July 18: Tour Day 3 Continued (to post more pics)

I decided before I set out that I was going to hike to Avalanche Lake. It took about 2 - 3 hours roundtrip. The weather was so perfect, upper 70s into the 80s, sunny, the perfect day. The sign in the pic is one of the first things you see before you get started on the trail, not the most pleasant of thoughts, but I guess they have to let you know. The trail was more crowded than I expected, which I guess is a good thing from a safety standpoint. The pic where I am in my hot pose in water is Avalanche Lake, and yes those are all waterfalls falling from the mountains surrounding the lake, I think there were 6 or 7 waterfalls there. The other pic with the chair is where I set up to eat lunch after the hike.

Once I finished eating and relaxing for few, I drove the rest of the way through the park. After taking a few turns, I found myself on a gravel road that had a sign that said “Canada 33 miles.” I was tempted, but there was so much more to do and see, and the road looked so rough, I felt bad for Lola. We turned around and headed back towards West Glacier. The town where I want to run Le Griz ultramarathon is 10 miles from West Glacier. I went there to see if I could find anyone who organizes the run or find the trail that we will be running. I couldn’t find anyone who organizes the run after asking about half the town, but I did find the dam that we run over near the end of the race. I really wanted to spend some time here to find the motivation to train for Le Griz. Now that I am back in Yellowstone, I don’t necessarily think it’s a lack of motivation as it is a lack of time and legs. I work all the time and am always on my feet, usually from 7am – midnight (with a couple hours off) now working in the warehouse and the restaurant. Its not easy to fit an ultramarathon training schedule in there. So, I moseyed around Hungry Horse Montana hoping something would motivate me beyond scheduling conflicts. I have worked doubles everyday since I have been back so I have not run, but we shall see…. After Hungry Horse, I drove around the outside of the park for an hour or so just to check it out. I was going to stay around Glacier NP that night, but the part I wanted to see was hours away now in totally the wrong direction, so I decided to head to Missoula to spend the night.....

July 18: Tour Day 3

I slept really well and woke up around 730am feeling like a champion. Thanks Lola. I went back in to the restaurant for a proper breakfast. Some eggs, coffee, set this party off right. After breakfast, I changed clothes and washed up a bit. The plan was to head west through the park, hike Avalanche Lake Trail, eat a bagged lunch, tell Lola she is a soldier, head to Hungry Horse MT to check out the ultramarathon route I really wanna run in Oct, stay in Glacier NP or drive to Missoula for the night, and that was about as far as I had thought it through. There is only 1 road that cuts all the way across the park and that is through Logan Pass called Going to the Sun road. It is only open 2 or 3 months a yr due to weather and it just opened about 3 weeks ago. This was the road I would be taking all day. So pumped. The pics above are some of the pics I took, there are tons more on my facebook under the Glacier Nat Park Album. I made sure that all my pics are open for anyone and everyone to check out even if you aren’t on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=547979919

The drive really blew me away. Had I known what I know now, I would have worked in Glacier instead of Yellowstone. I started the day in the eastern part of the park at Rising Sun where I spent the night. The first 30 or 40 minutes of driving, the scenery looked like pictures of Fiji I have seen. The road continued to climb and wind into deeper into a valley of mountains, serious mountains. A lot of the pics above are from this stretch, at least my sinful poses. As the road kept climbing, you found yourself on the edge of a cliff on a 2 lane road with no guard rail, usually 500 ft to the bottom. Great views, aggravating when people buzz you going the other way. I was on cloud 9, didn’t bother me in the least. I couldn’t get my camera ready in time as I was driving, but there was one part where skinny waterfalls were falling and splashing all over the road, maybe 6 of them in a 200 ft span. Each waterfall had its own little rainbow. I felt like I was in a cartoon or something. I guess it was how the sun was hitting the water, but that doesn’t explain the unicorn….. So you get the idea, the views were life altering......

July 19: Colleen, you know I didnt forget.....

All your boys say Happy Bday as well!!!!

Happy Birthday Ruby Tuesdays!!!!

All your boys told me to tell you the same.......

July 17: Tour Day 2

Tour de Montana. Day 2. Woke up around 9 or 10. I decided I would only attend the arm wrestling portion of The Big Sky Games. Most of the events were happening simultaneously and all over town, so I thought this would be the most entertaining. I ate a little continental breakfast (cereal) at the Rimrock Inn, showered up and headed to the holiday inn across town for a taste of arm wrestling. I walked in to a well lit banquet room, quiet, guys on stage warming each other up. This basically consisted of arm wrestling, but both guys allowing each other to win, and so on. They announced the rules, I wish I would have videotaped that. After the rules came the announcing of the weight classes for each hand each wrastler was wrastlin with. They announced the left handed (Im left handed) 199 – 242 lb (Im in that weight range). Only 2 people. Quick math: Bronze medal up for grabs. Free. Just have to lose 2 matches and possibly a limb to these mutant men, but its worth it. TOO LATE TO REGISTER. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! BRONZE MEDAL FOR ARM WRESTLING????? NO?!! Had I known, I would have signed up and I would have at least a bronze medal (definitely a bronze, one of the guys I would have faced is in the video below, yikes, and the other guy was no one to sneeze at, or arm wrestle for that matter) for arm wrestling. I am seriously gonna call the guy who was running this deal and see if I can fill out the forms and pay the fee or whatever and see if I can get my name on there and get that bronze mailed to me. I doubt it, but its worth the call. I am soo pissed that I didn’t know there were only 2 peops in there. Right now I would be explaining the video of me arm wrestling some goliath of a man and how my labrum was torn in 2 places. Taking pics with the refs and the 2 guys who beat me???? DAMMIT!!!! The whole drive to Glacier was ruined bc of that. I was so pissed. I could have been wearing a bronze medal all weekend…….. FOR ARM WRESTLING!!!!! If anybody would have crossed me at all at any point over anything (ever again in my life), I would have violently cleared the nearest table and just set up for an arm wrestling match and said, “This is how I settle things. You see this medal? Big Sky State Games. Bronze for arm wrestling. Im ready for your apology unless you wanna do it my way, boss.” I got on the road a little after 1pm. Glacier Nat Park or bust. Whenever I am thinking of something that makes me mad while Im driving, I start speeding and don’t notice. And in Montana, its mostly flat, speed limit usually 70 or 75, so its easy to lose track of your speed, especially when your cruise control is on the fritz. I didn’t notice I was going 93, but that Montana Hwy Patrol officer sure as shit did. Bronze medal dilemma = compounded. He was cool, they offer $70 on the spot, so I did that. I gave him a look before I gave him the cash and said, “You probably get this a lot, but you’re gonna give me a receipt right…..?” He did. And I was back on my way. As I got closer to GNP, the absence of my rightfully deserved bronze medal and speeding ticket steadily became less consuming. The views and the excitement mounted, and around 730ish, I was in East Glacier, a small town just outside the park. Immediately, in my opinion, I knew it was going to blow Yellowstone out of the water. It was just….wow. The first place associated with the park that I stopped was I guess just called east lodge. If there is a heaven, and this heaven has a lodge, this has to be it. It is gorgeous. The thickest, greenest lawn, magnificent building and landscaping, unreal. I went in for info and ended up walking around for about 30 minutes and somehow buying some stickers. After that, I left in a hurry bc I knew I was losing daylight quickly at this point and still had a ways to drive before I could stop to camp. Once I started driving, I didnt want to get anywhere fast. It was unreal. It reminded me of pictures I have seen of Fiji. My dad is right, you dont need to leave the US for vacation, we have so much right here. The pics above are of that drive, I wish I would have taken more pics. Every turn was something as beautiful as the last. I got to the gate and the ranger was super cool. I showed her my Yellowstone pass and she let me in free, I didn’t even have to give her the, “my roommate got arrested,” or, “I was too late to register and got cheated out of my bronze.” She just let me in free, saved me 25 - 50 bucks. I drove the rest of the way to a location called Rising Sun. Campground = full. Shiz. I went in to the restaurant and got some dinner totally at peace with the fact that I was going to sleep in my car that night. I figure, I save $ on a campsite, its safer, no bugs, and it’s a guaranteed flat, dry surface to sleep on. I talked to my server and asked her a lot of question about hikes, what to see/do, etc. She was very helpful. So, over an emu burger and a couple Moose Drool Brown Ales, I figured out what hike to do, where I would drive for the most part, and had more maps than Rand McNally to guide me. I fell asleep easily that night to the strong scent of fresh pine trees and campfires from the full campsite next door.

July 16: Tour de Montana Day 1

I had 4 days off in a row, so I decided I was going to Glacier National Park with some stops on the way there and back. A big highway loop of Montana if you will. I went out the east gate of Yellowstone, and didn’t take any pics along the way, not sure why I didn’t, it was amazing, to Cody WY for the afternoon, then Billings MT for the night, Sat in Billings for the Big Sky Games (amateurs who sign up to compete against each other in events ranging from archery to bowling to arm wrestling to volleyball), onto Glacier NP for however long, then come back through Missoula and Bozeman. Lots of driving, but its all gorgeous up here and I love my time with Lola.

So I left out the east gate, I wont even talk about it bc I don’t have any pics. Lakes, heights, trees, flowers, you get the idea. Drove the desert portion of WY to get to Cody. It was hot, upper 90s. Its nice all the time in Yellowstone, so Im not gonna complain, but I have been wanting some real heat for a while, finally got it. Stopped in Cody for lunch, walked around downtown until I found a spot I was not surprised to find in Wyoming, pic above. I didn’t even look at the other meats, I should have, I had the elk burger and it was great. Elk meat is the bees knees. I met a couple bus drivers from Eugene Oregon in there, really nice guys, but these jokers went with the buffalo burger. Rookies. I was in and out of Cody pretty quick, but I had to get gas before I left. When I stopped, I asked a huge, intimidating bald man with a gotee for directions to a certain hwy to get to Billings. I didn’t want to discriminate, sure he was intimidating, loading his cooler full of beer that was on the tailgate of his monster truck, but he seemed legit, why shouldn’t I ask him? I asked him how to get to this hwy, and the most eloquent British accent came out of his mouth. I was expecting, “Weill, ya git on dis heire road, git up a few a dem dare stop lights, gitcha a left turn in nare, and thian… you wanna beer, pussy?” Not even close. You never can tell, good thing I wasn’t discriminating. He told me how to get to where I needed to go (which I eventually screwed up, but I digress…) and I asked the obvious question: “What the F are you doing in my country, Moneypenny?” He said he was a professor at the U of Georgia and a friend said he should move to Wyoming bc he would love it, so he did 20 yrs ago to work on a dude ranch and that’s where he’s been ever since. Wish I would have talked to him longer. But he had beer to drink and I had taffy to eat, ‘good lucks’ were exchanged and I hit the road. I got to Billings around 5 or so and it was hot. (“How hot was it?”) It was so hot, Dick Cheney waterboarded himself. Stole that from Letterman. So good. It got up to 108! What the shit, Montana?? I mean, it was a welcomed heat for me, but you gotta let me know. It was 70 when I left old faithful. Good thing I have Lola, she had the AC ready for its first use of the year like it was mid August in STL. I got a room in downtown Billings (AAA discount, what what!!) plotted out my moves for the Big Sky games and the best way to get to GNP with my computer, maps, and local newspapers strewn on my generic hotel bedspread. Once I was comfortable with the plans, I showered up and headed to Walkers, a modern grill & tapas spot I noticed in the downtown area while looking for a place to stay. Posted up at the bar, glass of wine, buffalo osso buco, and sportscenter. Word. After that, I walked around the downtown area, stopping by bars and having a drink at each, talking to whoever. There was one spot I really wanted to go into, I walked by it a few times, I couldn’t figure it out. It seemed like most if it’s patrons were out front of the bar on the sidewalk rather than inside. Remember, its hot as shit outside, so that doesn’t make much sense. There was a boom box playing bizarre music on the sidewalk, the best way I can describe the music was talk radio put to a beat with no rhythm. Most of the patrons seemed to be shouting at each other but getting along just fine. I walked by an obnoxious amount of times trying to figure it out. Verdict: Awesome weirdos. I was going to go in, but I was dressed relatively nice, I figured that was enough to get my ass kicked or at least yelled at on the sidewalk next to the boombox, I wasn’t really prepared for that so I went to a martini bar a couple doors down, walked around a bit more, then back to the room to rest up for a big day of arm wrestling and QT with Lola.

July 13: Interwebs in Laurel!

I really got some sun yesterday. I am not super burnt, but I am beyond pink. For those of you who havent seen me in a while, the pic above is not me, you can easily tell this is so bc I would not be smiling. He is in for days of pain, itching, and peeling. I was googling funny sunburn pics and this guy takes the cake. I went and played disc golf with my buddy Greg from Georgia, then I went and read my book in the sun for a while. I didn’t realize how much sun I actually got until I showered later to go to the talent show. Oh yes, we have an employee talent show and it was quite a show indeed. The show was in the rec center for employees. There were 8 acts or so, about half were guys and their guitar singing a song and missing the mark. A girl named Teodora from Bulgaria who I work with in the restaurant sang 3 songs, one of them was ‘losing my religion,’ she was really good. One guy who runs the employee pub was surprisingly awesome at classical guitar, that was really enjoyable. Then there were some other acts that were really hard to even watch. One tall, blonde, lanky girl with coke bottle glasses read her own poetry, which would have been fine, but she was so nervous and stuttering horribly, and I have seen her around before, she is very socially awkward to begin with. I felt so bad for her, it was literally tough to watch. I thought people in the crowd were gonna boo her or something, but thankfully no one did. It wasn’t really poetry like youre thinking, it was more her rants on people who visit the park and just people in general, from what I could understand. Poor girl. Everyone actually cheered really loud when she was done, that was really cool. She walked off the stage proud and that was great to see. Between the technical difficulties, the miscues, the surprising talent, and the general lack of talent, the talent show was as uncomfortably awesome as I imagined it would be. This was the Old Faithful talent show. Sadly, I will not get to see the top 2 (classical guitar guy and a martial arts group routine) move on to the parkwide employee talent show on Wednesday due to work.

I got a new roommate today. His name is Mena, he is from Egypt. His English is better than he gives himself credit for. He is a little shorter than me, stout, and shakes his head and stares at me blankly if he doesn’t understand what I am saying. His native language is Arabic, I hope to pick up as much from him as he does from me, although I don’t think what I pick up will be as significant. I might learn some letters or a few words, I think he will leave here much more fluent and I with a clue of Arabic. He really wants to learn the English language and I intend to help him. Lesson one: approach every man with big muscles and ask “How about I kick your ass?” All kidding aside, we have already had a candid political discussion and how we view each other’s countries. When I asked him what the first thing he thinks of when he thinks of the US, he answered with one word, “free.” The way he said it was really touching. I could tell he meant it, but he was not afraid to tell me that there is a good number of people in Egypt who have a much different first thought, which I told him was 'to be expected' (which is when I got one of many head shakes and blank stares). He goes to a pharmaceutical school in Cairo and will be in Housekeeping at the Inn. I was trying to do the math as to why he would want to come here for that, so I asked. He said he really wants to learn English and thought this would be a good avenue for that (my words) and this is part of a work and travel program he became aware of through his school. He is here until mid September, so hopefully in 2 months he will be fluently using “that’s what she said.”

More good news, we finally have internet in our building! I am sitting here typing this in bed. Now I can actually post things the day I type them. Booyes.