rocky mountain high.

i am so behind on this travel journal.
i am now currently in a coffee shop in santa cruz, ca.
i will tell you about colorado, however, instead.

i spent a week in estes park, co with my relatives reg and judy guy.
they were amazing hosts and i had an amazing time.

we were located right next to rocky mountain national park so i got to go on some really beautiful hikes and see some great views.

reg also took me to a few random museums and to see the stanley hotel (the hotel that inspired stephen king's the shining and where they actually filmed some of the tv miniseries). judy also took me up trail ridge road and to the continental divide so that was sweet too.

also, having a week of home-cooked meals was divine.
judy and i dined on leftover gourmet manicotti for lunch a few days which was delicious. :)











more pictures here.

later.

yellowstone

so i'm actually now in santa fe, but i have still yet to tell you about yellowstone.

oh! yellowstone was amazing!
just driving into the park took my breath away.

i arrived a lot later than expected since the east entrance was closed (due to forest fire) so instead of planning out my next day, i retired in a private room and passed out almost as soon as i arrived (although it was already pretty much 11pm).

when i awoke, i transferred to a shared room, where i met dianna. she was a nice lady -- but she was an interrupter.
very interesting.

i headed into the park early and did the big loop -- stopping quite often for a good view or two.

i saw all the sites including old faithful, tower falls, the canyon area and mammoth hot springs.







after a long day, i went back to the hostel and fell quickly to sleep.
i awoke the next morning with what i assumed were mosquito bites all over my arms. it was horrible. and itchy.

i went into the park again and took a few short hikes, drove to see the tetons,



felt ill due to lack of water and spent the rest of the day back at the hostel reading and hanging out.

i met kristen (another girl in the shared room) that night and we had dinner together, talked about our experiences in hawaii and traveling by ourselves (she's 25 and traveling solo!), and had gigantic ice cream cones!

i left early (6:15) the next morning to get to estes park in time for gourmet italian dinner. i left in time to see the sun rise over yellowstone and to see the geyser steam at its fullest.



all in all, yellowstone was an awesome experience.

more pictures here.

strange things are afoot at the circle k.

i find myself disappointed that cameras cannot capture the beauty of a bright half moon and a vast array of stars against the backdrop of the rocky mountains.

.. so disappointed.




in other news,
i went to a circle k today and thought of bill and ted's excellent adventure.

rapid city, south dakota

well, i'm in colorado right now.. but i have so much to update you with so i'm going to do this in chunks.

i left madison on the 10th of august and drove 11 hours to rapid city, south dakota.
it was a long drive (especially through south dakota. that state gets very boring in the middle there) but i made it safe and sound. and early too!

my kind host, bill, took me for a hike on the first day around sylvan lake. we then checked out some native american art and chilled out at a coffee shop.



on my second day, anna and emma joined us on our adventures. we went to see mount rushmore,



crazy horse (this is awesome. the scope of this is just amazing.),



custer state park (we saw sweet rocks, mountain goats, buffalo, antelope and a ga-jillion prairie dogs),



and wind cave (the fourth longest cave in the world!).



eventually, i will upload all my pictures on webshots..
but i have stuff to do today so you, patient readers, will have to wait.

until then, i bid you adieu.

more pictures: here

i just found

this site: http://www.asofterworld.com/

i think i like it.

fourth of july weekend

i had the opportunity to attend the annual fourth of july celebration in the finger lakes this year.
i was awesome to be able to go back to canandaigua after so many years of not.

it was great to see everyone (minus zach -- although the cayman islands are hard to beat)!

we did a lot of tanning, riding in the boating, reading and relaxing.

as always, i had an amazing time.
i look forward to being able to go again next year! :)







more pictures here

i ♥ ny

so here i am in new york city.
chillin on e. 100th street and lexington on the upper east side of manhattan.

i have been here since the 18th -- couch jumping between here and brooklyn.
i haven't been doing much sight-seeing. .. but i've been doing a lot of walking around and taking the city in.
also, i got invited to a weekend in the catskills with this awesome kid sam i just met the other day through garrett.

it was a amazing weekend.
we hiked, laid out on a raft in the pond, built and hung out by the fire pit, played bocce ball, had jam sessions, played wiffle ball (or, in my case, watched wiffle ball), and all sorts of awesome things.
thank you, sam, for inviting me. and for deciding that i'm not a raging bitch. :)











also, garrett has been showing me around his little niche in brooklyn.





all in all, it's been pretty swell.

i'm looking forward to seeing some museums and stuff with truen tomorrow.
and to spend some time with my dear friend austen this weekend. what a coincidence we are both here at the same time. :)

later, friends.

more pictures here