless place. Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane both met their ends on the streets of Deadwood, and there are markers to show where. Gaming has given the town the money to restore all most of the buildings and, luckily for me, gaming makes staying and eating here pretty cheap. I'm staying at the "Iron Horse Inn" which is an actual 1870's hotel that has been restored. It's really beautiful and a neat experience in and of itself. I ended up walking around the town after watching American Idol and having a Prime Rib dinner for $6 (yay, gambling towns). I actually ended up puting a dollar into the penny video slot machines. I had no clue how to 'win' since it seemed to have no rhyme or reason to it. My dollar was almost gone when I got four of the same symbol and won fifteen bucks! Not only that, they saw me playing and gave me a free drink to boot. I'm not a huge gambling person, at least not slots. So I took my fifteen bucks, finished my drink and headed back. Free dinner, free beer and a couple of bucks left. A great end to an awesome day.

Tomorrow I'll be heading through Sturgis and on to West Yellowstone, MT so that I can take a 'snowcoach' tour of Yellowstone. Westward, ho!

Day 6 - Minneapolis to Wall, SD

Well today I finally left civilization for the wild wild west. I'm not exactly sure where the 'midwest' ends and the 'west' begins but I'm pretty sure that I'm there. The morning started off a little later than I had intended. Ahh the challenges of staying at a youth hostel. When they say 'shared bathroom,' I assumed they meant something like the suite showers in college. Oh no, no no no. In this hostel, it means one regular sized bathroom that for about fifteen people. To top that off, getting hot water takes about five kajillion years. I had to argue with the proprietor when i checked out because it was 11:15 when I left. 15 minutes and this d-bag wants to charge me for another night, of course the only reason that I was running that late was because he's too cheap to improve the bathroom situation. In the end, I won. Go me! I certainly don't regret staying there though, I'd rather stay in a slightly ghetto place that's near everything than have to drive into the city every time I want to do anything.

The drive today was the longest haul so far, but it was still an amazing day that I won't ever forget. I drove 551 miles today from Minneapolis, MN to Wall, SD. As you could probably see from the earlier pics, Minneapolis is under about a foot of snow and so is the rest of the upper midwest. The first lef of the drive today was pretty much straight south, to Eau Claire, MN, still under a white blanket. Then I hit I-90 west and the border with South Dakota. For the first time since I'd left D.C. it really felt like I was leaving civilization in general. All of the sudden, the towns became MUCH fewer and the landscape was just fields after fields. I'm learning that I have to be a lot less picky around here too. I know full well that if I get a low fuel light, I have to go to the closest station. When it comes to lunch though, I kept waiting to find a normal fast food place, something quick. I seriously went 130 miles without seeing a single McDonalds, Wendy's or any other joint i recognized. I didn't think it was possible in this country. The signs for each exit had the little dinner plate/fork symbol but no specifics. Eventually I got too hungry and decided to get off at an exit and let my GPS do the work. What the signs don't tell you is that the dinner plate symbol is referencing a diner six miles off the interstate. Furthermore, its not a straight shot, you really have to know somehow where these places are. Thank god for the GPS or I would have starved. In the end, I had lunch in Canetonka, South Dakota at Baxa's restaurant. Even with the GPS, I got lost in a town that is maybe eight blocks square. I don't even think its on a map.

About halfway across SD, the climate changed drastically. All of the sudden, the snow was gone and the farmland became rolling ranchland. Everywhere there were free-range cattle and these crazy wild pheasant looking birds. I'll try to get a picture of one, they look like a cross between a peacock and a turkey..if that makes sense. The best part was watching the sun set over the prairie. Honestly it was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen.

I didn't reach Wall until about 8pm, so the famous "Wall Drug" was already closed. The plan for tomorrow is to visit Badlands National Park and then continue to the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore. I'm excited about my lodging tomorrow night too (I'm at a Motel 6 now.) There is a newly restored 1890's boarding house (that's apparently haunted) in Deadwood, SD that is offering rooms for $39 a night. So that's where I'll be...I think.