We Have Reached Pacific Standard Time (barely)

We are camped out at a hotel  in Elko, Nevada. This is my first new state on the drive and our 12th since departing last Friday. It was a wild day driving up to Big Sky on our way out of Bozeman and we hit a snowfall. 

The day started with the agreement that we would not rush out of Bozeman. We both needed our rest. I checked in with work and we downloaded iOS 7 onto our phones. It was like Christmas! We took our time getting prepared to leave and watched some tv and rested. 

We had our trusty stuffed praying mantis that Dana gave us as a parting gift at lunch today. She is protecting us on the last leg to San Rafael. 

Big Sky was gorgeous as usual and the rainy weather provided incredible colors and views. Here's a view of the golf course on the drive into Big Sky. 

We could almost see all of Lone Peak. This shows our view and then a quick selfie that is a bit over exposed:( The peak is only hardly visible behind us. 

There was some serious snow. The flowers at the resort were not quite ready for it. 

Here's another shot from up at Big Sky. 

And another. 

Here we are with our feet in the snow. 

We bought a postcard for Ava and took our time driving out. Our next stop was West Yellowstone. We got gas next to a fellow New Yorker and began our journey out of stunning and magnetic Montana. The drive through Idaho proved to be pretty fascinating. Once we hit Yellowstone we were driving in slushy rain. We kept saying how crazy and diverse the weather has been on this whole trip. Idaho was wild and the sun was like a dream. I'm not sure we can top some of our views from this part of the journey. 

At some point true delirium hit and we discussed skipping our stop in Elko and trying to power through but that became increasingly more unrealistic as we approached the Nevada border. We hit it and pacific time and began to dream of a few hours sleep. Stewie also needed food, water and a breather. We don't have any photos of Nevada to share since we hit it in the dark. We did see a shooting star and the almost full moon lit up the sky and the interior of the car. 

Before hitting Elko we heard from Dave. He is in a sea of boxes and wanted to know if I could help him locate the remote to our sleep number bed in our guest room. Hilarity ensued as we tried to search for a needle in a haystack in CA while driving through Nevada. No such luck. 

The alarm is set for 5:00 tomorrow. Our last leg takes us across Nevada and out through Reno. We will drive right over Lake Tahoe and eventually into the Bay Area in early afternoon. It still feels like I'm just on a long drive. The full re-location will hopefully set in when I see my stuff in the house and see that Dave is settled. I'm excited and ready to start a new chapter in a calmer and more peaceful place. We have a house and access to so many amazing things. 

6.5 hours til we takeoff from Elko. One big (but not last) shout out to Jenni for making this journey with me. It is so great not being alone but most especially comforting to have her here. You have been so good to me and Stewie. You appreciate the beauty of the entire trip and the various characters we saw along the way. You also respect the huge transition that I'm about to make. It is much easier with you here. We have laughed a lot and I cannot thank you enough for taking time out of your own life and time away from Ava to make the trek. Let's make the most of your first visit to Northern CA. 

Until tomorrow . . . 

Back in Bozeman

Stewie never left a certain corner beneath my bed last night. I could hardly sleep. I was restless and worried about him. When Jenni woke up she hadn't slept well either. We couldn't figure out what was so uncomfortable about sleeping in this gorgeous place in the middle of the Big Sky. 

Look at this view from when I woke up this morning. 

We headed to breakfast and made several calls to find a spot in Bozeman that would let us check in early. We needed out of Chico. Once a room had been confirmed we decided to get out of there. 

Before going Jenni spotted some tee pees she wanted to photograph as inspiration. I visited the horses. My mom and I had a horse for years and I forgot how amazing those big creatures are. I met a half mule/half horse named Solomon. He was such a big love. Note the mule sized face and head. 

This guy snuggled me a bunch. I felt like I could take a huge deep breath when I visited them. What is more Montana than these boys?

We hit the road to Bozeman after Jenni coaxed Stewie out from under the bed. I'm not sure I could have done it. 

The ride to Bozeman was rainy but of course something to look at. Once checked in at a normal hotel Stewie seemed fine. I told Jenni perhaps the room at Chico had bad smells or maybe it was haunted?

Dana picked us up and brought us to her house. She kindly allowed us to do a huge load of laundry. We had lofty plans of driving up to Big Sky but the rain and the timing were both not working in our favor. We did a quick lunch at McKenzie River. Toured Jenni through Main Street and did a short but necessary hike up Pete's Hill. It began to clear up and we could see the Bridgers. It felt so good to look out at the old town. It is also strange to see how much it has changed since I was here 15 years ago. 

A quick (unchanged) view from our hike

Dana toured us around Black Bull where her husband Bert works. It's a golf community in Bozeman. Dave would go nuts over it. Luckily we will be much closer to Montana now and can hopefully visit more frequently. It really is one my my most favorite places. We mentioned to Dana that the hotel was creepy and she decided to finally tell us it's haunted. It's not just a little haunted. Everyone knows AND evidently there's a "white lady" who used to own it. Not only can she be found in a rocking chair in room #44 (not our room) but she has also been spotted playing piano in the lobby. Like in broad daylight. 

Thanks for letting us know after we checked out Dana. 

The moving truck arrived in San Rafael today. Dave has everything he needs but its all packed up in boxes. We are really looking forward to seeing him and all getting settled a bit in one place. 

We are back at our hotel debating what the last leg should be tomorrow new are open to suggestions. Salt lake? Elko, NV? 

Bi just called to check in on us. We can't wait to see him. I told him about our experience last night and Stewie's  behavior. He researched the hotel at Chico and said, "I'm really glad you both didn't read about this place before you stayed there. It's super haunted. There's a list of haunted rooms there. Tons of them. "

Off for Mexican food with Dana and her family. We are so lucky to have another home cooked meal. 

Signing off from gorgeous gorgeous Montana. 

Chicago in 12 hours. You can do it too.

We are in Chicago. It was a trek & we are hungry & tired but happy to all be settled. So many good food options and perfect early fall weather. 

Stewie has been great and is an incredible passenger. At least for leg 1. More tomorrow. Adventures here then off to Minnesota to see the Matters. Day 1 adjourned. 

- B

The 39th State and the Big Sky

Today was long. We drove 14 hours and it was a solid day of driving through nothingness in North Dakota until we hit Eastern Montana. It is so good to be back here but we have had strange weather. The plan was to drive 982 miles from  Minnesota to Bozeman, MT. We decided to get off the interstate early and book a night at Chico Hot Springs in A small town called Pray.

Oh and every time that Jenni drives, it rains. 

Here's a panoramic on the last leg of ND. We ended up at Roosevelt National Park. Pretty awesome. 

Selfie

I appreciated this sign. 

Stewie hoped to take over & get us to CA faster. 

One of the first gorgeous sights when we hit Montana. I took this from the front seat and out the back window but its a stunner. 

So then we pass Billings and we are getting closer to our exit and more delirious. A huge rain storm begins as soon as Jenni starts driving. Thank you Matt Matter for the rainex yesterday. It saved us. But Montana put on a beautiful show for Jenni's first visit. It was complete with pink skies. Purple reflections on the clouds. Lightning that lit up the area for miles and dark puffy grey clouds. 

We hit the Livingston exit and we had 23 miles to go. It seemed like we were driving right into the bad weather.  We arrive at Chico in a downpour. Jenni drives me to the registration desk and a crazy hail storm slams the resort. We couldn't move. It was loud, intense  and about 4 minutes long. Here's what we were left with. 

We ventured to the saloon. It sure felt like Montana in there. We had some dinner and a couple old fashioneds and headed out to Chico's hot spring pool. Here is where we ended a very long day. 

Touring Bozeman tomorrow's we are getting awfully close to CA. 

We FaceTimed with Ava and my mom. We talked to Mark Ferrandini. Anyone can call at anytime. I'm pretty sure we will be up for talking. 

Goodnight from Pray, MT. 

fear and loathing part 2

so, brie fills you in on our progress and i fill you in on the behind the scenes. let's talk skydeck. i had no idea about my girl's ridiculous fear of heights. it was her idea why would i think anything could go wrong? although for entertainment purposes everything went so right. she decided to tell me about this issue as we're on the 103rd floor, what?! i stepped out on the cube cuz obv im super brave, but i wont lie i was tingly taking that first step. its crazy. looking down is intense, realizing there arent any lower support beams is intense, watching people lie down on the cube for a photo op is intense. however, this one over here was crazy town. she, for some reason, decided that lying down would be her best option. sure. but im supportive, so i say go for it. ohhh boy. she lies down ON THE CARPET with, in my memory, one strand of hair touching the cube. im looking around to see who is watching this cuz her placement on the floor and her proximity to the cube is beyond ridiculous. it was like she had a seizure watching the other people and just dropped in place. but the sad thing was she was being so brave so i couldnt mock her. i just let her lie there and i took her picture...

so that happened. 

if you look closely you will see that it wasnt as dramatic as my recollection. more than just one strand of hair is on the cube, but everything below her shoulder blades is on solid ground. 

another awesome thing happened. i saw this guy: 

i had to run after him to get the shot and i wished it was better, but alas i had to settle for an action shot. until...

we got in line to go back down BEHIND HIM! how lucky can one girl get?! note: those shorts would be short on us and we're barely 5 feet tall. he was 6.5 feet tall (brie shown for scale). a visit to ANY public place is not the time to pull out your daisy dukes, but especially not if its cold enough to need your windbreaker and leather boots with socks. sorry dude this is all wrong. he's clearly a nevernude. 

some other things i like...

the street sign for the aforementioned gentleman's home

this little lady taking a picture of the ticket booth. her husband also took video of everything including all of us waiting in line. 

two of the worlds oldest remaining women. driving. 

10,000 Lakes

First I would like to point out that contrary to that awful recount of my one strand of hair hanging 103 stories over Chicago, I did loosen up and walk out onto that thing. Note the photos from my last post. It's scary as hell.

So we arrived in Minnesota in a rain storm listening to La Isla Bonita.  Madonna is genius in times of great stress. Barb and Matt had mixed fresh juice margaritas and they were not weak. We each had one and then Barb broke a glass. She will read this and be mad at me. :)

We had a delicious chicken dinner with Minnesota wild rice. It was followed by Barbs famous desserts. See below. If you've had the pleasure of trying the angel food cake ice cream dessert or her ice cream sandwich extravaganza you are lucky. If not, drive X-Country. Stop here. I dare you to say no.

We slept hard in the cave here in Ham Lake. We didn't see the cat the whole night. That guy was busy til dawn. 

The 4 of us had an amazing brunch in an area called Kenwood. The restaurant was also called Kenwood. Here are Jenni and Matt gabbing over salmon benedict and duck confit hash. 

We drove around the lakes and ended up at the Guthrie Museum so that we could show Jenni the Mississippi. My mom loves to spell that out loud by the way. Like she's a proud 2nd grader. 

The view from outside the Guthrie. Stone Bridge & the Mississippi

View from FL 9 at the Guthrie - the walls are yellow this 9th floor viewing area. 

Jenni & Matt

B, J, & M

Here's a quick view of MSP over Lake Calhoun

Jenni and I took a walk around the Majestic Oaks golf course. Behind the houses you will find a fairy forest. We knew Ava would love it. Here's a sneak peek at the fairy magic. 

Here's a shot of Stewie being bad. Look at that mouth. 

Upon returning from our walk we discovered Matt detailing my car. Thank god. Things were looking rough and we have 982 miles to drive tomorrow. Next stop Montana. I can't wait to see my friend Dana and my old town. More from North Dakota tomorrow. That's when this blog should get real. We hear you lose your mind out there. 

Gotta run. Steak dinner is ready. Goodnight friends. 

Fear & Loathing at the Skydeck

We started the day having an early breakfast at Beatrix at our hotel. Delicious. This is what people do when they go to bed at 9:30 the night prior. 

We took a taxi to the Sears Tower. That's what I call it. That's what it is. Who is Willis anyways? We took the 103 flight elevator to the top to view Lake Michigan and the entire skyline of Chicago. 

I will let Jenni tell you the rest. Only then you can understand the title of this post. 

Stewie behaved at the hotel and we slept well. Sneaking him in and out was not fun. The hotel room wallpaper was basically made of cat scratching post material. Jenni put the hair dryer on last night and Stewie climbed up the corner of one of the walls like a lemur. Thank god for cat calming oil. 

The views at the sky deck were pretty phenomenal. There were a lot of idiots there though. 

Scary. 

We just left Madison, WI. Here's what we ate. Mmmmm . . . Curds. 

And here's what we are looking at driving through this cheese state. 

Looking forward to visits with Barb & Matt for two nights. We will sleep hard. Eat a bunch and prepare for our drive to Montana. 

Ham Lake bound. Corn everywhere.