St. Louis, Louisville, HOME!

I apologize for being way behind on updates! The Jameson Hotel in Louisville did not have good internet, and then we got home, and you know...
Anyway, last Wednesday, we drove to St. Louis and decided to do some sightseeing. We had lunch and then walked over to the Gateway Arch.

 Hey! There's Lewis and Clark heading on their trip west. And by the way, I learned that Lewis and Clark did NOT name the Grand Tetons after boobies. A Frenchman did. Of course. Shameless.

Mom and I took a riverboat tour on the Mississippi:

                                    

It was called the "Tom Sawyer."

There's my car. All alone in the parking garage:

Lots of bridges across the Mississippi:

 The arch seen from the water:

 A pretty swift current:

A former WWII mine sweeper that sunk in the 1993 flood:

 After the boat ride, we went inside the arch. There is a tram that takes you to the top. It's not for the claustrophobic. Four people have to fit inside this little bubble. It reminds me of the little egg that Dr. Evil and Mr. Bigglesworth sit in in the movie Austen Powers.
At the top, you can look West, wear we've been:

 And East, where we were heading:

 Here's the levy:

 And the line that measures the river's height. (Or depth?) That sign says: 9ft and falling.

 A cool picture of the arch, curtesy of mom:

 And then we hit the road again. We crossed the Mississippi into Illinois:

 Then Indiana. And we spent the night outside of Louisville. Thursday, we drove back to Virginia, and back home! The landscape became more and more familiar. This is a great time of year to drive through the mountains of ole' Virginny!
We finally got home around 10 or so. Dad was happy to see us. We were also greeted by the cats: Abby and Jude. I'd never met Jude before. He was rescued by my family while I was gone. He was in tiny abandoned kitty. Mom nursed him back to health. I like him. He's like a little boy child.
The weather has been so nice since I got home. It's normal weather, but I haven't experienced it in a while. I just want to spend as much time outside as possible.
My second day home, Dad taught me how to drive a tractor. And Uncle Lee let me rake a field of hay. These Wagstaffs just throw you into this kind of thing. Baptism by fire.

 That's me! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 And my friend Seth made Jambalaya as a welcome home dinner:

It's good to be HOME!

Not in Kansas anymore...

We started the morning in Colorado, we're ending the day in Missouri. We drove through the entire state of Kansas today.

This is Kansas:

 The western part of Kansas was flat, dry, and covered in fields: corn, milo, etc. There was not a single cloud in the sky today. I swear to you, I could turn around 360 degrees and there were no clouds for miles. It was also incredibly windy today. Nothing was shielding us from it, so I could feel the wind buffeting the car around. And since it was dry, the wind blew dust all over the place. We were driving through a tan haze for most to the day.
Some grain elevators/storage, a corn field, and dust:

 A "nodding donkey" and some more dust:

 A small town in dust:

 We stopped for a picnic lunch at a rest area. The wind was blowing at 25 mph. Sustained. We tried to sit with our backs to the wind. We probably looked really silly. Sitting in a gale or something.
But once we got across the state, the scenery changed a little and the wind died down. Rolling hills and some trees:

 We had a pretty good day of driving. A lot of miles, but it went by pretty fast. We listened to Terry Gross "Fresh Air" podcasts for entertainment.
We arrived in Concordia, Missouri around 8 pm and decided that barbecue was in order. We stopped at the Smokehouse and got baby-back ribs:

Tomorrow, we'll be driving through St. Louis. And possibly all the way to Louisville, Kentucky. We're getting closer to home!

<3

Wild, Wooly, and Windy

The name of the game was MILEAGE today. We traveled about 600 miles through Wyoming and Colorado. It was a long drive, but we never got bored. We drove through semi-arid grasslands, rocky desert plains, and grassy rangeland.
Here's some pasture with lots of sagebrush, a mesa in the background:

 I'll have you know that these extraordinary pictures were taken from the passenger seat while mom drove 70 mph down the highway.
A butte in the distance:

Mom likes to call this technique of photographing "drive by shooting." (I'm told this technique was perfected by David Buchanan. But can he do it at 70 mph?!)

 We were very excited to see more windmills in Wyoming. I still think they are incredible. We also saw quite a few oil wells. Ironic juxtaposition. We couldn't remember what the well pumps were called.

(from Google)

According to Google: pump jack, jack pump, thirsty bird and my personal favorite: nodding donkey.
A wind farm:

 After a long morning drive, we stopped in Laramie, WY for lunch. We drove downtown and parked the car in front of a cute wool shop. We decided to check it out. Jenny does a lot of the dying and weaving herself. She had lots of beautiful yarn, even some from Laramie sheep and llamas. I was inspired. I am going to start knitting again. And I can't go back on my word because we spent a lot of money on wool. Mom picked out some kashmir and Laramie alpaca. I got some hand-dyed, hand-spun "slub" yarn and Laramie llama. We're staying warm this winter. And classy.
Jenny the weaver also recommended a good lunch spot: the Coal Creek cafe. The sign on the door said: "Home to malcontents, revolutionaries, and do-gooders of all types..." We got soups and sandwiches and iced tea. It was really delicious.
Then we hit the road again. We passed more rangeland and some four-legged creatures.
Pronghorns:

 Horses:

And then we entered Colorado. We could see the Rockies to the west. We drove through lots of flat farmland. We saw corn fields, pumpkin patchs, windmills...Mom realized that she has an affinity for cloud formations. Or maybe she's just easily amused?
And now we're in Limon, Colorado. We were pretty warn out from the drive and just wanted to get an easy dinner to eat in the room. We got Fritos and sour cream. A wholesome choice: dairy and grain. We're supporting the local corn economy.
You know, a trip like this is a rare gem. It's not often that you can spend this kind of quality time with your mom. In fact, I've learned a lot about my mom tonight. As we sat on the floor eating our grand meal, mom said, "At least this is better than Oreos" and started laughing. I asked what was so funny. She then confessed that when my sister and I were small children, she brought us home after a long day at work and was so tired, that she gave us Oreos for dinner. She said she still feels guilty for that. I just want to say that after hearing that story, I love her even more.
Tomorrow, we will be driving through Kansas. I expect to see lots of corn fields, but I will not be supporting the local economy. I am through with Fritos.

Peace!

Idaho, Montana, Wyoming...

We've had an eventful two days. Saturday, we covered about 500 miles: the Idaho panhandle and Western Montana. My boss John grew up in Western Montana, so he gave us some advice on where to go. He directed us away from busy highway 90 to some smaller highways and gravel roads. We had beautiful weather all day, and we took some great pictures.
Montana, Big Sky Country:

 Smoke from a wildfire blowing across the top of the ridge:

 Ranch land:

 Late afternoon sun:

We drive as far as possible and made it to Lima, MT. It was the only town for miles and it had one motel and one restaurant. We woke up early this morning so that we would have plenty of time to see Yellowstone and Grand Teton.
From Lima, we drove down near the Montana/Idaho border and followed a gravel road through the countryside, toward West Yellowstone. It was raining on and off but we got a good rainbow picture:

 Then we finally got to Yellowstone. The park is huge. And weird. There's steam rising up from the earth all over the place. Yellowstone was once a volcano. Back in the day, it exploded, creating a huge crater that makes up a large portion of the park. grassland and forest has grow over the crater, but there is still something bubbling below.
The "Artist's Paint Pots." Colorful pools of steaming hot mineral water:

 You can't tell from this picture, but that little guy was gurgling and throwing up boiling mud:

 More paint pots:

 A typical sight in Yellowstone:

My car among some crazy boulders:

 The landscape of Yellowstone: grassy and woods.

 Mom and Old Faithful. We waited a long time to see the geyser blow. She's not as faithful anymore; harder to predict.

 We almost gave up. But then we saw the eruption!

 After Old Faithful, we made our way south to Grand Teton National Park:

 When Lewis and Clark were on their expedition they stumbled upon these mountains and declared them "grand tetons" (big boobies.) I think they had spent a little too much time in the wilderness up to that point. They were probably both giggling like school girls:

 On our way south through the park, we saw a bunch of cars by the side of the road. Everyone was taking pictures of this female moose:

 And her mate:

I snapped a picture, then got out of there. Some of those crazy fools were getting too close.
We had a nice dinner in Jackson Hole, WY. After driving a while in the dark along a scary Wyoming highway, we decided to sleep in Pinedale. Tomorrow, we're headed to Colorado.