we're so "artsy"

hannah with bison. me with tent.us. we left out hearts in idaho.

home safe... and sound?

Hi, we're back in santa cruz. drove through 4 states in 25+ hours. -A

we're fine, obvi (always glamorous, and there's nothing coffee/sour skittles/gas station sized soda or some face wash in the Target bathroom won't solve), though Hunter is definitely far more rugged and chiseled (we did come back with one cowboy) -H

by always glamorous Hannah means, I have on my wolf-tee shirt and a huge hairbow, while she looks fresh in a clean peasant shirt. And Hunter is my honda... chicks dig scars right? especially the ones i induced by backing into boulders in wyoming... Overall the trip was a huge sucess, seems like we've been gone way longer than two and a half weeks. Visiting my brothers and hannah's family was so fun but my favorite part was how unexpectedly cool Idaho was. And the gorgeous sky in montana ( before our catastrophic day there). And i love all the things i bought in all the thrift stores we stopped at. our mantra was pretty much " we will pull illicit u-turns and cut people off for coffee, thrift stores and chocolate milkshakes."

i liked the sunflowers/daisies.

i think hannah's forgetting how much she's enjoyed listening to GLEE volumes 1,2,3 and myself singing along.

gas station coffee. power bars. soy energy mix. not sleeping. night driving!!!! abigail after hours (coffee? glee? shower? hair bow? and we're in a musical!!! (it even rhymes))

here are some pictures. enjoy, love! H &A

ready to be home

Yesterday for my birthday Hannah bought me candy at every gas station and store in yellowstone ( we drove around the entire park) and let me listen to GLEE non-stop the entire time. There were multiple repeats of "total eclipse of the heart" and I sang along at the top of my lungs each time.

Yellowstone is huge, and dare I say it, over-rated. it's beautiful, but as hannah says, feels more like disneyland or the san diego zoo. there are cars and people everywhere all the time. If someone sees a bear, deer, elk, moose or bison they feel the need to pull over, park, climb out and take pictures for 20 minutes. Causing huge back-ups etc. I mean yes the mother bear with her two cubs is adorable but geesh, do you really need to stop for a deer? yes, i believe i am getting slightly grumpy and ready to be home. i did love all the souvenir shops in the park and couldn't resist a few bracelets and a youth wolf tee-shirt among other things. We left yellowstone this morning and drove through the incredible grand tetons. I would have loved to have driven through yellowstone and camped here but oh well. We pitched our tent about 10 miles out of Jackson at Altherton Creek and the campsite is, perfect. right on the lake and we have the run of it to ourselves.

Now we're in Jackson which is amazing, but a little too touristy for my tastes. no great thrift stores yet! we don't have any exciting plans, just swimming tonight and maybe being crazy and driving the whole way home tomorrow? if not, we'll camp in nevada.

-A

yellowstone

this is the air freshner i bought at the gas station in butte montana while i waited for my sleeping bag to dry at the laundromat next door. i LOVE it.

pulled of where it said "parking for geysers" walked around and thought, wow old faithful is sure over-rated this is so anti-climactic! got in the car and realized this WASN'T old faithful...

more...

waiting for old faithful, there she is, taping up the car, boredom and traffic.

Wyoming the better lover

dear friends

we have left yellowstone. almost as if we've been lifted into a dream we're in jackson hole roasters, sipping very sophisticated iced coffees, still breathless over the new terrain: fields of wildflowers, hundreds of bison descending from the green hilly meadows (without one stopped car snapping innumerable pictures), overwhelming mountains above us - it is as if we've entered a promised land or are resting inside of a prayer. it is a much gentler beauty, less dramatic, very romantic, and most definitely poetic, unlike the park we have just left, which often times resembled more of a desert indiana jones disney ride (awesome, obvi, in so many ways, but what can we say? we like literature. thrift stores. reading by uncrowded lakes. cheap chocolate shakes. a little revered silence). it is a little yuppie here though (in jackson hole).

more later. i need to revel in beauty a bit more (it's like a giant bubble bath)

yours, banana

She's as cute as her muffin... that she won't eat

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABIGAIL!!! love love

yeah, she's sitting across from me. on her birthday in MONTANA! (we had to come back to our favorite state for the big day and these DELICIOUS lattes. in High Country Trading and Espresso. we've had two each. we're ready to paint yellowstone red. which includes buying wolf t-shirts).

so she's not quite as famous as the regular's (how do i know? he called the barista darling. and he referred to this establishment by name, nonchalantly, when on his cell phone) daughter sitting next to us, who is apparently very well known ("maybe rachel can find a husband now that she's famous"), though her actual identity remains a mystery (ray? stevens? mcadams? bilson?), but she's wearing a pretty adorable purple hair ribbon.

driving through the night was beautiful, especially beautiful after 3 cups of coffee, a whole bag of white cheddar popcorn, the all-time blissful high of toy story 3, and the horse feathers blaring in the stereo with a 75 miles per hour speed-limit. we were driving, leaving, going - only night before us. we were ready for anything.

5 hours later. in yellowstone. mist lifting from the river, moose grazing in the meadow, a bison unconcernedly meandering in the middle of the road, the smell of cheerios (only one land mine so far). incredibly stunning. me, incredibly less so. tired and grumpy i slept during abigail's fierce battle for a campground and the second spot in line to be the first to cross the new bridge. we went to sleep yesterday afternoon and didn't wake-up till 8:30 am this morning. i think we're back. for a birthday extravaganza. look out old-faithful.