After the visit with Renee and her g-parents, I wound my way back through the rolling amber landscape of Montana. To help ease the monotony I listened to a book on CD. Although, I was a little skeptical of actually enjoying listening to someone read me a book for hours on end, I had thought of this on my first day of driving and wished I’d bought some for the road. The driving music (Eagles, Bob Seger, Springsteen, etc.) I brought had already lost it’s road trip charm. Thankfully, my friend Renee had a great suggestion. Cracker Barrel, the rocking chair restaurant found all along highway exits, actually rents out books on CD that you can then return when you get to the next Cracker Barrel.

What a great idea, don’t ya think? The selection isn’t great though—you better love Daniel Steele and Nicholas Sparks novels. I found a book by Gourmet Magazine editor Ruth Reichl called Garlic and Sapphires. It was actually quite entertaining and chronicled her time as the food critic for the New York Times. She donned various costumes and personalities as she reviewed some of New York’s finest eateries. The next 6 hours of driving flew by and I wasn’t checking my mileage or maps at all.

Before I knew it I was driving under a beautiful stone arch welcoming me to Yellowstone National Park, as it has millions of travelers since 1872 when Yellowstone became the world’s first national park.

I checked into the Mammoth Hot Springs Lodge, surprisingly cheaper than the few motels I’d checked before I entered the park. I dropped my bags and went out for a hike around the hot springs that are one of the natural phenomenon that make this park so famous. The park is chock full of hot springs, geysers, and crazy thermal activity making it the world’s largest thermal basin. The only other similar spots on earth are in Iceland, New Zealand, and Zimbabwe. I wound my way around the wood boardwalks of the hot springs. They looked like gooey mounds of melty marshmallow. Some were hard and chalky, while others oozed with hot water creating multihued pools of steaming springs.

After freshening up, I had a choice of two spots to eat. One was the Terrace Grill—a fast food spot with burgers and the like. The other was the lodge’s dining room.
I decided to take the solo traveler plunge and headed straight for the dining room.
“Just one, please. “ I said as they handed me one of those vibrating disks that tell you when your table’s ready. I went across the street and changed into my ‘evening wear’ of jeans and a long sleeve shirt and grabbed some stuff to read about the park. As I walked back in the cool, clean night air, my buzzer went off.
It was a large room dimly lit by environmentally friendly fluorescent light bulbs screwed into rustic, antler chandeliers. I was surprised by the tasty smoked trout caeser salad and savory mushroom stuffed ravioli in a light cream sauce with a touch of truffle oil. I washed it all down with a glass of wine. I unexpectedly really enjoyed myself and read about the park while I ate. Other couples and families ate around me and I honestly did not feel odd in the least bit. This is a good sign for my impending year! I realized not only is this a primer for my around- the-world trip because I’m traveling alone, but also because I’m in Yellowstone, I’m surrounded by tourists and non-English speakers which almost makes me feel like I’m already in a foreign country. I met folks from Hungary, Romania, France, Japan, and, of course, Australia. It just so happened that the Australian conservationist and ‘crocodile hunter,’ Steve Irwin, had died from a lethal stingray attack just a few days earlier.

The next morning I decided to go on a horseback ride and get off the ‘beaten path’ as it were. As the gal leading our horseback ride told us: Of the park’s 3,472 square miles, most visitor’s only stay on the main road and therefore only get to see 1% of the park. Of the 3 million people that traipse through every year, only 3% get off the main road to explore a little more. And now we were part of this 3%. Sadly, our tour only lasted an hour and then I was back with the other 97% of the tourists on the main road.

I saw the park highlights: The Grand Canyon (of Yellowstone…not the one from Arizona!), the lower and upper waterfalls, and Old Faithful (folks gathered around as if watching a rock concert). One of the most exciting things to see was the wildlife. Yellowstone National Park is one of the most successful wildlife sanctuaries in the world. Grizzly and black bears can be seen occasionally in the backcountry. The park also has several thousand elk, many deer, pronghorn antelopes, and moose. There are bands of bighorn sheep and about 2,200 bison. I was lucky enough to see a huge elk, a mom black bear and her two cubs, deer, and a bunch o’ bison!

After leaving the park’s south exit, you automatically drive right into Grand Teton National Park. The Teton Mountain range blew me away. It was truly awesome in every sense of the word. The Tetons are among the youngest mountains on the continent. The highest peak is that of Grand Teton at 13, 770 feet. The vistas looking out and up to the Teton peaks are truly amazing. The sun was setting as I drove south through Grand Teton National Park on my way to spend the night in the ski resort town of Jackson, Wyoming. I was in awe at the sheer size of these mountains. Something about their jagged high peaks against the beautiful pink sky and the blue lake in the foreground made me feel good to be alive.

I just spent the last day and a half at my friend Renee’s grandparent’s house near Kalispell, Montana. They live right near the sparkling blue Flathead Lake and just about 20 minutes from Glacier National Park. I arrived there after a long drive from Bozeman, Montana. If you’re not familiar, Montana is a BIG state. And, sorry, but the southern half is quite dull.

The next day Renee, her 82-year-old grandfather, and I went hiking for 7 miles in Glacier Park. Her grandpa is a tall lanky man with a great big smile. He used to work for the National Forest Service and practically goes hiking still everyday. He was never too far behind Renee and I and always seemed fine. I think I was more out of breath than he! Not only was he in tip-top shape, he was hilarious! He was hard of hearing, but everything out of his mouth was sweet or biting sarcasm. I liked this man. He would say things like “look up there at those doggone waterfalls” and meant it in the most endearing way. Or a guy and two girls jogged past us on the trail and he said, “Wow those 2 girls are chasing that guy!”
What a hoot. The park was beautiful. We hiked two completely different trails. The first went to Avalanche Lake and was mostly wooded with huge pine trees towering above us before it opened up to an amazingly clear lake. The second trail was right behind the visitor’s center and therefore, of course, one of the most heavily traveled. We joined the masses for an open air uphill stair-climb. It was virtually a one-hour step aerobics class and quite a workout. On the way we managed to see some Mountain Goats really up close that were grazing beneath a cluster of trees. The trail ended at the top of Hidden Lake—a gorgeous scenic vista and a perfect spot for us to plant ourselves on some rocks and break out our picnic lunch. We’d brought a baguette, cheddar cheese, and salami. Doesn’t get much better.

When I left the next day Renee’s grandmother said, “We really enjoyed having you. Your mom raised you right.”
I said, “I know.”
Thanks mom!

One curse (or is it a blessing?) about this journey is I can’t hold a cell phone call for more than a few minutes. The cell phone reception out here in the middle of nowhere is few and far between. It’s kind of annoying when I keep getting calls disconnected, but then I realized I kinda like it. If you already know my distaste for really talking on the phone at all—this is perfect! The phone conversation just abruptly ends itself. No fuss, no muss. “What? Sorry can’t hear you. Talk to you later!”

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me…” You know the rest.
Today I turned 34 in South Dakota. Never done that before. Well, never done either I guess! This is one SMALL town. I’m in Kadoka, South Dakota, population:
706. 85% of the population is white and almost all the rest are native American. Last night for dinner, I went local and had the requisite American meal: meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Mmm…nothing says the West better than meat lovingly formed into the shape of a loaf! It was actually quite tasty. My waiter at the small roadside diner was a guy from Bali! Of course, another local waitress told me he was from Bali, India. Not too worldy in these parts I guess. I’m sure she meant Indonesia. She had the first 3 letters right, at least.
I even overheard her teaching him nursery rhymes.
“Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb…”
“Humpty Dumpty sat on a fence…”
She went on loudly like this for about a half hour. I mean seriously! The guy was more than 30 years old. I mean hand him a newspaper if you want to help him with his English. Nursery Rhymes?? Seriously.

Then at breakfast I gave my newspaper to a guy who also seemed to be from ‘somewhere else.’ Turns out he’s from Tajikistan. He’s studying at Stanford and was driving around the country like me. We shared a bit of “this is definitely middle America” comments and went our separate ways.

I headed off to the Badlands in the chilly rain.

The weather seemed to match the scene. Here the prairie gives way to a rugged no-man’s-land of unusual rock formations carved by wind and water. Its weird, multi-colored peaks, desolate buttes, desert-like moonscapes and fossil-rich fields, is an easy stop for road trippers like me zooming down I-90. This fascinating landscape of the park erodes at a rate of about 1 inch per year providing an ever-changing landscape. It’s a stark, craggy beauty really breaks up the monotony of the trip and the rain adds to the feeling. And aptly for this moment, Def Leppards, “Rock of Ages” came on the radio as I navigated through this eerie landscape. Very cool.
This little detour ended at Wall, South Dakota. If you’ve never heard of Wall Drug Store, I guess you haven’t lived because it has truly made the tiny town of Wall a thriving shoppers mecca! It’s a testament to great marketing, that’s for sure. What a crazy phenomenon. Welcome to the Disney World of Dakota! This town would be nothing without this ‘drug store crap emporium.’ The whole main street WAS the drug store. Through the racks of T-shirts, rows of shot glasses, and loads and loads of tchotckes I searched for the actual drugs. I finally did find a tiny apothecary. This place was sensory overload, but it teemed with tourists searching for the perfect “jackalope” keychain or “I’ve been bad in the Badlands” t-shirt. Not my scene. I bought my mom her second Jackalope and got the hell out of Dodge, or Wall as it were.