Jill and Brad's Excellent Adventure

Alright, so I'm back and I'd like to finish up with the details of our cross country trip. After we spent a night in Missoula, we made our way to Idaho Falls. We stopped in Dillon, MT to say hello to our most favorite outlet ever - Patagonia! This Patagonia Outlet has been extremely kind to us because we frequently order from their weekly specials and the sales people are over-the-top helpful on the phone and the prices can not be beat. It was really fun to actually see what the outlet looks like after spending so much time with the sales associates on the phone. Much to my dismay, I did not find anything I needed, but Brad did get a polo shirt and swim trunks. After Dillon, we headed into Idaho Falls where Brad found a great hotel room through Hotwire which was right across the street from the falls. Our room was huge so we decided to set up our wet tent to dry it out from the flood that occurred in Glacier. We had dinner at a new restaurant down the street and then went for a walk on the trails next to the falls.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast at the hotel and then began our drive to City of Rocks. We stopped into the visitor center at City of Rocks to get some hiking maps, found our campsite, set up camp, then went for a hike. We got a little lost on our hike (which was my fault) but we eventually found our way. It wouldn't be a true cross country trip without getting lost at least once! After our hike, we were dirty and thirsty so we stopped at a general store to get some gatorade and water and I persuaded Brad to go to Durfee Hot Springs down the street. The hot springs were divine! There were 3 pools with varying temperatures and we spent most of our time in the medium hot pool. It was a relaxing time in the hot spring as we talked to a local who couldn't believe we were from Rhode Island.

One view of City of Rocks

We really enjoyed our campsite at City of Rocks. Our campsite had some really cool rock formations surrounding it and we enjoyed our chipmunk neighbor as we cooked dinner.

Brad liked the craters/bowls that had formed atop some of the rocks.

After dinner we wanted to use our tripod to take a picture of us on one of the rocks near our picnic table.  It was quite a task for me to press the timer then climb up the rock in less than 10 seconds...you'll see what I mean...

Brad is solo because my attempt at sitting next to him failed.

Another fail.

I swear I'm trying.

Fail yet again.

Almost there.

Finally!

The next morning we packed up our site and then met our climbing instructor, Bree at 9 am. We followed Bree to a climbing spot called 5 peaks (I think that was the name). We got harnessed up and got a rundown on how to climb and then it was our turn to scale the rocks. I went first since I had a little experience in a rock gym before (although that was in college), but the beginner climb wasn't hard and I quickly got the hang of it. Brad picked up climbing with extreme ease and we quickly moved over to some more challenging climbs. Our instructor, Bree was fantastic and couldn't believe how well we were doing for first-timers. She even let us tie our own knots, which made me super nervous the first time I rappelled on my own knot! Overall the climbing experience was awesome and a great way to end our cross country trip.

Brad was a natural at climbing.

Bree challenged us to use the crack.

At about noon, we left Idaho and headed for SLC.  It wasn't a far drive and we were antsy to get into our house and settle down.  On our way to our new home, we stopped by the storage unit and picked up my Subaru.  We arrived at our home at around 3:30 and after unpacking both cars and organizing a little we were beat.  We ordered some pizza and called it a night. 

Welcome to Utah!!

So there you have it, folks - Jill and Brad's Excellent Adventure! 

In other news, I got hired to be a cashier at Whole Foods in Park City yesterday!  I'm excited to have a job and even more excited to get that WF's discount. :)  Over the weekend, Brad and I plan to shop for mountain bikes, possibly check out Park City, go for a long ride, and try out a new restaurant.  On Monday, Brad will officially start his fellowship and I'll be starting my training for Whole Foods soon.

Cheers!

Glacier Hikes

I'm going to try to finish up our cross country trip adventures soon, so I can start updating on more recent happenings for Brad and I.

We were excited about all the hiking opportunities in Glacier.  Our first hike was to Snyder Lake which was about 9 miles round trip.  We traveled next to the Snyder Creek for most of the hike, but we could only hear it - the trail never actually got close enough so that we could see it.  Nonetheless, it was a really nice hike that had a lot of tree cover.  About half way up our ascent, we came across some bear scat smack in the middle of the trail!  So, as we continued on, we clapped our way up the trail (which is recommended so you don't startle any bears).  We never came across the bear, but we did find Snyder Lake to be beautiful and serene.  We ate our lunch on a rock on the lake shore and watched the waterfalls of snow melt cascading off the mountains above us.  We also saw a mother duck taking her babies out for a swim lesson which was very cute.

After our hike, we were hot and sweaty, so we decided to stop along McDonald Creek.  The water seemed so refreshing, we decided to find a swimming spot on Lake McDonald.  We changed into our swim suits and since I can't even begin to describe how pristine the lake water is, we grabbed our goggles too.  We thought the water would be shockingly cold (it is snow melt after all), but it was endurable and super refreshing.  It was amazing how much we could see underwater with our goggles. Unfortunately, after we got out of the water and were drying out in the sun, the flies found us, so we couldn't stay for too long.

The next day we got up really early since our hike started in Many Glacier which meant we had to drive the Going to the Sun Road, then exit the park through the St. Mary entrance, drive north and then re-enter the park through the Many Glacier entrance. We had really wanted to hike the Grinnell Glacier trail, but it was closed to hikers that didn't have ice picks and crampons.  We knew our Iceberg Lake hike (10 mile roundtrip) would be crowded, but the hike would be worth it - and we were right.We had amazing views all along the trail; it was really super!  We had to cross numerous rushing creeks and there were wildflowers blooming all over (Kindness to Paul and Janet Blankenhorn for giving us their wildflower field guide of western North America - we have been using it a lot to identify (or trying to identify) flowers we have seen). The drive took us longer than we expected (about 3 hours) so we got a later start than we would have liked, but had we been on the trail about 20 minutes earlier, it is likely we would have come across four bears - at least that's what hikers we passed told us.  The last 3/4 mile of our hike to Iceberg Lake was in the snow.  It was really fun to be sliding around in the slush and of course a few snowballs were thrown.  Iceberg Lake was beautiful.  It was mostly still frozen and chunks of snow were still falling off the rock walls into the lake.  We had lunch on the lake edge, butdidn't stay too long since it was really crowded.   

We saw mountain goats hanging around construction equipment on our way to Many Glacier.

Sorry, I can't figure out how to make this picture vertical.

A view along our hike.

Standing above Iceberg Lake.

On our 3 hour drive back, we planned to go swimming again, but we drove into an intense rain/hail storm - to the point where we had to pull over because we couldn't see the road.  We were concerned about our campsite, so we drove directly back to our tent and sure enough, our tent had flooded since our campsite was slightly downhill.  We planned to stay in Glacier for one more night and leave the next morning, but our sleeping bags were soaked as well as our tent so we made the executive decision to pack up and head to Missoula for the night.  I need to run some errands.  I will try to finish up our trip later today, so stay tuned!

Corvette Convoy

Day 4: After packing up our campsite at Badlands, we drove to see Mt Rushmore.  We made a quick pit stop to see the monument since it was very touristy.  We also found ourselves surrounded by multiple convoys of Corvettes ever since we left Sioux Falls and we weren't quite sure what to think of it. 

We then made our way to Custer State Park.  We had a long, but beautiful drive to our campsite once we entered the park.  We drove on Needles Highway which has really spectacular scenery.  You can see from my pictures below why it is called Needles Highway.  We found our campsite and I was not too thrilled with the fly situation.  There was a swarm big enough that you could hear the buzzing, and those buggers were ruthless!  It was a hot day and we wanted to escape the flies, so we decided to check out the lake, go for a swim, have lunch, and then decide on a hike.  The lake was very refreshing, but was extremely crowded around the lake shore.  We hoped that we wouldn't run into crowds on the trail.  We decided on Little Devils Tower hike and while the view from the top was amazing, the trail was extremely hot and not shaded.  Unfortunately, the pine trees in the area were exposed to pine beetles and a huge section of the forest was affected.  In order to combat the disease, Custer State Park is trying to chop down the affected trees and use them for lumber so that the beetle larvae cannot survive and affect even more trees.  For dinner, we had bought really great steaks to grill while we were in Sioux Falls, but the flies were so horrible we had to gobble them down before we were eaten alive.  Custer is a beautiful park, but we wanted to get away from the flies as soon as possible.

The "needles."

A view from our hike.



The two intrepid hikers.

 Day 5:  We packed up our campsite at Custer and made our way to Devil's Tower, WY.  We were surrounded by Corvettes, yet again.  Devil's Tower is really a sight to see.  It was a beautiful bluebird day and I loved the contrast of the blue sky with the incredible tower.  Brad and I took the trail that circles the base of the tower and it was really cool to walk around it.  There were a number of climbers half way through their ascent.  It was fascinating to see.  We passed Prairie Dog Town on our way out and I couldn't get over how cute and playful the prairie dogs were. 

A view of Devil's Tower from the park entrance.

If you look closely you can see a climber on the Tower.

The columns on the Tower are actually hexagons formed by cooled lava.

Prairie Dogs are so cute!

As we were leaving Devils Tower we encountered a woman wearing a T-shirt that described the 40th annual Sioux Falls Corvette classic.  On our way to Bozeman, MT, we looked up the event and it looks like it is a several day Corvette event that tours South Dakota.  We were just lucky enough to spend most of our time in South Dakota surrounded by Corvettes.  The Jeep held its own though.  Bozeman was such a treat! After showering in our nice hotel room we found on Priceline, we went out to eat at Montana Ale Works as recommended by Yelp.  Brad had a bison burger and I had an elk burger.  Our meals were delicious and we each tried a Montana brew - overall we loved our meal.  We also loved downtown Bozeman.  We definitely want to go back to fish while we're in SLC.

Day 6:  We got up early and did a load of laundry and then went food shopping for our trip to Glacier.  Once we finished up our errands, we made our way to Glacier National Park.  We arrived around 3:00 and checked into our campsite at Fish Creek.  Glacier is known for its bears and the rangers and camp host made sure we were aware of how important it is to keep all food and scented items in the car.  We needed to change out of our cooking clothes before retiring for the night and we had to be really careful not to leave any food scraps around the picnic table.  After the recent bear attack in Yellowstone, we were more than careful.  After our campsite was set up, we hopped back in the car (again) and drove the Going to the Sun Road. 
Going to the Sun Road is the main road that connects the west side of the park with the east side.  It actually only opened a week before we arrived because of the tremendous amount of snow they received this past winter.  Brad and I heard a ranger say this year was the latest date they ever opened the road,  The road is about 50 miles long and it's an awesome engineering feat since a lot of the road cuts right through the mountain side.  It took us over 90 minutes to drive to the east side of the park and about 3 hours roundtrip.  The park is just gorgeous and it was really cool to see how much snow was still on top of the mountains in mid-July.  Unfortunately, we underestimated the time it would take us to drive the Going to the Sun Highway which made for a late dinner that night.  Below is a sampling of some of the pictures we took during our round trip on the Going to the Sun Highway.





On a current note, Brad and I are slowly getting acclimatized to the altitude.  I started running again after taking 3 weeks off and it's been tough.  It feels like I'm either running uphill or downhill - very different from the flatness of Rhode Island.  We took out our bikes this morning for the first time since we arrived in SLC and Brad took me straight up a canyon road...not what I would have planned for our first ride, but I guess it's better to just jump right in.  Our lungs were burning on the hills, but I'm hoping in two weeks we'll feel a lot better.  Stay tuned for more tales of our hikes in Glacier and our rock climbing experience at City of Rocks. 

On to the good stuff

So now I'll begin recapping our 11 day cross country trip.  This trip was extensive, but totally fun and well worth it.

Day 1: Drive from State College, PA to Madison, WI.  We decided to drive straight to Madison, stay over in a hotel and bike around the city the next morning.  However, all the hotels in Madison were booked because of some conference.  And I mean ALL the hotels!  So we did some more research and saw a nice review of a motel in Mt Horeb.  It's a small town about 15 miles outside of the city.  Mt Horeb (aka Trollway)  is a sleepy little Norwegian town that has an affection for Trolls.  There were carved trolls all over the Main Street.  Brad and I walked to a local brewery called the Grumpy Troll and it totally hit the spot!  We ordered fried cheese curds and Spetsnaz brews!  Delicious!  We also enjoyed quizzing one another with Trivial Pursuit cards that were on our table and we actually read a question about Mt Horeb!  (see picture).  The people in this town were extremely nice and we enjoyed their accents. :)

I wish fried cheese curds were available everywhere!

We couldn't believe we found a trivia question about Mt Horeb!

Brad is posing with the Troll Mayor.

I'm posing with the Warrior Troll.

Day 2: It was a beautiful day in Madison and we took advantage of the bike friendly city and spent the morning in the bike lanes and bike paths of the city.  We really loved the University and campus.  It sits right on the lake.  We stopped to check out the pool, but nothing to write home about.  We also biked by the Capitol and we just couldn't get over how easy it is to get around the city on bikes.  The city is full of  fit people out biking and running or sailing and kite surfing.  It is really great to see.  We had lunch at UW’s Memorial Union (the student center).  It’s right on the water and serves beer (good Wisconsin beer) -   UW students are extremely lucky!  We finished up our morning in Madison with buying Bucky the Badger cheese curds and New Glarus Fat Squirrel beer.

We then drove to Sioux Falls, SD for the night.  We had dinner in our hotel room and tried out Fat Squirrel.  It is a very good nut brown ale (especially good after a long drive).

Here is a view of the Capitol from across the lake.

I quickly took this picture when we were stopped at a traffic light!

Day 3: We stopped at a Hy-Vee grocery store to get food for camping in Custer and Badlands in Sioux Falls.  People in the super market were extremely friendly.  I couldn’t believe how many people said “hello” and “good morning.”  Unfortunately, it stormed all night and our poor bikes spent the night in the rain on top of the car, but as we got closer to the Badlands we had better weather.  We arrive at Badlands around 2:00 and it was incredible to see.  South Dakota is so flat and then the hills of the Badlands in all their glorious colors seem to come out of nowhere.  Unfortunately, my camera does not do them justice.    We set up our tent and then took a few short hikes to see the area.  It was really hot, but very windy which helped make it tolerable.  We then took our bikes for a ride to see more of the park.  We really wanted to see a black-footed ferret, but I think they are pretty rare.    We rode a few miles to a trailhead and took a really steep trail up to a beautiful outlook.  We hiked back down, then rode a little further, not realizing the wind was at our backs.  We had quite a tough ride back to our campsite!  I think I may have gotten a taste of what it feels like to ride the Queen K during the Hawaii Ironman.  We capped our day off with a nice camp dinner and a great sunset.

Our first National Park of our trip!

A view of the Badlands...like I said - my camera doesn't do it justice.

This picture was taken during one of our hikes.

We think these were bird nests and we thought they were cool.

Awesome sunset!

 Stay tuned for our experience at Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park, Devil's Tower and Bozeman, MT!

Straight Across I-80

So Brad and I arrived safely to our new home in SLC.  We were too busy to update the blog on our trips, so subsequently I'll be updating our blog over the next few days. 
Brad and I drove my Subaru (filled with all of our belongings) straight out to SLC.  My car is getting up there in mileage, but she was a trooper!  Here's a quick recap...

Packing up in Providence:
Brad and I had to pack up both of our apartments and condense our stuff into one storage unit.  Our house in SLC is furnished, so we had to get rid of a lot of furniture and we also had  duplicates of a lot of typical household items, but it all worked out and we filled/stuffed our storage unit to the max.

Brad "expertly" packed this storage unit to maximize our space and make everything fit!

Trip # 1:
Day 1:

Harvey’s Lake to Des Moines, IA.  A long day of driving - 1000+ miles.  It was very flat in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.  We pricelined a hotel in Des Moines and had dinner at the Perkins next door.  The waiter was kind enough to spill Sprite all over Brad.  It was very funny (and sticky), but we were rewarded with free muffins for the next day’s breakfast.

Despite the many miles we had to drive, we still remained happy campers!

Day 2: Des Moines to SLC.  We were determined to get into SLC that night and just finish the trip.  We passed the Sierra Trading Post Outlet in Cheyenne, WY and made a quick stop.  It was very cool to see the outlet and I was very excited to find a pair of Chaco sandals for $15 from the “thirds” room.  We stopped for dinner in Evanston, WY at a small brewery.  We then made our way into SLC to another Pricelined hotel that worked out perfectly.  We got in late, but we were happy to see the city alive with people out and about. 

Brad was driving my Subaru in Wyoming when she hit 100,000 miles.

Day 3: We went for a walk around downtown SLC and got some breakfast at a cute bakery.  We also found an Italian Market and a German Bakery which we hope to check out once we settle into SLC.  We then went to the Orthopedic Center so Brad could get ahead with the paperwork for his fellowship.  We then met our landlords and got a tour of our rental house.  It’s a very cool, modern home that is conveniently furnished for us.  We are so fortunate to have found this home for the year.  We ate lunch at Sugarhouse Park and then made our way to the storage unit to drop my car off and get a cab ride to the airport.  I was so relieved that my trusty Subaru made it out to SLC with all of our stuff for the year.  Many thanks to my parents for allowing us to borrow their Thule box and for driving to the PHL airport to pick us up at 1 am and then drive us back to Harvey’s Lake!

We then spent a few days at our parents' houses in Harvey's Lake and State College.  It was really nice to have a few days of down time before our next big trip in the car and it was especially nice to spend time with our families before we reside in a different time zone.

It was very hard to say goodbye to our parents (and pets), but we are VERY excited to spend a year in a different city and explore all that it offers.  Here are some pictures of our goodbyes...

Zeke was very sad to see me go - he wouldn't even cooperate when I tried to take his picture.

Trout also looked very sad and his sister, Perch wouldn't even come outside to say goodbye.

But, I know Bode will take good care of my pets while I'm gone.

After a few shots, we finally got Zeke to cooperate and take a family picture. :)

This picture was taken right before we left for our 2nd trip.  Brad's Jeep was all packed up with more of our stuff and all of our camping equipment.  Of course, we couldn't forget about our bikes.

Stay tuned for more pictures and updates from our 2nd trip.