Step 59 Part N: End on a Positive Note

After traveling thousands of miles, seeing new and exciting sights, and meeting all kinds of people, it can be sort of a bummer to come back to the familiarity of home. That's why it's so important that your trip end on a positive note. And the best kind of positive note is that involving your pets.

Sadly, we had to wait until the next day to pick up our dog Lexi (who, of course, spazzed out when went to get her), but the cats were just as excited to see us. Peri, the baby of the group and most needy, was waiting by the back door when I walked in and started weaving around my legs. I scooped him up in my arms and squeezed him while he purred. As Chrissy and Arlo realized that it wasn't the now-slightly-less-horrible-since-he'd-been-feeding-them neighbor boy who'd come in, they came out of hiding. After a few pets for Arlo, he was ready for food, and after some intense apologies to the princess, Chrissy would allow me to hold her.

I had to go in search of my sleepy baby Olivar and found him in his usual hideout--my mom's closet. The minute he saw me, he popped out and demanded attention, purring profusely. All of the cats kept close to us that night, Chrissy sleeping with me while all the boys were in with mom.

To be loved that much when you return from vacation is what reminds you that being home isn't all that lame. Sure, there are amazing experiences to be had in far away lands, but there are also friends and family and pets that make your home life just as awesome.

Step 59 Part M: Go to the Mall of America

What's the fun in having a hotel right next to the Mall of America if you don't go there? And I gotta say--not really sure what the big hype is. Yes, it's a HUGE mall, but being so big, it makes it hard to find certain shops and almost impossible to see everything (unless you want to spend all day walking around there and spending lots of money--neither of which sounds very attractive at the end of your vacation). Plus, there are a lot of people crowding around in there (though I'll admit, I think the crowds at Old Faithful were worse).

But you can't beat an indoor amusement park.

 

Correction: You can beat an indoor amusement park only when the rides are Nickelodeon themed!

And no, I actually wasn't always the oldest person on the rides--some of them were pretty intense and called to those of us who are still kids at the base of our personalities. This was indeed the coolest part about the Mall of America, and when I have children of my own, we're totally coming back here. Heck, I might even kidnap some of my friends' children once their old enough!

Step 59 Part L: Drive for 17 Hours

The worst part about a trip is heading home. Especially when you have a twelve hour drive on one of the three travel-home-days. Especially when that twelve hour drive turns into a seventeen hour drive. Especially when that twelve-hour-turned-seventeen-hour drive takes you through a time change zone and you loose an hour.

But it wasn't all bad. Long drives across desolate highways make the perfect time to listen to books on tape. I used to listen to books on tape when I was little, but haven't done it in a long time. I wasn't sure I'd be able to focus on the story if I couldn't actually see the words, but it was surprisingly easy. The only downside was that I wasn't a huge fan of the readers. The girl who did Divergent was sort of monotone, and the guy who did The Maze Runner gave a black kid a southern white boy accent, a British boy some sort of Scottish/Australian/Irish misx (getting warmer), and an Asian guy an Indian/Mexican accent (and you lost me again). Still, I definitely recommend grabbing a big fat book that you've been wanting to read but haven't had the time for when getting ready for a long road trip. It helps keep you from going crazy.

Step 59 Part K: Go Horseback Riding

This step you've got to be really careful with--if luck's not with you, you could have a pretty boring experience. A long line of horses slowly plopping through the mud, no one to really talk to without someone having to crane their neck at an awkward angle, nothing super exciting to do besides keeping your horse from stopping and eating the grass. But if you go early in the season, you might get a smaller group going out on the ride, so your guide might be able to talk to all of you from his place at the front of the line, and the two little girls and their father who are riding in front of you might give you new title ideas for the novel you've been working on. Your guide will snatch up daisies for the little girls and try to get them to sing "Let it Go" while you and their father laugh from behind. And you'll have a nice peaceful ride up a mountain to a breathtaking overlook of the turquoise lake below you.

If you're a hardcore horsey girl that enjoys galloping through fields, this probably isn't the trip for you, but for a relaxing time through the woods, definitely check out the two hour ride from the Apgar Coral before the July crowds swarm in.

Step 59 Part J: Stay at Glacier Under Canvas

You can't go out west without camping at least once, and how nice is it to arrive at your camp site with your tent all set up and your sleeping bag rolled out? That's the royal treatment that you get at Glacier Under Canvas. All the staff was very nice, the tents and bathroom clean, and it was only a short drive from the West Glacier entrance. The only downside--you weren't allowed to have food at your tent (too much risk of attracting bears). So no s'mores at the camp fire. :(

Other than that, though, the camp grounds were very nice. I was surprisingly warm in the sleeping bags they provided (warmer than I was in the cabin, actually). If you find the tipis a little small, though, you can always upgrade to a safari.

Step 59 Part I: Go to Glacier National Park

You better do this step within the next 15 years, though--by 2030, they predict that all the glaciers in the park will have melted. And I can believe it. I only really saw one glacier (I did hike for 3 hours out to a spot where the ranger said I should be able to see another glacier, but it didn't really look like one to me). Below are some of my favorite pictures from Glacier, but if you'd like to check out all of my vacation photos, check my Facebook Page. They're all up there under my Westward Once More Album.

These cuties weren't actually in Glacier, they were right outside of it in the Blackfeet Reservation. It was so interesting to see the difference in ranching on the reservation versus the rest of Montana--hardly any fences. Most of the animals were free reign--including the dogs!

I hiked three hours up a mountain to this "trail block." Keep it classy, Glacier.

And this was the glacier I was supposed to be able to see from that trail block (Salamander Glacier). I guess. Looks like melting snow to me. The lake was a beautiful turquoise, though.

Here's a legit glacier. Jackson Glacier is the only one that you can see from the Going-to-the-Sun Road, which is the only road that cuts completely through the park. Half the time you can't even drive all the way through because the snow's blocking the road. Mom and I almost missed out, but luckily the day we were leaving (July 3), they finally opened it up. Very beautiful drive.

Not only do you see lots of snow on Going-to-the-Sun Road, but you also see lots of waterfalls. The water runs straight down the mountains and onto the road. They have drains on to the side of the road, but there's so much water that some of it spills out. And if you drive close enough to the rock wall, you'll get a free car wash. :)

You can also see fearless little marmots on Going-to-the-Sun Road. This cutie came right out and posed for pictures.

Besides the marmot, we saw deer, a bear, and (in this picture) a mama moose and her baby. We saw these guys over in the Many Glaciers Area. It's on the north/east side of the park, and has some beautiful hiking trails.

Saying goodbye to this beautiful place was hard.

Step 59 Part H: Take Lots of Animal and Pretty Scenery Pictures

From Yellowstone to Glacier National Park, there's nothing but cute (and potentially deadly) animals and beautiful (and again potentially deadly) landscape. I posted all of my vacation's pictures on my Facebook page, so check them out if you haven't already. Below are some of my favorite pictures from Yellowstone. Of course, I'm going to recommend that everyone get out to THE WORLD'S first National Park at some point in their life, though I would suggest getting Old Faithful and the other geysers and hot springs out of the way first and never ever going back to them. They are super cool to see, but they're also a beacon to every tourist, and as more and more people start realizing that Yellowstone's the place to go, the more chances you have of being pushed off the boardwalks by some rude person trying to get a seat before Old Faithful blows. Northern Yellowstone is the place to be, especially if you want to see animals and feel like you're actually in the wild.

There are TONS of bison in Yellowstone--this girl was just chilling by herself, though, walking into the sunrise.

The Caldera. You can't see the whole thing from land--it's a giant crater that encompasses much of Yellowstone and is a constant reminder of how huge the super volcano under the park can be when it blows again.

An elk on the horizon at sunrise.

Castle Geyser. I almost like this one more than Old Faithful--less crowded. It's in the same area as Old Faithful, though, and is pretty regular, so you should check out both if you get the chance.

About 12 years ago when I last came to Yellowstone, there were no little trees growing here--it was all burned, dead trees. It's amazing to see the change.

See the little white spot in the middle of the picture? We're pretty sure that's a wolf! We saw her and another white spot running up the hill and tried to get close enough to tell for sure, but she kept evading us (and we didn't have binoculars or scopes to get a better view of her). There's a small chance that it's a pronghorn deer. They can be lighter in color. But we saw a pronghorn running the next day, and it didn't look anything like the lope that these guys were doing. We saw these "wolf pronghorns" in the Blacktail Deer Plateau, but the best place to see wolves are in the Lamar Valley. The Hayden Valley also has some wolves, but I never saw any there. You sort of just gotta follow the professional wolf watchers. :)

Yellowstone Grand Canyon. Be careful not to slip!

Oh no! I slipped! Someone help!!!

Step 59 Part G: Stay in a Cabin

When going out west, it's only appropriate to expect that you'll be spending a few nights and/or mornings shivering in the cold as you lay in your tent. Seeing as I've already gotten to experience this twice, Mama thought it'd be a nice change of pace if we spent a few nights and/or mornings shivering in the cold as we lay in a little cabin.

Despite being a little chilly, though, The Roosevelt Lodge's Rough Rider Cabin was actually pretty nice (especially for it's price). It didn't have it's own shower or toilet, but the fancier Frontier Cabins do. Definitely a fine alternative to the extremes of hard core camping and pampered hotel rooms.

Step 59 Part F: Speak for Wolves

And now for the main event--Speak for Wolves. This three-day rally was what brought mom and me out west and was very informative. They had special screenings of documentaires, activitists (picture 1 is Bret Haverstick, the man who put together this amazing gathering) and scientists presenting data to support the continued protection of wolves as well as other animals found in the area, authors, interpretive dancers, music (picture 2 is GoodShield Aguilar--check him out, his music is great!), and, to quote Jimmy St. Goddard of the Blackfeet Indian Tribe himself, "a crazy Indian" (see him in picture 3).

It was crazy how passionate everyone was. Crazy in a good way, yes--they provided some solid evidence and had some great stories--but also... almost too crazy. I guess sometimes you've got to get like that when you're really passionate about something. But... there was a rancher there that got a hold of the microphone and started telling his opinions. He wasn't being rude (though maybe he was monopolizing the microphone), but I did start feeling the same scared way I did when that man confronted mom and me is North Dakota. I wasn't afraid of the rancher, though. I was afraid of the wolf people. They were not going to listen to him, and they made that clear. Maybe he really was a jerk that didn't deserve to be listened to (I'd heard rumors that he'd been making threats), but to see how angry the rally people got--they were only slightly less vicious than the man from ND (to their major credit, I never heard one of them threaten the rancher).

I don't want wolves to be killed anymore than the super enthusiastic activists--in an ideal world, humans would just back off and let nature do what it needs to do. But we don't live in an ideal world. We live in a world of compromise. And it makes me sad that more people don't accept this. They just keep fighting and fighting for what they want, and the other side fights back, and nothing gets accomplished. If you compromise, at least you're getting something done. Even the smallest thing now can lead to bigger changes down the road.

One of my favorite speakers, Mike Mease from the Buffalo Field Campaign (pictured 4th), said "Individually we're fingers. Together we make a fist." I'm pretty sure he was leaning more towards the idea that all environmentalists should come together regardless of their different areas of expertise, but I like to think that it could work with opposing sides as well. Maybe I'm just too opptimistic. Or naive. I know I don't have near the doe-eyed hopefulness that I used to have before college and before this rally, but if the world is going to have so many extreme people, it can't hurt to have another in-the-middle girl.

Step 59 Part E: Stand on Pompey's Pillar

Before you even get to your destination, it's always fun to stop at random roadside attractions, and while Pompey's Pillar's not a cheesy, money stealing scam, it is a stop on the old highway that people might not know about until they pass half a dozen signs and read a small description about it at Montana's visitor center. For $7, it actually is a pretty neat rest stop. You walk up this big ass rock on the edge of the Yellowstone River, talk to some nice volunteers, and get your picture taken next to the only surviving signature that William Clark left while he and Lewis trekked across the country back in 1806 claiming new lands for the US. If you're ever in the Yellowstone County area and have the time to spare, check it out. Even if you're not a fan of dead men's tags, the marmots that hang out around the rock are super cute to look at!

Step 59 Part D: Don't Get Eaten by Bears

I know you guys were worried. I said I'd keep you updated about my trip, and here I've gone 5 days without a word. But fear not! I wasn't eaten by bears! I just got really busy looking at bears. And wolves. And other furry animals. But now I've got 3 days of boring driving to write about it all, so until I get my next post up, here's some of the pictures of the bears that I wasn't eaten by. :)
1) A mama black bear
2) Her two babies
3) Scarface, a 20-something famous grizzlie of Yellowstone
4) A bear I saw at a gas station