Home on the Range

This past week, I spent 2100 miles on the road…by myself. 5 states and 4 days later I’m finished. Yes friends, I am back in Wisconsin.

FOR GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT! 

As excited as I am to have a job, I am really REALLY going to miss living in the Pacific Northwest. It’s hard to explain, but out west there is an entirely different mentality when it comes to work/life balance. Yes you still have your workaholics, but you also have a huge number of people who can’t wait to get their 40+ mile bike ride in on the weekend, attend an avant-garde art opening, kite board the Columbia River, listen to a killer local band, check out the pow pow on Mt. Bachelor or walk the beach on the windy Oregon Coast.

Biggest thing I’m going to miss: mountains. Like this these:

I know Madison is where I need to be at this point in my life. Is it what I had planned? No. I had this romantic notion that I was going to live somewhere completely new once I finished grad school. While that didn’t happen, I know it will someday.  I’ll be back out West sooner rather than later.

For now, I’m content to be living in a city I adore. I am closer to my family and longtime friends. I can revel in the success that is Wisconsin sports right now first hand. And I can actually start my career!

I’m looking at this chapter in my life as a building process. I have a job that is actually relevant to my career path. It’s with an arts organization. It’s a nonprofit. It does great things for the community.

All western-withdrawal symptoms aside, I win.

Here are some fun photos from my trip: 

Columbia River Gorge and its foggy awesomeness.

This set up was quite stressful across SD & MN.
As if 45mph wind gusts aren't strong enough, try it with a bike on the back of your car. 

Eastern WA.

Idaho.

First time pumping my own gas in 2 years. Still got it, to the exact dollar, BAM.

More eastern, WA.

Mountains outside Bozeman, MT.

Eastern MT. My favorite photo of the trip.

More MT.

North Dakota.

I saw 3 different people driving 4-wheelers on the road. Apparently common in ND.

ND, still.

Weary traveler.

WISCONSIN!

More WI. 

There are no photos of Minnesota. It's not that I didn't appreciate the view, it's that I had both hands white-knuckled on my steering wheel.


Land of 10,000 Lakes was really "land of winds that want to whip your car like a pinball."

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of St. Patrick (the patron saint of Ireland) I thought I'd share some of my 462,981 photos from the trip I took to Ireland about two years ago.

Dublin

Trinity College (Book of Kells- flashback to Art History 201 anyone)?

Yum.

Kissing the Blarney Stone. It was a long fall, hence the guidance by castle staff.

Also yum.

Midleton (near Blarney Castle).

Galway (best fish and chips of my life).

So glad I took a bus.

Cliffs of Moher

Enjoy your libations responsibly tonight!

Crater Lake: Attempt #2

Alright, after a much too long blogging hiatus (silly second year of grad school), here are the promised ramblings and photos from my second attempt at visiting Crater Lake National Park. 

You can revisit the dismal account, here.

Just for fun, here’s a comparison of attempt #1 vs. attempt #2. These photos were taken exactly a week apart.

Week One

Week Two

                                      

                                      

A result of Mount Mazama imploding in on itself, Crater Lake boasts some of the clearest water in the world and is the deepest lake in the United States at 1,943 feet.

I can most definitely confirm the water is absolutely breathtaking. Before visiting Crater Lake, I didn’t think such a color could occur naturally.

 We hiked up to a vista point:

…and down to the water. 

The climb back up is the equivalent of 125 flights of stairs to the top of the 75^th floor of a skyscraper. 

Pretty. Awesome.

I promise this was my last post about a National Park...at least for now!

The Silver Lining

It's been a productive day here in Rainy City, U.S.A. One of those where you look at the clock and wonder where the last 3 hours have gone. To be honest, it has been a long time since I've had one of those days and it felt pretty darn awesome. Marking a bunch of things off my to-do list really makes my inner Type-A personality smile.

I digress.

This post is actually about a photo I took while on my way to Crater Lake last weekend.

This was taken with a point and shoot, so please excuse the less-than-stellar quality, but if you squint and look into the background of the photo it looks like the highway climbs right into the clouds! 

Maybe this is only exciting to someone who has lived in Oregon for over a year now and looks for the silver lining when it's rainy and gray, but regardless, pretty cool right?

...and now I'm off to appease my Type-B tendencies. Relaxing with a glass of wine and Season 3 of Dexter. 

National Park Update

Just under a year ago, I posted about my desire to visit my first National Park (revisit the post here). I wrote about visiting Crater Lake, thinking because of its proximity to Rainy City, U.S.A., that it would be the first I would visit. Well, little did I know I would be living in Washington for the summer and would actually visit Mt. Rainier National Park first. Now that my work is done in Washington for the summer and I’m back in Rainy City (well, technically I’m on vacation back in WI for a week) I miss seeing the gigantic façade of Mt. Rainier on the horizon.

I was lucky enough to visit the Park twice this summer. The first to tackle a day-hike on the Crystal Peak trail. Being from the Midwest, this means a few things; that I a) am obsessed with mountains b) take way too many photos of said mountains and c) cannot shut up about how awesome mountains are. Visiting Mt. Rainier up close and personal (or so I thought at the time) resulted in me absolutely falling in love with the park. Here are a few photos from my first trip:

Little did I know I would be visiting the Park again in July. My friend K.A.R. and I lazily drove around the Park and took in the sights from the car, enjoyed the winding (terrifying at times) roads, enjoyed a picnic and explored the highest point you can reach without a pair of gaiters and crampons. We parked at Paradise, where the National Park Inn and visitors center is located. From a fifteen minute hike up a paved path full of tourists, we took an heinous  ample amount of photos from here:

Needless to say, I fell deeper in love with the mountain and can’t wait to go back. Perhaps to climb someday…before my joints start really punishing me.

Random thought: Mt. Rainier is technically an active volcano, so is it still technically correct to call it a mountain?