#nowplaying had better be Fireproof (One Direction's new song) or Love In This Club or this mashup babies, just do it. all are fun and it's my party :* let's boogie while we're here
when we left off last time I had just returned from California back to Indiana with Official Steph Mill in tow, so here is Steph at my house and Catie Cutie in the bg being HOME!!
We were only in Indiana for a day or so and then drove to Toronto to take Steph home and see One Direction ;)
Catie Cutie once again drove the whole way and fucking killed it (Y)
Unfortunately Steph was p sick while we were there so we just hung out and watched Pretty Little Liars/ etc but it was still fun. This is the last and only pic in Toronto after we had nachos and were abt to go to Rogers Centre for the show. We had a fucking blast and One Direction is the best band in the whole world and I want to live in a stadium with thousandssssss of girls that all love One Direction and sing loud and boogie. deposit my ashes at a One D show tbh
Then I had a couple days at home. Here's Rosie being goofy
Please note the stereo:
Per tradition:
My last real night in Indiana we went to watch the sunset at Norie's at stop 20 and ate chips and salsa on the beach, it was really fucking perfect. I love Lake Michigan and Indiana and life long friends and chips
And then I left with my momma the next morning to drive to OREGON. This is Illinois (who cares)
This is Iowa, which I was actually very impressed by. Expected it to be very boring and flat but it wasn't at all! Very rolling hills etc. Lovely.
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Somewhere in here we crossed into Nebraska, who could say
This first day we drove 12 hours total. We originally stopped at 10 in.... Sadjkahkg right on the border of Wyoming? Sidnie I think?? Something like that. Buttttttt I was lying in bed in our hotel room and a little :) bug :) crawled :) onto :) my :) shirt :) so we skipped town and drove two more hours to Cheyenne and stayed in a brand new Marriott absolutely lovely hotel that was heaven on Earth. Mom deemed it the best bed she has ever slept in.
Right across the street from the hotel there was a train yard that was very loud but also comforting so we slept with the window open and it ruled
Wyoming was very impressive. Mom and I must have said the word 'sky' in various contexts at least twelve hundred times. BIG SKY COUNTRYYYYYYYYY GET ITTTT TELL THEMMM
If I ever do another cross country road trip I want to do a study of rest stop shelters tbh, look at that. just killin it. who made that thing
There are some lil animals in that pic ^ but you can't really see em
Wyoming was pretty frickin incredible
This flag billboard was so faded it was greyscale
CLOUDS THOOO. took this out the sunroof
I took a nap and distinctly remember waking up to this canyon bit in Utah, sooooo fucked
We had some extra time since we drove extra the night before so I convinced my mom to go to Spiral Jetty. If you've never heard of ittttt, it is a piece of land art on the Great Salt Lake made by Robert Smithson in the 70s; essentially it's a bigggg spiral arrangement of rocks out into the lake. We studied it in at least 3 art history courses I took and it was always a bit like, ~mystical~ to me, like bucket list never actually going to see it, who the fuck cares abt Utah, whatever, but I am SO glad we went. Frig.
This was at the last gas station in Corinne before it's practically wild lands
The road out is completely unmarked for Spiral Jetty but you follow it to Golden Spike National Monument which commemorates the continental railroad I guess; it was closed by the time we got there so we didn't learn
So then you drive past the visitors center, lose cell service, and take progressively worse roads (gravel--> dirt --> very rocky dirt) through a bunch of ranches that have posted signs to stay on the road or face trespassing charges etc, up and around a mountain, and then all of a sudden there it is
We had a van following us Mom was convinced were going to murder us once we stopped the car, made me get out my pepper spray and knife and all, and then we got there and it's a family of four with two young kids, from fucking Oregon. incredible
The road just Ends in a little cul-de-sac so you have kind of climb down and then walk a bit to get to where it starts
I fell off a rock that tipped over as I stepped on it and it bruised the shit out of my ankle, here it is all swollen
At certain times the Jetty is covered or partially covered in water but right now the lake is pretty low so it is all exposed with some puddles and things around; absolutely stunning
Somebody left some Fritos hidden under that rock lol, so fucking INTO ITTTTT. MAKE YR OWN SNACK LAND ART
The sand/salt gets progressively less sandy and more salty (like walking on crunchy crystally sand) the closer you get to the actual shore; and it literally is pink. Amazing amazing amazinggggg.
This was foam that felt like whipped cream, very solid
Mom added her own art piece to the sand. I love her more than the whole world
It felt like leaving a sacred place, didn't want to go
On our drive back we passed some completely casual horsies
Had a very very very strange experience watching a single red balloon drift out of the sky and land in this field (magic is sometimes very close to nothing at all etc)
This abandoned ranch had a dead cowie all bones by it :(
This is the railroad that the golden spike thing was all about
We passed so many signs that were all bulleted up like this
Here's the car!!!!!! Scooby Doo (on our cargo bag) was our mascot :-)
Then we drove onward into Idaho
The sunset you're abt to get a glimpse of was pretty fuckin breathtaking
LOOK AT THE SKYYYYYYYYY MASHED POTATOES
As I was taking these and Mom was takin her own pics while driving we had a discussion abt that feeling you get when you know you're taking too many photos of a Thing and none of them are ever going to compare anyway so like, extra futile, but I still took them bc No Regrets Just Love is my lifestyle
That night we stayed in Twin Falls, ID and it was very nice.
Driving in it was already dark so in the morning after our continental brekkie we drove out and saw why the frick it's called Twin Falls. You cross this bridge off the highway to get into the city and liiiiike, very chill
The Snake River! All the way over here! Mom smelled this plant
If you look closely almost perfectly in the center of this pic there is a bright green thing that is actually a parachute bc PEOPLE WERE JUMPING OFF THE BRIDGE
They landed in the grassy dirt in the bottom of this next pic; last dude that went landed running and we were amazed.
They have a whole little viewing area under the bridge that smelled like piss and had some graffiti and stuff (very alt, very cool) (film a music vid abt it)
The other side of the bridge; all that green is an actual golf course, in true American fucking style
We tried to walk across the bridge but it was really terrifying and we gave up. Worst part I think was that instead of being able to Not Look at the water and instead look at the traffic the traffic was very fast and thus just as scary??? but also it's realllllly high. I was afraid.
Also note that there is no ledge between the railing and the sidewalk so those jumpers are messed up and Bold
We listened to a lot of CDs and even some mp3s when Mom said it was okay but not this one, I took a pic bc we grew up listening to it in the car when my mom wanted us to go to sleep and it's still the most soothing thing in the whole world to me almost. Mom said she used to listen to it when she was pregnant, even, so that's some Shit yk
PAPAS CAPITAL OF THE USA
One of our last gas stops was this amazing station called Stinker's that had a Huge selection of snacks including an actual popcorn maker so we got the largest size they had and ate it for hours.
Then we got to OREGON
fate: 374 miles to Portland, 374 miles left in the tank ~~~~~~
Western Oregon is much like Idaho except hillier
Mountainssssss
This rest stop taught us abt the Oregon Trail pioneers that got to this mountain range and were disheartened bc they thought they'd have to climb it but it's actually all perspective. Still steep but passable with horsies and chains and things ! a-ok
This is from an observation point at the summit of these mountains. HUGE. Pics don't do it justice whatsoever. The road down it did one of those windy zig zag things with pull-off areas for runaway trucks, the whole all of it. Insane
Next one is the obs point from that road in the first pic
Here's a train
Here's the end of the train
Here is a dam!!!! a majority of the highway out of the mountains follows the Columbia River so that is it
On the other side of the shore is the state of Washington, now you know
There's Mount Hood in the distance
We passed by a big forest fire right along the highway, super crazy. They had signs posted to not pull over to look at it, gdi. The smoke smelled so strong
AND THEN WE MADE ITTTTTTTT
We met Matt at his (MY) house but he was on his way home still so we waited in the car for a bit
And then carried in all my stuff and things
And then went to the airport to pick up Catie and Dominic from flying from Chicago!! Then we had dinner and this lovely peach pie dessert with ice cream
The next day we went to Oregon City bc Mom wanted to go to the Oregon Trail Center Thing but first we had brekkie
This house is a museum; I forget the guy's name but he was instrumental in giving pioneers help when they made it across the wilderness etc. They moved this house from its original location with one horse!!! amazing
Around the house they had a nice park/ walking path and there were blackberries growing. Mom picked one for everyone but I don't like blackberries so none for meee
We walked for a sec down this tunnel and along the street but it wasn't the park we were looking for so then we took the municipal elevator! what the frick. There was a nice man inside that operated it and apparently it's considered a vertical street. idk, do your thing Oregon City
At the top there's this lil thing but there were wasps in it and that's not very fun and the view was kinda ..? they have a lot of mills leftover from industry etc. anyway we scooted
Into the park!!!!! Your choice for this photo was to look dead or to smile incandescently
Then we got lunch/dinner at this place calllllled something I can't rememberrrr frig, but it was the best. I had the most amazing BLT of my life and their fries were amazing, it was so good
Here's me and Catie Kardashian :~)
This is that guy's house again
Then we drove back home to My house and hung out all night together!!
The next morning we left shortly after sunrise to start our trip back east.
Passed a few tree farms, what a cool strange thing!
Donimic and I fucking OWNED at backseat hangs. Here he is modeling a Sweater Head, no pics of mine but I was also wearing one. I think this was the day that I was delirious. at Peak Clare levels. silly, goofy, hilarious, take me on the road with you for a long time, day 6 is optimal
Look at that pic again ^ god
This first day of driving my mom was very ambitious and we went all the way to Grand Teton from Portland...... it took I think 15 hours........? I didn't take any film pics but we got burger king for dinner after eating 3 bags of chips between us. things got very sketch toward the end
The sunset was incredibleeeeeeeeeeeeeeee again and again but this one was just amazing
This was a new roll so forgive the crazy angle :p
There was a super moon this night as well; we were well into the mountains by the time it rose and when we first saw it we screamed. these are long exposures from a moving car so lmao best wishes
THEN WE MADE ITTTTT MOM WAS SO AMAZING AND STRONG AND DID ITTTTTT
long exp from when we got lost trying to find our cabin, NBD NBD
WOKE UP TO TWO MOOSE IN THE FRONT YARD NBD NBD
I have to give a huge shout-out to Holly that gave me a list of recommendations when my mom and I were first theorizing doing this trip back in the winter; she suggested Grand Teton if we wouldn't have a lot of time but still wanted something really amazing and it was soooooo worth it and surpassed all the hype. Incredible park. Incredible mountains!! One more thing to be grateful to OTC for, knowing amazing people all over the place!!!!! TY
The first thing we did this day was a hike, I am going to spare words here bc it was memorable but that memory belongs wholly to my family so g bless, talk to you in a bit. SO BEAUTIFULLLL
That took a long time and then we went back and flopped around and ate a feast
Then that evening we did a raft trip down the Snake River. The river is very calm in the park so it's considered a 'float' but I had a Life Experience on a previous rafting trip a few years ago so I sat on the bottom of the raft anyway, still scared #staysoft
Our guide's name was Justin and he did all the steering with those two oars. Very impressive. He also has led a very cool life and was a neat person.
oh god I've had fireproof on this whole time writing this (ummm ages) and Zayn just came in with his chorus and I have to take a break bye
LOOK AT THOSE MOUNTAINS
I am so amazed by eyeballs I just have to say, like, a camera has absolutely no power compared to peripherally experiencing this. BRAINS OPTIC NERVES LIGHT LENS ETC how amazing.
We saw a lot of beavers and water birds and a moose and then two eagles!!!! They are young bald eagles so no white heads yet but look at em. So cutie
The other passengers on our trip were a family of German Americans that live in NYC and a family of Canadians, with two grandparents that met working at Yellowstone in the 60s I think and a mom and her daughter that live innnnn somewhere north of Ottawa I think it was. Everyone was very nice.
Then the next day we did the loop drive through the park and looked at a lot of things
Mom put her feet in the water there. She is where I got a lot of things from
The Tetons are just a lonely range of mountains that are still growing bc of tectonics. The Native Americans that lived here called them the Teewinots and then the French came and renamed them like idiots but I like Teewinots better
Then we watched the sunset from this nice lil area across from an old ferry they used to use to cross the river.
Here's all of us. How neat are self-timers.
The next morning we left Grand Teton for Yellowstone at approx dawn. It was PRETTY MAGIC
That pic above was out my window, the next was out Donimic's. I think he took his, so cred to him
INCREDIBLY BREATHTAKING, AND OTHER POEMS
I made them wave when I was getting back in the car and they made me dance to get back in. It's tradition
Yellowstone is a whole planet tbh
We got into the park right as Old Faithful was erupting apparently so we drove straight over there to hopefully catch the next one, which we did. There were a lot of terrible people in Yellowstone.
please lol with me bc Catie Kardashian is so great she can pull off all black incl black socks w sandals. god. alty alt
It had rained in the early morning so all the benches were wet but we only had to wait maybe a half hour I think, not even
If you haven't seen Old Faithful erupt or just didn't know like me it erupts for a good two minutes at the least; kind of starts strong and just keeps going and getting smaller etc
Has someone made a photo book of people reacting to Old Faithful, where can I find it
I tried to make my family recreate their reaction but no one likes me
When it's not erupting it's just steamin. We walked around the lodges that are set up here and through the gift shop etc but it was getting crowded pretty quick so we scooted
My mom walks really fast always, leaves us behind every single time
Catie thought there would be a trash can at the basin but there wasn't
THIS WAS SO WILD. again, in case you didn't know, this is all Deep Earth activity in which the underbelly of the planet bubbles up to the surface with a lot of chemicals but mostly sulfur, which means all this steam smelled very strong like rotten eggs. It was enough to choke u if you were stupid abt it
Here's Donimic. I think I am going to make a collection of all the pics I have of/with him in them. I just remembered when I was a kid when he was very young (he is 6 years younger) I made a collection of things that he made or that he liked and kept them in a box and then gave to him when he was older. Does your past self ever weird you out a lot.
I love him he's my best friend
All these idiots tryna stand on a bench for a better pic.......... smh
Then we went to see some waterfalls
^ me and Catie holding hands except we don't like holding hands very often bc we have the same hands still
Hard to see in this next one but that diagonal line near the middle is a path/stairs and if you follow it down a bit there's an observation level. People on it looked tinyyyyy
We did Yellowstone in a day so we just drove around a lot and stopped whenever someone wanted to; my mom has a lot of affection for buffalo so when we saw some here we turned around to go back and look again and then watched as they crossed the river right in front of and toward us. Did you know buffalo are great swimmers. Also did you know they make sounds. Also have you ever seen a stampede. :))))))))
I took this sticking my head out the window and that car on the far left and the one behind it you can't see were both convertibles with their covers open :) and the buffalo walked right up next to it and there were many of them and not enough room with all the people that stopped after we did and got out of their cars and were fucking idiots. We drove away as the buffalo started running. I wanted to cry. Catie had her first panic attack. My mom thought it was the coolest thing she's ever seen. Bye
Then we saw more buffalo a lot
And more sulfur mud holes
I have deemed this next pic the best exposed pic I have ever taken. It looks like a Mike Boyle Pic!!! How is it 35mm?????? What the frick!!!! What if I had tools to make all my pics look this good!!!! nah
That lil cave was called Dragon's Mouth Cave bc it the water that comes out sounds like a roar sometimes. just kidding it's bc can't you just picture a dragon hiding in there!! Eragon come out
Catie Kardashian sighting
Lots of fire damage around
This is Yellowstone Lake, very nice
And then we left Yellowstone and drove through Wyoming to our motel for the night
We got dinner at a small restaurant that was very weird and were certain our waitress was either stoned or drunk. My cheeseburger and fries only cost $6
Look how Wild West
The next day we drove to South Dakota
and went to Mount Rushmore! It was cool but also what the frick America is so fucking weird. I love Indiana
This roll of film expired in December and I made a mistake using it probably but no regrets just love
We did a little walking tour with a park ranger (ly amy) that was about the politics of the four men that are carved in, mostly he asked us if we had the option of voting for any of them now would we, which like, how can you even ask??? Who could say. I would vote for Teddy Roosevelt tho, I think
This is the view from the highest legal point closest to the monument. Remember in National Treasure when Ben brings the gang here? There's a whole chamber of things relevant to the founding of the USA inside the Monument itself that is REAL and NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC but MADE FOR NATIONAL TREASURE AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN MENTION IT
We were only here for a bit, was literally one of the weirdest places I've ever been. Had some ice cream tho, so (Y)
THEN WE WENT TO THE BADLANDS
THIS WAS THE WILDEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, I WANNA SEE IT FIFTY MORE TIMES EVERY TIME OF DAY EVERY SEASON. GO TO THE BADLANDS
BADLAND MOUNTAIN GOATS
FUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG WHAT THE FRICKKKKKKKKKKK
^ there's the car again (:
STEPH I HAVE AN UPDATED TOP 5 SUNSETS
Then we stayed in a really nice lil hotel right outside the park that was super nice and I finally got to condition my hair :') and we watched TV
Oh What Do You Know Another Amazing Sunset That Lasts A Whole Lifetime
The next morning we drove some more!! ALL THE WAY HOME!!!
We got back just after midnight on Saturday morning so had a day to chill and my mom made me Last Supper including jalapeño poppers for our first course and fancy juice, and my favorite tilapia she makes and potatoes and fresh Indiana corn and it was lovely, the best the best
Then I cried most of the way to the airport in the back of a shuttle bus and flew back to Portland
Mount Hood looked great from the sky
And I live here now (: and have officially been to half the states in the country !
Thanks for reading please tell me your playcount of whatever song you chose to listen to or for each, also I love you xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxo thanks for keeping me company if you looked at any of my snapchats or texted me along the way, wouldn't be here without you :)
and thanks be to Mom for driving so much and being the best most incredible mom. love you a lot
