Orcas!

On Sunday we went on a day cruise around Kenai Fjords National Park. I have never seen so many incredible things in such a short amount of time. In six hours we saw orcas, humpbacks, glaciers, and more!

Seeing orcas was amazing. For some reason, they were everywhere. We probably saw at least 20 orcas, two of which came up within 15-20 feet of the ship! I didn't take pictures. This is for good reason, though. If you want to see a picture of an orca you can just google it. And if I want to see a picture of an orca, I can do the same. But I will not have any more moments to see an orca in real life, so I think I'd rather spend those moments looking at the orca than taking pictures. Such was my attitude about much of the wildlife we saw on the trip. But I did take some pictures.

...a rock covered in sea lions....

...a cliff full of puffins...

...and a glacier!

This is Holgate Glacier, the only one we had a chance to see up close after we spent so much time chasing orcas. The captain gave us some perspective. From where we were sitting on the boat, the glacier was a quarter of a mile away. So although it may have looked rather small to our eyes on the boat, and even more so to you looking at this picture, it really is huge. It gave off a lot of ice while we were there, which sounded like thunder as it crashed into the water.

What incredible sights we saw!

And now we are home, though I nearly abandoned my mom to stay in Seward, where they actually have jobs :). My adventuring may have come to an end of sorts, as I have completed my mission of going to the fifty states, but I have a feeling it will continue in some form or another. Again, thanks for reading, and I'll let you know if I go on any more blog-worthy adventures!

Seward: the land of halibut and kayaking!

1. Halibut: Mom's favorite part of the day was watching all the people clean their fish(and this guy hang up his catches). And I ate a delicious halibut burger for lunch.

2. Kayaking: After much deliberation, I decided to go kayaking this evening. Mom didn't go. I went with a little group of people led by two guides on a 3 hour paddle around the bay where we saw lots of sea otters, bald eagles, and more! One of our guides, Dan, informed us that we saw a very rare sight, which was Kittlitz's Murrelets(sea birds) fly. To me it doesn't mean anything, but he was pretty excited about it. Any bird enthusiasts out there might be able to relate.

It's 10 pm now, still light outside, of course (I have yet to see Alaska at night). I'm trying to settle down to get some sleep for our last day tomorrow--the day cruise where we will hopefully see some glaciers and more animals!



This was the most beautiful day.

It's funny how driving down a road the opposite direction at a different time of day in different weather can change the scenery. It's not that the drive from Anchorage to Denali on Wednesday wasn't pretty, but it was nothing in comparison to today's drive back down south. Sparse clouds drifted through the sky, allowing us to see Mt. McKinley from many angles as we drove through the valley. The flowers were blooming along the roadside, the water in the lakes was blue and reflective, and the trees were glistening.

The tall one below is Mt. McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America! Though I'm not tempted to climb it, I am so ready to go hiking! I want to see the scenery at a 3 mph pace rather than the 65 mph pace we've been seeing it at these days. All that we've seen is calling for me to conquer it.

We took a trip into the Hatcher Pass area near Wasilla to see the old Independence Mine. We were not expecting to be blown away by the beauty of the valley. Green like I have never seen it before covered the mountainsides.

The mine was really interesting as well. It was all falling apart; apparently they don't do any kind of restoration on the actual mining structures, though there were some nice trails and boardwalks built.

Other notable events today included me locking our key in our cabin from the last two nights(picture below), a yummy oatmeal and blueberry breakfast served by the always-flustered waiter at the Perch Resort, a stop at a used bookstore in Wasilla because we had run out of reading material(BTW, especially to Hannah, I'm starting Harry Potter! I just finished reading Nectar in a Sieve), finding a crossword puzzle to work on at lunch, and now being in our lakeside room at our hotel with the window open and the weather blissful.

Alaska is beautiful!

Six hours of searching.

The main event today was a 6+ hour bus ride into Denali. It was gorgeous. Again, one of those things that pictures don't really capture. Our bus driver gave us narration for much of the trip. But he also gave us a job: to search for wildlife and to yell STOP(loudly) if we saw anything. Being the conscientious person that I am, I couldn't relax. I had to be searching the tundra every second. Even if I didn't care tremendously about seeing a Dall Sheep, how could I let those other people down by not doing all that was in my power to sound the alarm? Needless to say, despite my efforts, I was not the first to spot any of the animals we saw(a few groups of sheep, a couple caribou, and a moose). By the time the bus ride was over, I was exhausted. I think my hyper-vigilance for six hours was more tiring than driving for the same amount of time would have been.

It was a great bus ride and we got to see the park and learn a lot about it.



The Last Frontier!

As our plane landed, I told the man next to me that as of that moment, I had been to all 50 states. He didn't have very many good things to say about Alaska, but he lives in Las Vegas, and I don't have many good things to say about Las Vegas. If you don't like the country, well then sure, Alaska may not be for you, but if you have any kind of appreciation for mountains carved by glaciers and trees so close together you can't see through them and beautiful wildflowers along the side of the road, it's just fine.

Last night we drove to our hotel. Mom was pretty loopy. It was late(but still light outside, of course). We had a vigorous argument about I Street, which Mom insisted was 1st Street("Why else would it say One S T?" she said). This morning, she thought L Street was I street. We had a good laugh about it.

Our first stop was in Anchorage, at a Bakery our friend Lousia had recommended(who was here last week!) The basis for her recommendation was that they give really big free samples. And they did!


Next we stopped in Palmer, which was a bit off the highway, but a great stop! There was a visitors center where I got a free poster and there was also this awesome sign with mileage to destinations all over the world. 

Note the mileage to Los Angeles: 3573. 

Also at the Visitors Center in Palmer there was a fairly large garden, full of flowers and vegetables.

Of course, any of you who know my Mom know that quilting was definitely going to be a part of this trip. (In fact she's quilting right now!) Well, here are our two quilt shop stops. It won't be long until I too am fluent in quilt lingo.

We stopped in Talkeetna for lunch on our way to Denali(about a four hour drive, which we stretched out to be all day). I ate a Salmon Caesar wrap, and she had Seafood Chowder. Yum!



We're at our 'rough and tumble'(as Mom said) or 'rustic'(as I say) lodge right now, about to eat what should be a great dinner. Everything is gorgeous, from the creek just yards in front of our cabin, to the view from the hilltop restaurant. Should be some pictures tomorrow...

On our way

I'm not quite to Alaska yet, but here's a quick post from the Seattle airport.

This is our pre-leaving picture.

Our path to Alaska is a bit counterintuitive. Long Beach to Seattle to Portland to Anchorage. This is how we found the best deal. So it goes with the airline companies, right?

Uneventful day so far. The best thing that happened was a woman's electric toothbrush going off (for the full toothbrushing minute) in the Long Beach airport. We all heard a vibrating sound that definitely wasn't a phone, and just as Mom asked me what I thought it could be, the woman finally found it and pulled it out, such that we could see it was a toothbrush. We laughed. The worst thing was the fact that there wasn't a movie on the airplane.

The thing about airplanes, in comparison to cars, is that you can't sing at the top of your lungs to entertain yourself. I plugged in to my iPod for a bit, but it's not really the same when it's not a 4-hour singalong.

There really is no place quite like it. (Even with the smog and traffic)



This was the most welcome sight of my entire trip! Home at last.

This morning I woke up very early with nothing to do but go home! So I joined the three other '6 a.m.ers' at the continental breakfast and hurried on my way. I managed to make it home before lunch.

What a fun month this has been. Over 7,000 miles, finishing the 48 continental states, staying with 14 different people and at 4 hotels. I've had countless McDonalds stops, enough "rest area" stops to be a critic and to know that California rest stops are lame and South Dakota rest stops are awesome, and more than a couple stops just to take a picture. I've sung, danced, prayed, talked to the car, talked to myself, laughed and cried, gotten lost, been afraid, helped people, annoyed people, and done a whole lot of driving! I've met people unlike those who I would normally meet: tourists from Switzerland, bikers from Sioux Falls, ranchers, farmers, a surveyor, professors, pastors, waiters, coaches, moms, volunteers, jobless graduates, retirees, and so many more! The things you learn about the world from meeting so many people are incredible.

Despite the fact that this blog is in it's final chapter, I do hope that I will be able to talk to each of you readers more about my trip! I have a lot to say still! All that time in the car by myself has made me even more talkative than usual. Just as pictures sometimes don't really capture the bigness of a thing, so too do blogs sometimes not capture the real experiences. 

Thanks for reading this, everyone! It really was so fun for me to share this adventure with so many others.

"...we do not take a trip, a trip takes us."

-John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley

A big mileage day.

Today was my longest driving day so far. It was probably something like eleven and a half hours. And I'm still alive! And awake! The coolest thing about driving so far in one day is the change in the landscape.

You go from this...

(Garden of the Gods, in Colorado Springs)

...to this...

(The Rockies)

...to this...

(Somewhere in Utah)



...all in the matter of hours. It's incredible to see the diversity of the country we live in--the diversity of creation. It's sad, because all of these pictures don't really make good pictures because you can't get a sense of the bigness of them. I gave up taking pictures of a lot of things because they fall so short.

I spent two nights in Colorado Springs with Marcie. It was especially great because I got to spend all day Sunday with her. This included two great worship services and a barbeque at a Ranch after the morning service. As Marcie says: "They know how to do beef." What a great time--a culturing experience for sure. They were talking about team roping and rodeos and other things that I don't know anything about, so I did a good job of smiling and nodding. Though Marcie might argue that I talked a lot...and she may be right :). I also got to slide down the slide that is in their house. That's right, they have a slide from the top story to the basement. Fun!

Today I got in the car ready to go home. Since there was something like 17 hours between me and my destination, I had to break it up. Tonight I am in St. George, Utah. My dad said a lot of people we know--his words were 'everyone'--have broken down in St. George. Here's hoping that I don't break down so close to home!

"Small blessings are like dandelions..."

"...next to a field of beautiful flowers being devoured by wolves."

That is one of my favorite quotes from the Penultimate Peril, which I finished a couple days ago. I find the morbidity of this quote hilarious...yes the dandelions are nice, but wolves??

These last two days have been full of small blessings, unaccompanied by wolves.

The first small blessing was my discovery of Sioux Falls! This was a gem...a stumbled upon thing that kept me smiling for hours. It's funny that I didn't even think that there would be falls in Sioux Falls. I got to the city in the late afternoon, and upon driving around a bit, I saw what looked like a nice park called 'Falls Park'. I thought I'd check it out, so I drove in, only to be amazed by the beauty of the falls! Sioux Falls and Falls Park were the coming together of many things I love dearly: waterfalls, nicely groomed lawns, large boulders for sitting, and something to climb(an observation tower, where this picture was taken).

I ate my dinner in the park--food which Aunt Elsie had packed for me. There were people everywhere, and I even got talking to a couple who told me all the places to stop in South Dakota. Overall, it was one of my favorite places on this trip!

Last night I stayed in Sioux Falls, and today I traversed South Dakota and am now in Hill City. I stopped at Wall Drug, of course (for those of you who don't know, Wall Drug is a well-marketed tourist trap super drug store). Upon asking for my ID, the clerk said: "All the way from California?" I looked at him and his name tag, which said his name, and beneath it: 'Czech Republic.' I laughed. "All the way from the Czech Republic?" Seeing him and all the other foreign workers gave me that familiar feeling of slight jealousy...the same kind of jealousy I got when I saw the group of college kids at a gas station who were biking across America for cancer research. I long for the adventure they are having, wishing I could do something 'cool'. Then I remind myself...I AM doing something cool! Even though sitting in a car for 7 hours a day sometimes does not feel that adventurous.

Today, the main event was Mount Rushmore! This I would call the second small blessing, which was twofold itself. The first part was that I got into the park for free! I didn't have cash. This is the second time that has happened(the first time was on a bridge in New York...they said they'd bill me...hm...) I told the boy at the toll booth and asked him what I should do. He glanced around, and motioned me to go in. So in I went.

Mt. Rushmore itself is incredible. I walked around the trail and loved getting to see it from all different angles. I'm definitly glad I made a point of going.

This is me wearing small blessing 2b. It was 'guest appreciation day', and they had a bunch of stuff for only $5! This is my first real souvenier for myself. Notice I also got Mt. Rushmore in the picture. I really was there!



Eagle Bend is a very small town.

To start out with, I've got to say that Iowa and Minnesota have probably been my favorite states so far. I am surprised by how much I like them. I love the farm country, which is rural without being desolate. And I love all the green fields...I think I'm traveling at the right time of year.

I stayed with Charlie, an old high school friend, on Tuesday night. He gave me a tour of Rochester, Minnesota. We went into the coolest Barnes & Nobles I've ever seen--it was in an old theater! He also took me to Newk's, which is supposedly the best burger in Minnesota. Even though it was the only burger I ate in Minnesota, so I have nothing to compare it to, I'd agree that it was a very good burger.

From Charlie's in Rochester, I drove to Eagle Bend, Minnesota, to stay with my Aunt Elsie. Eagle Bend is the tiniest town I have ever been in. She says it has less than 500 people. It's obvious that she knows most of them, and is friends with the ones she knows because of her active role in the Senior Center. We went out to eat with her friends Iris and John at one of the two restaurants in town. Afterwards, we went to get a soft-serve ice cream cone. These activities pretty much exhaust the list of 'things to do in downtown Eagle Bend', and both the restaurant and the ice cream place were connected to gas station convenience stores.

This is Aunt Elsie's house.

And here we are at dinner.

The corn is 2-4 feet tall right now

Last night I stayed with Jill Schlink(another soccer friend) and her family in St. Louis. I was planning on doing something cool in the city before arriving at her house, like going to the Arch or to the Zoo(I've been to both before), but I ended up sunk into a big chair in a Barnes and Nobles writing notes and emails and just resting. Her siblings had various sporting events and she had class until late, so I had to entertain myself for a while. It was a good opportunity to just sit and not drive.

In the last two houses I've been at, Jill's and Mason's(in Memphis), I've been asked some really good questions about my trip.

Why alone?
Because I can come and go as I please, and so I don't get annoyed with anyone. Spending tons of hours in the car with someone who I don't particularly like doesn't appeal to me at all. Also, because there aren't many(or any) close friends of mine who have the freedom to drive around for a month.

Will you write a book?

No, I'll write a blog. I'm not really doing anything interesting enough to write a book about.

You could write about the people you meet.
Yes, but then I'd have to publish it, and I don't know if I'd want to do that.

Do you have GPS? How did you find our house?
I have maps, a computer(where I use Google maps...but don't print them out generally), and a keen sense of direction. And then I might tell them how I found Mason's neighborhood without knowing anything besides that he lived a bit North of Memphis. Then I pulled over, looked up his address online, and found that I was only blocks away.

So now I'm sitting in a Golden Arches in Iowa. This is my first time to Iowa! People in Iowa are just like I would expect them to be. There are a lot of clean-cut older men wearing baseball caps that say "John Deere" or "Bass Pro Shops" on them. There are women with long braids and lots of little kids. And there isn't much in the way of diversity. My bet is that 70% of the people in this restaurant are of Dutch ancestry. But I like it, because I do like Dutch people.

My rest stop ends.

Yesterday morning I set off the alarm at the Sluis's. I was trying to let Sugar(the dog) out of the house in the morning, before Hannah was awake, but forgot about the alarm system, the password of which I don't know. So I opened the door and in 30 seconds there was a man's voice shouting: "Intruder, Intruder, Leave Immediately!" and the alarm going off. I'm sure you all know what house alarms sound like. They are loud. It ended up that the police had to come to the house and we sheepishly said that we were fine. So that was a happening.

As I'm heading north(last night I stayed in Memphis, tonight in St. Louis), the weather has gotten considerably more tolerable. No longer is it necessary to eat popsicles, blast the AC, and feel like you desperately need to shower every two hours. On Saturday Hannah and I went on a walk in the military park in the muggy weather. There's nothing quite like seeing the green green grass and trees(and kudzoo) the blue blue sky and the sharp white monuments in contrast.



I gave up on listening to The Last American Man and am now listening to a Series of Unfortunate Events book by Lemony Snicket. I'm on book 12, the Penultimate Peril. It is ever so much better than hearing about Eustace Conway. This is a witty, fun book, and makes the time go by fast. I keep hearing quotable lines and forgetting them. Maybe I'll have to get the hard copy of the book so I can mark it up.

Also, yesterday my odometer got to 92,800. This means that I have driven 4,000 miles since the beginning of my trip!

What to do in Vicksburg?

1. Follow the list which your friend gives you.

2. Hang out by the pool. This is a convenient place to write long letters to friends, take half-faced self portraits, and listen to music that hasn't been listened to for a while. This is also an ideal setting in the warm weather, because a refreshing swim is only steps away.

3. Read a book. Preferably one that you didn't think would be good, but ends up being great. And this one is not only for the OPC-ers among us...it is just a good read! Nice places to read a book are big comfy couches where you can easily drift to sleep if you want; sunrooms where there is, well, sun; outside of coffee shops; and beside the pool, of course.

4. Hang out downtown. Enjoy the slightly cooler temperatures from the river while drinking an iced latte while reading the aforementioned book. Call your mom. People watch and compliment a lady on her shirt, especially if it is a Chik-Fil-A shirt that you are rather jealous of. 

5. Give blood! In order to do this, you need to listen to the local radio station in order to hear where the blood drive is. Once you know, and you are sure it's been 8 weeks since you last gave, and you meet all the other 37 requirements(there really were 37), give!

6. Eat ice cream. This treat is especially great if it is free because you just gave blood! 

And here I thought I'd be resting....

To set the stage: I am currently sitting in a study carrell in the Vicksburg Public library, which is actually in view of the swollen(but waning) Mississippi River. Hannah's at work, we just ate together at The Tomato Place(picture below), where I had a salad drenched in dressing and a peach smoothie, the taste of which still lingers. I have a few more hours before she gets off work, so until then I'm entertaining myself using inspiration from a list that she wrote for me :). Mom and Dad Sluis are on vacation as of this morning.



The most important thing that I learned yesterday was the beauty of lawn mowing. I woke up early and mowed the lawn at the Sluis's. In the heat, even in the early morning heat, it's a tough job. It's not a perfectly flat yard, though her dad does the really hard spots. I don't remember dripping sweat like that since soccer camp last summer. Anyways, it's just a really rewarding thing to work so hard with your body and to have something to show for it. Poetry should be written about mowing lawns. Hannah basically wrote poetry about it in her blog post last summer. She forwarded this on to me after I gushed about how much I loved the sweaty job: http://highof95.blogspot.com/2010/05/exertion.html. In response to her blog post, I utter a hearty 'Amen!'. (And as a side note to Mom and Dad: Yes, I will definitely be up for mowing the lawn when I get home).

Hannah and I also had a 'matching' moment yesterday that couldn't be passed by. Notice the green sweater/green chaco combination. All I needed was a blue accessory. I savor such small, happy trivialities.

Along with mowing the lawn, I helped out at their church's Vacation Bible School. I was a crafts helper, which meant I mixed Quick-Crete and poured it into stepping stone molds. So in one day, to say it melodramatically, I mowed the lawn and poured concrete. After that, of course, I found time for a 2 1/2 hour nap.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the beauty of hospitality as I have experienced it so far on this trip. This has been a topic of many conversations with friends. I am just so overwhelmed by the amount that each family I stay with has given me. The small things: clean sheets and towels, coffee in the morning, flexibility, tours of their town, cleaning the house before I come, on and on the list goes. In each home sacrifices have been made for my comfort. I wish that in my thankyou notes I could just list the things I noticed--the demonstrations of above-and-beyond hospitality--which made my trip special. Because, really, all I need is a spot on the floor. I just don't know how socially acceptable it is to thank your host for clean sheets.

Goodbye Chattanooga!

What an appropriate way to 'really' end my time at Covenant: a Sunday like every Sunday has been. It was great being back at Cornerstone, but I was sad to leave. I got to go to both morning and evening service, and spent the afternoon sitting under a tree reading, writing, and resting.

I stayed with Leah for the weekend. Thankfully, it won't be too long til I see her again!

The Kellers have meant so much to me as a core part of my church family in Chattanooga. These kids are great. There is no end of fun with them, often in the form of riddles and stories. I'm going to miss them so much! I'll miss college fellowship at their house with french bread pizza, chips and homemade salsa, and brownies. I'll miss Matt getting taller every time I see him. I'll miss seeing them interact with all the little kids at church. Oh, well, I'll just miss them alot.

As I drove away from Lookout Mountain for the last time(at least for a while), I tried to focus hard on the NPR interview I was listening to, and then I got a call from sister Hannah. These things were happy distractions from the leaving/grieving process. Unfortunately, the road I'm on now, on my way to Vicksburg, is anything but distracting. I think this is the dullest stretch of highway yet. The most interesting thing is the part, where, for about 20 miles, there is only one lane going each direction because of construction. The other problem is that I know all 6 hours of it well, having been to Hannah Sluis's house in Vicksburg several times.

Hopefully I will be able to blog some while in Vicksburg, which is functioning as a sort of 'rest stop' for me. I'm going to try not to leave Vicksburg until I have caught up on sleep and am in the mood to drive.

Now I'm fueling up on Dr. Pepper at a McD's...working the system, you know. Only one dollar for caffeine and wireless.