The following is a piece of my catalog of travels from the great state of Virginia to the great state of California, up the coast to Washington (also great), and then back east, back home. Nothing in this account has been embellished and/or fabricated. It all really and truly happened. For real. Seriously. I would not lie to you.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

IDAHO

Real quick drive through. Nothing happened. We ate no potatoes.

MONTANA

Pretty much the same. Quote of the trip is worth mentioning here: "Any day out of Fulford is a good day." Amen.

WYOMING

Yellowstone National Park
When you think of Yellowstone National Park, what comes to mind? For me, it was always this far off, fantastical place that I would never visit. Not anymore, baby!

I have trouble with the size of things. The only way I can relate this to you is by saying that you could probably fit 20 Central Parks in Yellowstone with plenty of room to spare. Dang, this place was big!

We arrived late (what else is new?), around 4 or so. Once you're inside the park, you still have to drive about 100 miles to get to the other end. Seriously. We stopped to see some stinky sulfur pits… again. And we laughed at the mud swamps that blurped all over the surface like lackadaisical bullfrogs on a coffee break. Or something.

Driving through the park, we encountered a ton of elk and bison! Some were even in the road! There are signs everywhere saying not to approach the wildlife. Well, don’t worry about that, partner. I wasn't going near these beasts. Well, I did get near enough to take pictures. Luckily, they did not charge me and I did not get gouged. Yay!

Dan saw a bear run into the woods on the side of the road but it took off before I caught a glimpse. I was so disappointed! Argh! But wait… what's this? About 20 miles up the road there were 10 or so cars parked haphazardly all over the place. "What's going on here?" I whipped out my camera and got out of the car. There, minding his own business and eating leaves was a young bear cub. Wow. I kept my distance and snapped a few shots. He looked straight at me for one picture. Check him out! -->

I stood in awe for about 5 minutes and then felt guilty for intruding on his lifestyle. He's used to it, I'm sure… but still. ... See you later, bear. Live well.

Shortly after 6:00 we arrived at Old Faithful. The geyser you can set your watch by. Apparently, that's a myth. It erupts approximately every 92 minutes or so. Of course we got there right after it went, so we hung around the gift shop and I purchased a few things for the fam. Then, we took a quick hike around the grounds and came back to Old Faithful. There was a Park Ranger giving a little talk about volcanic rocks and ash and the general history of Yellowstone. 200,000 years ago, a volcano erupted and created this gigantic hole in the earth. That's where we stood. Whoa.

At 7:43, Old Faithful began showing off. She bubbled for a minute and then spouted a few teasers before WHOOOSH!!! Yah! U.S.A.! U.S.A! Hee hee. We live on an untamed, beautiful planet, my friends. Rock and roll.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Goodbye Wyoming
It took us quite a while to get out of Wyoming. As we were driving through the mountain ranges of the west, we stopped at an overlook to get one last view. We got more than that.

Our timing couldn't have been more perfect. When we pulled off to the lookout point, there was this dude standing there on the cliff with a great, big para-glider strapped to his back. "I think that guy's gonna jump."

He had two friends with him and they helped him straighten out his para-glider behind him. The wind caught it and he ran to the edge of the cliff. "See yaaaaa!" He yelled as his feet left the ground.

I applauded and watched the dude glide down through the sky for a couple of minutes and then we got back in the car and lamely drove down the mountain. "He's crazy." Dan said. I wasn't so sure. It looked like a lot of fun.

One Last Wyoming Thing
We came upon Crazy Woman Creek, Wyoming today. We stopped by and saw all my ex-girlfriends. They live together in a big crazy house on a hill.

Next stop ... South Dakota.

TODAY ONLY!!!

Did you stumble across our blog today? Lucky you! For one day only (well, actually it was yesterday, too, but alas, that ship has sailed) you can watch streaming video of An Evening With Harry, Carrie, & Garp, taped at Radio City Music Hall last week.

Get there quick to watch Stephen King, John Irving, and J.K. Rowling read from their novels and answer questions from the audience.

Today, August 11, 2006 is the only day you can do this! Hurry!

Check it out by clicking here.

The following is a short story inspired from the first line of the poem Valentine for Ernest Mann by Naomi Shihab Nye.

You can't order a poem like you order a taco. I know from experience that this is true. It was April. Cold and hungry I made a run for the border. On the radio, the DJ was making a strange announcement.

"That was Little Chainsaws by Exposed Eyeball. You're listening to KEWL, kewl radio all the time. This just in: it's National Poetry Month! Have yourself a poem, why don't ya? Go on, have one!"

I turned him off. I wasn't very interested in his bizarre antics, though I was intrigued by the notion of a National Poetry month. As I pulled up to the large, obnoxious menu board outside of Taco Bell, I tried to focus my mind on the task at hand.

"Welcome to Taco Bell, can I take your order?"

"Yes, I'd like to hear Allen Ginsberg's Howl please." Apparently, my mind was otherwise focused. The voice at the other end was unimpressed and silent. "Hello?" I asked.

"I'm sorry sir, but we seem to be all out of Howl today."

A wiseguy, eh? Very well, I thought. I'd continue to play along. "How about a Shakespearean sonnet then?"

"No."

"Walt Whitman?"

"Sorry."

"Keats?"

"Not today sir."

"E.E. Cummings?"

"cert-Ainly !nOt!"

My stomach rumbled. I gave up the game. "All right, just gimme a Chalupa."

- Poem by Gabriela Margarita, Grade 9

Being a stranger to this country,
I am at the mercy of my guide.
He leads me through the narrow streets
of a city that sings
with age and the scents of wine.

His city swells with music, and charm,
it grows with the heartbeat, every note
rising higher, lasting longer than the last,
with the soft reassurance that everyday
will bring you closer to old age.

He speaks of it as if it were his only passion,
words seem to come easy for him
and he tells me a story of the city when it slumbers--
how the stars hang low, glowering in the velvet of the sky.

Then he asks me of my own home,
and I plainly say,
I come from a world full of gray little faces
who wander by each other shiftlessly,
a place where I lost my language,
a place where I lost my faith,
and all he does is smile.

When suddenly the street narrows once more
and I am a young girl again and he is,
transformed.

Into a great white bird that
continues to guide me down the alley
that has drawn us once again
closer together.

The following is a piece of my catalog of travels from the great state of Virginia to the great state of California, up the coast to Washington (also great), and then back east, back home. Nothing in this account has been embellished and/or fabricated. It all really and truly happened. For real. Seriously. I would not lie to you.

Friday, June 16, 2006
OREGON

Wild River Goodness
We woke up this morning in a motel in Brookings, Oregon. What's up Brookings?!? That's a shout out. Here's another: Thank you thank you thank you to the kind woman at Wild River Pizza. We ate there last night and I left my jacket by the pool table. I didn't care all too much about the jacket actually--it's a 10 year old windbreaker and I really need to break down and buy a new one soon--but Dan's cell phone was in the pocket. Argh. Not good. We had an hour this morning when we were freaking out about it. Long story short (too late), the kind woman at Wild River Pizza retrieved said jacket and phone for us and we were relieved and amped to get back on the road. Yay!

Petting Zoo
West Coast Game Park Safari in Bandon, Oregon rules! We entered the zoo through a door in the gift shop. Upon opening the door, it was like Dorothy opening the door onto Oz. There was a cool little billy goat there waiting for us.

"Whoa. What's up, dude?" He didn't answer but he looked up at me and winked and chewed. "You're great! Hold on a sec!" I went back through the door and bought him an ice cream cone full of goat feed. He loved it! He ripped it out of my hands and ate it up. "That's good stuff, huh?"

I hung out with him a little bit and then moved on to "The Nursery." There, a pair of zookeepers brought out ferrets and opossums and foxes and a descented skunk and even a bear cub! My favorite one was definitely the baby fox. I held him in my arms. Sweet.

Walking around the open zoo, we got to pet deer, a couple llamas, and more goats. It was tres cool. And the level of coolosity (not a word) was raised by all the little kids who were wide-eyed and enthralled by the animals. The peacock calls and the cougar growls mingled with the delightful shrieks of children. I didn't even care that it was raining.

Saturday, June 17, 2006
WASHINGTON

We drove into Silverdale, Washington late last night. Very late actually, around midnight. We were so spent from the road but we had to champ it out there. That's where my lil bro lives. Corey. He's an engineer and he works on submarines. So basically he's a part of the whole American protection system. He plays with wires and computer programs and makes sure that the subs don't sink. Rock 'n' roll.

We woke up early and drove the car onto the ferry. The ferry ride was a pleasant hour's journey over Puget Sound. When we got to Seattle, we went straight to Safeco Field and bought tickets for the Seattle Mariners game. It was around 10 a.m. so we had some time to kill.

We walked across the street from the stadium and hung out in an outdoor restaurant til the game started. While we were eating our clam chowder and mussels, I noticed the people at the table next to us were looking over our way. I said hello and exchanged brief pleasantries before the big dude commented on my shirt.

"Death Cab for Cutie, huh?"

"Yes sir! They're pretty much my new favorite band."

"Hey Sandy," he said to the woman at the table, "look at his shirt!" As it turns out, Sandy is the lead guitarist's aunt! How cool is that?

We chatted for a few minutes about how cool her nephew's band is and then shook hands and wished each other well. They went into the stadium to watch the game and we did too, a little later.

The Mariners slaughtered the San Francisco Giants 8-1. Me, I'm a Yankees fan. But as they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. With this in mind, I was cheering my fanatic head off for Ichiro Suzuki and company. And, for the record, every time Barry Bonds came up to the plate, the entire stadium booed like our lives depended on it. Long live Ruth's record. Aaron's too.

Next stop ... Idaho.