September 2010 - 13 States

Finally, I'm able to give you a little update on my crazy September. I was hardly at home at all! I figured out that in 3 weeks time, I'd been in 13 states!

On the 3rd, I met some of my closest friends, Renee and Lori in Seattle for a fun-filled night of catching up and giggling. Since neither of them live in the US currently, it's really hard to get everyone together at the same time. We only had about 24 hours as it was, but it was great! From the 4th to the 11th I was on an amazing Alaskan Cruise with my dearest friend Renee. I had an amazing time due to two things: 1. I haven't been able to spend that much time with Renee in a long time and it was great! We got to go on an adventure that neither of us had done before, the cruise, as well as catch up and just hang out. With her job moving her all over the world (New Zealand currently), we very rarely get time just to hang out. And 2. I LOVE Alaska! Of course, I've been to Alaska before to visit Erika and Rob and I loved it then, so this trip just reaffirmed why I like it so much. I'm just going to forget for the time being the short, dark days of winter and pretend it's always summer with 70 degree days and a slight breeze. :) We departed from Seattle and went to Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan and Victoria, BC. We had one bumpy night (and I didn't get motion sick, yeah!) and it rained in Ketchikan, but otherwise the weather was amazing. Those cruise boats are massive! I'm not sure if ours was full, but it could hold 4000 people and normally there were about 3 or 4 boats docked at each spot along the way. Needless to say, the shopping spots were very crowded. Hence, the excursions. They were really worth it just to get away from the crowds and see a little bit more of the country. I had an especially good time at Mendenhall Glacier and the Sled Dog Camp. See the pictures below.

Juneau - Did you know that you can't drive out of the city? You can go for about 40 miles north and 10 miles south, but you have to take a ferry or plane to actually get to another town or city.

Mendenhall Glacier - I think glaciers are beautiful and sad. Beautiful is self - explanatory, but sad because they are receding and how much this effects the eco-system up there.

Renee and I at Mendenhall - it was surprisingly sunny!

Downtown Juneau - I had a really good Nutella, chocolate, banana crepe at a little outdoor shop. Yum. See what I mean by crowded though?

Sled dog camp outside of Skagway - You can see me in the bright blue shirt sitting at the front of the cart behind the dogs. It was a really fun, informative excursion. Renee went on a bike ride that day and had a great time too.

Outside of Skagway - on the drive back to town.

Glacier Bay - I think this is the Marion glacier. It looses 7 feet a year to calving (when the pieces fall off the front into the water).

Glacier Bay - Me, on the boat.

Ketchikan - This is called Creek Street. It's filled with cute little stores that have Native art as well as cheap souvenirs for the tourists.

Downtown Ketchikan

After flying back to Boise, unpacking, washing clothes and repacking again, I flew to Washington, DC to meet Robyn. She is moving home to Seattle from Egypt, but all of her things were stored in DC. We loaded up the moving truck and drove from Washington to Washington. :) It was a long trip, there's no doubt about that and our behinds were pretty sore by the end, but I had a really great time! Again, there are two reasons: 1. Since Robyn has lived in DC and then Egypt, I haven't gotten to spend a lot of time with her. We had a great time exploring, creating adventures and just spending time together. And 2. We got to see amazing things along the way, I was trully surprised to learn how many parks and other things to see where in South Dakota! We took 9 days to get across the country and were able to stop at quite a few places along the way. We spent a couple nights in DC with cousin Kevin and a night in Montana with cousins, Adam, Sarah, Nora and Erik. I wish we could have spent more time with both of them as there was much more to see, do and talk about. :) I also must put out there that I had the best latte east of Seattle in Sturgis, South Dakota! Who knew!! Below are some pictures from our trip.



Somewhere in Maryland - Robyn had the first few hours.



Heath, Ohio - Map of the Earthworks, which is a buried Indian village.



Robyn and I at the Earthworks.

Monmouth, Illinois - We had to stop for this one!

Le Claire, Iowa - Mississippi River

Mitchell, South Dakota - Corn Palace: They redesign the front of the building each year with a new theme and different colored corn.

Badlands, South Dakota - Pretty sister with a pretty view.

Badlands Park, South Dakota - The landscape at the park were amazing! It was like moonscape or something. There's no way I could capture this in a picture, you need to go there.

Devils Tower, Wyoming - Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower the first national monument in 1906. 

Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho - It was a beautiful day so we went for a little walk. So close to home, we could smell it!

Vantage, Washington - Columbia River: only a few hours to go!!!

We finally made it home and unpacked the truck. It was a beautiful day in Seattle, so we headed over to the Ballard Locks and had lunch. What a way to end a great trip.