Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Hoosier Hospitality!

Back home again in Indiana. It's always exciting to be back in Indiana, because no one can deny that being 'home' is truly the most comforting feeling. This visit was exceptionally exciting because it meant I got to show Dave the home I've been referencing for 2 years. I tried to warn him that it wasn't a particularly exciting destination, but that all the same the people make it what it is. It helped as well that we chose to go to Indiana in October, when the leaves were on point, and made for the most fabulous backdrop ever. I love autumn in the Midwest, it's simply the best. The visit entailed many exciting things, mostly lots of hanging out and Dave getting to know my best of friends, but also some pretty cool things, like presenting a lecture in Katherine's Spanish class, lots of good hikes, lots of good food, apple orchard visits, jack-o-lantern carving, Halloween festivities, a barn bash, running coupled with a half marathon, and a quick trip to Kentucky. 

I appreciated so much that not only Dave got to meet my friends, but also that my friends got to meet Dave. Everyone gave Dave raving reviews, naturally, and I think the feeling was mutual on Dave's part as well. It's always a tiny bit nerve wracking when you start dating someone new wondering whether or not they will jive with your friends, but it's no shocker that Dave has adopted my friends as his own, and that makes my heart so happy. I will let the pictures below do most of the talking for the month, but I can't say enough how calming this visit was for me. I feel incredibly lucky to have the friends/family that I do, and to have Dave feel comfortable with them all is perfect. 

So the first photo deserves a tiny bit of explanation. Katherine is a high school Spanish teacher in Indianapolis, and she asked Dave and me if we would be willing to give a presentation about Spain to her kids. I begrudgingly went to Katherine's classroom (only because I'm hesitant with my Spanish abilities), but Dave was super excited about the excuse to speak Spanish. To be honest, it was a really fun excuse for us to get to go back through both of our collections of photos of Spain, and the kids really loved our presentation! We got allllllllll kinds of questions about Spain, and Europe in general, and it made for a day we'll never forget! The questions ranged from ebola, drugs, food, language, music and more. Katherine appreciated opening her kids' eyes to the fact that a person from Indiana can go as 'far' as Spain, and that conversely, a person all the way from England can come all the way to Indiana. All in all, it was one of our favorite days spent in Indiana. 
Miss Jessica and Mr. Dave talk about Spain!
In lieu of the previous picture, it's appropriate to have the following photo second. The wonders of the internet are pretty cool, because my high school Spanish teacher realized via my LinkedIn profile that I was living in Spain this past spring, and she was really eager to chat with me about my time there the next time I found myself in Indiana. I got ahold of SeƱora Whicker and it worked out quite nicely that Katherine, Dave, me, and Mrs. Whicker were all able to meet for lunch one day. It was really cool getting to catch up with an old teacher, something I've never done before, and she was absolutely beaming listening to all of our stories. 
Out to lunch at El Meson, obviously.
The same day we met up with Mrs. Whicker, we also took 2 of Katherine's 3 sisters out for a hike at McCormick's Creek State Park. It was a beautiful fall afternoon, and it was really cool to spend a day with Katherine's sisters because they are, after all, like a second family to me. 
Lovely fall colors!
Katherine had 2 weeks off of school while we were in Indy, and that was really nice so that we could take some day hikes. We went to Shades State Park one day with Craig and Katherine, and it was another gorgeous day of hiking amongst Indiana's autumnal colors. It was cool because during December, when I visited last, Katherine and I took a photo on a certain rock, that 10 months later has already shown erosion. 
Top - December, Bottom - October
Swing talk!
Friends taking in the view.
The apple orchard near my hometown is my happiest of places in the whole wide world. Something about going to Anderson Orchard is calming every single time. I don't know how to put words on quite the feeling I get from being there, but it's pure magic. I guess it's that it encapsulates exactly what autumn should look like, feel like, and taste like to me. The colors on the trees, the rows of ripe apples to get lost in, the pumpkin patch to wander about in, the raspberry patch to frolic in, the lake to relax beside, and the farm shop to buy everything good.. apple dumplings, apple cider slushies, apple turnovers, apple butter and more. Anyways, I was beyond thrilled to show Dave the infamous apple orchard, and we went multiple times throughout the month. The best time was when we went to pick out our pumpkins for the night of jack-o-lantern carving, but really every time is the best time.
Best friends, apple slushies, and apple trees.. perfection.
So many gourds.
How do you pick just one?
He was excited to find his!
Supposedly there is more than corn in Indiana...
It then only makes sense to brag about our jack-o-lanterns that we carved..
Katherine, Dave, me + Lucas, another combined effort, and Craig's
The above pumpkin carved into a deer was actually Katherine's, Dave's and my creation from a 'barn bash' that was held at Katherine's parents' friends house. I was really excited to spend time with the Schmidt's as they were something of second parents growing up. So it was pretty cool to get invited to the barn bash out in Danville, Indiana. The barn bash included a soup contest, a jack-o-lantern contest, and some other shenanigans. Katherine's vegan chili unfortunately didn't win the soup contest, nor did our pumpkin win the jack-o-lantern contest, but a good time was had all around. I think we mostly enjoyed this particular evening because it was followed by ghost hunting around rural Indiana's covered bridges. While no ghosts were found, it really fueled the Halloween spirit. 
Barn bash!
A deer complete with horns.
There was a competition to see who could get a nail flush into a wooden stump with a sledgehammer first, I lost.
Dave was also introduced to the horribly awful game of beer pong.
There was also a weekend that my mom and dad came out to visit everyone, and that was really nice. We spent a lot of time outside enjoying the perfect weather, and my grandfather even drove down from Chicago for a day to see everybody. Walks along the canal in downtown Indianapolis, a visit to the Indianapolis Museum of Art's gardens, and plenty of good food were enjoyed by all.
Walks along the canal with all of the Lati
Funky bones at the IMA's 500 acres!
I also took a day trip to Chicago to try on my much anticipated bridesmaid's dress for Trista's wedding, and had a lovely run along Lake Michigan while I was there. I was all giddy to be in Chicago and it got me excited to be up there for November, which I will eventually get around to blogging about...
The Chicago skyline is easily my favorite.
Then there was Dave's and my trip to Kentucky to visit Liz, who is planning a wedding for May! We were really excited to go to Kentucky because Liz's sister Emily owns a lake house and it was a perfect excuse for a trip away for Liz being on fall break, as she is a teacher, and damn am I learning how exhausting that job is. So Liz, Ryan (her fiance), Gabe (her son), Dave and me loaded up in the car and we headed to Nolin Lake. Coincidentally, Nolin Lake is super close to Mammoth Caves National Park, a place I hadn't been since I was a kid, so we used the perfect opportunity to visit a place most of us hadn't been to since we were kids, and that Dave and Gabe had never been to! Unfortunately you can only take guided tours through the cave, but that was still pretty cool because then you get to learn about all kinds of information you would have otherwise never known. After spelunking for a while, we decided to head back to the Lake House to have a really relaxing evening of good food and drinks around the bonfire.  

The following morning we woke up and after we slowly enjoyed our coffee/tea, we got the house tidy for our departure and headed back towards Louisville. Of note is the fact that anywhere outside of Louisville - as far as Kentucky goes - is super conservative and Dave was really taken by all of the sign postings, so the drive was quite entertaining. We then decided to accompany Liz and Ryan as they went to view a potential wedding venue, and we promise it had nothing to do with the fact that it was at a bourbon distillery ;-) Anyways, we made our way to Frankfort, Kentucky to visit the grounds of the Buffalo Trace Distillery. I am pretty confident that we all fell in love with the space instantly. The grounds were impeccable, and just what any person would want for an outdoor wedding. After the wedding coordinator showed us around we naturally had to partake in a bourbon tasting, and I think I'm more interested in the Bailey's esque version of Buffalo Trace, but all the same it was really cool to do a tasting. Post Buffalo Trace, Dave and I headed back to Indy.
Gabe, Liz and me admiring the caves.
Caves are so insane!
The dock at sunset.
You best behave.
Barrels of bourbon!
Dave and myself with our bourbon samples - thumbs up for that!
Other things of note include a day hike in Jackson Washington State Forest in southern Indiana, a place I had never been to before. I was really excited for a day trip down there during Craig's fall break. (It seemed that everyone's fall breaks fell at different times, but at least it seemed everyone had one for us to take advantage of!)
Autumnal views are perfect.
Another noteworthy day was spent at the Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. While this may sound kind of bizarre, the fact of the matter is that you get the most insane views of Indianapolis from the cemetery because it's the highest point in Marion County, and seriously the leaves were just magic. Thankfully Dave's camera does these things justice.
I love that skyline a great deal.
One of my favorite photos Dave's ever taken.
And then there was just lots of hanging out as mentioned above; this included making lots and lots of good vegan food. Katherine is vegan, which is good for both Dave and me because we would both love to push ourselves to be vegan, and spending a month with one will do that to you. Vegan 'buffalo wings' were my favorite new meal, while Dave's new favorite is tator tots..
If you didn't know any better you would guess those were buffalo wings, I know you would!
And as I said earlier as well, the month was filled lots with Dave meeting all of my friends. I was so pleased that Casey was in town from Florida both selfishly, and so that Dave could meet her since she'd stayed in his casa in Spain after all :-) And there was lots of hangage with everyone else as well. Whenever possible hanging out with friends entailed watching a scary movie, because well, that's what one does during October if they care about Halloween as passionately as I do. 
Carving jack-o-lanterns with Lucas, Craig, Casey, Katherine and Dave whilst watching a scary movie, duh!
Lucas and Soda, just chilling in Alex's car.
Watching the Half Step Sisters play a gig! Julia and Mark are some of my favorite people, and their music is beyond phenomenal!
After a night at the jazz kitchen with Katherine, Elloree and Lucas.
Other new friends included Dave befriending Katherine's kitten, Winnie, pretty fierce. I am still telling myself that I shouldn't feel threatened by his adoration for her.
Winnie 1
Winnie 2
Winnie 3
Last, but certainly not least, comes HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!! While Halloween was technically on a Friday night, and therefore a realistic day to have a Halloween party, I was beyond thrilled that my friends chose to have their Halloween party on Saturday this particular year. Why? Because I mistakenly chose to run a half marathon on November 1, otherwise impairing my ability to fully enjoy myself if celebrating Halloween on October 31. Thankfully, this was rendered a non-issue, and I was able to both run a half marathon and then turn around my appearance to celebrate Halloween that same evening. 

I was admittedly really excited to run another official half marathon, since my experience in Helsinki last year wasn't disappointing per se, but wasn't met with meeting my under 2 hour goal as previously hoped for. I was really excited as well to run a race with a friend that I was able to train with. Running my full in March was a really rewarding experience with Casey, but at the same time it was a bummer that we weren't able to train together. Anyways, a large part of my month in Indiana was spent with Julia training for our race. I have never spent so much time with a friend while running since high school, and I forgot how great of an experience it is to run with friends. You get to spend valuable time with each other not distracted by your phone or anything else for that matter, and I will forever cherish that time with Julia. 

The day of the race finally came, and my friend from high school, Brittney was also running the race. Britney and I haven't been the best at staying in touch post high school, but she is real great about picking up where we left off whenever I see her. She saw via the internet that I was also running the Monumental 1/2 Marathon, and offered to run it with me. Brittney and I first met via cross country in high school and she is a naturally gifted runner who continued to run in college, and excelled immensely. She said that if I wanted she would pace me out for my 1/2 to finally break 2 hours, and that she did!!!!! I was so excited crossing that finish line, and after the sensation to puke subsided I was so grateful to Brittney. Had I not had her to pace me I know I couldn't have done it otherwise, I was exhausted! I can finally check this goal off of my bucket list, yay! Humble as she may be, I was super excited to have such a talented runner by my side!
Me, Julia, and her sister Elizabeth geared up before the race!
Brittney coasting, and me dragging my feet.
 And then after recharging at Taco & Burrito, Indianapolis' best Mexican restaurant hands down, we transformed ourselves for an evening of raging. It was so cool to get to see Alex play a gig after being on hiatus for so long. Alex, Craig, and their friend Jason played a horror punk gig in the Waterfill's barn, and that was awesome! That was then followed by a house party at the other Waterfill residence in Plainfield. An evening of dancing and being silly ensued and it was a perfect send off to our stay in Indy.
Scarecrow, mastered.
Zombie dragqueen, mastered.
Corpse paint, mastered.
Artsy photo of my flower power eye.
The Lost Souls, raging.
And so concludes my story for the month of October. I haven't the words to describe how perfect the time was other than friends truly make the world go around, seriously.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Welcome home!

I was so eager to finally get on the long anticipated flight back to America, and on September 3, it finally happened! I was mostly excited to get to show Dave everything I have been talking his ear off about for the past almost 2 years. Dave and I found each other in the Oslo airport, waited out our eight hour layover, and then finally boarded our flight to Oakland. We thought we were being quite clever purchasing a half bottle of wine for me and some beers for Dave to evade airline prices, but alas the first encounter we had on our flight was the flight attendant politely taking away our drinks from us... Neremind! The highlight of the trip was the Norwegian women whom we sat next to sneaking us glasses of wine under the tray table, and the views of Greenland we saw from the window. But enough about the flight, let's move on to the happenings once we safely landed 10 hours later.
Views of Greenland from the plane window.. wow!
Upon arriving to Oakland and passing through border patrol and customs, we walk out to find not only my dad but also my grandpa anxiously awaiting our arrival! It was a pleasant surprise to see my grandfather as well, which my parents successfully kept a secret from me. Bless Dave's patient soul for having to be bombarded with both Corvins immediately upon setting foot on American soil. The Corvins took us back to the hotel that my dad generously treated us to, which was so nice after sleeping on a couch for well over a week. And then immediately after dropping our bags they humored my request and took us for Mexican food. Dave was immediately amazed by the portion sizes, and managed to have his veggie burrito last him for three meals. Night one in America ended early due to the jet lag, but the next morning before the Corvins departed was already resulting in more amazement on Dave's part of the thoroughness of the complimentary hotel breakfast buffet. After stuffing ourselves at breakfast we drove the Corvins to the airport, and so began the adventure that ensued for the next month. 

I am realizing more and more as I get older how lucky I am to have so many amazing friends. We saw five of my friends within the first weekend of being back. My friend Alison (a fellow Hoosier/introduced to via Jessica Collins), has been living in Oakland for the past few years, and recently had a gorgeous baby girl, Arlene. I was so glad to get to see this lovely mama and her babe. 
Arlene was the most expressive baby I've ever met!
On the Friday after arriving, our good friends Matt and Mel drove up from Long Beach to visit with us for the weekend. We met at China Camp near Sausalito, and despite fighting heavy jet lag, we stayed up for Matt and Mel's arrival, enjoyed a drink and crashed early. Saturday we were eager for a long hike, and so we headed out to Mount Tamalpais, for a good 6ish hour hike through the woods, to Stinson Beach, and back. We then headed to the campsite that we didn't realize ahead of time that we would call 'home' for the following few nights. The Marin Headlands offers free camping at three different sites, for three nights a year, and we took advantage of a night at each. Saturday night, post hike, Dave's classmate from Finland, Daniele, arrived for what would be a week of hanging out before heading back to Italy. Daniele had been living/working in Mammoth Lakes since the summer, and his three month allowance in the U.S. was about to run out, but before flying out of Oakland, he spent his last week with us. Matt and Mel left on Sunday to head back to Long Beach, and Dave, Daniele and myself headed to the city to hang out with my friends Max and Kristen. When living in Portland I met quite a few other people doing AmeriCorps in the area, and Max was one of them. Max and Kristen were both from California, but decided to try out the PNW for a while, and inevitably moved back to California shortly after I left Portland. Kristen showed us around her now home, and we had an awesome time watching roller bladers in Golden Gate Park, checking out a view of the city from an observatory, and rounding out the day with tacos in the Mission. On Monday we said goodbye to the Bay Area for a few days equipped with suggestions from Kristen of where to stop along the way. 
Mt. Tam hike!
Happy to be in San Francisco!
So excited about seeing Mel on our first weekend back!
Portland friends in San Francisco!
We left the Bay area with the idea of heading north a bit. Taking the Highway 1 is insanely beautiful, and we just pulled over whenever something struck our fancy. We were encouraged to stop at the Point Reyes National Seashore, which proved to be both a good place for lunch and also quite entertaining. Dave and Daniele created the beach olympics, and that entertained everyone for quite a while! We eventually found a place to camp for the night somewhere north of there, and made a fire and chatted the night away.
Whacking balls of seaweed against each other..

Posing with their new friend.
The next day as we were driving about taking in the sights, we connected the dots that we weren't far away from Petaluma, California. Dave's parent's neighbors (Ann & Pat), whom I did the internship with this summer on their farm, have family in Petaluma. Pat's brother married an American woman, and moved to Petaluma, opened a vineyard and is a very successful wine maker nowadays. Pat encouraged us to contact his brother if/when we ever found ourselves in the area, and so Dave did just that. Despite the last minute notice, Tom not only offered us to stay on his land, but offered us his impeccable AirStream as a place to lay our heads. Tom was not even to be home for the night but insisted it was fine for us to stay. We had a perfect evening enjoying the sunset from his magnificent property, making food over the grill, and watching the stars. 

We woke up in the morning and upon Tom's suggestion we decided to take a tour of the property. We wandered about taking in the absolutely breathtaking scenery, and ultimately found ourselves in the vineyard, where Tom also encouraged us to try as many grapes as we could stomach. Holy cow, fresh grapes straight from the vine are divine (pun not intended), and as we found ourselves lost in grapes, a gentlemen rolled up behind us in his golf cart with a shotgun and startled all of us. Turns out he knew we weren't intruders, but was instead keen to take us on a tour of the whole property, and that the rifle is to simply scare away the birds. Gilberto took us around all of the Stubbs vineyard, and we had a lovely afternoon seeing the fruits of their labor. Then we drove Daniele back to Oakland to catch his flight to Italy and Dave and I went back to the Marin Headlands.
AirStream on the Stubbs vineyard.
Dusk in Petaluma.
The view at night.
Dave woke up to capture the sunrise.
And again.
Good morning Daniele!
Odd discovery on the property!
Hello grapes!!!!
Can't stop won't stop eating grapes... until approached by a stranger with a rifle!

We spent a final day in San Francisco having lunch with Tom, hanging out with Kristen and Max, and enjoyed more walks through the Mission. Oh and most importantly having an insane meal of Indian/Mexican fusion cuisine, my life was forever changed by having curry in a tortilla! Then it was time to finally say goodbye to the Bay area after a week and a half, and to start making our way to Humboldt. We took the Highway 1 north for more epic views, and ultimately we put the tent up somewhere north of Mendocino.

View from the Marin headlands in the morning.
Cool graffiti in San Francisco.
Dave's artsy capture of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Goodbye breakfast in San Francisco.
Good morning California coast.

We continued our drive north until we finally got to Garberville, the nearest town off the 101 from Dave's dad's land. We found the property, and set up our tent on the meadow, and relaxed until Filbey (Mark's friend/fellow land owner) arrived. Filbey chatted to us about all kinds of stories until the wee hours, and when the fire died down we called it a night. The next morning post breakfast, Filbey took us on a grand tour of the land. The land is absolutely beautiful, filled with forest, streams, and waterfalls. With the heat blazing midday after our hike on the land, Filbey promptly suggested we go to the nearest 'watering hole' for a swim. We grabbed drinks and ice creams from the nearby market and headed down to the lake. We went for a swim and just enjoyed the shade of the trees until there was no more shade, and that's how we knew it was time to go home. Filbey made the drive back to Blue Lake (where he now lives) that evening, but Dave and I spent two more nights there. We spent the next day exploring the land more and enjoying our books, each other, and the phenomenal view of the stars by night. After three nights on the land we decided we would head north for Redwood National Park.

Lunch stop on the way to Garberville.
Wandering the stream on the land, it was beautiful!
Sometimes I smile while hiking.
Fantastic oak tree.
The local 'watering hole'!
Beautiful night skies coupled with Dave's photo skills results in pictures like so.
Filbey insisted that en route to Redwood National Park we stop by his place so that he could show us Blue Lake, which is just east of Eureka and Arcata, the 'hub' of Humboldt County. On the way to his place we passed through the absolutely incredible Humboldt Redwoods State Park and Avenue of the Giants, I was in awe for hours! I had seen redwoods before, but only as a kid, and I forgot how absolutely breathtaking these magical trees truly are. After galavanting through the redwoods for hours, we arrived in Blue Lake for an evening of drinks and conversation. Filbey was also keen to show us his greenhouse full of cacti because he sells them at the local farmers markets, and wow did he have quite the collection! Blue Lake turned out to be a perfect stop on our way to the national park.
Among the giants!
I would love to see one of these beasts fall over.
Dave insisted that if you put your arms out it was like you're on a roller coaster!
Filbey decided to accompany us half way up to Redwood National Park because he was excited to show us some of the nearby beaches. So we followed Filbey and his pup up the coast for two pit stops before we ultimately parted ways. Upon leaving Filbey insisted we stop back by again on our way to Lassen National Park so that we could also see him at work at the farmers market, so we promised we would do that and said our goodbyes. 

We arrived to the park nice and early, asked the rangers for advice on a good day hike, and set out for what proved to be one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever been on. We hiked through what is known as Fern Canyon, and good god was it like nothing I've ever seen before. Ferns literally line the walls of this majestic canyon and I'm a sucker for anything green so I was really into it. Then the hike we chose looped through some more majestic redwood groves, and ultimately wound up along the coast, in what I would have guessed is a prairie. We enjoyed our long hike, and then decided to head to our campsite. Our campsite was near the coastal cliffs, and it was a perfect sunset over the Pacific. Day 2 in Redwood equaled more epic hikes among more beautiful scenery, and ultimately another campsite deep within the Tall Trees Grove, as it was so aptly named. 
Fern Canyon 
Foggy views through the redwoods.
Salamander sighting.
Live elk were a plenty!
Campsite number 1 looked something like this!
I'm shrinking!!!
I could have sat amongst these incredible giants for hours!
We left Redwood National Park knowing that we wouldn't go any further north in 2014, and with eagerness we started slowly going east. We made a stop back in Blue Lake for another night of chatting and drinking, went to bed early, and awoke to go watch Filbey at work at the Arcata Farmer's Market. Filbey's average client is the Humboldt State University student; he claims every college kid has one of his cacti in their window. And after watching Filbey at work Dave and I drove to Lassen National Park just in time for the sun to set. We pitched our tent, watched the stars, and went to bed early so as to have a full day ahead of us.

Lassen National Park was honestly a park I had never even heard of prior to Kristen and Max insisting we stop there on our journey east, and I am ever so glad they did! Lassen is an old volcano, and it was stunning to see the work that has been done by this volcano decades ago. We went on a beautiful hike up to the top of Brokeoff Peak, because unfortunately we were unable to hike Lassen Peak due to trail maintenance. The hike was one of the highest I've ever done, at least in a long while, and I was winded by the time we got to the top, but the views were well worth the energy expelled. We then hiked back down about half way, put our tent up somewhere off the trail and called it a night. The next morning we went for a nice run/hike along another trail where you can see the sulfur bubbling up out of the earth, geothermal energy is pretty neato. Then we ultimately said goodbye to Lassen and headed towards Lake Tahoe. 
Bigfoot Cactus at work!
Views of Lassen Peak from Brokeoff Peak
Lassen Peak!
The colors here were phenomenal!
We naively arrived to Lake Tahoe with grand plans of camping for two nights but foolishly didn't take into account how grave the King Fire was. When we arrived to Lake Tahoe, the entire basin was filled with heavy smoke, and the atmosphere was quite eerie. We were informed that the fire was only a mere 5 miles away, but that despite it being quite unrealistic for it to cross over the mountains and enter Lake Tahoe, it still was unsafe to camp in case such an event did occur. So we put out a last minute request on couchsurfing, and some guys who newly own a hostel in the area said we could come stay at their place for a night. We had such a cool night of hanging out in the hostel and talking to all of the travels, which included a Welshman, a German, and someone from Pennsylvania. 

We awoke the following morning determined to go on a nice hike despite the smoke, and that we did! We went on a gorgeous hike near Tamarack Lake, per the park ranger's suggestion, and it was beautiful! It was nice to do a hike off of Lake Tahoe as well, because it meant it was much less crowded! We decided to go for it and pitch our tent the second night, and we survived to tell the tale. The following morning before heading towards Utah we had to check out the infamous Emerald Bay, and thankfully it was still peaceful as it was so early because supposedly that area gets inundated with people pretty quickly. I was sad to say goodbye to Lake Tahoe because the bajillion crystal clear lakes in the area are enough to melt anyone's heart and make them want to stay forever, but off to Utah it was!
Good morning Lake Tahoe!
Tamarack Lake!
A nice place to rest my skeletor feet!
Morning views of Emerald Bay.
As we finally left California after 3 weeks of adventures, it was with excitement that we started heading east towards Indiana. We passed through Nevada and entered Utah, where the landscape blew Dave's mind. Having never seen desert as such his senses were on overload! I also had never seen the Great Salt Lake, and it was quite beautiful! We also started getting into Salt Lake City near sunset, and it was gorgeous to see the sun set over the desert mountains, this scene has become such a comforting feeling of 'home' for me over the past few years. We spent a really fun evening in SLC with our couchsurfing host, his girlfriend, and their friend who was also staying at their place. They took us out to a cool vegetarian restaurant and we swapped stories over gf/veggie biscuits and gravy mmmmmm! Some pictures of Dave's to show the Utah scenery..
The Great Salt Lake!
Artsy driving photos.
Wide open road.
We left SLC and set out with the end goal of Cheyenne in mind, but in the end the person who offered to host us for a night lived in Laramie, Wyoming. I had admittedly never head of Wyoming's college town, Laramie, and I was quite excited in general to be in Wyoming (a new state for me), so was happy to rest my head anywhere in this foreign land. Our host offered us up some good advice to take a detour off of I-80, and to cut through Saratoga where there is a free hot spring, and then to pass through the Medicine Bow National Forest and ultimately wind up in Laramie. We were so happy for the suggestion because the hot spring was really great, and a nice break from driving! And the drive through the forest was gorgeous as the leaves had already begun to change. We arrived to Laramie happy and decided to spend a night out meeting the locals, Dave finally got to encounter some real cowboys, eager to tell us about working on the ranch! After a long day we crashed in the backyard of our host in our tent, and woke up to the sound of their chickens clucking away!
Wyoming hot springs!
Beautiful stretch of road.
Wild, wild west.
Laramie train tracks.
We woke up in Laramie and per our host's additional suggestion we stopped shortly outside of Laramie to go for a run around Turtle Rock, a stop well worth our time. Dave and I both were fascinated by the landscape of this area. And after a good run/hike, we carried forward to Nebraska! Nebraska was also new to me, and though it didn't top Wyoming in beauty, it is always exciting to see a new state. We arrived to Lincoln quite tired, and thankfully so was our host, so after a brief chat we crashed with the intention of getting up early to complete the drive to Indiana.
Turtle Rock, Wyoming.
Turtle Rock.
Somewhere in Wyoming
We got on the road by 6am and plowed through the remainder of Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois and finally arrived to Indiana around 8pm! It was a long drive, but so exciting to show up earlier than planned to Indianapolis and surprise everyone! We were tired when we arrived, but not too tired to go out with everyone, and it was so great to be 'home.' The following day my friend Julia was playing music at a winery and we were able to surprise her as well at her gig, and that was so great! And we also found time the day after that to take Dave to my happy place in Indiana, the apple orchard nearby Plainfield. There's something about apple picking in the fall time that makes my heart happy. September was a whirlwind of a month, and I enjoyed every minute of it, but Dave and I were both happy to put our bags down for the next month. October in Indiana was perfect, and I can't wait to find the time to write about it soon!
The Half Step Sisters!
Best friends reunited in the orchard!
Dave's beautiful photo of the pumpkins at the orchard.
Ps. all of the good photos are Dave's, naturally. Bye for now!