68 & 73 - done!

68. visit 3 of the 21 us states that i haven’t been to yet
73. go on a road trip through at least 4 states (no more than 1 can be a new england state)

yes, i am completely and utterly behind in blogging. i suppose i just haven't felt up to it lately. too busy, perhaps, but it would be good if i could get back into it.


this summer, after the bar, j and i went on a little trip. i flew out and met him in san diego. we were there for a few days, soaked in the lovely california sun, then flew up to seattle. from there, we got my car, and drove across the us to boston, where we promptly packed up, and moved down to new jersey.


it was a hectic summer, to say the least.

 anyway, the itinerary was:

san diego, california (doesn't count for the road trip, but i'm including it here to show how much we traveled)
seattle, washington
coeur d'alene, idaho (stopped and saw m and w, which was really fun)
big sky, montana
yellowstone, wyoming (best part of the trip. so amazing)
jackson hole, wyoming
grand tetons, wyoming
casper, wyoming
mount rushmore, south dakota
crazy horse, south dakota
rapid city, south dakata
the badlands, south dakota
(didn't stay in minnesota, but drove through)
madison, wisconsin
chicago, illinois (two days. chicago is awesome)
(drove through the tip of indiana)
(drove through michigan)
niagara falls, ontario, canada
(drove through new york and ended in boston, massachusetts)

phew. so that was a total of 12 states, and 1 canadian province.

it was a really sweet trip, and let me tell you, it was tough going back to work after that!

also, just one little plug - if you ever, ever get the chance, go to yellowstone and the grand tetons. chicago rocked, as did niagara falls, but yellowstone was seriously one of the most awesome places i have ever been to, and the tetons were incredible as well. everywhere you turned in yellowstone, the ground was bubbling, steaming, spewing. the colors were out of this world - rusty reds and oranges, azures, lapis, aquamarine, mossy greens. honestly, it looked like we were back in time on primordial earth. it was really, really cool.


sorry i'm not going to write too much about the trip, but there's too much to tell, so i'll just let you look at some pretty pictures. i took a ton of pictures, and it was fun going through them and picking out some of my favorites. enjoy!

this valley of the buffalo was ridiculously awesome. we also saw a momma grizzly and her cubs a little later (they were pretty far away on the other side of the valley, though). stupid buffalo, though. when we were coming back from the yellowstone grand canyon (pics below), they were all migrating across the road for the night, causing a two hour traffice jam. perfect.

tetons. gorgeous.

.cheers.

.cheese.

.i fail miserably at life. and by life, i mean blogging.

apologies, loyal readers.



this weekend, j and i went to vermont, via new hampshire, and it was ridonc. (ridonc = ridonculous = ridiculous)

first off, having a car is great. i mean, i as much as i enjoy not having a car (no "boston bumper" marring the back/front bumpers of my lovely bug, not paying 3.99+ per gallon, not dealing with insane boston drivers, riding the t with people with shopping carts that smell like urine, etc. etc.), it was really great having a car. you know, getting somewhere in 10 minutes that on the t takes an hour, randomly driving to little towns, etc. but i digress.

new hampshire is sweet. j and i got up extra early on saturday (no sleeping in for the crazies!), and drove up across the border. the drive is very picturesque and lovely. the entire weekend, as we were driving around, jeff kept commenting on how gorgeous it was, and i couldn't help but think that it looked very similar to washington! (although washington is obviously way more beautiful).

essentially, we drove a lot. peterborough, jaffrey, keene (sweet little town that i want to retire to, open up a cheese farm, and make quilts at). hiking mt. monadnock was probably the highlight, though. possibly one of the most difficult hikes i've done (c'mon, i'm a novice here, people). we went up the 'white dot' trail, and essentially we were scrambling up sheer rock-faces the entire time. not kidding. it was awesome. i am such a mountain goat. love it.


and the view from the top was spectacular. so gorgeous, with green mountains (more like big hills, compared to views in washington) as far as the eye can see. beautiful. and to our right, a massive thunder/lightening ball of storm that was fast encroaching upon us. a park ranger was like, uh, you all need to leave now. so, we definitely tried to race the storm down the mountain.

took the 'white cross' trail back down, which was supposed to be less treacherous. (it was only barely so)

about ten minutes into the hike (i.e. scramble/slide) down, it started crackling thunder right above us, and two minutes later, it was pouring. a little scary, but mostly exhilarating and fun. i loved every minute of it. had if not for the massive blisters (i really need to invest in some hiking shoes) and crowds of people, it could have possibly been a prefect hike (or rock climb, if you will). still, it was incredible.

after our thunderous hike, the weather was perfect for the rest of the weekend - perfect blue skies, nice and sunny. we visited lots of new hampshire towns, drove into vermont, sampled some cheese, visited more picturesque towns, had dinner and drinks. went to bed. brattleboro is a pretty neat town too.

i really wish we had camping equipment, because all of the parks we went to had sweet campsites. *sigh* it seems silly to have all that stuff without a car, though. someday.

sunday we hiked around molly stark state park, which had a cake-walk hike compared to monadnock, but an awesome view from the firetower at the top. i felt a little like it was going to blow over (i think it was built around the 1950s) - a bit rickety, but a very cool view.

i will let the pictures do the rest of the talking...

the white dot 'trail'
(boulders that we had to climb)


beautiful mt. monadnock. so many hikers!



beauteous vermont



crazy view from the inside of a covered bridge


awesome vermont church

.cheers.