DISCLAIMER: The photos in this post are not great. Also they are not edited in any way, save for cropping. Mostly they’re not great because I was taking them on the Messenger app to send to my sister, as a way to document my evening but also so I could send photos of meat and desserts to my sister, both of which my sister is not too keen on so I’m glad to annoy her in that way. 🙂
I made dinner tonight. Ribs. On the grill. Something I’ve never done. I’ve never made ribs before, at least not on my own, and I’ve never really grilled anything before. So. I did my best. I prepped the ribs the night before in some brown sugar and spices, then let them hang out in the refrigerator. Today Brittney and I moved the grill from its place in the shed to the top of the long ramp attached to our house where it could be easily accessed from the back door. After we moved the grill, I fired it up.
Ribs on the grill!
The ribs were in an aluminum pan with some liquid (chicken broth and apple cider vinegar, I think), and so I left them on the grill for a good long time while Brittney and I were busy doing other things, like chopping up vegetables to be sauteed to go with the ribs (mushrooms, onions and bell peppers), washing, peeling and shredding potatoes to become potato pancakes, something else I’ve never made before, dicing up dill and chives for the potato pancakes, actual making and frying of the potato pancakes, and working on looking up a recipe for a no-bake cheesecake because our plan to make brownies fell through earlier in the day due to an issue with the gas stove, in that the pilot light might be out but I am not entirely sure how to fix it. But that’s a story for a different day. Instead of brownies, no-bake cheesecake it is! With Oreos, because why not.
Potato pancakes! Shredded potatoes and onion, eggs, chopped dill and chives, I added feta cheese, and flour. Tasty!Chopped mushrooms, onions and peppers, awaiting their turn in the frying pan.
So, yeah, then finally getting back to the ribs, who by this point, have spent a good long time on the grill. I brought the ribs in, and as I removed the tin foil, the liquid I had mentioned earlier, had become more black than liquid. Oops.
Yeah, you can definitely see how burned that is, the pan is just black. My bad! But the top of the meat was excellent. The burned bits.
So I removed the ribs, which had become more-than-slightly charcoaled onto the bottom of the pan, and placed them on the cutting board to cool. Brittney was going to shred the ribs, essentially, by removing the edible parts from the non-edible parts. She’ll read this and think, oh it really wasn’t that bad, and I know this because she told me so but still. I think we should get a “Grilling for Dummies” book or some shit like that, because like I said, I’ve never grilled before and I’d like to not charcoal everything. Anyway, after I got the ribs out of the charcoal mess of an aluminum pan, Brittney shredded and tossed them with BBQ sauce. I finished frying the potato pancakes and by then the veggies had been sauteed to a satisfactory level.
The potato pancakes! So good! And the sauteed veggies! Also good!
An Oreo crust to the cheesecake had even been made, and popped in the freezer. We got our $0.25 plastic plates from Walmart, pink or blue tonight (I got blue), and we had a pretty delectable supper. Brittney agreed.
The final product! Shredded ribs in BBQ sauce with sauteed veggies and potato pancakes. I made a sour cream-Ranch sauce for the potato pancakes. It was pretty tasty.Slowly disappearing……Done! Double yum!
After we ate our food, Brittney and I had a wonderful video chat with our dear friend Misa from Jamestown, and then I finished making the cheesecake. So many Oreos.
Making the cheesecake filling!
It sat in the freezer (which, by the way, is a brand new freezer and is therefore very good at its job. Same with refrigeration. Keeps things very crispy – like cold crispy, not hot crispy.) for like 25 minutes so it was fairly solid when I did cut out a piece for Brittney and myself. It was so totally melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Yum!!
Yes this was a delicious dessert, my goodness.
All in all, I’d say it was a successful Sunday, and our delightful supper was the perfect cap to the weekend. It was a good weekend. Here’s to many more good weekends!
The aftermath, to be taken care of tomorrow.
Oh yeah, we forgot to add the coleslaw. Thought of it every time I opened the refrigerator to get something else, and forgot about it when the time came to take it out and dish it up. But that’s probably just the story of coleslaw’s life.
In September, I met up with my parents and my little sister in Alexandria, MN for a nice, quiet weekend getaway. We did a little shopping, checked in at our AirBnb, and then hit up the Carlos Creek Winery. My sister and I went for the wine tasting, while our parents went for the flights of beer. The wines I tried were pretty tasty, and we got a complementary wine glass after we were finished.
My little sister and I at Carlos Creek Winery. Photo taken by our dad.
This sums up our relationship pretty well, I’m smiling and she’s turned away from the camera!
Carlos Creek Winery was a lovely little place, and it was a gorgeous day for drinking some wine. After we were finished, we headed back to the AirBnb for some grilled salmon supper. Mom brought fresh veggies from her garden to grill with the salmon, and boy was it tasty! We went to bed, several alcoholic beverages and many laughs later.
The next morning, we awoke, packed up and headed 30 miles southwest to Glacial Lakes State Park. Which, by the way, is probably one of my favorite places in Minnesota. We stayed in one of the cabins on the lake, unpacked and had a bit of lunch before going on a nice, leisurely walk. We got back to the cabin, lounged around for a bit, went on a canoe ride around the lake, and had some supper. We had a nice little fire going, as well.
The next morning, we went on another walk before heading home again. It was a beautiful day, and there was sunshine and there were butterflies. And then the drive home, inevitable.
So, this is like, 26 months in the making, but in August of 2018 I went on a lovely camping trip to the Lake of the Woods, a place I’d never been to before. It was a gorgeous campsite, a gorgeous lake, a gorgeous forest, and so on. This blog post will simply be a compilation of photos I took during that camping trip, and since it has indeed been 26 months since that trip I do not vividly remember every little detail. I do know this was the first time we took the dogs camping, so that was an adventure. They did well, only ran off once, and had a nice time swimming in the lake.
And so, as promised, here are a bunch of pictures from Zipple Bay State Park, in very northern Minnesota. Enjoy!
In July I went on a wonderful little weekend trip to Denver to visit my college friend Suzi. She moved out here a few months ago, giving me the perfect excuse to come visit. I left a relatively cool North Dakota to a steamy 100 degree Denver on Thursday afternoon, and after some technical difficulties with the Uber did manage to meet up with Suzi. We made out way out to Red Rocks for a concert. First off, I’m just going to say that Red Rocks is probably the coolest place to have a concert like, ever. Whoever decided that building an amphitheater into the side of a cliff was a good idea wasn’t wrong.
We went to see The Head and the Heart, a beautiful band if there ever was one. Seriously, here’s a link to one of my favorite songs. Go check them out, I’ll wait.
Okay, now you understand? Good. Go back and listen some more if you must, I won’t blame you!
The concert was wonderful, to say the least. The atmosphere was amazing, the band sounded amazing, the view of the city was amazing, just all around pretty darn amazing. It finished around 11 PM, but getting out of the park was a nightmare. It took over an hour for us to get out and back to Suzi’s place, but we managed. We were pretty hungry when we got back so we had a bit of food, then popped off to bed.
Friday we started the day pretty slowly, sitting at the table talking with Suzi and her boyfriend Cody for a good while before heading to a coffee shop (where I had a really luscious piece of quiche) to have beverages and play a card game called Golf. Let’s just say that if we were playing Anti-Golf I 100% would have won. It was an odd game, but somewhat intriguing.
At noon Suzi’s friend Emmy, who was at the concert with us the night before, picked us up and we headed to a place called the Denver Cat Company.
It is by far the most amazing cafe a person could go to, unless of course you have a cat allergy in which case you should probably avoid going there. This cafe was pretty basic when it came to foods and beverages (because of health codes and cats) but it was spot on with the cats. Yes, real cats. They had 14 at the time that they were fostering and all 14 were adoptable through the shelters they came from. What an superb idea! We went to the cat cafe with open minds, as Emmy was really entertaining the idea of adopting a cat, she even had a name picked out – Coconut.
So, we get to the cafe, pay the fee and start searching for Coconut. I happened to find THE most adorable kitten (besides Frankie, my cat, of course) and I was REALLY like almost going to adopt her and take her back on the airplane with me and everything. Oh it was just too much. Obviously I didn’t because North Dakota has cats too that would be much easier to bring home but, oh my heart, she was too much.
Okay but during my whole kitten escapade we did continue the search for Coconut, and low and behold, found the most gorgeous Siamese/Ragdoll mix with happily crossed blue eyes, and some orangey tinge on the face and tail (Toasted Coconut, anyone?) and knew that we’d found the Coconut we were searching for. Coconut, or Phoenix as the cat cafe called her was a pretty sleepy little fella, hiding her face with one little paw. Oh, so cute! Couldn’t handle.
So Emmy was like, yes this is the one, it’s happening, so she filled out the application and we took one last look at Coconut (and my little lovely kitten) and headed out. I had decided I wanted to get another ear piercing, since the last cartilage piercing I got in Missoula, Montana so might as well keep getting piercings in places I visit. Anyway, we just chose a totally random one near the area where we were, and we went in and I talked with the piercer, his name was Sam. I chose the jewel I wanted, a blue color called London Blue that’s sort of a dark blue-green and very lovely. As I was sitting on the table, Sam asked me where I had gotten my shoulder tattoo, and I was like, oh someone in Fargo, North Dakota, not thinking that those words would mean anything to him, but he was like, oh really? Who did it? So I said the name of my tattoo artist and, what do you know, she had done a couple of tattoos on this guy like, 15 years ago. Small world, right? I guess they worked together at a tattoo shop 15-20 years ago, and I did recall my tattoo artist saying she was from Denver so that does check out. Just the weirdest thing! Anyway, got the piercing and it looks hella cool, said my goodbyes to Sam and we went on our way. We decided to go to Target to get some saline solution for my ear, and while we were there Emmy got a call from the shelter basically saying that she’s been approved for Coconut (cue celebration dance in the cat supplies aisle)! Oh we were thrilled. So we proceeded to pick out a litter box, some food and a fish taco toy that has catnip in it because, priorities. As we were leaving we realized that, because this Target had a parking garage below it and was technically on a second story with escalators, there was a specific escalator ramp FOR THE CARTS. Suzi and I had never seen such a sight, and therefore I’d have to say with 100% certainty that the cart escalator ramp was by far the best thing about my trip to Denver. Without a doubt. 100%.
Anyway after we got over our shock of seeing the escalator ramp, Emmy received another call saying that we could go pick up Coconut at the cat cafe. We were a little confused becuase that wasn’t what they had originally said but heck, we were so excited that we zoomed on over to the cat cafe as quick as we safely could. We walked in, explained what we had been told, and then the lady at the counter ended up dashing our dreams of bringing Coconut home that day. She said that someone made a mistake and the pick up time has to be scheduled through the owner of the cafe. So, with heavy hearts we left, but as we walked back to the car we decided that it was probably for the best, this gave everyone a chance to take a breath and a bit of space, as things were just progressing very, very rapidly up until that point. Also Emmy didn’t have a carrier which she would have needed to take Coconut anyway. So, not such a terrible thing that happened, after all.
We drove back toward Suzi’s apartment to find some food, deciding on a Mexican restaurant nearly across the street from where Suzi lives. It was pretty tasty, even though the salsa was more spicy than normal, according to Suzi. We ended the meal with dessert, Emmy and I choosing the cheesecake and Suzi the flan. She wanted to give it another go because she remembered having it when she was young and hated it, so she was going to eat it with an open mind, but sadly her reaction toward the dessert did not change much from the first time she tried it. But, the cheesecake was excellent!
After we finished we headed back to Suzi’s and played Exploding Kittens with Cody, and it was so fun! Super weird card game but I would definitely play it again. We went to bed around midnight, after a very emotionally draining day. Very much a rollercoaster of excitement, disappointment, and the like. It really felt like we did SO MUCH when really all we did was hang out with cats, go to Target and eat some food. A good day, despite all the emotional turmoil it caused.
Saturday, Suzi and I slept in a bit before getting dressed to go for a hike. We wanted to get breakfast at a place called Snooze but they had some kitchen issues and so the wait was suuuuuuper long. We decided to try a different place called Olive and Finch, and oh my was it so very good. The description on Google was that it was an “airy” restaurant, and they weren’t wrong. I’d compare it to a high class Panera Bread, but with much better food and beverages. We had a lavender mocha and was that ever delicious. Probably the best coffee drink I’ve ever had. The breakfast I had there was equally as delicious, a light scrambled egg over roasted potatoes with a small greens salad. Mm mm, tasty! After our meal we headed out toward Morrison, west of Denver, to do some hiking.
After a nice 1.5 mile hike, during which the clouds were rolling in ominously, we got in the car and within a minute of shutting the doors it started to downpour. And continued to downpour, leading to flash flooding on the Interstate, where we happened to be, trying to make our way back to Suzi’s. It was kind of scary, since we were in a little Prius and the water was actually pretty deep. The pick ups handled it with no problem, but we had to err on the side of caution. It took about 20-30 minutes more to get back to Suzi’s than it normally would have.
We finally got back, changed from our hiking clothes and picked up Emmy from her apartment. We were going to get ice cream from Little Man, an iconic Denver sweet shoppe.
As we were in line, again the clouds began to roll in ominously, but this time we weren’t so lucky. We were caught in an absolute downpour, so much rain, and also a lot of lightning. We were huddling in the bathroom area with about 10-15 soccer moms and their daughters from San Diego who were in Denver for a tournament. We all had a nice time eating out ice cream and watching the rain. A kind Little Man employee took pity on us and gave us garbage bags to wear as ponchos. After the ice cream was finished, Suzi, Emmy and I decided to go wait out the rain in a nearby bar. We walk into this place, literally wearing garbage bags, to find that it’s probably one of the fanciest eateries in Denver. Their faces as they looked at us made it clear we “didn’t belong” but they graciously said we could see if there was seating at the bar. We headed up to the bar area, which we decided was meant for commoners and peasants like us, only to be handed a drink menu on a fancy-ass clipboard. We decided that this was not the place for us and ventured back out into the rain. We went to another restaurant, a Mexican place this time, and again, fanciest goddamned Mexican/beach-themed restaurant in town. We did take a seat at the bar and ordered a drink, but the whole time we were discussing just how lowly we really are, and dressing in garbage bags didn’t help! Haha 🙂
But we spent 20 minutes at this restaurant, called Lola, before heading to Suzi’s car and going to the movie theater. We were going to see The Lion King, and my how wonderful it was! So good. If you haven’t seen it, I would highly recommend that you do.
After the movie, we went to Suzi’s place of employment, a British pub called Bull & Bush. We had something to eat before going back to our respective apartments.
Sunday morning, Suzi and I got up and I had all of my things packed, so we went out to have breakfast before my flight. We ate at Sam’s No. 3, and it was incredibly tasty, my goodness. Suzi dropped me off at the airport, I got checked in and through security only to discover that my flight was delayed about 2 hours. So, I spent some time wandering around the airport and drinking Caribou. Finally we were able to board the plane, and thus ended my weekend trip to Denver. When I got back to North Dakota, I spent about 45 minutes tidying up the house before settling down to watch some TV. All in all, an excellent weekend, and I have plans to return to Denver sometime soon! 🙂
Okay. So the six individuals who are currently following my blog (with a passion, I’m sure) might have noticed that I recently went through a name change. The essence of the blog remains, which is flowers, accompanied as always by words. Words & Flowers. Makes sense, right? I thought so.
As a sort of “grand re-opening” to my blog, I should like to share with you a series of photos I took in the last week or so, of my most favorite of flowers, lilacs and crab apple blossoms! They really do capture the essence of spring, embodying it fully. They make me oh so happy. Seriously, just take a look at them! I’m sure that if you are in a bad mood, you will be totally in a much better mood after spending some time on my blog. Unless you hate flowers and find words to be particularly annoying, then perhaps you should go somewhere else. I’ll bid you farewell now.
For the rest of you that love (or in the very least, tolerate) flowers, hold onto your hats! It’s about to get a whole lot more pink, purple and white up in here.
First up, the lilacs. They’re pretty self explanatory, I should think.
Oh aren’t they just lovely? You can almost smell them through the screen. If you’ve not ever taken the time to go out and put your sniffer to a lilac bush, you’ve been missing out on life. Now, if you are deathly allergic to lilac pollen, I am in no way encouraging you to go out and smell one, for your safety. Obviously. Anyway, they’re all but done blooming in this part of the land. A bittersweet time, spring is. The flowers bloom but ever so shortly, before giving way to plain old leaves. How dull. If you must, take a moment and go back to look at the beauty of the lilacs. I’ll wait.
Okay, now that we’ve twice examined the lilac flowers, let’s move on to the crab apple blossoms, in shades of pink and white.
Don’t they just make you happier than heck when you look at them? I know they do for me! Such happy, cheerful little blossoms, just going along doing whatever it is that blossoms do. Obviously making people happier than heck is priority numero uno for them.
Alright, moving onward to the last section of flowers I’ll be showcasing in this blog. I went back to southern Minnesota for Memorial Day weekend, and there was a whole pasture filled with purple Dame’s Rocket flowers. According to the Minnesota Wildflowers website, this plant is invasive and must be eradicated. Um, no thanks. I like flowers too much to just kill them for being who they are. It’s why I hate to partake in any dandelion massacres as well. They’re only a weed till you get to know them.
And there you have it! Words and Flowers, as promised. Expect to see more of the same soon. Soonish. Probably.
Quick question: where did the first 1/6th of the year go? I had several intentions of writing a blog post immediately after returning from my three-week hiatus in Sweden with my sister, but time just kind of slipped away. Also I had to go back to work and do adult-life things, like buy groceries and get a promotion and purchase a new bedroom set. All necessary things, I assure you.
Okay so moving on, or perhaps backwards, to the middle of December (way back in 2017), when Sara and I were at home, mentally preparing ourselves for the 9 hours we would be spending on 2 different planes over the course of the next two days. Traveling across time zones is just the weirdest thing ever.
We were packed and ready to go. The parents were kind enough to give us a lift to the cities, and once we made it through security it was time to begin the waiting game. Our flight from Minneapolis was delayed about an hour, and we finally boarded around 7:30 after sitting in the airport for 3 hours. Upon arrival in Iceland, 6:30 am Icelandic time and 1:00 am MN time, we were baffled to discover a strike was in progress. Yes, an actual strike by the maintenance crew for Icelandair. They wanted more money. Same old story. Anyway, our 7:30 am flight was delayed until who knows when, with more information being provided at 9 am. So, the waiting game continued. We did board the plane at 9 am for Stockholm, thank goodness. I did not relish the idea of hanging out in Reykjavik. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy the opportunity to explore the country, I just had places to be and people to meet 1700 miles east of there. We did end up getting to said places and meeting up with said people. Our flight into Sweden took about 3 hours, and we made it to Arlanda around 1:30 pm. Sweden time. A total of 11 hours had passed since adjourning our journey; needless to say, we were a bit sleepy. And in need of a shower.
I shan’t regale you with the minute details of our time in Sweden, but let me tell you that there was definitely sight-seeing, family-visiting, and walking in the rain. Sweden is a damp, dark country in the winter. Nearly everyone we talked to said that we really should come back in the summer, it’s so much nicer in the summer, why did you come in the winter, it’s so dark and there’s nothing to do, and so on. We really just wanted to go on an adventure in a semi-foreign country and see if we could manage it. Well, we didn’t die or get mugged so I’d say we managed it just fine.
On to the photos.
This is Mälaren, a very large lake with many fingers, stretching East to West, North to South. This photo is taken from Hässelby Strand, where Sara and I stayed for two of the three weeks.
Flowers in December!
The big clock tower in Stockholm’s Gamla Stan. It’s only like, 4:00 in this photo. Depressing, right?
The Christmas Market in Gamla Stan, held in Stortorget Square, was quite quaint, with several homemade goodies, glögg, and reindeer meat.
The Christmas Market in Old Town.
The man standing below the half moon of lights is selling candied almonds. I didn’t have any but boy did they smell delicious!
Christmas trees in the King’s Courtyard.
So that was the first week. We figured out how the trains worked, went to Old Town and the Mall of Scandinavia (which is the largest mall in Sweden, but is still way smaller than the Mall of America), and we bought groceries and slept and watched Netflix. Swedish Netflix is just subpar compared to American Netflix, because TV shows are released at different times in different countries. Sad, I know. We learned that the hard way.
The next series of photos are from our time in Skåne County, in southern Sweden. Our cousin and his family live near Malmö, so we traveled by train to spend Christmas with them. Apparently Skåne is just littered with castles, being on the coast it makes sense. We visited a castle which is now a museum/restaurant, although we did not eat at the restaurant due to the fact that it was closed due to the fact that it was Christmas Day. There was a nice forested path around the little lake that the castle sat near. It was fairly chilly and misty, but it was nice to go exploring.
The two-year-old was not impressed with my camera. It interrupted his castle-staring.
I found a small herd of horses, and they were hanging out in the distance but I coaxed them over and soon they were close enough for us to pet them. They were friendly little buggers. When I was in Sweden I was told that it is “illegal” to have one horse by itself. Horses are herd animals and therefore need a buddy. I’m totally on board with that law. 🙂
Just five-year-old things.
This guy lived next to a road and was therefore much less impressed by my clicks and kisses. Grass is more important.
Finally, the castle! How regal.
Okay so that was the castle we visited on a rainy Christmas Day. On the 26th, my cousin took Sara, his 5-year-old daughter and I to the southernmost point in Sweden, as seen below. This was the first day of the 4-day-long cold I was plagued with during the trip. Sara was also ill. Riding the 4-hour train ride back to Stockholm the next day was not fun, I tell you what. I think people looked at us like we had the Black Plague or something.
Moving on to a better topic, Smygehuk!
The distances to various major European cities from this point.
Sara and Freja, looking out across the Baltic Sea.
A rare photo of me, plus Sara and Freja.
It was hella windy, as you might be able to tell by this photo.
And this photo.
And this one.
This was a giant metal funnel thing you could peer through. If you scroll down to the photo immediately past the daisy photo, you will see a giant metal statue of a man sitting on a giant metal chair, with the giant metal funnel in front of him as if he were looking through it.
A daisy! A real, live daisy! In December!
The giant metal man, chair, and funnel, as described in the photo above the daisy photo.
The Southern Swedish Sea.
The most quaint boathouses I ever did see!
My cousin and his daughter, cheesin’!
Okay, so good food, laughs, and sharing memories basically sums up our time in Skåne county. Oh, we also went to Copenhagen, Denmark for a few hours, basically to say we did it. The bridge between Sweden and mainland Europe is about 15 kilometers, and because we took a car (there is a train that passes underneath the bridge for regular commuters) we had to pay a $60 fee. Both ways. But hey now I can say I’ve visited Denmark, so that’s a thing!
After we got back to Stockholm and spent two days recovering from our respective colds, we spent our last Saturday in Sweden with our good family friends, who took us to Sweden’s oldest town, Sigtuna.
But first, we made a pit stop along the way:
This is actually the church in Sweden where my parents got married!
As you can likely imagine, Sweden is home to many, many, many runestones. So many, in fact, that people decided to use them when building walls. It makes sense, why waste a perfectly good piece of stone by putting it in a museum?
It’s also the church where my grandparents on my Mom’s side are buried.
Isn’t it just the prettiest?
HĂĄtuna = village name; k:a = church
Oh, the moss on that stone wall! How vibrant!
Okay so after our pit stop we continued down the road to Sigtuna. Being the oldest town in Sweden means you should probably be home to some pretty bad-ass ruins, and sure enough, there were some bad-ass ruins.
This is St. Olof’s Church, which is through to be built around the year 1100. Nobody really knows who built it, but it is dedicated to the Norwegian Viking King Olaf Tryggvasson. Apparently there are remains of an even older stone church that this currently really old church is built upon. It is thought to be the first one built in Sweden.
Can you spot the sneaky runestone, built into the wall of the ruin?
There is a fence around the church, likely to keep mischievous children out or because it’s currently crumbling down and is a liability, probably both.
Usually these runestones say something about someone’s father, but it’s hard to say.
Here was another, less interesting ruin.
The house that was located near the second ruin was vastly more interesting.
A festive tree in the middle of the town square.
Sigtuna has the loveliest, most colorful buildings and it was wonderful.
The cutest little ever-gnome! (I just made that up, will be officially claiming the term)
The cutest door award goes to this fella.
How classically Sweden is this little house?
After our stint in Sigtuna, we headed over to Uppsala, a university town through-and-through. Uppsala Univeristy is the oldest university in Sweden and all of the Nordic countries that is still in operation. Fancy, huh?
This is the Uppsala domkyrka, a super huge church with lots of important people buried in it, like the first king of Sweden and Carl Linnaeus, the famous botanist.
Very symmetrical.
Below this gorgeous stained glass window is an enormous pipe organ; a few of the pipes can be seen glinting in the shadows to the left.
The first king of Sweden.
And his crest.
It was a good day of sight-seeing, to be sure.
The remaining photos are from one of our last outings into the city. I managed to get a few photos in between rain showers.
SO MANY SWANS AND DUCKS
A classic shot of Stockholm.
A remaining rose in Kungsträdgården.
They had a large ice skating rink in Kungsträdgården as well, open to the public.
I included this photo because this is the very bench we sat on as a family in 2010, as you can see below.
My dad took this photo. Don’t we look like a happy bunch! My brother is pissed, my sister is mad, and I’m eating ice cream. This photo ended up being on our Christmas card for that year 🙂
Well, that’s it, folks! I hope you enjoyed browsing through my photos and reading about my adventure. It’s easier if I don’t set a timeline for these things, so I’ll just say till next time, dear reader!
The words “Montana” and “nature” kind of go hand in hand. Why? Well, Montana is the 4th largest state in the USA and contains the 44th largest population so, you see, there is a lot of room and not a lot of people. Lots of cattle, though. But maybe that’s beside the point.
When I went to Montana a couple of weeks ago for a music festival in Missoula, (see my post Travelers’ Rest Fest for more details on this glorious and wondrous time), we made time to visit two of Montana’s state parks: Travelers’ Rest State Park, in Lolo (a small town 10 miles south of Missoula), and Lost Creek State Park, in Anaconda (a small town 20 miles northwest of Butte). We would’ve liked to have popped up to Glacier National Park for a day or so, but alas our schedules did not allow for this. We made due with visiting the location at which Lewis and Clark made camp during their expedition west, which is now a state park, as well as a super off-the-wall state park that was rather hidden back in the mountain-y hills.
Nothing too thrilling happened at either state park, we just spent our time wandering around, collecting rocks, and taking photos of the beautiful nature surrounding us.
First up, photos from Travelers’ Rest State Park:
A couple of lovely little sunflowers to brighten up the day.
S1uch a busy little spider, weaving such an intricate little web.
I just love the splash of purple from these little flowers.
Suzi was collecting wild mint from the riverbank!
Nicole, sporting her new Missoula hat that she had purchased in Missoula the day before.
Suzi, finding all of the Fool’s Gold. 🙂
Yes, that is actually smoke obscuring the distant mountains. There were some pretty severe forest fires in the area when we were visiting. Thankfully, it rained a bit this day which helped to clear the air.
A picturesque barn, with some rather photogenic grass.
Oh look, Sara found a feather.
Doesn’t it remind you of fall time? It does me!
Another shot of the smoke. One could potentially pass it off as fog, if we were in the Pacific Northwest.
One last flower photo from Travelers’ Rest State Park!
We spent a good hour or two at Travelers’ Rest before heading back to Missoula and to the second day of Travelers’ Rest Fest, the music festival put on by The Decemberists. Which was amazing. But I’ve already mentioned how utterly stupendous the festival was in this post, plus I have a whole separate post dedicated to its awesomeness. Check it out, if you’re keen.
On Monday, after we packed our things and headed out of Missoula, we drove through the curves for about 80 miles before exiting I-90 and heading southwest, toward a little state park called Lost Creek State Park. Sara and I speculated that the name came about because some person found the creek, and then was unable to find it for some time, and maybe even had his/her children or grandchildren out searching for it (much like what happens in the movie Holes, when Sigourney Weaver’s grandpa makes her search for the treasure which is why she has the juvenile delinquents digging holes all the time.) before they finally found the “lost creek” and then they thought that would be a good area for a state park so the gave the land to the state. One theory among many, I’m sure.
Anyway. Lost Creek State Park was a lovely little place that had no other people in it while we were there. A good place for a potential quadruple homicide, if one had been in the mind for it. We parked the car and walked around a bit. We decided not to venture off of the main road, for fear of there potentially being an individual lurking in the woods who had quadruple homicide on the brain. It just seemed like the logical thing to do.
The hills here were not obscured by smoke, which was nice, and the flowers were oh-so-pretty. The following photos are those that I took at Lost Creek State Park:
I rather fancied this flower, it was just begging to be photographed!
I’m not entirely sure what this red color is on these leaves, if it is meant to be there or not. Either way, it looks nice.
We were surrounded by these tall, rocky hill/cliffs, overlooking the “lost creek” that ran through the park.
And there it is! We found the lost creek!
For some reason, I like how dead flowers look almost as much (but probably not more) than the not-dead flowers. They just have so much more texture. It’s nice.
Hello, tiny pine tree on top of the rocky mountain/hill!
Okay, so I am about 96% sure that these are raspberries (I mean, what else could they be?), so I was like, “Hey Suzi, look. Wild raspberries!” And so she and I proceeded to pick a few and eat them. And then I go up to Sara, all excited-like, and say, “Hey Sara, Suzi and I just found some wild raspberries and we ate them.” Sara goes, “Oh God. If you guys get the shits later, we’ll know why!” Haha. If you were wondering, we did not get the shits. We were fine. 🙂
These were the cutest little purple flowers I had ever seen, so lovely with their color popping out against the dull brown background.
The road we followed to stay safe from those with homicidal intentions.
The rushing creek. And some flowers, of course.
Left to right: Nicole, Sara, and Suzi.
Another shot of the rocky hill/mountain.
This one features a nice forest of tall, thin pine trees.
I nearly fell in the water getting this shot. That would have sucked.
Hello again, adorable little purple flowers!
Because I take too many photos, I am always and forever falling behind my companions. Sara says, “my favorite part about going back the way we came is that Anna has already seen everything and doesn’t need to stop every five seconds to take a picture.” What Sara doesn’t understand is that when we head back, I am seeing everything from a new angle so yes, I do need to stop every five seconds to take a picture.
I like how cheerful this flower looks even after it is dead.
And finally, a parting birch tree.
We spent a decent hour or so exploring this little state park. It was a nice break to get out and stretch our legs after driving for two hours and with only ten more to go… Seriously, what a jaunt! Attending the music festival was worth it, though. Totally worth it. And the state parks and flower photos were a nice added bonus. 🙂
During the second weekend in August, I had the opportunity to drive to Missoula, Montana and spend two days listening to some of the most amazing indie folk bands around. It was an outstanding, life-changing experience, one that I can hardly put into words. Tears would make more sense, but those have already been shed over the sheer wonderment that was this weekend, so I shall attempt to sum up what I experienced with a few words instead, even though they will hardly do it justice, as I have mentioned.
Our journey from Jamestown, North Dakota to Missoula, Montana took us in much of the same route as the classic pair Lewis and Clark, on their exploratory trip across the upper western part of the USA. Before it was the USA, obviously. But this is not a history lesson. Well, actually it kind of is, because the name of the music festival, Travelers’ Rest, is named after the location of a camp Lewis and Clark and Company spent some time at. This location is now a State Park, one that my fellow travelers and I had the opportunity to visit. Photos and anecdotes from this visit can be found under the blog post “Montana, Naturally.”
Getting back to the task at hand: describing the magical weekend that was this music festival. I went with my sister Sara, and two of our friends from UND, Suzi and Nicole. We took Suzi’s car Gary (who appropriately has a sticker of Gary from Spongebob located upon its interior), a feisty little green Toyota Prius, which handled very beautifully around the curves between Billings and Missoula. I think I had too much fun driving her car.
We left Jamestown around 8:30 on Friday the 11th, and after a nice detour into Theodore Roosevelt National Park (see my post A Visit to the Desert of North Dakota) we continued on our merry way into Montana. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever driven across Montana, but it sucks. There’s no other way around it. Not to say that North Dakota is any better, but at least it is half the size of Montana so you don’t have to spend nine hours driving across it. Blech. We made it to our hotel around 11:30 pm that night, and we immediately got ourselves situated in our beds and fell asleep.
A lovely yellow flower with the lovely North Dakota Badlands looming in the distance.
A herd of bison roaming the roads of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
This fella was so close to the road, I didn’t even have to zoom in on him!
SATURDAY.
I’d like to say we awoke to the smell of chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs and waffles with fruit and whipped cream and blueberry muffins and all of the good things that are breakfast, but instead we were treated to the shitty Motel 8 breakfast. At least it was free. And they did have waffles. No fresh fruit, though. Or whipped cream. After filling our bellies with sub-par nourishment, we decided to explore Missoula a bit. We made our way downtown and found a lovely Farmer’s Market and some fun shops to spend time in. Soon, however, it was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for DAY ONE OF TRAVELERS’ REST FEST. We took an Uber there the first time, which ended up being 10 dollars so Sara and I resolved to walk the two miles from the festival to the hotel and vice versa. We made the trek three times over the course of the weekend.
The main stage, with artwork by Carson Ellis. (Read on to learn more about Carson Ellis!)
So. We got in the gates, got these fancy little pamphlets that had a nice map of the Big Sky Brewing Company setup, with the stages and the drink/food stands and the merch tent and such. Â The pamphlet also had the lineup of bands for both days, and a description of each band. Needless to say, I got more and more excited as I looked through this pamphlet. It just made it all so much more real!
We sat for some time in the sweltering 95-degree weather. It would have been so much worse, though, had there not been clouds of smoke from nearby forest fires obscuring the sun. Although it did give the area a bit of a greenhouse effect and did a really good job of preventing us from seeing the lovely mountains surrounding Missoula, which was just too bad. Anyway, we sat on the lawn in front of the main stage, and Sara and I wandered off to purchase two t-shirts and a poster (I bought the shirts – one was for Travelers’ Rest and the other was for The Head and the Heart, and Sara purchased a nice poster for The Decemberists’ summer tour with a tree on it).
Front of my lovely t-shirt, designed by Carson Ellis!
And the back, which make sense, as most t-shirts that have a front also have a back. This has a nice display of the lovely bands which performed at Travelers’ Rest.
After some more time passed and the bands had started banding, we noticed that a lot of people had these fancy paper fans on a wooden stick, and we were jealous. Because, along with the 95-degree weather and smokey greenhouse-effecting sunlight, there was no wind. So, Sara and I went in search of these fans so that we too could feel the artificial breeze produced by these fans.
As we journeyed to the tent that held these breeze-makers, I saw a someone and I thought it was the person that I thought it was and I was right even though Sara tried to tell me it wasn’t the person that I thought it was. She was wrong, obviously, because I was right. It was Carson Ellis, esteemed artist and illustrator for many children’s books, including those written by her husband, Colin Meloy of The Decemberists. After we procured the fans, I spotted Carson again and I told Sara I was going to go talk to her and Sara tried her best to dissuade me but I was not to be dissuaded! I went up to her and said hello and that her artwork was amazing and unique and that I really enjoyed it. We chatted for a bit, although Sara said it was more like I word-vomited at her, which seems likely. I was very excited. So excited, in fact, that after we bid our adieus to Carson and sat down by Suzi and Nicole again, that I announced I was going to find Carson again and have her sign my Travelers’ Rest pamphlet. Sara refused to come with but gladly gave me her pamphlet for Carson to sign. So, I set out on my search, and she wasn’t hard to spot because she was wearing an all-white jump suit and she has nice red hair with bangs. So. I found her and asked her for her autograph, and so on mine she wrote “Hi Anna!” and on Sara’s she wrote “For Sara!” and it was a lovely experience. She is such a nice lady. I am not ashamed to say that I hardcore creep on her through Instagram.
Isn’t it lovely? 🙂
After the excitement of seeing Carson was over, we realized that we were all pretty thirsty. Suzi volunteered to stand in line for water, while the rest of us listened to Offa Rex, a band created between the pairing of The Decemberists and English singer Olivia Chaney. They have an album out, called The Queen of Hearts, that focuses on British Folk tunes of the 60s and 70s. They had a lovely sound, and I enjoyed their music. After their set finished I went to find Suzi, and she was in an extremely slow-moving line for the water fountains. Like, extremely extremely. As in she waited for an hour and a half to fill up two cups for water. When we finally made it to the fountain, we each filled up a cup, drank it, and then filled it up again for Sara and Nicole. The people behind us were like, you waited in line to fill up two cups?! and we were like yeah well needs must. And so we finally got to go sit down again, but only for a bit as it was nearly time for Shakey Graves to come on stage. At about 6:00 we all got up and moseyed our way into the standing crowd in front of the stage. We got a good spot just to the right (or left, if you are a band member facing the crowd) of center stage. Shakey Graves came on at 6:30 and played until 7:15 pm. Damn, was he talented! He has such a voice and uses his musical talents very well. His concert was much enjoyed by all, I’m sure.
After Shakey Graves, there was some waiting as the last band on the smaller stage performed, and then The Head and the Heart came on. Oh my god, every song they sang gave me goosebumps. I just could not handle the sheer musical beauty that was this band. If you haven’t heard of them, I would suggest you stop whatever you are doing, including reading this blog, and look them up. Ugh. SO. GOOD. ‘Let’s Be Still’, ‘Rhythm and Blues’, ‘Hallelujah’, and  ‘All We Ever Knew’ are some of my favorites. You won’t be disappointed.
UGH IT MADE ME SO HAPPY TO SEE THEM LIVE I JUST WANT TO GO TO ALL OF THEIR CONCERTS AND SING SUPER LOUDLY TO ALL OF THEIR SONGS WHICH I ALREADY DID BUT I WANT TO DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN.
After the brilliant performance by The Head and the Heart, we all waited patiently for the main event: The Decemberists, who proceeded to put on a stunning two-hour long show. They like to do this thing where they leave the stage about half an hour before the scheduled ending time for the concert like they are actually done and make the crowd chant and cheer before coming back out onto the stage. Of course, this concert was no exception. They had a wonderful lineup of songs, and Sara and I belted out nearly every tune. We were standing one person behind the gate, so we were directly in front of Chris Funk, the guitarist. I’m not entirely sure how we managed to end up so close to the front, I guess we’re just really good at sneaking in through the crowd.
For the encore, Colin Meloy came out with another man, one whom he introduced as Gibson Hartwell, a member from Colin’s first band, Tariko. This band formed in the late 90s, while Colin was going to school in Missoula, and broke up in 1999 after Colin moved to Portland, and then The Decemberisits were formed, and the rest is history.
I try not to be so creepy but sometimes I can’t help it..
Anyway. Colin and Gibson sang a song from their band Tariko, which was super amazing to hear due to the fact that they’re not technically a band anymore and one would have never imagined to hear them live again. Sara and I have an album by them, so we were one of the few people in the crowd who could sing along to this particular song. Very neat.
The concert ended around 11 pm, so Sara and I meandered our way back to where Suzi had been lounging in a hammock (Nicole had taken an Uber back to the hotel a few hours prior), and we made the two mile trek back. It was a good opportunity to rehash what we had just witnessed and also to move our legs after standing in (basically) one spot for five hours.
We made it back to the hotel and Sara and I were feeling quite dehydrated so we opted to take Suzi’s car and drive to Walmart so we could buy a jar of pickles each. We ate the pickles and drank the juice in the hotel parking lot and it was the most refreshing thing I have had in a long time. Apparently pickle juice after standing out in the hot, 90 degree weather for eight hours (and also not eating food during this time) really hits the spot. After our pickle juice refreshments were finished, we headed inside for bed.
SUNDAY.
Sunday was, in short, a really really really good day. To start the day, we got up and made our way to Travelers; Rest State Park, about an eleven mile drive from Missoula. We walked around this little area, took a lot of photos, found a creek and snatched some rocks, and chatted with the park rangers. It was a nice time (if you would like to see more on our adventures in Travelers’ Rest State Park, please see my post “Montana, Naturally”), and after we were finished we made our back to Missoula for lunch and to get ready for TRAVELERS’ REST FEST ROUND II. Sara and I walked to the festival, so we arrived there a little after 4:00 pm. Because priorities, we sought out the ice cream booth and each got a small cup of Montana-made ice cream. So good. We then stood at a table and mainly people-watched, until Suzi and Nicole found us. Then we looked at the tents they had set up; there was a tent dedicated to people test-running the new board game The Decemberists developed, called the Illimat, and there was an artist who could do portraits on this material called Tintype, and there was a tent selling vinyl records and CDs of the majority of the bands in attendance.
The main reason why Sunday was such a really really really good day was because we actually got to meet The Decemberists, like face-to-face, and chat with them, and get their autographs. It was purely and utterly magical. Alas, there was a sign up that said they would only be signing vinyls and CDs, so Sara and I were like okay fine, and we each bought one. I got ‘The King Is Dead,’ one of my favorite albums by them. It was also the first album I had heard by them, the one that made me fall in love with Colin’s voice and Jenny’s accordion.
At 6:20 pm we went to go stand in line (after resuming our stance at the table, this time with beer and peanuts – see above photo), and the line was a decent length but we weren’t too far back. We stood there and tried to eat peanut with one hand while holding a beer in the other, all the while holding onto the vinyl records (which are rather large), and it was just an all-around struggle. Eventually, at 6:40 pm or so, the line began moving. People went into the building relatively normal and came out with tears or hyperventilation.
The anticipation grew.
To make the anticipation matters worse, some lady came around and stopped three people in front of Sara and myself and was like, “Okay so The Decemberists have to leave at 7:20 to get ready for the show so there may only be time for 50 people which puts the line right here.” And then this lady goes past Sara and I and the guy behind us and was like, “Anyone past this point, you can stay or leave but I just don’t want you to be too disappointed.” So then I said to the couple in front of us, “Wait, so where does that put us? Do we get to see them or do we have to be bitterly disappointed?” We were in the definition of a gray area, and it sucked. Obviously, we did manage to make it into the building with the illustrious members of the beloved band were lurking, but until that point I was in distress. And then it was basically just heart-pounding word vomit that occurred once I actually came face-to-face with Chris Funk. He asked how I was and I told him about my mini heart-attack when the lady told us that we might not get to see them. And he was like, oh shit I’m sorry and I was like it’s all good, since I did make it in. And then I saw Jenny and didn’t really answer Chris’s question about how the line was, and instead I told her about how much I love her accordion bit (although I was so flustered I first called it a harmonica!) in the song ‘Rox in the Box.’ Here’s a link so you can listen to the song and understand why (her solo starts at 2:00 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Waz7PMZHeg
Jenny told me it was an old Irish (or perhaps Celtic) jig that she had adapted her solo from. Either way, it is amazing and I told her so. I am sorry to say that I was so busy gushing over Jenny’s amazing-ness to Jenny herself that I skipped right over Nate Query, the bassist. I did smile and thank him, though, for his autograph.
And then came Colin. He looked up and me and was like, “Hi.” And I just kind of stared into his eyes and was like, “Hi. It is so amazing to meet you.” He kind of laughed and said that it was nice to meet me too. Honestly, I can’t remember if I said anything else to him. Or if he said anything to me. I was just so awestruck to be in his presence, staring into his fact, with approximately two feet of space between us. And then all of a sudden I was facing John Moen, the drummer, and he was like, “So how’s the festival?” And I said that it was amazing and that we drove 15 hours from Minnesota to come to it (a little white lie, true for Nicole but Jamestown is close enough to MN to count!) and he was like, oh cool I was born in Brained, MN. How neat is that? Anyway, I told him that it was neat, and then I exited the building. Sara was waiting for me and we both began doing this weird hyperventilating/crying run (yeah, we got both) to where Suzi and Nicole were sitting. Oh my god were we ever excited. I could barely contain my sheer joy. And then I was like, wow I should have said so many better things to these people. Not for them, as they would likely not remember a single word I said to them, but for myself, because when I thought back to what I had said it was a bit foolish. Oh well, perhaps next time (if there is a next time), I will say something super profound and wise. Sara told Colin that she loved him, and he was like no, you don’t but Sara was very insistent and told him that yes, she does. I’d say that is rather profound.
Currently my most prized possession. 🙂 🙂 🙂 Autographs, counterclockwise from the top left: John Moen, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query, and Colin Meloy.
After we had calmed down a bit, we left our vinyls with Suzi and a promise from her to defend them with her life. I think she did a pretty good job taking care of them, as she texted me later to tell me that she had already stabbed two people and punched one to guard them. 🙂 Sara and I made our way down to the standing crowd in front of the main stage in time for Belle and Sebastian. They are a super iconic Indie group out of Scotland, and were pretty big in the 90s and early 2000s. I knew a couple songs by them, and it was very cool to see them live, but I wasn’t really all that invested in them, not like the lady behind Sara and myself who asked us to switch spots because she was unable to see and has been waiting 13 years to see them in concert. She told us this and we were like, oh damn, do you want to come in front of us because we don’t mind, and she said she was fine but we should have insisted. And also taken her to the front when Sebastian was telling people to come up on stage with them and dance. She should have danced. Sara and I should have used our crowd-sneaking skills to sneak this lady through the crowd to go dance with the band she has been waiting 13 years to see. Ah well. My one regret.
Here is Belle and Sebastian (he is the guy in the middle with the white pants!) and their dancing crew.
Another photo of Belle and Sebastian, sans dancing crew.
After Belle and Sebastian, it was once again time to wait for The Decemberists. Sara and I used our sneaking prowess to get to the front as the crowd was readjusting from people leaving the previous concert. We ended up one person behind the gate again, and this time we were directly in front of dear Colin Meloy. Oh, were we excited.
Colin came on stage wearing the Montana state flag and looking majestic as all hell. It was a sight to behold.
Here’s a shot of The Decemberists from the back; they were posing for a cameraman with the crowd behind them. Colin is visible, wearing the blue Montana state flag.
This concert began in much the same fashion as the night before. Sara and I stood there and sang the words to nearly all of the songs again, so much so that I very nearly lost my voice. I was cheering and screaming and whooping so much, I just couldn’t help it. There were several times where I would whoop at Colin because he was doing something worth whooping for, and a number of people would take up my cry and echo it. That made me feel important. There was also a couple times where I would cheer when it was pretty quite and I think Colin looked at me, probably because the cheering was annoying and he was trying to do something spectacular. But honestly, he doesn’t even really need to try to do spectacular things because typically whatever he does is spectacular. 🙂
Look at how close this beautiful man is to us! All dressed up in his state flag. 🙂
Sunday night’s concert was somehow better than Saturday night’s concert. Unsure how. Everyone was so into it. And The Decemberists really put on a show! At one point, all of the band members were lying on the ground and Colin was standing there shushing us and telling us to crouch down so, of course, we crouch down as well as a group of people packed together like sardines can.
Yes, Colin. Whatever you say, Colin. Your wish is our command.
They sang so many good songs, and I had so much fun. During one song, a group of us in the beginning started singing where the song normally starts on the CD and Colin looked at us like, who do you guys think you are? But he let us go for a few words before stepping in and starting the song for real. It was amusing.
A few more photos featuring The lovely Decemberists.
The last song that The Decemberists sang, as their encore finale, was The Mariner’s Revenge Song. It is an odd song about a Mariner who is seeking revenge on the man who wronged his mother, and they end up in the belly of a whale together. So, of course, much as we are members of the crowd we are participants in this curious musical number. We are asked by Colin to scream like we are being eaten by a whale when Chris Funk gives us the appropriate signal. This was where I completely lost my voice, when it cracked as if I were a 13 year-old-boy going through puberty. It was embarrassing but I did not care, as I needed to scream as if I were being swallowed by a whale. It was imperative.
They began the song and we all sang the words, and then they brought out the giant whale made of metal and fabric, and one by one, it “ate” the “crew” members.
Look at the sheer look of terror upon Colin’s face. 🙂
Once the crew had been chewed alive, the song continued from inside the stomach of the whale, where its ribs were ceiling beams and its guts were carpeting. At this point, Colin was laying on the ground and so he needed a microphone brought to him by one of the stagehands, as you can see depicted in the photo below.
If you ever get the chance to see The Decemberists live, I would highly suggest that you do so. Their music is excellent on CD, but there is just such a different vibe to their concerts, especially the ones where you can stand right up in the front and practically touch them.
In short, this two-day musical festival, Travelers’ Rest, in Missoula, Montana, was probably the two best music-related days of my life. Yes, even better than the day I played the bari sax for the first time, or the day I joined marching band at UND. Hard to top those, I know, but it happened.
Thank you to The Decemberists for putting on such an amazing, Indie music-filled festival and for introducing some new band loves into my life. 🙂 🙂 🙂
North Dakota? Home to a desert? Who would have guessed that. North Dakota is fairly well known for it’s immense flatness and subzero coldness, which doesn’t quite fit the bill for what is traditionally thought of as a “desert.” Okay, so maybe North Dakota doesn’t quite have a desert, but it does have some pretty spectacular-looking Badlands in the southwest corner of the state.
This past weekend, I went camping in the Badlands of North Dakota with this guy named Dan. Dan and I have been hanging out for the past few months, and I think I can safely say that he is basically my only friend in Jamestown at the moment. Well, technically he is my boyfriend but that’s beside the point. Not that I’m 100% clear on what the point here is. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been working here since May and I haven’t made any friends other than the dietitian (who was also my preceptor at the State Hospital this past spring) I work with. And even so, she’s more of an aunt-like figure in my life rather than a friend. Making friends is hard, especially when you don’t have a great affinity toward most people, like I do.
Okay so now that we have covered the fact that I don’t have any friends, let’s get back to the camping trip.
We stayed in a campground outside of Medora, ND. If you’re wondering where Medora is, just find I-94 on a map and go approximately 25 miles east of the Montana-North Dakota boarder. It’s a good distance (as in 130 to 330 miles) from basically all larger cities besides Dickinson, but even Dickinson is 40 or so miles away. Medora sits right on the southern edge of the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Which is the only National Park in North Dakota. So that’s neat. National Parks are always fun. I honestly don’t know if people actually live in Medora or not, or if it is basically a summer tourist-trap town and people commute every day or live in housing during the busy season. Totally unsure. I guess I could have asked someone, but that would require interaction with another human being. So I’ll have to settle with never knowing. Which is fine.
Dan and I left Jamestown around 11 am on Friday morning. We arrived in Medora (after Google Maps took us on a super random dirt road that we definitely did not need to drive on, there were a lot of cattle on the road, which made for difficult driving. The scenery was breathtaking, however.) around 3:00 or so. And actually, we were planning on staying at Sully Creek State Park, which was about 2 miles south of Medora, but when we got there the park ranger told us that all of the campsites were full. Everything out there is non-reservable, and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Apparently there was some big bike race that weekend, and there were people from all over there to ride their bikes in either the 25 mile or the 100 mile bike race. Now, I enjoy riding my bicycle, but 100 miles seems excessive. If I were to hop on my bike right now, without any training, it would probably take me about 9-ish hours to go 100 miles. And that would be 9-ish hours without stopping. So, good for those people who spent their Saturday riding their bicycles for an inordinately large amount of miles; I spent mine sleeping in and looking at colorful dirt hills. But more of that in a moment.
The colorful dirt hills.
Dan and I set up the tent, which was much easier to assemble than the tent that I had when I went on my road trip out west with Sara and Jennifer. And Dan had totally offered us his tent but we decided to go with someone else’s tent, which was great but it definitely leaked. Dan’s tent, we found out that night, does not leak, which is a nice characteristic for a tent to have. It also has a fancy little porch area, screened in, of course, in which all of the shoes and dirt from the shoes can gather. This porch area also get super full of water when it rains, as the rain fly does not cover that particular part of the tent, but the designers of the tent kept this in mind and made sure that there is a handy way of removing any puddles from inside the tent. So, to make a long story short, Dan’s tent is a good tent, and does not leak. Actually I think this is the first time I have slept in a tent and not gotten wet. And I’ve gone camping a lot. I guess we just had bad luck with tents.
Okay, so tent was assembled, and we were hungry so we walked to town. Oh, yeah. So since the Sully Creek State Park sites were all full, we asked the Park Ranger where else we might stay. He gave us a few suggestions, and Dan called these suggestions. We managed to find a place to stay, at the Medora Campground. Which was conveniently located about half a mile from its namesake. So, Dan and I walked to the town and wandered around a bit. We had already decided that we would eat at a place called Badlands Pizza, because Dan loves pizza and requires pizza at least 2 times per week. We got there before the dinner rush, and we had nothing to do for the next two hours, so we got a pitcher of Summer Shandy and drank that, and then we got a bottle of Moscato, which we also drank. I am not a beer person in the slightest, but Summer Shandy was tolerable. The wine, however, was delicious. We ordered a pizza with vegetables, and it was spicy, so I did not enjoy it. I’m sure the average person would have not thought anything of the spice, but as the saying goes: “Swedes think milk is a spice.” I guess that fits, because I do not like spicy food. But my mom, who is 100% Swedish though and through, loves spicy food, so much so that she probably doesn’t even notice when it is spicy and so I have to specifically request that she not make food spicy to which I receive an eye roll and a mini-lecture on how spicy food is good for me. Yes, I am aware of the health benefits of spicy food, but that doesn’t change the fact that it hurts my tongue. So, for now, I will avoid spicy foods, lest my tongue fall off in protest.
After pizza and beer and wine (does pizza go with wine? We weren’t sure, but we also didn’t really care.), we made our way to the Medora Musical. Since we had been drinking, we decided to walk. It was only like, a mile and a half, but this mile included a rather large hill, which we had not been anticipating. We were offered a ride, once, but we declined. The walk was good for us, and it only took about half an hour.
The Medora Musical is a musical (who would have guessed) that is held every night during the summer. They do a different show every year, but the same show every night. It’s kind of a big deal, like, multiple-billboards-along-major-interstates-in-North Dakota-and-probably-Minnesota-and-maybe-South Dakota-kind-of-deal. Yeah. So, it was an experience, and my first time attending the Medora Musical will likely be my last. The singers were good, but it just wasn’t really my style. Too much country. Which I probably should have expected, but to be honest I didn’t really know what to expect. Anyway, I can now cross the Medora Musical off of the bucket list of things that I didn’t know I would ever have on a bucket list.
A nice photo of the outdoor amphitheater in Medora. I think they’re trying to channel a Hollywood-esk vibe.
So after the musical concluded, Dan and I walked back to our campsite. It was cold but we survived. Going downhill is incidentally much easier than going uphill. We made it to the tent, and shortly thereafter it started raining. Which is very pleasant when you know that the tent isn’t going to leak.
On Saturday, we got up and had breakfast and eventually got our act together enough to go do something. We decided to drive through the Theodore Roosevelt National Park since it was possibly going to rain more and we also had no idea what else to do in Medora. We could have played mini golf. Or real golf. But those require effort and besides, I’m not really good at golf, real or mini. So driving through the national park, to observe the beauty of the world while polluting it with carbon emissions from the vehicle, seemed the better option.
T. R. National Park is a lovely place, though. So many hills and so much dirt. Colorful dirt, though. I believe the rock that this area is known for is scoria. It’s a fancy red volcanic rock. Lovely. So, side note: I collect rocks, quite avidly. Not for any particular reason other than to clean them and place them in a jar with a label. I have approximately 70 some jars of rocks from places I have been. No clue what I am going to do with them, but for now I have a good shelf at my parent’s house in Minnesota for them to rest upon. Anyway, the national park. It was a good 40-ish mile loop around the South Unit of the park, and we stopped occasionally for photos. We stopped at this one place, called Wind Canyon. It was, you guessed it, a canyon with the Missouri River flowing through it, and several rock formations with fancy holes in them from the wind being powerful and windy and forming said holes. It was rather neat.
Hey look, it’s Wind Canyon! And the Missouri River.
The fancy holes made by the fierce wind.
And the lovely rocks I was able to choose from.
Probably the most-neat part about this little area was the fact that we could get down to the river. It was about a quarter-mile trek along a cow-path, which quite possibly could have been fraught with rattlesnakes but that did not even cross my mind. I was super focused on collecting rocks. Now, I realize that this probably wasn’t the most legal thing I’ve ever done, seeing as I was trespassing  on protected land and such. But hey, needs must. I collected my rocks and we made our way back to the car, sans rattlesnake interference, and continued on our merry way. We drove around some (mega) curves and Dan was like, why do you speed up when you go around a curve and I was like, because it’s awesome. So that’s how that went.
Please enjoy these photos featuring the North Dakota Badlands.
And because I can’t go anywhere without taking pictures of flowers and/or grass:
Do you see the Missouri River hiding behind this scraggly-looking sunflower? 🙂
We made it back to our campsite and decided to nap, which turned into a 2.5 hour sleep. And then we were hungry so we went back into town for more pizza. And we had the same waiter from South Africa. And of course he remembered us. Also we happened to sit in the same booth as we had the night before. But the pizza was 100% times better, as we got a cheese and mushroom pizza, with half pepperoni because Dan needed to have meat on his pizza. Which means it wasn’t spicy, so my mouth was happy. We had more wine and got pleasantly drunk. We were walking around Medora at like, 10 pm and “apparently” I was being “rambunctious” because I was doing “crow pose” in the “street.” Improper use of quotation marks? Of course not. But maybe.
We made our way back to the tent and then it started raining, again. And the tent did not leak, again. Which was nice. And then Sunday came and we packed everything up and headed back to Jamestown. It was a good adventure in the desert-y hills of North Dakota, the existence of which I feel the majority of people are not aware of.
Another thing you may or may not be aware of:
NORTH DAKOTA GROWS ITS OWN CACTI. LIKE, WHAT? They were the cutest little cacti and I really really really wanted to take one but Dan said no. He said that it wanted to stay in the ground and that I would likely kill it during transport from its natural dirt home to a new fake dirt home. So I reluctantly moved on. After taking some pictures, of course. 🙂
We began our long and arduous journey home at 10 am, Pacific time, after a weird and somewhat cryptic conversation with the store keeper. We preferred his wife, she was a nice woman. This dude was odd as heck. Anyway.
We woke up at 9 and packed up the tent and repacked the car, and then we were off! On the road back out to Ilwaco, we saw A MAMA BLACK BEAR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. Oh boy did we get excited. And then, we looked to the right and there, in the tree, just chillin’, was a little black bear cub! We died, he was so cute. We sat there for about 3 minutes, and then he climbed away and we also climbed away, except we were in a car so it was more like we drove away.
The little bebe black bear! Be still, my heart.Â
We drove north on Highway 101 for a while, and then I think we took something that may have been a highway 18 or a highway 7. Either way, it took us to I-5, which led directly to I-90. After that it was a straight shot west; it could not have been any easier. We stopped on occasion to use the bathroom, to get some food, and to stretch our legs, which usually happened because the one of the first two were occurring. I drove from literally the coast of Washington all the way to Billings, Montana. A solid 17 hours of driving through two and a half states (I’m totally counting the 80 miles we drove in Idaho as a state) under my belt. After a brief stop in Billings, we continued on our merry way. Jennifer drove from Billings to Dickinson, ND, and then I continued dirving all the way back to Grand Forks. In retrospect, that was probably not a great idea, me driving for like, a bazillion hours with little-to-no sleep. But hey we didn’t die, so score one for us!
We made it back to Grand Forks around 5 pm on Saturday, and by 8 pm we were back on the road. Sara was driving this time; we packed her car and took off for the cities. I curled up in the back seat and slept for about an hour and a half or so, bringing my grand total of hours slept in the past 36 to about two. Woo!
The three of us made it to the cities around 1 am, and after Sara and I said our goodbyes to dear Jennifer, we made our way south to our MN home. We arrived around 3 am, and we didn’t even bother to unpack any of our things. We practically fell into our beds and passed out until 1 pm on Sunday.
The following week was one of rest and recuperation. Sara and I didn’t do much, other than go on long walks and watch American Horror Story: Hotel. If you haven’t seen it, you definitely should. Lady Gaga is queen.
And with that, the saga of our super epic road trip is done. It was a really freaking awesome week, full of mountains and forests and oceans, and while I did put 3700 miles on my Jeep I’m gonna go ahead and say it was totally worth it.
Thanks Jen and Sara, for proving to me that we are adult enough to handle a road trip on our own. Till the next one! 🙂
Oh yeah, here are some more photos of flowers. You’re welcome.
I believe this is Foxglove, it was near the coastal trail but since I only had a dead camera at the time I had to come back before we left Cape Disappointment and snap a few photos.Â
This is Coastal Rhododendron, which is the state flower of Washington. Oh my, were they ever in bloom this year! So flipping gorgeous, in colors ranging from red to purple to orange to pink.Â
I don’t know what this is, but I’m okay with that.Â
Oh, also here’s some moss. I’ll just leave this here for you.
UGH IT MADE ME SO HAPPY TO SEE THEM LIVE I JUST WANT TO GO TO ALL OF THEIR CONCERTS AND SING SUPER LOUDLY TO ALL OF THEIR SONGS WHICH I ALREADY DID BUT I WANT TO DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN.
At 6:20 pm we went to go stand in line (after resuming our stance at the table, this time with beer and peanuts – see above photo), and the line was a decent length but we weren’t too far back. We stood there and tried to eat peanut with one hand while holding a beer in the other, all the while holding onto the vinyl records (which are rather large), and it was just an all-around struggle. Eventually, at 6:40 pm or so, the line began moving. People went into the building relatively normal and came out with tears or hyperventilation.
T. R. National Park is a lovely place, though. So many hills and so much dirt. Colorful dirt, though. I believe the rock that this area is known for is scoria. It’s a fancy red volcanic rock. Lovely. So, side note: I collect rocks, quite avidly. Not for any particular reason other than to clean them and place them in a jar with a label. I have approximately 70 some jars of rocks from places I have been. No clue what I am going to do with them, but for now I have a good shelf at my parent’s house in Minnesota for them to rest upon. Anyway, the national park. It was a good 40-ish mile loop around the South Unit of the park, and we stopped occasionally for photos. We stopped at this one place, called Wind Canyon. It was, you guessed it, a canyon with the Missouri River flowing through it, and several rock formations with fancy holes in them from the wind being powerful and windy and forming said holes. It was rather neat.
We made it back to our campsite and decided to nap, which turned into a 2.5 hour sleep. And then we were hungry so we went back into town for more pizza. And we had the same waiter from South Africa. And of course he remembered us. Also we happened to sit in the same booth as we had the night before. But the pizza was 100% times better, as we got a cheese and mushroom pizza, with half pepperoni because Dan needed to have meat on his pizza. Which means it wasn’t spicy, so my mouth was happy. We had more wine and got pleasantly drunk. We were walking around Medora at like, 10 pm and “apparently” I was being “rambunctious” because I was doing “crow pose” in the “street.” Improper use of quotation marks? Of course not. But maybe.
Another thing you may or may not be aware of:
NORTH DAKOTA GROWS ITS OWN CACTI. LIKE, WHAT? They were the cutest little cacti and I really really really wanted to take one but Dan said no. He said that it wanted to stay in the ground and that I would likely kill it during transport from its natural dirt home to a new fake dirt home. So I reluctantly moved on. After taking some pictures, of course. 🙂
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