We made it. 56 days, exactly 8 weeks of traveling on the road and taking in what mother nature has to offer.

I don’t think it’s quite hit us yet.  We keep hearing that going on this trip is incredible and a once in a lifetime thing and we agree. It doesn’t seem like it yet. Perhaps with time and growing up it will truly feel like a trip of a lifetime and make it an even more cherished experience.

It’s good to be home, weird but good. After traveling for 2 months and moving on to a new place within a few days after you just got there makes staying in once place feel weird and different. Knowing that we don’t have to plan on what we’re doing or where we’re going tomorrow makes today feel slow and almost dull.  It may sound depressing, but it’s a good thing. It means we’re home and it means we’ve seen and done all the things we set out to do.

That’s the thing about this trip. We’ve seen countless things. There isn’t something we missed and said, “I wish we saw that…”  We’re very satisfied with how things panned out and we’re glad just to be home.  We missed our families and friends.  Just to see them and spend time with them again makes the return home even better.

I suppose it’s bittersweet that it’s over, but hey, we all knew that was going to happen. :)  You hate to say goodbye to such an awesome trip, but its got to end some time and I’m just happy we got to do this.  That’s all. I’m happy and feel very fortunate.

In case you were wondering about our return trip, here are the details.  There isn’t much to report, so be warned.  We left Friday, July 4 (Day 54) and drove from Truckee, CA to Twin Falls, ID.  We got to watch some fireworks in Twin Falls, but after traveling for 7-some hours on the road, we just wanted to crash.  The following day (Day 55), we drove 12.5 hours from Twin Falls, ID to Rapid City, SD.  That was a long day and it felt good to hit Rapid City because we knew we were only a day away from home.  The following morning (Day 56), we met up with Shayanne’s grandparents to have breakfast and say goodbye.  It was good to see them again and I know Shayanne was excited to see them.  We left Rapid City about 10:00 mountain time and hit Waconia about 7:30 central time.

Shay’s family was expecting her and I elected to keep it a surprise and only tell my roommates.  Everyone was super excited to see us and we got a nice welcoming.  It just felt good to be home…

I have the remaining pictures uploaded to the site.  I’ll write another blog following up with my thoughts of the trip sometime in the near future.  I just need some time to walk away from it and let it absorb.

Day 51 Pictures
Day 52 Pictures
Day 53 Pictures
Day 54-55 Pictures

After our 4+ day stay throughout the state of Utah, it was time to move onward on Friday (Day 26). We left our kind hosts in Provo, Utah and headed north to Twin Falls, Idaho. We were told Twin Falls is an awesome Idaho town with lots to offer. It turns out that statement was no lie. I have to admit, I love the Idaho landscape, it was filled with lots of green, rolling hills and some snow-covered mountains in the distance. I much prefer that type of scenery over the dryness that Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Western Colorado offered. By us taking this trip, we have become privy to see exactly how diverse of a nation this is in terms of people, culture, and landscape. The things you learn and see, and the experiences you gather never end.

The main feature Twin Falls has are it’s waterfalls. It has a pair of them: The Twin Falls and the Shoshone Falls. The Twin Falls were originally a pair of waterfalls that fell next to each other but one of the falls was damed off for hydroelectric reasons. The Shoshone Falls was a bit more impressive than the Twin Falls. Not to mention the view was a bit better. After we saw the falls, we grabbed a bite to eat in the town of Twin Falls and then headed back on the road towards Yellowstone.

The weather was on and off sloppy. It would rain for maybe 30 minutes and then it would be blue skies for an hour. This process would repeat itself during the length of the trip to Yellowstone. The only difference is that by time we reached West Yellowstone, Montana, which is just outside the western entrance to the park, the temperature was in the 30’s and the rain become snow. After checking out the weekend forecast, we decided to cancel our camping reservations and find lodging instead. Not that camping in 20-30 degree weather when it snows can’t be done, it’s just that we wouldn’t have much fun doing it.

On Saturday (Day 27), we set out to explore the western and southern parts of the park. We started up at Norris Geyser Basin and walked around to see all the different geysers and hot springs. You never get used to the Hydrogen Sulfide smell because of the sulfur aroma. But you deal with it and crack jokes about how your travel buddy smells bad. And by “jokes” I mean “stress the truth.” The geyser basin, overall, was pretty cool. It never gets old to see how and why those types of things happen.

The snow and wind started to pick up after we left Norris and headed south to Old Faithful. Once we reached Old Faithful we took a quick lunch and warm up break inside the lodge. We grabbed some lunch and then headed back into the elements. We checked out Old Faithful but it wasn’t due to erupt for another hour and some change. Knowing that, we decided to explore around Old Faithful and see the other geysers and hot springs. There was quite a few to see, but not as many as at Norris. We found a mile long hiking trail and decided to check that out. During the hike the trees covered us from most of the wind and snow and it was SO quiet. It was actually really nice. It was really nice until the group of 4 guys in front of us started yelling and hollering at God knows what. Gotta love a peaceful nature hike and then some idiots ruin it for you. Anyways, we finally reached the top elevation of the hike and there was nothing to protect us from the snow and wind. It was coming down quite heavy and we couldn’t see further than maybe 30 feet in front of us. Kind of cool, but disappointing at the same time. The point of the hike was to reach the top and overlook the Old Faithful area.

After the hike and checking out some of the other features near Old Faithful, we came back to the world’s most famous geyser and waited for eruption. We didn’t have to wait long, maybe only 5 minutes. You could see the steam build more and more and then finally some water started to sputter out and then BAM, water was shot to the sky. Boy, that thing really shot up! It was pretty cool. We stayed for the duration of the eruption and took some pictures with it. See the video. Once that was done and given the travel time back to our base site at Canyon, we decided to head back and check into our lodge. After checking in, we both crashed and took about a 3 hour nap. That felt nice! However, once we we’re done with our nap, it was 9:00 and had this feeling of, “Okay, now what?” We just hung out, talked and read our books.

Sunday (Day 28) was another productive day. We headed north and east to see those parts of the park. We started at Mammoth Hot Springs and walked around there to see a lot of the older, dead springs and geysers. There were some big hot springs at Mammoth. I suppose the name of the area fits the bill, they really were mammoth. When walking around, we really spotted some creepy looking sites. It’s amazing what mother nature nature produces under certain conditions.

Once we finished at Mammoth, we headed east to check out Lamarr Valley which is near the eastern entrance of the park. The thing about Lamarr Valley is that it’s known for harboring TONS of wildlife. Turns out that was no lie. There was countless buffalo, elk and mule deer grazing off in the distance. The landscape was quite breath taking. A lush green valley with mountains and trees in the distance and on the other side was snow capped mountains and green rolling hills against a blue sky. Just awesome! Once we hit the eastern entrance, we headed back to Canyon. We had to take the long way back (going through Roosevelt, Mammoth and Norris) rather than heading south through Roosevelt to Canyon because the road from Roosevelt to Canyon was closed. That was super lame but also super fortunate because by having us go the long way back, we were able to spot the first bear we saw on the trip! It was a black bear and was maybe 100-some yards away. We wanted to see one before we left because we saw just about everything else Yellowstone has to offer in terms of wildlife.

Yesterday (Day 29) we left Yellowstone and headed to our next stop in Missoula, Montana where I can work a few days before we head to Glacier. Our hosts, Don and Marilyn Oliver, are in California for their son’s wedding so Shay and I are actually house sitting for them while they are gone. We never met these two people before and they were kind and gracious enough to still let us stay at their place without them here. We cannot express enough gratitude for that kind of hospitality. It really means the world to us!

Here we are, Day 30 today, and where did the time go? We still have a little over a month left on this trip but if that time goes at the same pace as it has been going, I will feel as if I blinked and it’s over. Hopefully that’s not the case because we are having the time of our lives exploring and learning more about our country, it’s people, it’s places, each other and ourselves. Shades of home sickness have set in. We miss our family and friends but we’ll be back in due time so that helps ease the slight pain.

Day 26 Pictures
Day 27 Pictures
Day 28 Pictures