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Showing posts from May, 2013

Road Trip: Yellowstone National Park

I am not sure what year it was when I first visited Yellowstone National Park. I think I was between the ages of 12 and 15.  It was the only vacation my entire family ever took.  Maybe that is why it stands out in my memory. We were the Griswald's before there was the Griswald's. Mom, Dad, my brother, and our dog {No one would dog sit for us} in a beat up old station-wagon headed West to visit my uncle who lived in Cody, Wyoming. I have wanted to return for so many years. So when Doctor J and I decided we could drive through Montana the next logical step was Yellowstone National Park. The second day of our journey found us in Gardiner, Montana at about 1:00 in the afternoon. We stopped in at the Ranger Station and chatted with the Park Rangers, hit up a local grocery store for lunch and excitedly entered the park. Technically, we saw wild animals before we even hit the park's archway.  The animals do not recognize the same boundaries as we do. Several cow elk

Road Trip Day 1: Seattle

I have a bucket list. I started it a few years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer. Visiting Pike's Market in Seattle, Washington has been on my bucket list for a long time. When I first started mapping out the route Doctor J and I would take from Portland to Yellowstone, I was looking at following the Columbia Gorge. But, Doctor J suggested going north from Portland to Seattle and then heading east. I thought she was crazy to go three hours out of our way, no matter how much I wanted to visit Seattle, but Mapquest agreed with her. The drive from Portland to Seattle was quick and beautiful. I was taken by the bright yellow flowers that lined the drive. Doctor J told me there were actually an invasive species that grows uncontrollably in this part of the county. Driving into Seattle on I-5 this is the first view of the city that you get. The Space Needle sticks out. Maybe on my next visit, we will be able to visit the Space Needle and the Chihuly Garden and Glass. We only