My Adventures Began Yesterday

Oih, we’re in Canada! Weeeee! It’s been about 7 years since I visited this friendly country and 31 years for my mom. We entered through Alberta, just north of Glacier National Park. The border patrol lady, with the traditional Canadian accent, warmly welcomed us to Canada but sadly, did not stamp our passports. Sniffles. We are en route to Banff right now! More details to read later. Let’s backtrack to the Badlands…oh…a week ago? (So many stops since then!). We drove from Fergus Falls to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, with a quick stop to see Salem Sue along Interstate 94. If you enjoy animals, Teddy R. would be the park for you. We drove the 2 hour loop and were able to see two solo bison (which made us giddy in excitement, our first wild animals!) and then about 10 minutes from the end of the loop, a group of 100+ bison were essentially sitting on the side of the road, just waiting for their picture to be taken. Sigh. It was still neat to be that close, but not as exc...

Hellllo World! It’s a beautiful 45 degrees, the sun is shining, the wind blowing, and we are heading west on Interstate 20 towards Jackson, Wyoming. The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone are awaiting our arrival with snow covered mountain tops (yikes). Many thanks to Laura for gifting me snow boots! They’ll come in handy over the next week as we trek through the mountains searching for bears and moose (yes, we have bear spray, and yes, I hope I’m close enough to the wild animals to actually see them (kinda blind here), but far enough away that they won’t feel threatened and attack! Look at me being animal smart.).  Last night, we stopped at a campground and spent our first night in a tent. During the full harvest moon no less. Beautiful orange glow around the moon as we were setting up our tent. There were many hunters staying there as well, and our observations led us to feel ill equipped at camping (slight understatement). Our tent is nylon; theirs appeared to be made ...

Between Hot Springs National Park and Isle Royale National Park, time was spent surrounded by the love of family and it was a wonderful way to start off a two month road trip!  After 10.5 hours of driving on day 1, we found ourselves in Des Moines, Iowa, and in the company of 10 cousins. They showered us with Baked Ziti, molasses cookies, rhubarb strawberry pie (garden grown!), and a comfortable bed (provided by a selfless cousin who kept appointments and moving plans a secret from us because she didn’t want us not to visit! Ahh family.). The next day, we drove to Dyersville, Iowa, and met two cousins who proceeded to take us on a tour of Dubuque, Iowa. We visited two breweries, a winery, walked along the Mississippi promenade, drove over the Mississippi River into Wisconsin, took a right to drive into Illinois, then crossed a different bridge back over the Mississippi River (total drive time: 10 minutes, 3 states!). We then rode the shortest AND steepest elevator (or...

I highly recommend that you take a trip to Arkansas. The drive alone, through this Natural State, is worth it. Lush green wherever you turn, lakes around every bend; it’s a beautiful state and there’s unlimited opportunities for fun recreation. During your trip, take a detour to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where you’ll find Hot Springs National Park in the middle of downtown and a fun and speckled history. The naturally thermal pools (or hot springs) remain around 143 degrees Fahrenheit and lack the Sulphur odor of most hot springs, which caused many doctors to recommend these pools for health and healing. In addition, thoroughbred horse racing began in the early 1900’s (and gambling was made legal in the 20’s). This bought an influx of people to the city, which became neutral territory for gangsters and was Al Capone’s home base for many years (check out the  Gangster Museum  when you visit!). Spring training was held here so the ball players could heal their sore ...

Crater of Diamonds State Park was a scenic hour drive west of Hot Springs, Arkansas. After deciding to sleep in, we missed the “how to mine for diamonds” class by 15 minutes. Oops. Probably should have attended so we would know how to utilize our rented equipment (tray, shovel, and 3.5 gallon bucket) and thereby increase our odds of finding a diamond! Side note: in 2016, there were 501 diamonds found here with only 161k visitors (better odds than the lottery!) and 17 of these diamonds were over one Carat. Largest diamond found in 2017 was 7.44 carats. Now, that’s what I was hoping for…a 7ct diamond!! Could you imagine? Eagerly, we took our mining equipment and hit the…open dirt field. Time to work. Mining for diamonds was back breaking work. Filling the bucket with dirt (and fingers were crossed, diamonds!), and carrying it to the water trough became heavy after the 6 th , 7 th , and 8 th time. But what a unique workout! We would then sift through the dirt utilizing two st...

Friends, family, strangers, they've all seemed to have one of the following thoughts regarding me quitting my job, relinquishing my home, and living out of a car for 60+days: (1) I wish I could join you/I've always wanted to do what you're doing (2) Have you been saving/How can you afford this? (3) If only I didn't have my spouse, kids, mortgage, student loans, etc...  I’ve also been called many names over the last month (and even over the last 15 years). N omad. Hippie. Free soul. People trying to define me, put me in a box, or assign a word to describe who I am, how I feel, what I’ve seen and done. Well, this is me: I enjoy traveling, seeing new destinations, meeting people. I become bored with the same place and after visiting a spot, I always prefer to visit some place new. And now, after years of talking about it, planning it in my head, and dreaming about it, I've taken the leap. I’m officially a wanderer, aimlessly traveling. The journey has finally be...

Left Phoenix late afternoon on Friday and aimed to drive as far as we could before finding a place to sleep. On the way, we passed through Saguaro National Park and took pictures of large cacti (love) and raced a little roadrunner across the road.  So darling. Continued driving until about 3:00am (we did have a jump forward on time when we entered Texas, but it was still a long, late drive), then crashed in the car at Guadalupe Mountains National Park. I didn’t know that Texas had two National Parks; I only knew about Big Bend. How exciting to accidentally find our way to another!  After watching the sun rise, we stopped at Carlsbad National Park to tour the caverns. Striking. Loved the effects that millions of years of continually mixing rain water and hydrogen-sulfide rich water (had to google the exact term) had on the limestone. The structures, streams, ponds, etc. were artistic and gorgeous. The 50 degree weather was wonderful as well! Continued our driv...